I've always been interested in history documentaries, while never having the desire to study history academically. Ancient civilizations, especially Egyptian and Asian, are particularly interesting to me. However, I watched two documentaries recently that really opened my eyes and they were both about American war.

The first was Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie, a documentary about the development of atomic weapons and the hyrdrogen bomb by Americans and subsequently the Russians. It not only covered the increasing power of these weapons as a major theme but also their consequences as a minor one.

What I had not realised before this documentary is that in later testing atomic weapons were detonated many miles above the earth (though I don't know if it was still in the upper atmosphere or if it was considered "outer space") and that most of this atomic testing occured even before Sputnik was launched or the invention of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The documentary is absolutely visually stunning, just watching the massive bombs going off and their effects on the ground and the atmosphere. The haunting and aggressive music, performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, adds to the mood of the film tremendously.

The second film was Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, a documentary slash interview about Robert McNamara, who was secretary of defense of the United States from 1961 to 1968.

For a man his age (85) he has a sharp memory of the past, and uses it to reflect on what happened what could have been done differently. Especially interesting are his insights on the Cuban Missile Crisis and the War in Vietnam and then meeting with the higher-ups on those countries much later in life and learning their perspectives. It's crazy to think of how these situations could have changed: how things could have been much worse in Cuba and with Russia during the Cold War and how things could have been much better in Vietnam.

He is proud of his accomplishments and realises that many lives were lost because of his decisions but does not regret that. Right at the beginning of the film he says that as long as you learn from your mistakes, it's OK to make them. But he says "there will be no learning period with nuclear weapons. You make one mistake and you are going to destroy nations."

I recommend watching them both, of course. It's almost surreal to watch these films and to think about living in this era, just 40-50 years ago. As a member of generation X it's hard to even fathom it, the Cold War ended before I even knew what it was. But I think it's important for younger generations to understand the mistakes that were made and the lessons that were learned before they are lost or ignored as relics of the past. We need to realise that we're in a much better place now and we need to know why.