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The Century of Warfare: The Violent Century 1900-1992
Product Group: Video
Studio: Time Life
ISBN: B0002UJNS8
EAN: 0790045000430
UPC: 790045000430
VHS Tape
Running Time: 52 unknown-units
SKU: BX013-060924012
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Non-rental VHS in original box. Box is clean and shiny with minimal wear, near new. Tape looks new, plays great.
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Customer Reviews
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The many ways in which the war was fought on the seas
Rating  (4)
Date: 2005-03-03
While World War II was won on the plains of western Russia, it could have been lost on the seas. Great Britain, for so long the only country effectively fighting against the Germans, could have been starved into submission by the German surface ships raiding commerce and the submarines. Fortunately for us all, the German high command failed to learn the lessons from the First World War. The German U-boats were very effective in sinking ships carrying goods to Britain in that war and the British government considered submarine warfare to be the greatest threat to the survival of the British Empire. Had the Germans diverted the effort that went into building their battleships into the building of submarines, it is possible that they could have emerged victorious against Britain.
This tape uses newsreel footage of the war to explain all phases of the Second World War as it was fought on the seas. Engagements between surface ships, ships shelling targets on coastlines, submarine warfare, and the critical role of the aircraft carrier are all demonstrated. As is made clear, the Japanese largely wasted their substantial submarine fleet, which could have been very effective in attacking the allied surface fleet. Many of their submarines were lost running missions to re-supply their garrisons on isolated islands. The allied submarine fleet was used to devastating effect, sending the bulk of the Japanese merchant fleet to the bottom of the ocean. They literally starved the Japanese people and industries to the point of collapse.
However, the Pacific war was fundamentally the war of the aircraft carrier, where rival fleets fought each other with each side not even seeing another ship of the other side. Once air superiority was achieved, it became a war of amphibious forces, where troops went from ships to landing craft that ferried them to the beaches.
World War II was fought in many ways, where each aspect was critical. While none could win the war alone, each in its own way could have been a way that the Allies lost it. The war on the sea was no exception and from this tape, you will learn why this is true.
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