Department of History

The shock of Pearl Harbor awoke America from its dream of isolationism. As troops ent overseas and industry ramped up to supply the urgent need for war materials, a new wave of Southern blacks migrated nort and west to fill the work-force-along with millions of owmen, who exhanged housework for war work. This program discusses the effects of World War II on the homefront, spotlighting the war's impact as a catalyst for economic, demographic, and social change.

Demobilization after World War II meant difficult changes as the U.S., geared up for war, resumed a peacetime existence. This program describes America's new staus as a superpower, as the nation shouldered the responsibility for rebuilding Europe and Japan-and for containing Soviet ambitions. The challege faced by veterans and spouses to become reacquainted after years of separation and hardship is highlighted.

Beset by both international and domestic pressures, America during the Camelot years was swiftly approaching a politcal-cultural meltdown. This program documents U.S.- Soviet conflicts of interest in Cuba and Vietnam and the growing polarization at home between civil rights activists and segregations hard-liners, which resulted in the Birmingham riots and the freedom march on Washington, D.C.

The trauma of the war in Vietnam and the Watergate scandal left Americans exhausted, embittered, and disillusioned with politics and politicians. This program appraises the effects of those blights on the political landscape and their impact on the trust between the government and the governed, so vital to the well-being of a representative democracy such as the United States.

The Reagan era witnessed the unexpected end of the Cold War and a welcome return to a booming domestic economy-but did events unfold too quickly to control? This program takes a look at the details and the aftershocks both of the disolution of the Soviet Union and of the yuppie capitalism that threatened to push the limits of the American economy too far.

Experience the true story of British journalist George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who snuck across enemy lines in 1937 to expose the Japanese occupation of China. After capture and injury, a Chinese resistance leader, Chen (Chow Yun Fat), had to rescue and send him to hide in a remote orphanage. Now in this forieng land of lost children, far away from the front lines, he's found more stories than he could have ever dreamed. From his true love of an Australian nurse (Radha Mitchell), to his timeless friendships with Chen and the orphans, Hogg discovers a rare courage and the true pleasures of life in the unlikely sanctum of Huang Shi.

Hailed as a film masterpiece and landmark in historical storytelling, Ken Burns's epic documentary brings to life America's most destructive - and defining - conflict. With digitally enhanced images and 5.1 surround sound, here is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one.

Jeff Daniels (Pleasantville, Terms of Endearment) stars as the American patriot who leads a ragtag band of farmers and shopkeepers to victory over the world's greatest military power in this sweeping AGE original production. December 1776. Decimated by superior British forces, suffering from disease, desertion and lack of funds. General George Washington faces the unthinkable-losing the war. Despite all advice to the contrary. Washington makes a courageous dicision that is considered to be one of the boldest in military history. On Christmas night, with the America Revolution hanging in the balance. Washington takes his army across the ice choked Delaware River. The next morning, he leads a surprise attack against a garrison of battle hardened Hessian mercenaries. The overwhelming and miraculous victory turns the tide in the war and ultimately leads to the birth of the United States.

Join The History Channel on an unforgettable voyage through one of the most desolate periods in human history as the rulers, conflicts, and cataclysmic societal breakdown of The Dark Ages are brought to light. At its height in the second century AD, the Roman Empire was the beacon of learning, power, and prosperity in the western world. But the once-powerful Rome - rotten to the core by the fifth century - lay open to barbarian warriors who came in wave after wave of invasion, slaughtering, stealing, and ultimately, settling. As chaos replaced culture, Europe was beset by famine, plague, persecutions, and a state of war that was so persistent it was only rarely interrupted by peace. The Dark Ages profiles those who battled to shape the future, from the warlords whose armies threatened to cause the demise of European society, such as Alaric, Charles the Hammer, and Clovis; to the men and women who valiantly tended the flames of justice, knowledge, and innovation including Charlemagne, St. Benedict, Empress Theodora, and other brave souls who fought for peace and enlightenment. It was in the shadows of this turbulent millennium that the seeds of modern civilization were sown.