This hour long video makes a big to-do about how World War II changed the world and the way we fight wars. Unfortunately, it barely makes any sort of point, and is so boring it took me three days to complete.
A sleepy-sounding narrator gives the history of tank warfare, tracing the success of Desert Storm back to lessons learned during WWII. Before then, horses ruled the battlefield until a young Winston Churchill of the British admiralty pushed for the fully operational tank. In order to confuse and squash any intermilitary competition, the Navy said they were working on a new water storage unit, and the "tank" name stuck.
The first tanks were mechanical nightmares, and since the world had just fought the war to end all wars (World War I), not many people paid attention to the armored vehicles...except Adolf Hitler. Panzers were developed en masse, and the invasion of Poland took a matter of weeks. The Allies were fooled, and the Nazis went around static defenses to take France in lightning time as well. The Blitzkrieg was so quick, they would outrun their own supply lines.
The United States had no tank program until the late 1930's, when the first ones began rolling off a former Chrysler plant's assembly line. The video then covers Commander Rommel's success in northern Africa, and the British forces there that also used tanks to their favor.
Germany invaded Russia, not realizing the Russians not only defended differently, they had some pretty impressive tanks of their own. Three million German soldiers were on the front, and Russia held her own even after the Nazis regrouped and came up with a better tank. After D-Day, the Rommel of the United States, General John Wood, commanded the tanks to everyone's benefit in Europe, especially a young sergeant's idea to clear the giant French hedgerows that had become a detriment to the allies.
General Colin Powell is shown during Desert Storm, using the same type of strategy used in WWII to defeat the ego inflated Iraqi army. The video was produced in the mid-1990's, and that was the last war we had had until that point.
While many of the facts are interesting, and might make a history buff do more research (especially on Wood, a name I was not familiar with), the video is terrible. The entire hour is filled with stock footage and some brief but decent battlefield maps. There are no contemporary interviews, no experts, no recreations, just lots of black and white footage of what could be any battle in the war, and the dull narration.
"The War That Changed War" is a bold title, but the producers refuse to back it up with interesting footage, or interest at all. This plays like a poorly edited Broadcasting class project (believe me, I know from whence I speak), and it is astounding that this is just one video in a series. I doubt the other entries are any better, but if I ever find myself suffering from insomnia, I will check them out and review them here. In the meantime, do not surrender to this video hype.
