Good morning, we are continuing with someone fun and frivolous for December to wind up the year.  These are documentaries that do not quite fit in a curriculum but could potentially be shown as something fun for the classroom.  The documentary explores the royal family of Nepal.  The run time for this documentary series is 49:31 and is called Falls of the House of Shah.

In 2008, the royal family of Nepal was ousted from power after 250 years of rule.  They were forced from their palaces and sent into exile.  Nepal was going to become a republic, even though he was loved by the people.  The fall of the royal house was a story filled with bloodshed, betrayal, and intrigue.  The transition from a monarchy to a republic was swift and would make people question the future of Nepal.

Nepal is a beautiful land of temples and mountains.  Both Hinduism and Buddhism existed together peacefully for years.  Dozens of cultures lived in harmony.  However, the Royal Family did not reflect this harmony and peacefulness.  The Nepalese royal line was established by Prithvi Narayan Shah.  He was a warrior who united Nepal.  Rajendra Shah was a mentally ill king and his reign saw one of the first mass murders in Nepal’s royal history.  There were both good kings and bad kings and they seemed to cycle between the two extremes over the years.

Nepal is unified by Hinduism even though it remains a culturally diverse country.  Religious celebrations shut down cities and the people go out to pray.  When Nepal had a royal family, they married both religious devotion and royal duties.  The royal family strangely adopted the goddess of Vengeance as their personal god.  This goddess demanded bloodshed.  This bloodshed seemed to turn to the royal family when on June 1, 2001, Crown Prince Dipendra murdered his family.  The murders shocked the world.

The murder may have been a culmination of a curse that was put on the dynasty that was put on founder.  The curse was to last ten generations and then would end.  The curse overshadowed this dynasty of the decades.  Its founder was Prithvi Narayan Shah, and he came from humble beginnings.  He lived in humble circumstances, but he was ambitious to rule.  He turned his eyes to Katmandu, an important city on the trade routes between China and India.

Prithvi Narayan Shah gathered men, bent on conquering Katmandu.  He did but exacted terrible revenge against its people who denied him an easy victory.  Soon after the conquest of Katmandu, Prithvi Narayan Shah died, leaving no clear succession.  There was infighting in the family and there were serious divisions in the family.  The next king that was mentioned was three years old when he became king.

Rajendra Shah was a three-year-old king, when he was old enough he managed to overthrow his prime minister and take control of power himself.  He had been kept in isolation.  However, he was mentally unstable and was known as a cruel ruler.  He would frequently change laws and edicts.  He passed a law that required the people to obey his young queen and not his crown prince.  This battle between the queen and the Crown Prince would lead to the first royal massacre.  This would also lead to the first coup against the Nepalese King.  The future kings would be under house arrest for a century by the hereditary prime minister.  These prime ministers established a clear line of succession: the oldest male would inherit the prime minister position.  How would the Shah gain back the throne?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more about Nepal and the Shahs.

This was an intriguing episode to watch in light of how the Nepalese monarchy ended.  It seemed everything went back and forth for the Shah Family.  The legend of the curse was fascinating.  You also thought that the Romanovs were a divided family, the Shahs have nothing on them.  Even today, the question of returning the monarch, is still debated in public.  I could see showing this documentary in a geography class because of the heavy discussion on the government as well as the royal family.  I do not remember learning about Nepal in a history class.

Good morning, we are finishing up with the Turn Back Time: The High Street with a look at the shopping experience of the 1970s.  This time the family is joined by two new people David Lashmar and the Sandher family they will recreate their parents’ experience.  Lashmar will be running the record store and the Sandher family is running the general storm.  Gill may have trouble running the clothing store because 1970s fashion was a disaster.  The run time for this episode is 54:40.

The families meet up with the Chamber of Commerce.  They talk about the challenge of the era and the families going to the stores.  The Sergisons are running a supermarket in the 1970’s and this is the era in that supermarkets conquered Britain.  The Supermarkets were only open 9-5 Monday through Saturday.  The general stores could be open longer and the Sandher family will have to prepare the stock for the store.  Mr. Sandher’s father, when he arrived in India purchased a convenience store and built up the business from there.  Both Sandher parents want to give their kids a taste of what life was like for them growing up.  Immediately the kids are put to work stocking the store.

