Educational Media Reviews Online

This video covers the first fifteen of thirty historical vignettes of important events of the twentieth century world, albeit with a distinct BBC bias toward those events which shaped the United Kingdom. Each segment lasts from two to three minutes and consists of a date and title frame followed by newsreel footage with explanatory narration. It seems clear that the segments, which collectively encompass the time period from 1901 through early 1942, are designed to be presented as individual units, not only due to the wide-ranging topics that are covered, but also because each vignette is preceded by the same twenty second slide show/musical theme (which was somewhat catchy introducing Queen Victoria's funeral but had lost all of its appeal by the time Montgomery attacked El Alamein). However, the cursory treatment of the historical topics that is required by the brevity of the segments makes their utility in supporting instruction, even as a jumping off point for class discussion, highly questionable. Not Recommended. Contents: Death of Queen Victoria (1901), Wright Brothers flight (1903), Battle of the Somme (1916), Abdication of Czar Nicholas II (1917), Establishment of the Irish Free State (1921), Britain's General Strike (1926), Lindbergh's Trans-Atlantic Flight (1927), Hitler's Appointment as Chancellor (1933), Abdication of King Edward VIII (1936), Crash of the Hindenberg (1937), Germany's Annexation of Austria (1938), Germany's Invasion of Poland (1939), Germany's Air Blitz of London (1940), Japan's Attack on Pearl Harbor (1941), Montgomery's Attack on El Alamein (1942).