The best episodes of The War
Ranked by viewer rating, highs first. Vote on a placement to back it or contest it. Fewer than 10 rated episodes — treat this ranking as provisional.
- 01
December 1941 - December 1942: The tranquil lives of the citizens of Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; Waterbury, Connecticut; and Luverne, Minnesota are shattered on December 7, 1941, as they, along with the rest of America, are thrust into the greatest cataclysm in history.
- 02
March 1945 - December 1945: A few weeks after the death of President Roosevelt shocks the country, Germany surrenders. Meanwhile, American sailors, soldiers and Marines endure the worst battle of the Pacific - Okinawa. In August, American planes drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Japanese, too, surrender. Millions return home - to try to learn how to live in a world without war.
- 03
January 1943 - December 1943: Americans mobilize for total war at home and overseas. Factories hum around the clock, while in North Africa and then Italy, inexperienced GIs learn how to fight. Meanwhile, in the skies over Europe, thousands of American airmen gamble their lives against preposterous odds on daylight bombing missions.
- 04
November 1943 - June 1944: Americans are shocked by terrible losses on the Pacific atoll of Tarawa, while in Italy Allied forces are stalled for months at Monte Cassino, and a risky landing at Anzio fails utterly. At home, as overcrowded "war towns" boom, economic transformation leads to confrontation and ugly racial violence.
- 05
Pride of Our Nation / A Volunteer Basis
June 1944 - August 1944: On June 6, 1944, D-Day, 1.5 million Allied troops take part in the greatest invasion in history, but then bog down in the Norman hedgerows for weeks. Saipan proves the costliest Pacific battle to date, while back home dreaded telegrams from the War Department begin arriving at an inconceivable rate.
- 06
September 1944 - December 1944: Victory in Europe seems imminent, but in Holland, the Vosges Mountains, and the Hurtgen Forest, GIs learn painful lessons as old as war itself - that generals make plans, plans go wrong and soldiers die. Meanwhile, on the island of Peleliu, the Marines fight one of the most brutal and unnecessary battles of the Pacific.
- 07
December 1944 - March 1945: Americans are shocked by Hitler's massive counterattack in the Ardennes forest - but by mid-March, 1945, they are across the Rhine, while the Russians are 50 miles from Berlin. In the Pacific, after weeks of desperate fighting, Iwo Jima is secured, and American bombers begin a full-fledged air assault on Japan.
Shows like The War
The closest matches on shared genres, ranked by match strength and popularity.
- 01War·History·DramaThe best episodes of SAS: Rogue Heroes2022–present·BBC iPlayer
Who dares wins. The adrenaline-fuelled origins of the fearless, reckless Special Forces unit, its legend forged among the mayhem of WWII. - 02War·History·DramaThe best episodes of Masters of the Air2024–2024
Masters of the Air follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the "Bloody Hundredth") as they conduct perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany and grapple with the frigid conditions, lack of oxygen and sheer terror of… - 03War·HistoryThe best episodes of The American Revolution2025–2025
The American Revolution was at once a war for independence, a war of conquest, a civil war, and a world war, fought by neighbors on American farms and between global powers an ocean or more away. - 04War·History·DramaThe best episodes of World on Fire2019–2023·BBC iPlayerThree young people are in the eye of the storm as World War II explodes around them.
- 05War·History·DramaThe best episodes of A Small Light2023–2023·National Geographic
A Small Light follows twenty-something Miep Gies who, when her boss Otto Frank came to her and asked her to hide his family from the Nazis during World War II, didn't hesitate. - 06War·History·DramaThe best episodes of Rise of Empires: Ottoman2020–2022
Using a blend of scripted and documentary elements, Ottoman tells the story of Mehmed II, aka Mehmed the Conqueror, 15th century reign of Ottoman ruler.
