1950 and the Cold War

The "newsreel" style clip is clearly a product of its time. Pay close attention to how Communism and its adherents are characterized. The UN and the Korean War are the focus. Korea in the Cold War context.

Origins of the Cold War

Make sure to view this well done documentary with your "Cold War" study terms at hand.

World War II Documentaries

Below are four short clips of documentaries relating to: The Third Riech's invasion of Poland 1939 Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 The siege of Stalingrad The battle for Leningrad View these clips with your study terms handy.

William Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Documentary

Although a little dated, this documentary is something of a "classic" with really good contemporary footage.

Italian Fascism Documentary

This series of Discovery Channel documentary clips begins "in medias res" (in the middle of things) but provides an interesting perspective on the power Benito Mussolini grabbed in 1922 and '23.

Russian Revolution Documentary

Brief "War to End All Wars" Documentary Clips

These "WatchMojo" brief clips give an overview of the major events the war.

Consequences of the "Great War"

Because no significant part of the German nation was lost (or indeed even invaded) and no shot was fired in anger on German soil, many Germans felt that there was still a great deal of "fight" left in the German military and German people. Many (Adolf Hitler included) felt like the military had been "stabbed in the back" by a civilian government (the Weimar Republic that replaced the imperial regime of Kaiser Wilhelm II) that was secretly controlled by a Jewish cabal of profiteers.




Because of the remarkable levels of destruction--and the senselessness, the uselessness of that destruction, that loss--many lost faith in progress, democracy, and traditional sources of authority.


Because such large numbers of men went off to serve in the period's "Citizen" armies, there was a huge demand for new sources of labor as the industrial West geared up for "total war." One such source was middle-class women, many of whom were married. The photograph below is from France, but women flocked to factories in all the industrialized countries, including the Untied States.



Because of the advances of the Industrial Age, World War I was the first widespread governmental use of "scientific" (and racialized) propaganda.


The Treaty of Versailles, much of which was based on the ideas of retribution and revenge, provided a focal point around which Germans of all political stripes could unite. Wilson is the central figure at the left. The other two are Georges Clemenceau of France and David Lloyd George of Great Britain.




>As we will see in the next section, the Russian Revolution(s) of 1917 were one of the most important and long lasting of the legacies of the First World War.

America's Entry into the War

After maintaining two and a half years of neutrality, events forced the leadership in the US to enter the war on the side of the allies. With large Irish- and German-American communities in the voting population, it made sense for Woodrow Wilson and others to steer the course of neutrality. But events made this difficult. The sinking of the RMS Lusitania in May of 1915 was one such event. Of the 1195 lives lost, 128 were Americans.
Later, so-called "unrestricted" submarine warfare would cost lives and millions of dollars worth of cargo as it made its way to Britain. Even though he had been elected on the slogan "he kept us out of war," Wilson would go to Congress on 2 April, 1917 and ask for a declaration of war against the Empire of Germany.
The two graphs indicate that the economy of the United States made the nation that much more formidable an enemy. Although the Iron and Steel graph predates the years of the war, it indicates that the US was on a path to industrial dominance.

New Technologies of World War I & Battle of the Somme Documentary

Airplanes played a somewhat different role in the First World War than in the Second. From 1914 to 1918 most airplanes were used for reconnaissance--to observe enemy troop movement and sight long-range artillery on enemy positions. This ability to reconnoiter the enemy's placements and tactics made the other "technologies of war" discussed in this section that much more effective and lethal.




Like many of the other "new" technologies in this section, artillery had been a feature on the battlefield for years before WWI. What was different in 1914, however, was the size, accuracy, and number of these field pieces. These heavy pieces could fire several rounds in an hour at a range in the hundreds or thousands of yards.



Phosgene gas was one of the most pernicious of the new technologies that sprang from this, the first "industrial war." Usually fired by the artillery, the gas would choke, blind, then kill within 48 hours of exposure. There were no effective treatments, and death was painful and often a certainty. The evil of phosgene and other gases motivated the Great Powers to outlaw this inhumane (in this most inhumane war) weapon.



