Documentaries on National History

Wezoin

I'd like to start learning about the histories/politics of various countries, and, quite frankly, I find reading tedious and boring (especially considering the amount of reading I already need to do for school.)

I would ideally like to find one about every country, but I would like some ideas on where to start. I plan to watch most of them over next summer, but figured I should start accumulating them early and watch some of them throughout the year.

Basically I'm looking for historical overviews, documentaries that look into the entire (or most of) history of a country, without having to go into too much detail about each event.

So far I've found Canada: A People's History, and Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain by the BBC. Both of these are 'series' based documentaries split into several episodes, so I'm fine with those as well if you happen to know of any.

Countries I'd especially like to find documentaries about include:
China, Japan, Australia, United States, Germany, France

tl;dr - What are some of your favourite documentaries dealing with nations and their histories or politics?

RMS Oceanic

For Britain beyond 1900, I recommend Simon Schama's A History of Britain. It's a bit Anglo-centric, in that Scotland, Wales and Ireland usually aren't featured unless they're interacting with England, but I found it pretty good.

It's in 15 1-hour parts though.

Wezoin

RMS Oceanic wrote: »

For Britain beyond 1900, I recommend Simon Schama's A History of Britain. It's a bit Anglo-centric, in that Scotland, Wales and Ireland usually aren't featured unless they're interacting with England, but I found it pretty good.

It's in 15 1-hour parts though.

Thanks very much, I'll look into it at some point. I think most of them are probably regionally known but not foreignly known, which is the only reason I can't seem to find many.

Chanus

For the US, look for anything made by Ken Burns.

It will be individual events (like the Civil War being his most famous), but they are fantastic.

Kipling

Your local library, if they have DVDs. A large portion are DVD that are supposed to teach you something. Generally, these are also the ones that are never checked out.

PBS or National Geographic Channel (on Hulu?) may have others.

Of what I've watched on Hulu, PBS's Empires is good, but on long past empires, not current countries.

Decius

If you want to learn about Canadian History, lookup the series "Canada: A People's History". I do warn you though, even in televised form Canadian history is a little dry.

If you want real Canadian history, lookup "Hockey: A People's History"

Wezoin

Decius wrote: »

If you want to learn about Canadian History, lookup the series "Canada: A People's History". I do warn you though, even in televised form Canadian history is a little dry.

If you want real Canadian history, lookup "Hockey: A People's History"

I already have both of these - but thanks for the suggestions. Being Canadian I'm used to its dryness.

Decius

Oh hey cool, a fellow Canuck. Couldn't tell from your title there.

If you want some American stuff, I found the documentary "The American Future - A History" to be well done and interesting. It's by the BBC so it seems a lot more balanced and less America, Fuck yeah!.