David Lashmer heads on over to his records shop.  He is thrilled because he used to run one of the biggest second-hand record shops.  The Chamber of Commerce is unsure how successful the shop will be.  Gill goes up to her clothing shop.  It is street level and in the old bakery.  Gill is enjoying the boutique spirit of the shop and is feeling confident that she will make money this week.

The Serigsons are working on preparing the grocery store for a grand opening.  David will cut the ribbon for the grand opening.  The whole town seems to show up for the grand opening.  There is a trolly dash in the store as part of the celebrations.   The Sandher Family is unimpressed with the crowds and the size of the store.  The residents slowly trickle into the convenience store.   There are many items in the store that the grocery store does not have.

People also are exploring the record store.  The customers try out the records and some of the locals are very enthusiastic about the experience.  David is in his element teaching the locals about the music and the bands of the 1970s.  Gill gets a lesson on 1970s fashion from the Chamber of Commerce.  She talks with an expert in fashion.  The 1970s was about the whole look and Gill gets advice on putting together a look.

The locals are testing out the supermarket.  Some of the locals are wishing to interact with the Sergison family.  One local pointed out that the shop is cold and dead.  Mr. Sergison has to do more management than interaction.  Mrs. Serigson is appalled with the pay.  The shops on the high street close early except for the general store.  At night is when the general store made their money.  I enjoyed Mr. Sandher’s spirit, he is thrilled with reliving his youth.  He gets up early the next day to prepare for the shop.  The convenience store is up two hours before the rest of the high street opens up.

Gill really enjoyed working in the shop.  In addition to running the boutique, she continues with bespoke dress-making and alterations for the locals.  Even some of the locals are feeling like the shop is one of their favorites.

The Sandhers continue with their preparations for the shop.  The girls are preparing delicacies to sell in the shop.  The locals are enjoying the freshly made treats.  However, in the grocery store, they are selling frozen foods.  The high street series concludes with a celebration and they will celebrate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee.  However, the rains may have something to say about it.

Yes, this was a series that had it is up and downs.  It was cool to see how the community bonded with the shopkeepers.  Judith was rather annoying in this series in comparison to the other series where she was featured.  It could be something for fun but I would give this series a skip for the classroom.

Good morning, we work through the Turn Back Time the High Street Series.  This time the families are providing the 1960s shopping experience.  Both shopkeepers and locals will have to make huge adjustments in this episode.  The run time for this episode is 56:21.

The families are in for a shock.  The Devlins are running a milk bar instead of a bakery.  The milk bar served milkshakes and burgers.  I wonder what the producers were thinking about this change.  Gillian is running a saloon, which was the stupidest change of the series.  Hair was a big business in the 1960s, I am glad that the Chamber of Commerce gave her someone who could do hair.  Still, they could have had a clothing store.  The butchers are now running a general store because butchery underwent a serious decline in the 1960s.  The Sharps are unsure about the change.  The grocers continue in the grocery trade.  The decade was characterized by the self-service shop and the teens needed to be catered to.

Competition is now going to be the norm on the high street and the Sharps and the Sergisons are going to go head to head.  Both stores are going to be selling the same products.  Mr. Sergisons’ attitude really gets on people’s nerves in this episode.  Caroline struggles with the idea of running a milk bar and not baking bread.  Her husband talks about how the 1960s was an era of change and bakers may have found themselves running milk bars just to stay in business.

The commentary from the locals was interesting this time around.  Some had commented on having a personal relationship with the shopkeepers and wondered how they could handle it.  Some comment on the self-service aspect of the grocer and there are a few people who enjoy the experience.  Some miss the personal service of the previous decades.  Some make their way to the general store and enjoy the service the Sharps provide.  Locals comment on the personal service that the Sharps provide.  The Sharps will also do delivery.

The locals are shocked by the milk shop and the loss of the bakery.  Mr. Devlin talks people through the change and highlights how the grocery stores now stock bread which would be something that was eaten in the 1970s.  Quite a few locals will miss the freshly baked bread.  The bakery is the biggest loss in the community.  Gill is going through a tutorial on how to style hair.  She is going to learn three different hairstyles with her employee. 

Despite misgiving, people are going to the milk bar.  The Devlins are dealing with some teething problems when it comes to running the milk bar.  The locals are enjoying the milk bar atmosphere.  The stores close early for the night on day one and the families are surprised by what their living quarters look like.

