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8 Episodes 1996 - 1996
Episode 1
Despite being allies against Hitler, disagreement and rivalry soon break out between the Soviet Union and the West, leading to the Cold War. The Soviet Union installs puppet regimes across Eastern Europe with planned economies, prompting Churchill to deliver his Iron Curtain speech. Both sides increasingly distrust the other, and use propaganda to promote their cause. In 1949 McCarthyism and the Mosinee mock Soviet coup demonstrate US anxiety about communism following Soviet acquisition of the atom bomb and the victory of communism in China. The Berlin Blockade, the Korean War and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 become flashpoints, although both sides eventually begin to believe in peaceful coexistence and accept a division of spheres of influence. The Soviet Bloc remains wary of the influence of Western ideas and its superior standard of living, and in 1962 reinforces its divide with the West by building the Berlin Wall. The introductory scene shows the fraternal relationship that had existed between Soviet and Western forces when they finally met in Germany in 1945. Interviewees include Manny Fried and Gail Halverson.
Episode 2
The U.S. Marshall Plan provides not only food but also modern machinery and investment capital to help rebuild Europe after World War II-and to encourage resistance to Communism. In prosperous postwar America, consumerism and confidence escalate until the price of oil quadruples in 1973.
Episode 3
European powers are forced to relinquish their colonies in Africa following the Second World War, but in most cases the newly independent countries would eventually succumb to poverty, civil war and despotic regimes. India's independence motivates a generation of war veterans from Africa, who for the first time have traveled the world, to seek greater autonomy for their own countries. The Europeans are at first reluctant to surrender the colonies that support their prosperity, although Asia is decolonized in the 1950s. The British give reforms to the Gold Coast (now Ghana), which under Kwame Nkrumah would lead the way to independence, and ultimately become an example to the rest of Africa. Kenya's path to independence would not be without blood, and the British fight the Mau Mau to protect the numerically small white population. France and Portugal both struggle to keep their colonies. Within three years, 25 African states would become independent from their colonial masters, but tribal hatreds, corruption, a lack of a skilled workforce and internal conflict often lead these countries to ruin. The introductory scene shows India's path towards independence. Interviewees include Komla Gbedema and E. T. Mensah.
Episode 4
Traces the rise of atomic power from the first atomic explosion in 1945 to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan at the close of World War II and the ensuing Cold War race between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to possess ever more powerful nuclear weapons. Nuclear power is touted as a safe, clean energy source until Three Mile Island and Chernobyl lead people to think otherwise.
Episode 5
Through thrift, hard work and discipline, Japan and later South Korea enjoy economic miracles that bring growth, prosperity and confidence to their once war-ravaged and impoverished people. In Japan the Korean War kickstarts manufacturing, and growth is sustained through export-orientated industries using Western technologies and production methods, and assisted by a dedicated, highly educated labor force strongly committed to improving their country. In the 1960s President Park Chung Hee largely followed Japan 's economic policies in steering South Korea's stellar economic development, but was far more ruthless against dissent and labor movements. The peoples of both countries eventually enjoy the consumer items as the fruits of their efforts, and their personal attitudes change as a result. The introductory scene shows the end of US occupation in Japan.
Episode 6
Through non-violent and more direct methods, people rally to fight segregation in South Africa, and several states in the United States. In the United States President Eisenhower uses federal troops to uphold the Constitutional rights of African American students during the Little Rock integration crisis. This action emboldens the civil rights movement to further confront Jim Crow laws through the sit-ins, the freedom rides, the March on Washington and the Selma to Montgomery marches. In South Africa from 1948 white supremacy is vigorously enforced through apartheid, pass laws, the Group Areas Act and other measures as well as other petty apartheid with legal recourse to protest denied. Incidents in Sharpeville and Soweto catalyze the grievances of Africans into direct action, forcing the Government to eventually negotiate with the ANC, free Nelson Mandela and hold South Africa's first democratic election in 1994.
Episode 7
The discovery of mercury poisoning in Japan's Minamata Bay leads to a critical look at industrial corporations, runoff, and waste management and helps spark the environmental movement. Picking up momentum with the first pictures of Earth from the Apollo missions, people around the world demonstrate against DDT, oil spills, whaling, deforestation, toxic waste, nuclear power, and pollution.
Episode 8
Governments, advertisers and revolutionaries seek to exploit television's ability to instantly communicate compelling messages to mass audiences. Television allows people to vividly witness Queen Elizabeth's Coronation, the 1960 US Presidential election, the moon landing, the Munich Olympics, the Tienanmen Square Massacre, the Romanian Revolution of 1989 and the Gulf War. Advertising, education programs, and series like Ramayan, Dallas and Oshin influence society by changing perceptions and habits. The introductory scene showed the impact of television in communicating the news of the assassination of President Kennedy. Interviewees include Abu Daoud and Don Hewitt.