After being freed from a Vietnamese war prison, French Lt. Col. Pierre Raspeguy is sent to help quell resistance forces in Algeria. With the help of the Capt. Esclavier, who has grown weary of war, and Capt. Boisfeuras, who lives for it, Raspeguy attempts to convert a rugged band of soldiers into a formidable fighting unit, with the promise of marrying a beautiful countess if he's made a general.
50 years after the death of General De Gaulle, this film retraces his life, from his birth in 1890 to his burial at Colombey-Les-Deux-Eglises in 1970.
When the Dutch initiates an aggression against Indonesia to regain its rule post World War II, a group of inexperienced cadets need to defend the last remaining airbase so they may have a chance to help the Republic win the revolutionary war and to protect what they have come to care for.
Both a visit to a very peculiar exhibition at the Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden, Germany, as well as an unprejudiced look at the artistic depiction of violence throughout history and the ways in which that depiction has been gendered.
The first American space station Skylab is found in pieces scattered in Western Australia. Putting these pieces back together and re-tracing the Skylab program back to its very conception reveals the cornerstone of human space exploration.
The Handley Page Halifax four-engined heavy bomber was the unsung hero of Bomber Command during the Second World War. It flew over 39,000 sorties over enemy territory, towed gliders, dropped agents, carried cargo, and pioneered electronic warfare. In all 6,178 were built. Today only three remain.
The disastrous first combat patrol of the K-19, the Soviet Union's first atomic-powered nuclear missile submarine.
From May 10, 1940, France is living one of the worst tragedies of it history. In a few weeks, the country folds, and then collapsed in facing the attack of the Nazi Germany. On June 1940, each day is a tragedy. For the first time, thanks to historic revelations, and to numerous never seen before images and documents and reenacted situations of the time, this film recounts the incredible stories of those men and women trapped in the torment of this great chaos.
Explore the events of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and hear from some of the actual participants in this riveting program. After an American naval blockade intercepted Soviet submarines on a secret mission to set up a military base in Cuba, the two nations engaged in a tense standoff that led the world to the brink of nuclear war. Submariners from both sides talk about the conflict, and viewers get a look inside their subs and the U.S. war room.
Historians, veterans, politicians, and anti-war leaders discuss the history of the military draft in the United States through the Vietnam War, and examine the consequences of its replacement with an all-volunteer professional force currently comprising less than one-half of one percent of the population.
Powell. McChrystal. McCaffrey. Petraeus. Clark. For the first time, National Geographic Channel gathers the nation's leading war generals for an unprecedented look at 50 years of military history, from the Vietnam War to America's war on Al-Qaeda. The two-hour special American War Generals reveals never-before-heard stories and insightful opinions from eleven active and retired U.S. Army generals. Their accounts take us through the big changes that have transformed the U.S. military from the first troops to enter Vietnam to the last combat troops to exit Afghanistan, explaining the critical personal experiences that shaped their lives and the way they approached modern warfare.
Nicknamed the "Harlem Hellfighters", these African-Americans wanted to become ordinary citizens like everyone else. They saw fighting heroically in the trenches as their chance to achieve this. In 1918, the 15th New York National Guard Regiment became the most highly decorated unit of the First World War.
The Falklands War - A Military History. It is over twenty years since Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands. Within three days, a British task force had been mobilised and was on its way to the South Atlantic on a mission to restore the islands to British control. Soon, harrowing images that demonstrated the terrible realities of war were being beamed back to the United Kingdom. This twentieth anniversary commemorative programme is a powerful record of a war that cost more than a thousand lives. It features remarkable archive footage of the fight for the Falkland Islands, atmospheric battle reconstructions and 3D animated graphics that provide a unique perspective on famous battles such as Goose Green, Tumbledown Mountain and Wireless Ridge. ‘The Falklands War’ also features the memories and recollections of British and Argentine servicemen who went to war in the South Atlantic more than twenty years ago.
A thought provoking documentary feature film providing a comprehensive exploration of the evolution of signals intelligence over the past century. Whether you're intrigued by the secretive world of intelligence agencies or concerned about the implications of digital surveillance, this film will leave you with a deeper understanding of the role signals intelligence plays in society.
In 1973 Alister Barry joined the crew of a protest boat (The Fri) to Mururoa Atoll, where the French Government were testing nuclear weapons. Barry records the assembly of the crew, the long journey from Northland, and their reception in the test zone; when The Fri was boarded and impounded by French military he had to hide his camera in a barrel of oranges.
The 'mighty' Hood was the pride of the British Navy for more than 20 years, revered around the world as the largest and most powerful warship afloat. But when it was sunk by the German battleship Bismarck off the coast of Greenland on 24 May 1941, its end was shockingly swift.
How did the USSR - a country considered a second-rate industrial power, economically inferior to Germany, the USA and the UK - shape its victory over the armies of Hitler's regime, and secure its place among the winners?
This ten-part docuseries tells the comprehensive story of the First World War, featuring excerpts written by Winston Churchill, Karen Blixen, Georges Clémenceau, David Lloyd George, Siegfried Sassoon and Rudolf Hess.
Myths die hard, and the history of the 20th century is no exception to this rule. Even today, we hold popular beliefs that we take for Evangelical truths. Thus, we believe that Hiroshima caused Japan to surrender, that the Marshall Plan saved Europe, that Adolf Hitler was a military genius, or that Mao Zedong was a necessary evil for China’s modernization. Of course, these judgements contain some truth; but, too broad-stroked to be accurate, they contradict the historical reality by denying its complexity. What if the truth was slightly different? Through an exploration of great national or international myths, this full archive documentary collection revisits the key moments of the 20th century with a new perspective in order to provide a new, smarter and more subtle interpretation, bringing elements to light that have been forgotten or sometimes overshadowed.
The very first submarine, which legend claims lurked beneath New York Harbor during the American Revolutionary War. The small ships that rescued thousands from Dunkirk. The destroyer that forced the easing of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Over the centuries, conflicts have prompted advances to ship designs, making vessels stronger, faster, smarter, and capable of changing the course of wars. Join us as we examine the world's greatest Combat Ships, and reveal how they shaped world history and inspired men and women to acts of incredible courage.
Terror of the World: The story of a deadly war that intertwines Germany, Poland, Japan, Italy and Spain, and the remorseless development of weapons and bombers.
Covers the 1941 Japanese military strike on a Hawaiian naval base in never before seen detail.
Battlefield is a documentary series initially shown in 1994 that explores the most important battles fought primarily during the Second World War but also the Vietnam War. The series employs a novel approach in which history is described by detailed accounts of major battles together with background and contextual information.
During the second world war, the Nazis looted everything they could get their hands on, including an estimated 600 tons of gold, thousands of pieces of artwork, and millions of priceless artifacts. While some of these items have been found, much of it remains missing. Treasure hunter Darrell Miklos believes some of these stolen riches were loaded into specially modified U-Boats that are currently lying at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. His evidence: two top-secret documents acquired over 40 years of research.
Hawaii, Pacific Ocean. A postcard decor. Clean. Azure. Yet in this heavenly place, one of the most memorable battles of WWII took place 80 years ago.
He fired cannon on his own countrymen, wooed the mistress of a formidable opponent and even threatened the Pope. He was Napoleon, one of the most brilliant and complex figures in history. This absorbing appraisal of his life offers a new perspective of the little man from Corsica, who rose to new heights of power by seizing every brutal, outrageous opportunity in his path. Step inside Napoleon's world through dramatic recreations of key events. Ride into the heat of battle with large-scale reconstructions of his campaigns. From the glory of his empire to his defeat at Waterloo and miserable exile on Elba, here is an entertaining and complete portrait of an extraordinary life
Two-part documentary telling the story of the battle for control of the North Sea during the First World War.
Legend has it that there is a treasure of immense value buried in the Philippine jungle - now a team of American experts, with the help of the only surviving witness, try to uncover the clues to solve the greatest mystery of WW2.
Series charting the history of the warship.
The story of how the Battleship was used and not used as the ultimate weapon of war during its day up to its demise.
Submarines today are highly complex machines crammed with technology and weapons. As impressive as their construction is, as terrifying is their destructive power. Hardly any other weapon triggers as many emotions as the submarine. It strikes from ambush and can use nuclear missiles to drag the whole world into the abyss. Submarines originated from a completely non-military idea, namely to be able to view the world under water. But the interest in the military use of submarines soon prevailed.
Mike Brewer sets off on a journey of discovery to find out the story of one of the most remarkable aircraft in the British Armed Forces: a Chinook helicopter code named Bravo November. By doing so he examines the invaluable contribution that these helicopters have made to campaigns from the Falklands War onwards. And how Chinooks are now being upgraded to keep them at the cutting edge of British tactical weaponry.
