‘The Great War’ offers parallels to current events
What a difference a century makes. And doesn’t. “American Experience” (9 p.m., PBS) devotes three nights and six hours to the 100th anniversary of the United States’ entry into “The Great War.”
Night one is devoted to the years leading up to April 1917 and the great debate within the United States about meddling in what many considered to be a European slaughterhouse far from our shores.
While this “American Experience” features old silent newsreels, many of the controversies have contemporary, even immediate, echoes.
Not unlike last week’s revelation of civilian deaths in Syria, reports in 1914 of German atrocities against Belgians caused many Americans to question the morality of neutrality. Others wondered then, as now, how much America should intervene in the affairs of other nations.
Very recent controversies about “fake news” and Russia’s efforts to influence American media and voters also have an eerie parallel to the buildup to World War I. Between 1914 and 1917, the German government spent large sums trying to influence American and German-American opinion, paying many journalists and press agents to tilt the news Berlin’s way.
The British took more direct action, cutting the telegraph cables between the European continent and the United States. For the duration of the war, all information had to come through London and the British cable, guaranteeing a pro-Allies slant.
This fascinating history recalls efforts by women’s suffrage groups to lobby for pacifism and a strenuous campaign by former president Teddy Roosevelt to wage war against Germany. It explores the psychology of President Woodrow Wilson, a man whose wife died only weeks after war began in Europe and whose background as a Virginian born in 1856 gave him an intimate knowledge of life in a defeated and devastated country, the former Confederacy.
It also explores the difficulty of waging a foreign war when more than 30 percent of Americans were foreign-born. Millions of Irish, German and Russian Jewish immigrants had their reasons to distrust the British crown and the Russian czar.
Yet in 1917, that polyglot nation entered a war that changed the world utterly, in ways being felt to this day. “The Great War” continues on Tuesday and Wednesday. It is as richly rewarding and as absorbing as any “American Experience” since “The Roosevelts.”
WELCOME, JULIA
“Sesame Street” (8 a.m., HBO, TV-Y) introduces a new character, Julia, who shows Big Bird and other neighbors that children with autism have a different approach to social interaction.
TONIGHT’S HIGHLIGHTS
› Knockouts continue on “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
› “American Pickers” (9 p.m., History, TV-PG) enters its 17th season while “Pawn Stars” (10 p.m., History, TV-PG) enters its 14th.
› Jimmy and Chuck drift apart as the third season of “Better Call Saul” (10 p.m., AMC, TV-14) begins.
› Angie’s domestic bliss is put on hold on the third season premiere of “Angie Tribeca” (10:30 p.m., TBS, TV-14).
› Kevin befriends a crooner on “Kevin Can Wait” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).
› Conspiracies galore on “24: Legacy” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14).