Although neither was invented for the war (both had been around since the 1870s or earlier), barbed wire and machine guns that fired 600 rounds per minute proved particularly destructive. As the wire slowed the advance of infantrymen that had gone "over the top" they became much easier targets for the enemy's machine gun emplacements.

The Battle of the Somme is often considered to be the most horrible display of the effects of these new technologies. View these videos not so much for the names of generals but for the experience of everyday soldiers in the trenches of the Somme.

World War I Alliances and War Plans

In the one hundred years since the Congress of Vienna, there had been no Europe-wide conflict among the industrialized neations of the continent. Indeed, a complex system of defensive alliances (see map) created two opposing camps--the Central powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire; and the Allied powers of Britain, France, and Russia.

There were plenty of opportunities for competition and tension, however. The "Scramble for Africa," expanding industiral competition, and the emergence of an expansionistic and militaristic Germany under the leadership of the bellicose Wilhelm II (pictured), all led to the creation of a tinerbox that needed only the spark of assassination to detonate a World War.


Part of the problem in 1914 was the development of complex and intricate war/mobilization plans that called for high levels of speed and planning. Germany's famous "Schlieffen Plan" was one such mobilization scheme. Because of the realities of geography (see map), Germany would be forced to fight a two-front war: Russia on one side and Britian and France on the other.


The Shlieffen Plan assumed a slow and disorganized Russian mobilization and focused Imperial Germany's resources on France and Britain with a lightning drive through Belgium (see map).


After securing victory there, Germany would then shift its resources to the Russians in the east. But when Russia mobilized following the crisis of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Germany was boxed (as they saw it) to an even greater comitment to the speed and mobilzation of the Shlieffen Plan.

"Dutch Learning" and the Meiji Restoration

A fairly objective documentary featuring the important period at the end of the Shogunate and what would lead eventually to the Meiji "Restoration."

Boxer Rebellion

A "20th Century" documentray with largely re-enacted scenes.


Clips from a (cheesey?) Hollywood film titled "55 Days in Peking." It is set in the events of the Boxer Rebellion and features an always masculine Charleton Heston.

Sepoy Rebellion Documentary

An interesting blend of graphics and "commercial" film footage that a History Instructor has put together for his class. Click on the YouTube link.

"Spanish-American-Philippine War" Documentary

Click on the links below for a very well done documentary on the "Spanish-American-Cuban-Philippine War". The last two are particularly good in dealing with the "Expansionist Motives."

Industrial Revolution Images and Documentaries

The ideas of Karl Marx and his co-author, co-respondent, and friend Friedrich Engels were some of the most influential of the 20th Century, though their roots were firmly established in the turmoil of the 19th. Click this link for a synopsis of the Manifesto that was published in 1848. Manifesto
Then click on "Analysis" in the upper right for a fuller explication.

View this clip and pay particular attention to the social effects of mechanization:


View this clip with the question of why the Industrial Revolution began wherfe and when it did.








Yankee inventor (and history teacher!) Eli Whitney made a few small technological innovations in his "Gin" (short for engine) with very large social, cultural, and political ramifications.




James Watt's developments of the earlier bulky and inefficient steam engine brought English factories down out of the hills (where water power was preeminent) and into the modern industrial city.





Before the rise of the Spinning Jenny and the Water Frame, the production of textiles took place in homes, cabins, and farms. But with the rise of Richard Arkwright's complex, large, expensive, and water-driven Water Frame, industry needed its own space, the "factory."

The clip below examines the roleof water power in the development of industry.





The "Jenny" (an adaptation of the word "Engine") played a significant role in the early years of the Industrial Revolution. A few things to keep in mind: it was manpowered--or more accurately "woman-powered"--and was still small enough to fit in the homes or cabins of "spinners." Click below for a demonastration from the Smithsonian Institution on the operation of the cotton gin

Socialism and Marxism

A visually cheesey video (but surprisingly informative) of the businessman turned Socialist Rober Owen. (Fans of the "Hof" be forewarned!)


