HIS 213: 20th Century World History: Videos

Examine cultural, economic, and technological advances made from 1750 to 1915. European Imperialism spread throughout the globe; the British, Dutch, Portuguese, French, and Spanish controlled colonies. Citizens flocked to urban areas at the onset of the Industrial Revolution.

Tells the story of the period between 1900 and 1914 in Europe and the USA, a time of phenomenal energy and rapid transformation, a social, creative and scientific explosion that would define the horizons of life in the West up to our day.

From the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo to the delegates signing the Versailles Treaty, this program covers the events that set off the war and the war itself.

This film collects together just a few of the untold stories of WWI by showing shows how the unfolding conflict affected ordinary people caught up on the front line and on the home front.

Examines how WWI gave birth to an age of turbulent mass democracy. In the immediate aftermath of war, monarchies toppled, the people rose up, and three iconic leaders—Vladimir Lenin, Woodrow Wilson, and Benito Mussolini—emerged with competing visions of power that polarized much of continental Europe in the 1920s and 1930s

This program looks at the world prior to World War I, the rise of Hitler, and the tensions leading to World War II to shed light on how major international conflicts begin

This program covers World War II from the invasion of Poland, soon after dawn on September 1, 1939, to the Nuremberg war trials and the hanging of the convicted Nazi war criminals.

Recounts the story of the dicey geopolitical and military endgame that began with the fall of Nazi Germany and ended with the surrender of Imperial Japan on the day that has come to be known to history as V-J Day.

Although communists and capitalists united during World War II to crush fascism, Hitler’s defeat set the stage for allies to become adversaries once more. This program frames the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union as the defining conflict of much of the 20th century.

This historical documentary from the CIA Film Library is a biography of Mao Tse-Tung and includes his appearances with other Communist leaders.

Start at 29:25. Although communists and capitalists united during World War II to crush fascism, Hitler’s defeat set the stage for allies to become adversaries once more. This program frames the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union as the defining conflict of much of the 20th century.

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin tries to build an image as the sole conqueror of the Second World War as he consolidates his grip on Eastern Europe. While Americans enjoy unprecedented prosperity, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s House on un-American Activities leads a witch-hunt against anyone suspected of pro-communist views.

This film provides an overview of Vietnam’s early history, French colonization, the Indochina War, and the start of the Vietnam War.

Berlin became the Cold War under a microscope: German authorities manufactured their own pop star, Frank Schöbel, in hopes of eclipsing Western rock groups. The Soviet Union invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 was overwhelmed by the US government’s struggle to contain the Vietnam War. The Soviets sent the first man into orbit, and the Americans sent Neil Armstrong to the moon.

This three-part documentary uses primary sources to provide a historical record of the Gulf War of 1991.

The US launches propaganda campaigns to reassure people that a nuclear attack can be survived, but, with the sudden construction of the Berlin Wall and then the Cuban Missile crisis, the world seems on the brink of nuclear war.

In the 1980s, three men speak out and change the rules of the Cold War: American president Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II and Union Leader Lech Walesa. Facing growing dissent fueled by a faltering economy, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev unleashes reforms that will shake Communism to its foundation.