History Channel Documentaries

Atomic weapons tests spur dissent.

It was 1935. Benny Goodman and the Big Band sound shared the waves with the Lone Ranger. FDR was getting the New Deal off the ground. A series of dramatic personal interest stories captured the public's imagination. The year of newsreels provided compelling coverage of the trial of Bruno Hauptmann in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping case. The assassination of Louisiana Governor Huey Long, and a nation in morning for favorite son Will Rogers killed in an aviation crash with aviator Wiley Post. This and more as Year By Year Presents: 1935.

Aidan Quinn narrates this documentary of the struggle of Irish immigrants in the United States. Topics includes Irish involvement in the American Revolution, the Age of Jackson, the Mexican and Civil Wars, the California Gold Rush, and the building of American cities.

Heroes ascend, as FDR is elected and Amelia Earhart flies across the Atlantic, and "Scarface" Al Capone is sent to jail on a tax beef.

Trace the invincible carrier of the U.S.S. Intrepid and the men who fought and died while battling on her decks. This documentary has never-before-seen footage of the Intrepid in action and includes first-hand accounts from aviators, astronauts, gunners, and officers, as well as commentary by General Colin Powell and U.S. Senator John McCain. It also features millionaire Zachary Fisher, the man who single-handedly saved the Intrepid from being turned into scrap, financing the venture to transform the ship into the world's largest naval museum. Seventeen storeys tall and three football fields long, the magnificent Intrepid was one of America's fiercest warships and saw a wide range of action -- from the WWII battle for the Leyte Gulf, to the deadly struggle in Vietnam, to the peacetime recovery of American space capsules.

In the jungles of Vietnam, soldiers decorated palm trees and gave makeshift gifts to comrades. In the bitter chill of Valley Forge, Washington's men wrote longing letters home to family and loved ones who prayed for their safe return. In the blistering sands of Desert Storm, USO Santas cheered the homesick troops. CHRISTMAS AT WAR is a fascinating look at the way fighting men have dealt with the season of peace throughout history. Heartwarming and heartbreaking, it is a testament to the strength and flexibility of the human spirit. Hear the words of Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers in letters to home. See rare footage of Christmas celebrations in World War II, from Europe's frozen battlefields to South Pacific islands. Discover incredible tales of unspoken cease-fires, when enemy troops have discarded their uniforms and hostilities for one night. It's an intimate, moving look at the way fighting men reconcile the reality of war with the celebration of peace, an unforgettable portrait of humanity at its most human.