The beauty salon opens the next day and Gill is going beyond her comfort zone.  A few locals brave the salon and Gill manages to get a beehive done.  The Milk Bar has been invaded by a biker gang of old-timers and they take in the milk bar experience.  Sharp’s general store is doing a roaring trade.  The locals are enjoying the general store.  Traditional services are winning the day.  Meanwhile, the grocery store introduces products from the continent to help bring in customers.

However, changes are coming to the high street.  A law was passed under pressure by supermarkets that allowed retailers to slash their prices.  This law would push many smaller stores out of business.  These laws would change the habits of the consumer.  Mr. Sergison immediately jumps on the law and changes the prices in the store.  Father and son feel the impact of the lower prices.  Will the general store survive?

It was interesting to see the local’s perspective on this experience, particularly during this decade.  There was one really outspoken lady who told off the Sergisons.   The families had really bonded with the locals.  I wonder if some of the locals kept in touch with the families over the years.  It was a reflection of what happened to the shops of the 1960s.  This episode had a feeling of sadness to it.

This series continues to be a mixed bag for whether or not it could be shown in a classroom.  If it was, it could only be shown as something for fun.

Good morning, the families are now running shops as they would have been run during World War II.  The shopkeepers will have to deal with rationing.  Just a warning, Juliette the historian is going to be irritating in this episode, you will see why later in the episode.  The run time for the episode is 56:44.

Will modern people manage to endure rations?  Shopkeepers became part of the rationing process and will give the people the wartime experience.  I am very nervous about this episode.  The shopkeepers are surprised to see how the high street has changed.  The Devlin’s will also bake but also be a British restaurant.  The restaurants were to give the British public a good meal.  If you watched Wartime Farm, these meals were cheap for the public.

The butchers will be selling mutton.  Does anyone even eat mutton?  The dressmaker will be embracing the make-do and mend spirit of the age.  The blacksmith will be running a hardware store.  The grocers may find the wartime conditions a bit of a challenge.  Carl, the head of the Sergison family, takes in the shortages.  The British had imported many goods.  The shopkeepers will also have to live on wartime rations too.  However, they are also given access to a communal vegetable garden too.  Man, I hope that the chamber of commerce prepped the town’s younger generation.  I am sure that the older generations will be able to work it.  Or as some people in the comments pointed out, they probably sneaked off to the modern stores to supplement their food.  The locals are in for a shock with the rationing.  It makes me think they did not really learn how rationing worked during World War II.

The bread was the one thing not restricted during the war.  Caroline is back in charge at the bakery and she is already concerned.  She is restricted to making the national loaf with a lot of salt.  She is frustrated with not making good bread.  The locals seem okay with the bread.  The blacksmith and the dressmaker team up to talk about the spirit of make-do and mend.  Both talk about the skills required to recycle and recreate.  To help make the rations stretch, the grocers are organizing a community meal.  We will see how long that lasts.

The butchers are experimenting with macon, bacon made out of mutton.  A couple of locals comment on how mutton was tough.  The locals are skeptical but they are embracing the macon.  In the meantime, the Devlins are opening up a British restaurant.  Their first challenge is to cook for thirty schoolchildren.   Caroline is feeling like a school lunch lady.  The school kids are unimpressed with the meal.  One of the Devlin kids commented that during the time the children would eat it or they would starve.

The Sergisons had held back some stuff and are operating a black market.  This is the section that made me irritated at Juliette.  Did she not read about the black market and how a black market was set up during the war?  It made me think of the black marketer that showed up at the Wartime Farm and the experiment with the bread and gas.  Did she not think that a black market was a possibility?  Juliette should sit down and watch Wartime Farm.

Tensions rise between the bakers and the grocers.  Nigel did not want to make extra buns for the communal meal.  He has a point about not having those supplies to make buns and it would have been better to use the leftover bread from the kids’ meals.  Mrs. Sergison really did not think it through.  The communal meal is canceled.  However, the shopkeepers will be spending the night together.  There is an air raid drill that night.  The bakers, grocers, and dressmakers will be spending the night in the shelter.  The blacksmith and the butchers have a talk about what would have happened.

Mrs. Sergison and Caroline, in light of the air raid drill, come to an understanding.  The next day, everyone is back to work.  The blacksmith has opened up the forge and is working on repairing a rake.  He is living his argument that the blacksmith was the first recycler.  The dressmaker is also allowing the locals to see new visions for their clothing.

