Episodes

• The Big Rift

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  Summer 1945. Leaving the atrocities of World War II behind, the Allied nations wholeheartedly celebrate victory and enjoy a return to world peace. But, behind the scenes of the post-war era, a more drawn-out, insidious confrontation is in the making between those who must build the world of tomorrow. In the West, the Americans and the British are concerned about Stalin's growing power in the East. He no longer hides his expansionist designs. Communist ideology continues to spread, especially in Indochina, where one of the twentieth century's longest conflicts is in the works. In this former French colony, Ho Chi Minh, spearhead of the fight for...

• The Escalation of Fear

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  1947. Fearing that a damaged Europe might fall prey to Communism, President Truman launches the Marshall Plan, a major loan package offered to European nations to assist in their reconstruction. It is also a way to help the French in Indochina, where Ho Chi Minh has established a proper government, working from its "bamboo ministries". His army and his influence grow with each passing day. At the Kremlin, Stalin celebrates his 70th birthday. The grandiose celebrations organized for him around the world are a testimony to his power. In Berlin, he has imposed a blockade, which is overcome only thanks to the bravery of American pilots and their airlift....

• The World Trembles

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  September 1950. On the banks at Incheon, 30 miles from Seoul, General MacArthur is victorious. The landing he planned, to rescue his men stuck in Pusan, was a success. But the war isn't over. In the North, the Americans will have to face an unexpected enemy. On the other side of the frozen Yalu river, Mao, covert as always, has stationed 300,000 of his men. On Thanksgiving Day, the Chinese and North Koreans attack the US army, whose only choice is to fall back. Faced with his army's defeat and Chinese intervention, Truman considers the atomic bomb? Further south, in Indochina, the French are also suffering setbacks. An ambush by the Vietminh on...

• The Conquest

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  March 1953. Stalin is dead. Following many long hours of agony in his dacha, the Little Father of Peoples is now no more than an embalmed corpse. His potential successors eagerly flock to pay their respects. In East Berlin, a wave of hope comes over the German workers who rise up against the party. This hope is swiftly crushed by Soviet tanks? In Asia, the heated conflicts are coming to an end. After the Panmunjom truce, the US leaves Korea without glory. The few remaining troops impatiently await a visit from Marilyn Monroe. In the meantime, in Indochina, another army prepares a far less exciting event. The French hope to stop the Vietminh at...

• The Wall

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  February 24, 1956. During the Soviet Communist Party's twentieth Congress, Khrushchev stuns everyone by denouncing Stalin's crimes. Without disavowing the ideology, the USSR's new leader seeks to distance himself from his predecessor and open up to the outside world. "Mister K" is full of surprises. He drinks Pepsi with Nixon and insists on spending a day at Disneyland when he visits America? But behind this clown-like character, the "executioner of the Ukraine" hasn't gone soft. In 1956, he didn't hesitate to crush the uprising in Budapest in bloodshed. Now, he is preparing a co-existence with newly elected President Kennedy that will be anything...

• The Abyss

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  November 22, 1963. The entire world is in shock. President Kennedy has just been assassinated during a trip to Dallas. Even Khrushchev himself seems touched by the tragic news. In a surprising coincidence, South Vietnamese president Diem was assassinated twenty days earlier, in a coup organized by his generals? The players change, but the Vietnam war drags on. America's new President Johnson sinks his country further into the quagmire of war. Close to three million young Americans discover Hell - the jungle, the unbearable heat, and the Viet Cong, with its tunnels and traps. For the first time, television plays a special role in the war. In 1968,...