Why the emphasis?

Question

A lot of history programmes on British TV concentrate on WW2. Our heritage and modern-day life owe far more to a wider history. Why are the programme makers so apparantly fixated? Are other countries similarly afflicted?

Answer 1

Possibly because there is actual footage on film of WW2 so it's cheaper to make a prog than spend 1000's on recreating older events.

Answer 2

Because it is the most devastating conflict this planet has ever seen. It is in 'living' memory. It was the first 'modern' war that had all the essential elements that current armies have (fighters, bombers, tanks, aircraft carriers, submarines). It introduced several world changing technologies from the jet engine to nuclear weapons to night vision. The scope of WW2, and the amount of stories left to tell (see: Indigènes
aka "Days of Glory from 2006 for an example of a story that needed to be told) secure its position as a topic of movies and documentaries for many years to come.

Answer 3

Because it was so recent, and had one of the highest death tolls of any war (maybe the highest). It brings in topics such as racism, interventionism, nuclear technology etc. Practically every country in the world was involved one way or the other. And i don't think there would be so many war programmes if the poducers did not know that there were alot of people interested in them. I guess because WW2 seems so unimaginable now, yet it was really so recent in terms of years.

Answer 4

In movies, yes. The US has seen quite a few movies in the past, say, five years, that center on WW II. I believe it is because that generation are quickly disappearing. It was a momentous time in our world...Germany, Russia, Japan, the US, England, France, Italy...and more...all fighting...together...wow. How much the war affected our history is really up to how historians interpret it, isn't it? All I know is this....in a lot of ways, insular history (one countries particular history) of the war has overlooked many things that it is important that future generations know. Perhaps this is why you, and I, see so much of it? Perhaps, by the time our grandchildren are grown, it will be a dry lesson in school...and thats a shame. If we do not learn from our past, we WILL repeat it.

Answer 5

I THINK THAT IT'S A BIG TOPIC BECAUSE OF THE TIMES THAT WE ARE LIVING IN NOW. THE WAR IN IRAQ SEEMS TO BE EVERLASTING AND WWI AND WWII WERE THAT WAY TOO. AT THIS POINT EVEN CENTRAL AMERICAN SOLDIERS HAVE GONE TO IRAQ. THIS WAR SEEMS TO BE A WORLD WAR ALSO. SO MAYBE THE TELEVISION PROGRAMMERS ARE TRYING TO, SOMEHOW, MAKE US AWARE THAT UNLESS WE PUT AN END TO IT ALL IT COULD HAPPEN AGAIN. AND JUST LIKE WWII HAD MANY OTHER COUNTRIES AND ETHNICITY'S AFFECTED THIS WAR IS DOING THE SAME. I THINK THAT IT SHOULD BE TAKEN AS A SIGN.