The Divided Union

The Divided Union is a now 30 year old (it`s from 1987), 5 part documentary series about the American Civil War.

Back in the days it aired on Channel 4, but you can find it on YouTube as well these days.

While it is one of the many documentary series about this war, what, from the likes I`ve seen before on the campaign, is that it doesn`t really focus on the battles.  In fact, most battles get at best a 10 minute recounting in the series.  But instead, it focusses (like in episode 1) the political run up to the war, and (in episode 5) the situation for the african american 100 years after the war.

This makes it a bit different from many other series, as it has other experts as such that shed a light on  the conflict, as it doesn`t go into the battle tactics and generals as much, but in the fate of slave and civilian alike during the conflict.

It`s worth a watch, even though you probably won`t find it in HD images I fear...