Well, this series has its up and downs.  I would just show Wartime Farm and be done with it.

Good morning, we are working through Turn Back Time: The High Street, and this time the shopkeepers are running shops in the 1930s.  Sugar became popular in Britain during this time period.  Cheap sugar flooded into Britain during this time.  The one good thing about this program is that the period clothes are awesome.  The run time for this episode is 57:06.

The demand for handmade goods is going down and the 1930s was an era of mass production.  So there will be many familiar products on the shelves in the stores.  The Chamber of Commerce is expecting them to make more money this week and the shopkeepers will be catering to children too.  Many modern candy bars were invented between World War I and World War II.

This time the blacksmith is running a toyshop.  He is a person who takes pride in his craft and is rather disappointed that he is running a toyshop.  The bakers are running a cake shop again.  Caroline joked that the Chamber of Commerce was nervous about Caroline fleeing from the square when the family discovered that they were running a cake shop.  The bakers are thrilled to at least have electricity to help bake things.  The Chamber of Commerce talks about how the Devlins’ had a challenge with technology, completely ignoring the fact that they are bread experts and not cake experts.  Maybe they should have had someone come in and help the Devlins’ out or picked another family of families.  The Sharp family retreats to their butcher shop and they have refrigeration.  Father and son set to work preparing meats for sale.

Now, there are some additional rules for the families to abide by.  They will need to remain in the store from nine to five o’clock.  The blacksmith will find it a challenge because he likes working outdoors and being out doing things and not being stuck in one place.  Gillian will also face her own challenges in the dress shop.  The products she will sell have been mass-produced but will continue to make dresses too on her electric sewing machine.

The Devlins are challenged when the electric oven will not heat up properly.  The Devlins will have a late night preparing the food.  The shopkeepers prepare for the first day and once they are done they are able to take the night off.  Everyone wakes up the next morning and the shops open up.  Mr. Sharp wants to provide the authentic 1930s butcher shop experience.  He talks with the locals about the differences between buying prepackage meets versus buying them from a butcher.  Mr. Sharp has been giving the locals an education and the locals are thrilled with going to a local butcher.  The butchers experiment with packaging the meat in plastic, but the locals are unimpressed.

The Sergison family is facing their own challenges in the grocery.  The Sergison kids are eating the profits so to speak.  One parent comments that he wishes the sweets were behind the counter.  The grocer is invaded by a group of school kids buying candy from the grocer.  It seems like this section of the show involved a school field trip because after the trip to the store they went to the butcher where Mr. Sharp was trying to explain his trade.  After that trip, they went to the toy store and the blacksmith struggles to try to sell his toys.  He wants to give the toys away.

The locals are less than thrilled with the bakers.  Seriously, did the producers even try to teach the Devlins how to operate their ovens before they came onto the show?  I am sure that Ruth Goodman would have enthusiastically caught them up with how to run the ovens and how determine temperatures.  She would probably teach Caroline how to make cakes too.  Ruth Goodman is a magician.  It took three episodes for someone to step in and teach Caroline how to make cakes.  Sheesh, the show would have been served by someone stepping in before and teaching her how to make cakes.  Will Caroline be able to turn things around?

I am mixed about this series, there are good points to it and there are annoying points to this series.  The most annoying point was how the Chamber of Commerce worked with Devlin.  Yeah, the period clothing is fantastic and it does show how shopping and the trades changed, but I question how much work was put into recruiting the families and walking them through what was expected of them as part of the series.

Good morning, we are winding up the year with something fun and frivolous for December.  We are going through the Turn Back Time: The High Street series.  I almost had a near panic believing that I had reviewed this series before, but when I flipped through the old blogs I saw that I did not.  I merely had it listed in my suggested documentary list, so now it is time to give the series a proper review.  This time the shopkeepers are going back to the Edwardian Period and they are joined by a dressmaker in this episode.  The Edwardian age was characterized by etiquette, customer service, and refinement.  Women were also speaking up for their right to vote.  Shopping became an activity.  The run time for this episode is 57:39.

The families are joined by staff to help them run their stores.  The tearoom, the grocer, and the butcher have two extra members helping them out.  The Devlins are in for a shock when they realize that the bakery has been turned into a tea room, so Caroline will have to bake cakes instead of bread.  This poor family, did anyone actually teach them how to make cakes?  Did they even get training on how to handle the ovens?  The butchers are shocked to discover that they will have to hang game animals.  The blacksmith is also in for a shock by running a penny bazaar.  The penny bazaar would be equivalent to the modern dollar store.  Simon is less than thrilled with the store.  In the Victorian Age, he would have made his stock, but now with the Edwardian era, there was a shift in mass production.

The Butcher’s son is bored two hours into a day in one.  With the extra staff members on site, he is not able to help out in the shop as much as he would like.  Mr. Sharp would like to show him that butcher He goes out in the street to drum up visits for the shop.  I would have enjoyed hearing more of a conversation between the son and the two old ladies, who had experience in cooking animal game.  At lunchtime, the tea shop is going to open.  Caroline struggles to get to grips with baking cakes.  Did someone even take the time to give her hints as to regulate the ovens?  I think that would have been a big help to Caroline.

The Sergison family is going to have an additional challenge in running the grocery store.  A young couple is getting married and they want to have an Edwardian-themed wedding.  The family works to research what those entail.  The couple is feeling a bit shocked and overwhelmed with what the Edwardian expectations were.  The blacksmith recruits the Baker’s son to help him in the shop because he wants to get back to the forge.  He is feeling how far the blacksmith trade has declined in public perception.

Judith makes a surprise trip to the tea room and is disappointed in what she found.  What did she expect?  Caroline does not have experience in baking cakes, maybe the producers should have helped the Devlin’s out with some additional training.  By not helping them out, this series is rapidly going the way of American-based reality tv and going for the drama.  There is a discussion on World War I and how the men went off to fight.  In this series, the men went off and spent time away from the shops.  The men talk about how they feel as if they were in the Edwardian men’s shoes.  They also talk about how the war would have had an impact on the shops too, there were shortages of food.

In comparison to the Turn Back Time The Family edition, I feel like someone had gone over what was expected of them in comparison to Turn Back Time The High Street.  The Devlins were floundering and could have used better guidance.  This show is showing how shopping has changed over the eras and how the high street changed.  At the end of the episode, you get the feeling that the blacksmith is on his way out.  I am sure there are better series on how shopping and shopping areas have changed over the years in comparison to this series.  That said, I would rank this series higher than 24 Hours in the Past.

Good morning, it is December and now I am on to the fun and frivolous documentaries.  Mainly these are documentaries that are just for fun and do not necessarily fit into any sort of curriculum space.  These would be more appropriate for a brain break for the students.  The first documentary to kick off December is Turn Back Time: The High Street.  This is a reality tv meets history TV series.  The Run time for this episode is 57:36 and is narrated by Hugh Bonneville.

A group of shopkeepers and their families are going back in time.  They will take over empty shops on the British High Street in Shepton Mallett and run them as they would have been run during certain time periods.  The high street will be left to the charge of a chamber of commerce.  The chamber of commerce will consist of Gregg Wallace, Juliet Gardner, and Tom Herbert.  Sadly, there were points in the series where Juliet annoyed me.  I am reminding myself that I am watching this series so you teacher does not have to.  A group of citizens has agreed to shop only at these stores for the experiment.  The first time period the series explores is the Victorian period.

The four shopkeepers and their families are the Sergison’s, Devlin’s, and the Sharps.  They are joined by Simon Grant-Jones, Gillian Cockwell, David Lashmar, and husband and wife Sunder and Pam Sandher.  The Sergison family owns a delicatessen and will be the grocers.  The Devlin family are bakers and will be bakers in the show.  The Sharp family are butchers and will practice that profession as it would have been practiced.  Going through these families I was reminded of how much I did not like this show.  What the producers did to the Devlin family was a travesty.  I was also annoyed at what they made Gillian do too.

The Chamber of Commerce meets up with the families to talk about the experiment.  Once they meet up with the families the families are off and exploring the shops.  The families also talk about their expectations for the project.  The families set to work to get their shops ready for the next day.   The Devlin’s are particularly shocked by the manual rules for the bakery.  I felt really offended by the Chamber of Commerce when it comes to the Devlins.  Honestly, did they even provide a bread recipe for these bakers?  Also based on the TV series Victorian Bakers, there were women who worked in the bakery and helped with the baking. 

