The Struggle For Sea Power: A Naval History of The American Revolution

From August 1914 to November 1918, an unprecedented catastrophe gripped the world that continues to reverberate into our own time. World War I was touched off by a terrorist act in Bosnia and all too quickly expanded far beyond the expectations of those who were involved to become the first "total war"—the first conflict involving entire societies mobilized to wage unrestrained war, devoting all their wealth, industries, institutions, and the lives of their citizens to win victory at any price.

The most unusual war of the 20th century took place in 1969. El Salvador and Honduras faced one another in a qualifying set for the 1970 World Cup. Tensions were already boiling over in the two countries over the issue of Salvadoran workers in Honduras. But soccer sometimes brings out the worst in people, and the games turned from friendly competition into a full-scale military invasion by El Salvador on its neighbor. Although the fighting lasted only four days, the combat damaged two nations already teetering on the brink of economic collapse. And it all started over a soccer game.

And you will find few war stories this potentially interesting in The Century of Warfare, an interminable series from the History Channel. A low-budget 1993 British production that relies on public domain footage, library music, and a monotonous British narrator with a soporific voice, this 26-episode series somehow manages to make one of the most inherently interesting subjects stunningly pedestrian and dull.