American Experience: The Great War

2017 • PBS
4.9
14 reviews
TV-PG
Rating
Eligible
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Season 1 episodes (3)

1 Part 1
4/9/17
Season-only
Explore America’s tortured, nearly three-year journey to war. In August 1914, a war unprecedented in size and violence broke out on the European continent. Ever the idealistic diplomat, Wilson vowed to keep his country out of “the Great War.” His neutrality was supported but reports from Europe began to challenge America’s delicate position. From behind the battle lines came reports detailing German atrocities in Belgium and France: history’s first chemical attack and the sinking of the British liner Lusitania, killing 128 Americans. But Wilson stood firm, asserting that America would not fight — this was not her war. Despite Wilson’s pleas, American men and women, volunteered in the hospitals and on the fighting fields of France, and by 1916, there was a growing sense that the war was coming closer to home. On April 2, Wilson asked a joint session of Congress for a declaration of war against Germany, proclaiming that “the world must be made safe for democracy.”
2 Part 2
4/10/17
Season-only
Chart America’s entry into the conflict, examining the breathtaking speed of mobilization and the profound transformations required if America was to play a central role in the Great War. In 1917, the U.S. was deeply divided about going to war. Wilson hired former journalist George Creel to lead an unprecedented propaganda campaign to support the war. But for those who resisted the patriotic fervor, the consequences could be severe. Repressive legislation clamped down on free speech and almost any form of dissent. There was rampant vigilantism, and deep racial divisions still existed. Although controversial at first, in the end, more than four million men served in America’s first mass conscripted army, their ranks reflected the teeming racial and socio-economic diversity of 20th-century America. In the summer of 1918, the Americans arrived in France just as the Germans were on the outskirts of Paris. And soon, the wave of death and misery that Wilson had so feared was coming to pass.
3 Part 3
4/12/17
Season-only
Chart the ways in which the bloodiest battle in American history, and the ensuing peace, forever changed a president and a nation. In the fall of 1918, the deadly flu swept through cities at home and at the front. When the tide of war turned, the Germans wanted a cease-fire on Wilson’s terms. On November 11, 1918, the war was over, but for Wilson, the last fight remained. He negotiated the terms of the peace treaty and won the world over to his League of Nations, but felled by a stroke, he failed to convince the Senate to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, with tragic consequences. While Wilson had heralded the triumph of American values abroad, many were worried about democracy at home; with citizens persecuted, “aliens” interned, and cities torn apart by race riots. The Great War changed the country forever. African Americans who had fought in the war found ways to continue to push for change. Women’s suffrage gained converts, including Wilson. And America stepped onto the world stage.

About this show

The Great War tells the rich and complex story of World War I through the voices of nurses, journalists, aviators, and the American troops who came to be known as “doughboys.” The series explores the experiences of African-American and Latino soldiers, suffragists, Native American “code talkers,” and others whose participation in the war to “make the world safe for democracy” has been largely forgotten. The Great War explores how a brilliant PR man bolstered support for the war; how President Woodrow Wilson steered the nation through years of neutrality, only to reluctantly lead America into the bloodiest conflict the world had ever seen, transforming the United States into a dominant player on the international stage; and how the ardent patriotism and determination to support America’s crusade for liberty abroad led to one of the most oppressive crackdowns on civil liberties at home in U.S. history. It is a story of heroism and sacrifice that would ultimately claim 15 million lives and profoundly change the world forever.

Ratings and reviews

4.9
14 reviews
L.M Slugaj
May 14, 2017
Informative very eye-opening series on the first World War
1 person found this review helpful
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A Google user
January 15, 2019
Well done.
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Doug Lomax
April 26, 2017
Very good
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