Traxan

This series is easily the best thing they've done since "The Men Who Built America." It covers WW I and how Churchill, FDR, Patton, MacArthur, Hitler and Stalin were affected by the war and how they all crossed paths in WW II.

Among the things I saw just in the first part that I didn't know:

* Mussolini was a pacifist, but WW I and the German invasion made him militant. He was an expert sniper.

* Japan fought on the allies side but at the peace talks at Versailles, they were pushed aside and left out. This pissed them off and led to their increasing aggressiveness throughout the 20s and 30s and led to the inevitable war.

* Patton was the one who validated the tank. He walked out into the battlefield the night before their first use so they wouldn't get stuck in the mud.

* After WW I, MacArthur took over as head of West Point.

* Germany was desperate to keep America out of the war and tried to bribe Mexico into attacking the US to keep us busy. Germany would fund Mexico in trying to take back the southwestern states lost in the 1848 treaty. The US intercepted this transmission and got royally pissed off.

* The cost of the treaty of Versailles for Germany was $80 billion. in US dollars today, that's half a trillion. No wonder Germany went bankrupt immediately.

I might have some wrong details as I'm doing this from memory. Among the experts talking in between the battle recreations are former British PM Sir John Major and retired generals Colin Powell and Stanley McCrystal.

Watch it. It's great.

mugwump

I'm enjoying it but it's a little skewed as to the perceived importance of the Americans in the First World War. They make it seem like MacArthur and Patton single-handedly whipped Germany's butt when in fact we were slow to mobilize and our biggest contribution was more psychological as the Germans realized we could eventually field millions of men even though we only had a measly 175,000 on the ground in the first nine months after entering the fray.

DaveNinja

I'll watch this eventually since i'm interested in WW history.

The US didnt do much for most of WWI but when we finally started to really contribute, we didnt play by the rules ("fight over the same chunks of land over and over"). We could actually push far into enemy territory while the french maintained the line.

cleaver

Was Rubens' Daniel in the Lions Den really in Hitler's office?

Cardiac161

Just watched this and found it engrossing. Didn't care much for the reenactments initially but the amount of fascinating information pulled me in such as the details that Traxan mentioned (Germany's role in taking Russia out of WWI and their attempts to divert the US's attention with Mexico, Japan insulted in the Treaty of Versailles, etc.)

The first episode played as if the whole thing was transpired by some hand of God that it's scary. How Hitler escaped death twice, how Mussolini changed his pacificist views, how MacArthur and Patton met in the battlefield...

Traxan

I know, that is kinda spooky how all these men crossed paths twice in history at its most important points. One little change, like Hitler not surviving a gas attack, and the whole course of history would have been altered.

And finding out Hitler was sent to infiltrate and spy on the Socialist Party, only to become a true believer and eventual leader, well, I wish I could laugh at it but nothing involving that bastard is ever laughable.

E Unit

Studying the WW's was fun in school. Had the pleasure of being mentored by H.W. Brands while in school, he's a big hoot when lecturing. Show is good, kind of like a Cliff's Notes on the highlights, but I'm also not a big fan of the reinactments.

RoyalTea

I'm shocked that the History Channel would preempt "Big Rig Bounty Hunters" or "Swamp People" to deliver programming about historical events.

wishbone

Reminds me of this item I read about recently with respect to the American Revolution.http://www.historynet.com/the-marksm...washington.htm

mike7162

I found it compelling, even though some of the re-enactments were borderline cheesy, and was amazed at how so many insignificant events determined the fates of so many people.

JeffTheAlpaca

I saw the re-anactments while fast forwarding and I erased it from my DVR.

GatorDeb

http://www.history.com/shows/the-world-wars/episodes

So it's only three eps?

DJariya

FYI

All 3 parts are re-airing this Saturday

6 hours total. Starting at 6pm ET. I like good historical documentaries, so I am recording it, but I doubt I will get to it right away.

GatorDeb

Woot woot I'd rather Tivo myself.

majorjoe23

There's been new evidence pointing to the role of aliens and ax men at Omaha Beach.

diesteldorf

I have family that subscribe to Direct TV. You can stream these through the History Channel Android App as well, provided your listed provider participates.

wmansir

FYI, for those interested in historical docs, back in January TWC and Brighthouse both moved the Smithsonian channel from an extra paid package to the regular "Premier" HD package. I just realized it this past month.

I know over the years I've been frequently disappointed by seeing interesting docs on the guide only to find out I didn't get the channel.

arminius

I think the US entry in WWI was a disaster. Without them the Europeans would have fought to exhaustion and perhaps no putting all the blame on one side might have resulted in less chaos and WWII might not have happened. The US enabled France and England to act like winners with a poor result for everyone.

Traxan

I had to laugh at this. Guess what commercials I saw last night while watching part 3?

Traxan

No the problem was how victory was handled. It wasn't making Germany pay an appropriate penalty, it was let's-fuck-Germany-sideways. Their debt was a half trillion in today's money. When the treaty was struck, Germany would not pay off that debt until 2010. The only good thing you can say about the end of WW II was we didn't leave Germany and Japan to rot or screw them over in defeat. We rebuilt them. At least that lesson was learned.

mugwump

The show does a good job of showing how the Treaty of Versailles managed to not only piss off the loser, Germany, but also two of the winners, Italy and Japan.

dhmac

The World Wars were well named because WWII truly was a continuation of (or sequel to) WWI

cleaver

Theres's zero excuse for Germany starting WW2. I'd argue livng in East Germany 1945-1990 was so shitty it was worse punishment than for WW1, but then when they weren't constantly monitored for the previous 25 years they built an army so maybe the Soviet thumb prevented WW3.