The conflict in the Middle East between Israel and its neighbors is given comprehensive treatment in six 50 min episodes produced by PBS. Using archival footage and extensive interviews with participants, the production begins by explaining conditions in Palestine at the end of World War II and the crisis created by the exodus of European Jews who went to the Middle East after the Holocaust. The withdrawal of the British, who had controlled Palestine for decades, is detailed, as is the creation of the state of Israel. Much of the region's history is complex, with the local struggles being conducted at times as a part of the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union, but these videos do an admirable job of explaining the complexities of the situation. The segment on the Six Day War, for example, is masterful, with the scenes shifting from Israel to Egypt to Washington to Moscow.
Historian Dan Snow relives the story of a crack team of 133 young airmen whose mission is to destroy the great dams of Germany in World War Two using a revolutionary new bouncing bomb.
The Crusades: An Arab Perspective is a four-part series produced by Al Jazeera English, which presents the dramatic story of the medieval religious war through Arab eyes. The series provides a new perspective on the history of the Crusades for a global, English-speaking audience, that has largely read about or studied the famous struggle from a primarily Christian and Western point of view.
June 1944. 1.5 million Allied soldiers stand poised to embark on the largest amphibious assault in military history. For tens of thousands of young American soldiers in particular, this war against the Nazis seems like an adventure. Most are overseas for the first time, and few have any experience of combat. For those bound for Omaha Beach, the baptism of fire will come at 0630 on 6th June – H-Hour, D-Day. It will prove a horrifying and unforgettable experience. D-Day: The Soldiers’ Story features the intimate personal testimony of the men who formed the spearhead of the Allied liberation of Western Europe on that fateful day. They include survivors of the US 29th Infantry Division’s first assault wave at Omaha Beach, the German machine-gunners who resisted them, and members of the French Resistance in Normandy. Expert analysis is provided by Antony Beevor (D-Day, Stalingrad, Berlin) and German military historian Peter Lieb.
Over 100 years ago, humanity witnessed the greatest war that had ever occurred: World War I. Nearly two million men from across Asia were recruited to fight in the war. They were Indian soldiers from remote communities, Chinese farmers from rural outposts who worked as laborers, Vietnamese fishermen participating on behalf of their French colonial masters, and Japanese sailors in service of their emperor. But today, few remember them or their sacrifices. From India's Forgotten Army to the Chinese Labor Corp, Vietnam's war and rebellion to Japan's alliance and subsequent imperialism, this program examines Asia's war effort and how it...
This is the story of an incredible rise to power, the most comprehensive documentary on Hermann Goering ever made. He was a man of many faces: vain, ambitious, more brutal than any other of Hitler's minions, yet the most popular Nazi official of all, at times even more popular than Hitler himself. He embodied the jovial side of the Third Reich. Yet the same man who organised dissolute bacchanals also founded the Gestapo, set up the first concentration camps, and had his own comrades murdered in the purge of 1934. These unique personal records form the largest and most important single film find from the Nazi era in past years.
Exploring defensive strategies, weapons and structures used across Europe over 2,000 years, shedding light on forgotten histories that shaped modern borders.