A history-project documentary on Marx (updated with a funky-rocky soundtrack), with some salient quotations.


The unofficial "anthem" of international Socialism--The Internationale.

Water and the Birth of the Industrial Revolution

Derwent Valley Mills is a World Heritage Site along the River Derwent in Derbyshire, England, designated in December 2001. It is administered by the Derwent Valley Mills Partnership. The modern factory, or 'mill', system was born here in the 18th century to accommodate the new technology for spinning cotton developed by Richard Arkwright. With advancements in technology, it became possible to produce cotton continuously. The system was adopted throughout the valley, and later spread so that by 1788 there were over 200 Arkwright-type mills in Britain. Arkwright's inventions and system of organising labour was exported to Europe and the United States.

Water-power was first introduced to England by John Lombe at his silk mill in Derby in 1719, but it was Richard Arkwright who applied water-power to the process of producing cotton in the 1770s. His patent of a water frame allowed cotton to be spun continuously and meant it could be produced by unskilled workers. Cromford Mill and Cromford was the site of Arkwright's first mill, and his system of production and worker's housing was copied throughout the valley. To ensure the presence of a labour force, it was necessary to construct housing for the mill workers. Thus, new settlements were established by mill owners around the mills -- sometimes developing a pre-existing community -- with their own amenities such as schools, chapels, and markets. Most of the housing still exists and is still in use. Along with the transport infrastructure form part of the site. A transport infrastructure was built to open new markets for the mills' produce.

Mills and worker's settlements were established at Belper, Darley Abbey, and Milford by Arkwright's competitors. Arkwright-type mills were so successful that sometimes they were copied without paying royalties to Richard Arkwright. The cotton industry in the Derwent Valley went into decline in the first quarter of the 19th century as the market shifted towards Lancashire which was better position in relation to markets and raw materials. The mills and their associated buildings are well preserved and have been reused since the cotton industry declined. Many of the buildings within the World Heritage Site are also listed buildings and Scheduled Monuments. Some of the mills now contain museums and are open to the public.

English Enclosure Movement

Click on the tab below for a lecture overview of the transition from Medieval formations to the modern.

French Revolution

Louis and Marie Antoinette at Tuileries Palace

David's "Tennis Court Oath"

The Bastille

The March ofthe Fishwives

A Revolutionary "Sans-Culotte"

David's "Death of Marat"

A Detail Reveals the Name of Marat's Murderer

Georges Danton

Maximilien Robespierre

The Execution of Robespierre
We will discuss the French Revolution in more detail in lecture. View the following clips with your study terms at hand.
This clip deals with the royal family and economic background of the Revolution. The clip below links several of the ideas and figures of the Enlightenment that were discussed in lecture and textbook. In the clip below, note the economic conditions that predate the Revolution. Note also the political structure of France: the so-called "Estates" and the Estates-General. Note below the role of the Third Estate and its transition to the "National Assembly" The French are very proud that their Revolution was a revolution of the people against oppression and despotism. The clip below indicates the source of some of that pride: the attack on the Bastille, the newspaper of Marat, and the march of the formidable "fishwives" in early October, 1789. The following clip continues on the narrative of a "people's" revolution. It also chronicles the rise of Robespierre and the Jacobins. And as the revolutionaries rose in power, the king (and Church) must diminish. As our lecture indicates, Maxmilien Robespierre was a seminal figure in the "Radical" phase of the Revolution. In the clip below, pay particular attention to his efforts to "rationalize" French society and to implement anti-Church and anti-Christianity measures. Note also the pernicious use of terror and violence by Robespierre and his allies transform the nation. The clip below chronicles the "Great Terror" and the ultimate downfall of Robespierre himself. There is also an interesting evaluation of the Revolution and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte