History

The War

The War is the story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of a handful of men and women from four American towns. The war touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America and demonstrated that in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.

A World Without War

2h 7m

A few weeks after the death of President Roosevelt shocks the country, Germany surrenders. Meanwhile, American sailors, soldiers and Marines endure the worst battle of the Pacific - Okinawa. In August, American planes drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Japanese, too, surrender. Millions return home - to try to learn how to live in a world without war.

Episodes

  • A World Without War: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    A World Without War

    S1 E7 - 2h 7m

    A few weeks after the death of President Roosevelt shocks the country, Germany surrenders. Meanwhile, American sailors, soldiers and Marines endure the worst battle of the Pacific - Okinawa. In August, American planes drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Japanese, too, surrender. Millions return home - to try to learn how to live in a world without war.

  • The Ghost Front: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Ghost Front

    S1 E6 - 1h 59m

    Americans are shocked by Hitler's massive counterattack in the Ardennes Forest - but by mid March, 1945, they are across the Rhine, while Russians are 50 miles from Berlin. In the Pacific, after weeks of desperate fighting, Iwo Jima is secured, and American bombers begin a full-fledged air assault of Japan.

  • FUBAR: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    FUBAR

    S1 E5 - 2h 6m

    Victory in Europe seems imminent, but Holland, the Vosges Mountains, and the Hurtgen Forest, GIs learn painful lessons as old as war itself - that generals make plans, plans go wrong and soldiers die. Meanwhile, on the island of Peleliu, the Marines fight one of the most brutal and unnecessary battles of the Pacific.

  • Pride of our Nation: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Pride of our Nation

    S1 E4 - 2h 19m

    On June 6, 1944, D-Day, 1.5 million Allied troops take part in the greatest invasion in history, but then bog down in Norman hedgerows for weeks. Saipan proves the costliest Pacific battle to date, while back home dreaded telegrams for the War Department begin arriving at an inconceivable rate.

  • A Deadly Calling : asset-mezzanine-16x9

    A Deadly Calling

    S1 E3 - 1h 52m

    Americans are shocked by terrible losses on the Pacific atoll of Tarawa, while in Italy Allied forces are stalled for months at Monte Cassino, and a risky landing at Anzio fails utterly. At home, as overcrowded "war towns" boom, economic transformation leads to confrontation and ugly racial violence.

  • When Things Get Tough: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    When Things Get Tough

    S1 E2 - 1h 57m

    Americans mobilize for total war at home and overseas. Factories hum around the clock, while North Africa and then Italy, inexperienced GIs learn how to fight. Meanwhile, in the skies over Europe, thousands of American airmen gamble their lives against preposterous odds on daylight bombing missions.

  • A Necessary War: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    A Necessary War

    S1 E1 - 2h 24m

    The tranquil lives of the citizens of Mobile, AL; Sacramento, CA; Waterbury,CT; and Luverne,MN are shattered on December 7, 1941, as they, along with the rest of America are thrust into the greatest cataclysm in history.

Extras + Features

  • Joseph Medicine Crow: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Joseph Medicine Crow

    S1 - 8m 41s

    Joe Medicine Crow, the last war chief of the Crow Tribe of Montana is profiled in The War, a film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.

  • Intro: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Intro

    S1 - 5m 35s

    Watch the first few minutes of The War.

  • Why We Fight: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Why We Fight

    S1 - 4m 39s

    Burnett Miller, Ray Leopold and Sam Hynes talk about why they fought.

  • Rationing and Recycling: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Rationing and Recycling

    S1 - 7m 22s

    During the war everything seemed to be rationed or in short supply: gasoline and fuel oil and rubber; bobby pins and zippers and tin foil; shoes and whiskey and chewing gum; butter and coffee and nylons and tomato ketchup and sugar; canned goods and cigarettes and the matches needed to light them.

  • Here Lie Three Americans: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Here Lie Three Americans

    S1 - 2m 14s

    In the September 20, 1943 issue, LIFE magazine published the first image of dead American servicemen that American civilians had been allowed to see in the twenty-one months since Pearl Harbor.

  • African-Americans Troops Training: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    African-Americans Troops Training

    S1 - 4m 10s

    Despite the bravery of African Americans in all of America’s previous wars, despite the argument made by the NAACP and others that “a Jim Crow army cannot fight for a free world,” the armed forces of the United States remained strictly segregated.

  • 'Knew I'd Killed Men': asset-mezzanine-16x9

    'Knew I'd Killed Men'

    S1 - 1m 42s

    Fighter pilot Quentin Aanenson recalls the first time he knew he'd "killed men."

  • Chocolate Roast Beef: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Chocolate Roast Beef

    S1 - 1m 50s

    Ray Leopold talks about the strange mixture of food available during meal times.

  • The Four Towns: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Four Towns

    S1 - 11m

    An introduction to the four towns featured in THE WAR – Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; Waterbury, Connecticut; and Luverne, Minnesota.

Schedule

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