Father and son pair the Sharp family are going to work in the butcher shop.  Mr. Sharp talks about how the butcher industry has changed over the years.  He wants to teach the skills that had been taught through the generations of his family.  The Sharps were butchers since the Victorian Era.  Mr. Sharp and his son work to cut up a pig to sell to the customers the next day.  Even though the shop is closed, they are attracting some curiosity.

The next day the shopkeepers are working on preparing their shops to open to the public.  The Devlins are in for a shock, Mr. Devlin has done poorly with preparing the bread.  He did not make enough loaves of bread and the bread he made was salty.  The locals are just as nervous as the shopkeepers with this experience.  The shops open and the visitors come in.  Mr. Devlin’s bread is not selling well.  Caroline is feeling discouraged with the whole experience so far.

The locals are very surprised by their experience with the Victorian grocers.  There won’t be many of the modern conveniences in Victorian Groceries.   Everything has to be measured and measured by hand.  The girls are working in the back trying to fulfill orders.  The locals are complaining about the time it takes to fulfill their orders.

The butcher shop may have the toughest road ahead in getting the shoppers into the building.  Mr. Sharp demonstrates the butcher trade to the residents.  Some people are appalled but others are intrigued. 

The concept behind the series was good, but I wonder how accurate some of the things were.  The same things that annoyed me when I first watch this series continued to annoy me watching it again.  Skip this episode.

Good morning, we are nearly done with World War I and World War II documentaries for November.  So today, I will do a wrap-up for the month.  I finished up The Great War in Numbers.  I was also glad to explore the Deep Sea Detective Series, although I think some of the episodes could have been done in December for Fun and Frivolous.  December will be documentaries that are fun and frivolous.  They may not fit in perfectly with the school curriculum but could be shown just for the fun of it.  These were the documentaries that were featured for November.

World War I
The Great War In Numbers - Episode 1 (44:46) Episode 2(45:13)  Episode 3 (44:58) Episode 4 (45:09) Episode 5 (45:03) Episode 6 (45:02)
World War I: The Numbers covers the sheer numbers involved in World War I.  The Imperial powers were not satisfied with the vast territories and wealth they acquired over decades.  So when in 1914, when the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire was killed the world exploded.  This war would kill 18 million people.  This war would change world history.  *Recommended for a high school world history classroom.  Recommended for an independent study student.*

The First Tank Battle - YouTube  (44:11)
World War I was the first war where tanks were introduced in warfare.  It was the British that introduced the first tanks.  The British were determined to end the stalemate of trench water.  The Germans did not know what happen.  However, they caught up with lethal fire and then with their tanks.  How did the first tanks develop?  Would they put a stop to trench warfare?  This documentary explores the history of the tank and the greatest battles they participated in. *Recommended for a high school world history classroom.  Recommended for an independent study student who has an interest in military history.*

HMS Audacious - YouTube (50:05)
Today, deep sea divers are going to investigate the British battleship “HMS Audacious.”  It was declared unsinkable and went into battle during World War I.  She struck a mine and the men onboard her fought to keep her alive.  It was a secondary, mysterious explosion that sent her down to the bottom of the Irish Sea.  The wreck lies 14 miles off the tip of Ireland.  So what caused this second explosion that sent her to the bottom?   *Recommended for a history and science classroom.*

SS Armenian - YouTube (49:31)
The year is June 1915.  The SS Armenian is carrying 1400 mules for the battlefields of Europe.  A U-boat spots the ship and fires.  Twenty-nine Americans are killed and the mules are sent to the bottom of the sea.  Americans already outraged by the Lusitania sinking are made even angrier.  The sinking of this ship would cause a second international incident between Germany and the United States.  Now a team of divers plans to locate the wreck of the ship off Cornwall.  Will these divers be successful?  *Recommended for independent study students and for the history classroom.*

The Great War Tour - Episode 1 (45:27)  Episode 2 (48:55)  Episode 3 (51:24) Episode 4 (49:49)
Norm Christie, a military historian has traveled extensively through the western front of the Great War.  This series focuses on the Canadian soldiers that were killed during the Great War.  60,000 Canadians were killed during the Great War.  Christie looks at the impact of Canadian soldiers during the Great War.  He looks at the sacred sites, missing soldiers and other areas where the Canadians fought.  *Skip the first episode.  The other three episodes are excellent and should be shown in a Canadian history class.*

