Eric Severeid hosted this series which, as far as I know, has not been seen on television since 1978, nor has it been put on video or C.D. If one can imagine first TIME TO REMEMBER, then WORLD WAR I, then this show, followed by VICTORY AT SEA and WINSTON CHURCHILL: THE VALIANT YEARS, even accepting some overlapping you would have a pretty good set of shows dealing with the political history of the 20th Century from 1900 to 1945.
The thing that made BETWEEN THE WARS slightly better than the others (no matter how excellent they were in their own way), was that it pioneered the use of what is called (desparagingly) "talking heads". This has been overused to the point of idiocy now (any subjects suddenly has experts that can be trotted out to discuss them), but in 1978 it was an innovation, and was very wisely used. As the period of the series is 1919 to 1941 (with the U.S. entrance into the Second World War as the conclusion), this was the last chance to have certain people give their opinions on events for a sense of balance. Many of these people would be dead within a few years, so this was their opportunity to try to set the record straight. An example of this was the second episode, concerning Wilson and the fight to get the League of Nations and the Versailles Treaty accepted by the U.S.A. In 1978 it was normal to accept the view of Wilson as it was in the 1944 movie with Alexander Knox: that he was a good man with great ideas, brought to failure by ill health and a cabal of reactionaries led by his political enemy Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. On the show, after bringing out this version of the fight, the camera turned on former Senator (and Ambassador) Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. He gave a more critical view of Wilson, pointing out that the President was stubborn and intransigent about the Treaty and the League, and unwilling to see the older Lodge's point of view which was to protect the Monroe Doctrine and not pull us into wars in which we had no political interest. It was the first time that the elder Lodge's argument was understood, and that Wilson would not compromise (despite the arguments of leaders in his own party). Since Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. died within the next seven years, this was the only time he was televised giving his grandfather's side of the story.
One hopes this is series reappears on DVD or on video or television one day. It was really worth watching.
The thing that made BETWEEN THE WARS slightly better than the others (no matter how excellent they were in their own way), was that it pioneered the use of what is called (desparagingly) "talking heads". This has been overused to the point of idiocy now (any subjects suddenly has experts that can be trotted out to discuss them), but in 1978 it was an innovation, and was very wisely used. As the period of the series is 1919 to 1941 (with the U.S. entrance into the Second World War as the conclusion), this was the last chance to have certain people give their opinions on events for a sense of balance. Many of these people would be dead within a few years, so this was their opportunity to try to set the record straight. An example of this was the second episode, concerning Wilson and the fight to get the League of Nations and the Versailles Treaty accepted by the U.S.A. In 1978 it was normal to accept the view of Wilson as it was in the 1944 movie with Alexander Knox: that he was a good man with great ideas, brought to failure by ill health and a cabal of reactionaries led by his political enemy Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. On the show, after bringing out this version of the fight, the camera turned on former Senator (and Ambassador) Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. He gave a more critical view of Wilson, pointing out that the President was stubborn and intransigent about the Treaty and the League, and unwilling to see the older Lodge's point of view which was to protect the Monroe Doctrine and not pull us into wars in which we had no political interest. It was the first time that the elder Lodge's argument was understood, and that Wilson would not compromise (despite the arguments of leaders in his own party). Since Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. died within the next seven years, this was the only time he was televised giving his grandfather's side of the story.
One hopes this is series reappears on DVD or on video or television one day. It was really worth watching.
