The War That Made America

[Matthew S. Schweitzer]

Just recently made aware of this new PBS mini-series due to air this Fall. 'The War That Made America' is a lavish production of the history of the French and Indian War and from the previews I saw on their website, it looks to be excellent. Check it out.

www.thewarthatmadeamerica.org/wma_flash.html

[Matthew S. Schweitzer]

Just noticed that this series airs on PBS starting tomorrow night from 9-11PM. Looks fantastic!

[Matthew S. Schweitzer]

Having now seen both segments of The War That Made America, I had a few comments and observations.

The Good:

--High production values shine through and can make a world of difference. I've seen many fine documentaries on this period that suffer from lack of a good budget. This can be seen in the use of uniforms and accouterments as well as the overall quality of the film and sound editing. This series does well in this area and is the better for it.

--The series highlighted a few areas that traditionally get glossed over in high level historical shows like this, particularly the essential role that the Indians played in the conflict and the ultimate fallout with the British after the conclusion of the war. It also highlighted the importance of the often overlooked capture of Fort Frontenac by Bradstreet in 1758, an event which in no small part helped to seal the fate of the French in North America.

--The series also thankfully avoided falling into the trap of using the same tired format of every other historical documentary made since Ken Burns' Civil War series. It's always good to see a fresh presentation of this kind of material that really helps to bring it to life.

The Bad:

--If there is one thing that I disliked about the series it was that the ending felt rushed and tried to cover too much material in the last half hour or so. I felt that it went too much into the Revolutionary period and quickly passed over important events that occurred during Pontiac's War and in the British efforts to secure claim to formerly French territory and fortifications. The fighting in North America ended officially in 1760 but the British were still struggling to subdue and assimilate the French and Indians well into 1765 and beyond. After all, it was Britain's limited success in this area that ultimately lead to large numbers of ethnic French eventually joining up with George Rogers Clark during the revolution.

A nice series overall and one that I would recommend. Any other thoughts?