I am gonna have to get this on DVD. I am watching it now for the first time. They are showing all 10 eps in a row on History, and I am missing too much. Better that BAND OF BROTHERS, THE WAR, THE PACIFIC, or anything else I have seem.
shareAs some others have said, I did not have high expectations for this series when I first heard about it, but upon watching the first episode on the History Channel all that changed. It is a compelling program. Others have spoken about the footage and the editing, but the real shining light here is the writing--the meshing of narrative to the spoken words of the actual veterans who lived and, in some cases, died during World War II.
It is lovely to think that being against war puts one on some moral high ground, but as this series demonstrated, war is often necessary because of the aggression and violence of nations and movements. To NOT fight means death & subjugation before that aggression & violence.
This series does, in the last couple of episodes, demonstrate quite clearly why the decision to use the Bomb on Japan became the only acceptable choice. The blame falls entirely on the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese military leaders of the time.
Like no other documentary I have seen about World War II, this puts the almost unbelievable viciousness, arrogance and abject cynicism of the Japanese leadership before the spotlight. When you watch the episodes describing the invasion of Okinawa, you will understand why the Bomb, with all its horrors, was the only logical choice once it became a viable option.
And one may even come to wonder why, with similar provocations in other conflicts, the United States has chosen NOT to use the Bomb since August 1945.
And one may even come to wonder why, with similar provocations in other conflicts, the United States has chosen NOT to use the Bomb since August 1945.
You need to see The World at War, then. It is vastly superior, giving far more first-hand accounts (as it was done in the 70s, when more veterans were alive), and it looks at the war on all sides. It illustrates the background of the conflict, with the devastation of WWI, the Versaille Treaty requirements, the Depression, and the corruption that led to the rise of the Nazis. It also showcases the rise of militarism in Japan and its initial attacks in Manchuria. Meanwhile, it has segments that focus on the lives of the civilian populations, on both sides of the conflict and under occupation. It illustrates the Russian side of the war and the horrible toll on the Eastern Front. It gets into far greater detail about the decision to drop the atomic bomb and presents efforts within the Japanese government to bring about a peace, before the bomb was dropped, not to mention the toll that the conventional bombing campaign was having upon Japan's cities. It treats war as a human conflict, not just between nations.
This is at its best when we actually hear the veterans relate their stories, rather than the actors narrating. The words of Robert Sherrod do much to give context to the fighting in the Pacific and the horror of it, and their desire that the world learn from this horror. Far too much of that is lost these days when propaganda paints everyone in a uniform as a hero and war is presented as a video game, and World War II is presented as a battle between good and evil, rather than the failure to learn from the previous conflict and to act to stop greedy opportunists before they engulfed the world.
"Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!"