The Best TV Shows About War and Other Conflicts

A poor Korean boy escapes and gets smuggled into the United States after America’s Shinmiyangyo Expedition to Korea in 1871 but eventually returns to his homeland and falls in love with an aristocrat’s daughter. It turns out her family is part of a secret plan by Japan to colonize Korea.

Set in the final days of the Roman Republic, “Rome” includes portrayals of historical figures such as Mark Antony, Cicero, and Julius Caesar. The show received seven Emmy Awards over its two-year run and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Drama Series.

One of few comedies on this list, “Blackadder Goes Forth” takes place on the Western Front in the trenches of World War I in 1917. The award-winning show, which has a total of six episodes, follows a captain in the British Army and several other soldiers who try to escape.

“Das Boot” is a 1985 miniseries about life on a German submarine, the U-96, during World War II. It is based on Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s 1973 best-selling novel of the same name and the Oscar-nominated movie it spawned. The miniseries depicts life aboard a submarine as mostly confined drudgery, punctuated by periods of sheer terror.

This 10-part miniseries was created by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, who also collaborated on the WWII epic “Saving Private Ryan.” The miniseries, based on the book by historian Stephen Ambrose, follows the triumphs and tragedies of members of the 101st Airborne Division’s Easy Company as they fight their way across France and into Germany. The miniseries was hailed for its realistic battle scenes and for portraying the psychological toll combat takes on soldiers.