A chapter of geopolitics. Hitler is able to take over the Rhineland, Austria and Czechoslovakia with impunity, and the appeasers oblige him. Only when he invades Poland does the real war begin.

The Nazis occupy Denmark and Norway, outflank the Maginot line and seize France, and drive the British into a corner at Dunkirk. A major theme here is how unprepared the democracies were for this onslaught.

Fruit production in the Niagara Region is featured. Young women dubbed “Farmerettes” love the job of fruit picking. Their demeanor suggests nothing of the exploitation discussed in Carmela Patrias’s work on the Niagara Fruit Region on the period. Fresh fruit is sold at market, while some is proce...

Just after WWI, the Curtiss NC-4 "Nancy" was the first American aircraft to cross the Atlantic. Join the US Navy and Smithsonian as they look back on this pioneering achievement 50 years later.

Enjoy the program transferred to 4K and sound sweetened for your enjoyment.

The RAF vs. the Luftwaffe. Capra’s own synopsis: “Showing the gallant and victorious defense of Britain by the Royal Air Force, at a time when shattered, but unbeaten, British were the only people fighting Nazis."

The Borscht Belt was a thriving vacation destination in New York's Catskill Mountains. Dozens of grand resorts, bustling summer camps, and packed nightclubs created a cultural hub that shaped comedy, music, and American Jewish life. Today, most of those legendary hotels sit abandoned - crumbling ...

This is quite an epic, running nearly an hour and a half for both parts. Considerable time is given to a description of Russia and its many peoples, and its implacable resistance to previous invaders through history. Wartime politics being what they were, such things as Stalin’s nonaggression pac...

Like the Russian installment, we are given a good deal of information about the vastness and complexity of China and the character of its people. Much of the emphasis is on the brutality of the Japanese invasion. One of the few major inaccuracies in this series is the emphasis in the so-called “T...

The Henry Ford celebrates trailblazers like Amelia Earhart, who defied gender barriers in pursuit of her dreams. In this video, Curator of Transportation Matt Anderson discusses Earhart’s life and legacy, including her skills, accomplishments and fearlessness that continue to inspire us today.

Released in 1943, this newsreel shows West Point during the stewardship of Major General Francis Bowditch Wilby (April 24, 1883 – November 20, 1965). Wilby served as the 39th Superintendent of the United States Military Academy from 1942 to 1945, during World War II. Many of the Cadet Corps athl...