War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding

right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased its

size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.

Welcome to Key Battles of American History,

a podcast in which we discuss American history through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.

Here is your host, James Early.

Thank you. your host, James Early. Hello and welcome to another episode of key films of World War II in Europe and the

surrounding areas.

This is your host, James Early, as always.

And of course, as always, I've got Sean McIver with me.

This week, we're going to discuss another classic war movie, a movie made in 1949,

not long after the war ended, and this is Battleground.

So we're going to, as always, talk about some of the basics behind the film, and then I'll

hand it over

to Sean to share some fun facts and other things about the production and the history of the

movie.

Battleground is actually, Sean, this is the first one in a long time that hasn't been three

hours or just about three hours.

I watched it the other day to kind of rewatched it to prepare for this.

And I said, yes, it's only two hours long. Yeah, it's not even two hours. Yeah, just shy. One

hour and 58 minutes on Rotte Tomatoes, the critics gave it 75% of the critics gave it a positive

rating or review. And the fans, 83% of them gave it, 75% of the critics gave it a positive rating or review, and the fans, 83% of

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