History Channel - this is how you do history.

I have really enjoyed The History Channel. It has produced many excellent multi-episode shows about The French Revolution, Man: The Story of Us, The Men Who Built America, and a series on all American Presidents, to now American Pickers, Pawn Stars, American Restoration. They're all good show, but come on, is Big Hoss getting a sweet deal on Clark Gable's condom box really history? Steve McQueen is the coolest guy of ever-all time, but Rick Harris's man-boner for all things McQueen is getting old, and I don't care if Frank gets the goddamn enamel Standard Oil sign for a good price either. History Channel has become another piece that celebrates consumerism. It just focused on history and pop culture.

If you want good history, you need to go to the American Heroes Channel. I know, what a dumbass name for a channel, but it's history programming is aces. The latest piece of history-wood inducing programming is the multi episode Apocalypse WWI.

It's 4 one hour episodes did an excellent job of going beyond the conventional narrative. Each episode is built around one year. The first episode centers on 1914, and focused mainly on the politics of the period in regards to the interrelations of the English, Russian, and German monarchies. It touches on the shaky nature of the Austrian Empire regarding the various slavic ethnicities. Lastly the heavy role of nationalism throughout European nations goes a long way toward explaining how the assassination of an heir would spiral from regional political quarrel to a full blown global conflict. If the lesson of WWII is the folly of appeasement, then the lesson of WWI is its contrary, the rush to fight for national pride.

The final episode is excellent in its exposition of the nationalism, and need to punish the Central belligerents, that pollutes the conditions Treaty of Versailles, and other peace accords, as a harbinger of what is to come. In the century since WWI we have emphasized the lessons of WWII, and lost sight of the lessons of WWI.

Santayana was right - over and over.