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.

Hi, everybody. This is James Early, and I wanted to give you a brief introduction to season one of Key Battles of American History. This season one is really more of a mini-season. It has 10

episodes and each episode contains an in-depth discussion of one of the 10 greatest films on World War I,

at least 10 greatest in my opinion. Of course, different people will have different opinions on that,

but nevertheless, these are the 10 that I like

the best and so each episode in the series will feature a discussion between myself and a friend

of mine Sean McIver who's also a podcaster and a history buff Sean and I will break down each

movie and talk about some of the major themes as well as the

plot, the actors, and all kinds of nifty information. I think you really like them. So I recommend

that before you listen to an episode, you watch the film. Of course, you'll get way more out of it

that way than if you haven't watched it. But even if you haven't watched the films, I still think you

might enjoy the episodes. Just keep in mind, there are spoilers in every single episode. So if you

are the kind of person that doesn't want to get spoilers, then definitely do not listen to the

episode on a particular film if you have not seen that film. I suspect that many of you have

already seen a good number of the films. Now, you do not seen that film. I suspect that many of you have already seen a good number of the

films. Now, you do not have to listen to the episodes in the order that I give them, of course.

You can pick and choose. For example, if you've seen Gallipoli, but not the one before that,

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