American Experience: Victory in the Pacific DVD

Comments about PBS American Experience: Victory in the Pacific DVD:

A well done thorough account of the progression of the war in the Pacific. Gives a clear sense of the time and an appreciation for the layers of challenges facing both sides.

Comments about PBS American Experience: Victory in the Pacific DVD:

Fine overview of the war in the Pacific. Very good at describing the plight of the Americans in the war--how was this going to end? Much harder on Emperor Hirohito than I am accustomed to see, but hard to disagree. HE wants a final battle, and that kills all those people on Okinawa. His government refuses to budge even when thousands are killed in Tokyo as a result of the fire bombing. It's not entirely stacked either; just criticism of LeMay is included. I hope to use this to teach my high school students the nature and end of the war in the Pacific.

Comments about PBS American Experience: Victory in the Pacific DVD:

This series was GREAT! Thank you so much for showing it! As a military wife and homeschool Mom, this will become part of our collection for sure!

Comments about PBS American Experience: Victory in the Pacific DVD:

A very compelling and accurate documentary. It covers a wide range of areas of the war in the Pacific in 1945. It examines the brutality and totality of this war which is something that we are very apt to forget today.

The battles for the islands of Saipan and Okinawa are presented. The Japanese soldier does not surrender and looks upon surrender as despicable. They believed in Emperor Hirohito as divine and saw it as an honour and duty to die for him and their country. This cult of death or suicide was well brought out in this film as we see hundreds of happy and committed kamikaze pilots readying for their mission.

The bombings of Tokyo are shown with their aftermath as well as discussions on the obliqueness of the Japanese government in refusing to deal with the worsening conditions of their people. This film examines much of the war from the Japanese perspective and presents good evidence that it was only the dropping of the atomic bombs and the Russian invasion that finally prompted the surrender. Prior to this the Emperor and the war politicians were only negotiating to preserve their political power.

There is an excellent supplemental discourse in the DVD by two historians who present solid evidence that as devastating and inhuman as the dropping of the atomic bombs were, the alternatives were much worse. Even after issuing the Potsdam Declaration at the end of July there was no response from Japan. If the bombs had not been dropped, the war would have been prolonged and hundreds of thousands of Japanese would have died – from the Allied blockade and from the invasion which would have come from both the Americans and the Soviet Union.

War is the most immoral and inhuman act of mankind and once it starts the ending can be very unpredictable and the cost enormous. All countries that start wars find this out.

Comments about PBS American Experience: Victory in the Pacific DVD:

Documentaries such as "Victory in the Pacific" help connect 21st Century Americans with the sights and sounds of WWII, where the U.S. found it self thrust onto the world stage .