AllMovie

This program chronicles the history of American involvement in warfare during the 20th century. Starting with the Spanish American War and ending with the Gulf War, the United States participated in a century of turmoil, marked by two world wars. Wars took a huge toll in lives and suffering in a steady course of conflict, punctuated by a few years of peace. This program evaluates the causes and costs of warfare in the last century. The end of World War II saw the rise of the two superpowers, the United States and the U.S.S.R., and the beginning of the Cold War. The ideologies of democracy and communism faced off in a duel for influence and territory. Stalin's repressive tactics in the Eastern European countries prompted Winston Churchill's famous remark, that an "iron curtain" was descending over Europe. Lines were drawn in the sand, from Korea to Berlin, as countries and cities became subject to political division. The Cold War turned hot in some places, such as Korea, Cuba, and Vietnam. Soviet President Gorbachev's policy of glasnost and the ensuing disintegration of the Soviet Union brought an abrupt end to the Cold War era of fear and tension. The times are documented with archival film clips, photographs, news accounts, interviews, and scholarly commentary.