The Century: America's Time

Season 1, Episode 2: 1914-1919: Shell Shock

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The psychological damage inflicted by the stupefying bombardments of World War I was called shell shock, a term that aptly described the feeling of the post-war world. This program illustrates America’s reluctant emergence as a world power and analyzes the impact of the wholesale sense of loss – of life, of husbands and fathers, and of sacred ideals such as honor, patriotism, and glory – that sprang from "the war to end all wars."