The Hidden Secrets of the Battle of Yrpes - YouTube (1:10:25)
Norm Christie examines the Battlefields of Ypres in the Lost Battlefield series.  He is exploring the story of the Canadian soldiers that were killed during World War I.  The Battle of Mount Sorrel and the Battle of Hill 70 would shape the Canadian Corps.  He explores the legacy of the Canadian Corps and its contributions to the Great War.  Christie travels to the battlefields of Yrpes to learn about the Canadian contributions to the Great War.  *Not recommended for a history class.*

The Kaiser's Pirates - YouTube (52:15)
The story of World War I piracy begins in the port of Kiel in Germany.  The ship was called the Wolf.  The SMS Wolf was engaging in piracy during World War I.  The Grandson of the captain of the ship has been doing research on the ship.  In 1916, a ship slipped out of the harbor and went on a voyage.  The ship was on an important mission for the Kaiser.  She was going to engage in piracy on the high seas during World War I.  *Recommended for a history class and for independent study students.*

Good morning, we are nearly done with World War I and World War II documentaries for November.  So today, I will do a wrap-up for the month.  I finished up The Great War in Numbers.  I was also glad to explore the Deep Sea Detective Series, although I think some of the episodes could have been done in December for Fun and Frivolous.  December will be documentaries that are fun and frivolous.  They may not fit in perfectly with the school curriculum but could be shown just for the fun of it.  These were the documentaries that were featured for November.

World War II in Numbers - Episode 3 Backs to the Wall - YouTube (45:02)
Britain evacuated thousands of troops from Dunkirk and was now squarely the target of the enemy.  Adolf Hitler was planning a full-scale invasion of Britain.  Once the British were defeated, he would turn his eyes to Russia.  However, his plans hinged on the Germans achieving air superiority.  Unfortunately for Hitler, the Brits had other plans for the battle of the air.  How did the Royal Air Force manage to defeat the German Air Force in the skies?  *This is a highly recommended documentary for a world history classroom.  Highly Recommended for independent study students.*

World War II in Numbers - Episode 4 Global War - YouTube (44:57)
United States President Roosevelt is running for an unprecedented third term in office.  America entering World War II seems inevitable.  However, the US public does not want to enter a war.  However, there are forces swirling around that make the United States entering the war seem inevitable.  Things change when Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.  By attacking Pearl Harbor, the course of the war was changed.  *This is a highly recommended documentary for a world history classroom.  Highly Recommended for independent study students.*

World War II in Numbers - Episode 8 Twilight of the Axis - YouTube (45:57)
March 1945, Hitler issued one of the most chilling orders of his regime.  He gave the order to destroy everything that could help the enemy.  Germany would have been totally destroyed by the order.  The German commanders ignored the order.  Why would Hitler order such a thing?  In his mind, if Germany was defeated then they were the weaker nation and should not survive.  On the other side of the world, the Japanese were willing to fight to the last man.  *This is a highly recommended documentary for a world history classroom.  Highly Recommended for independent study students.*

Battle of the Bulge - YouTube (46:33)
It is December 1944 and the Germans launch an attack on the Ardennes Forest.  This is the first step in what would become known as the Battle of the Bulge.  The Americans are taken completely by surprise by the one last desperate attempt to turn the tides of war.  The American forces push back against the German troops with tanks in the largest tank counterattack in all of World War II.  *This is a highly recommended documentary for a world history classroom.  Highly Recommended for independent study students.*

Leningrad - The Hero City - YouTube (51:59)
Leningrad was subjected to the longest siege in the history of war.  The city was both bombed and shelled by the Nazis.  The siege lasted nine hundred days and killed one million inhabitants.  However, the city and its residents stood against the Nazi invasion.  Leningrad defied the odds and its residents survived without electricity, sewage disposal, and food.  How did they do it?  How could they survive such an onslaught?  *This is a highly recommended documentary for a world history classroom.  Highly Recommended for independent study students.*

Station X - YouTube (1:53:15)
Bletchley Park was Britain’s super secret headquarters for cracking German codes during World War II.  Germany employed the Enigma machine and this was a machine that produced unbreakable codes.  Against all the odds school boys, academics, and crossword fanatics worked to crack those codes.  Once those codes were cracked Germany’s greatest weapon was turned into Germany’s greatest liability.  This documentary is a first-hand account of what went on in Bletchley Park. *This is recommended documentary for a world history classroom.  Highly Recommended for independent study students.*

