Brush Up Your War History With This Compilation Of War Documentaries

1. Ken Burns: The Civil War

Many people stereotypically think of documentaries as dull and boring, but Ken Burns definitely does not let "The Civil War" fall into that stereotype. That's why this documentary is not only good for learning but the soundtrack, the scenery and everything else put into it makes you really appreciate and get a feel for the Civil War era. As you watch through the videos from Fort Sumter through Antietam and Gettysburg and up to Appomattox, you can really get the feeling of how the actual Yankee and Rebel soldiers felt during these times. Burns does not only focus on the battles which would stand out as the most interesting part of a war, but he gets into the personal lives of the soldiers, the soldiers' families, abolitionists and slaves. The story is mostly told in the words of the participants themselves, through their diaries, letters, and visuals are usually still photographs and illustrations of the time, and the soundtrack is likewise made up of war-era tunes played on period instruments. Several modern-day historians offer periodic comment and insight on the war's causes and events.

Watch it on Netflix

2. Last Days In Vietnam

During the chaotic final weeks of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as the panicked South Vietnamese people desperately attempt to escape. On the ground, American soldiers and diplomats confront the same moral quandary: whether to obey White House orders to evacuate U.S. citizens only--or to risk treason and save the lives of as many South Vietnamese citizens as they can. The iconic imagines from the evacuation are the helicopters taking off from the rooftop and the helicopters being pushed overboard. For most people, these are the collective memories. This documentary dives deeper into the story.

Watch it on Netflix

3. Five Came Back

The documentary is an adaption of the 2015 book Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark Harris. Five present-day directors discuss five wartime directors who voluntarily joined WW2 in order to film it: William Wyler (presented by Steven Spielberg), Frank Capra (Guillermo del Toro), George Stevens (Laurence Kasdan), John Ford (Paul Greengrass) and John Huston (Francis Ford Coppola). It's narrated by Meryl Streep and written by Mark Harris.The story is told from an entirely different perspective. It starts out as a feature on war film-making but it turn out to delve into the impact of war on the 5 directors.

Watch it on Netflix

4. Silent War: Battles Beneath The Sea

For the second half of the 20th century, the world's most powerful nations were engaged in an intense struggle for political and territorial supremacy. As the USA and the USSR developed huge arsenals of nuclear weapons, they and their allies would regularly bring the world close to annihilation. These highly dangerous military stand-offs often happened in total secrecy: underwater. This eye-opening two-part series tells the compelling story of US, UK and Russian submarine warfare. Filled with revelatory first-hand testimony, it gives unprecedented insight into the pressures of life aboard these deadly machines and uses impressionistic reconstructions and archive to bring to life the underwater chases and espionage operations that took the world to the brink of nuclear war.

Watch it on Prime Video