Leopoldville - YouTube (50:43)
An allied troop ship lies in ruins.  It is here that nearly 800 American soldiers lost their lives.  It is evidence of a forgotten tragedy.  Secrecy and mystery surround this shipwreck.  It sunk on Christmas Eve bringing over troops to France.  Why did so many men die in this wreck?  What were the mistakes that were made that delayed the rescue of these men?  A new dive on the wreck reveals new details about the sinking.  What went so horribly wrong on this wreck?  *Recommended for a history classroom and independent study students.*

Queen Mary and Curacoa - YouTube (51:52)
It is the height of World War II and the RMS Queen Mary has been converted into a troop ship.  She is carrying US Troops to Europe to fight in the war.  When she gets to the Irish Coast, she is met by the escort ships that will escort her through the Irish Seas.  Unfortunately, Queen Mary rams one of her escort ships the Curacoa.  The light cruiser sinks in six minutes and only ninety-nine sailors survived the shipwreck.  What happened to cause this ramming?  What will the wreck divers discover about the ramming?  Who is to blame for this tragedy? *Recommended for a history classroom and independent study students.*

Well, after the disappointment of yesterday’s documentary on World War I, I went digging and hopefully found something that will make up for yesterday’s documentary.  Just because World War I took place in the modern era does not mean that piracy was not employed.  This documentary is called The Kaiser’s Pirates and the run time for this documentary is 52:15.  The Kaiser’s Pirates is German produced with English subtitles.

The story of World War I piracy begins in the port of Kiel in Germany.  The ship was called the Wolf.  The SMS Wolf was engaging in piracy during World War I.  The Grandson of the captain of the ship has been doing research on the ship.  In 1916, a ship slipped out of the harbor and went on a voyage.  The ship was on an important mission for the Kaiser.  She was going to engage in piracy on the high seas during World War I.

The SMS Wolf looked like an ordinary merchant freighter.  However, her features that were designed to make war were well hidden from the public.  She went to Australia and after her mission was complete she returned to Germany.  The German Navy never expected her to come back, however, she did and her story would go down in piracy history.

With German waters under a blockade, the German navy employed different tactics to break the blockade.  The German merchant ships managed to sneak out, but no ship sailed as far as the SMS Wolf did.  The Wolf managed to slip out of the blockade.  The captain of the ship was a master navigator and a clever man.  He was admired by his crew.  He was not an aristocrat and the German Navy felt like he would be the perfect pirate and was expendable.

The Wolf sailed into the Atlantic and encountered a lot of ice.  After the icy introduction, the Wolf set its course South.  The Wolf was a steamship and consumed tons of coal a day.  The captain would have to keep an eye on the coal reserved and would need to raid to get more coal.  The Wolf remained undetected for five weeks.  Before continuing on her voyage her crew would be drilled in preparation for potential attacks.

The Wolf sailed towards Africa and in South Africa, she would leave mines behind.  Ships would hit the mines and sink.  The Wolf would capture one ship and would put a German Crew on board.  However, the British captured it back and discovered that there was a hunter in the Indian Ocean.  Newspapers at the time would report the movement of the mystery ship.  The Wolf continued to make its way south and it ended up in Australian waters.  Nobody could find the mystery ships.

It would encounter a ship called the Matunga would be captured and there were many prisoners taken on the ship.  The newspapers would report that the ship vanished at sea, not revealing that the ship had been captured by the Germans.  There were prisoners taken aboard the Wolf and the prisoners were treated with a great deal of respect.  A young woman named Rose Flood, a young Australian was a pretty young woman and would cause trouble for the German sailors.  The sailors organized games for her.  Children were among the prisoners on the Wolf and one American child befriended the crew.  However, she would become known as a menace to the sailors.

Will the British manage to catch the Wolf?  Where else did this ship go?  What happened to the prisoners of war on board?  What is the truth about the Wolf?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more about the SMS Wolf.

Well, this was a surprising documentary to come across on YouTube.  Who knew that the Germans engaged in piracy during World War I?  This fact was rather neat to discover because you would have never thought about piracy being part of World War I.  There was plenty of discussion on the blockade and U-boats.  This documentary had a very good pace to it as well and the recreations were very well done.  This documentary should be on the list of potential documentaries to show to a history class.