Plot Synopsis

Host U.S. Army General Wesley K. Clark revisits the string of events that paved the way for the world's most critical declarations of war, while examining each pivotal decision as leaders brought their countries to the very edge and identifying their motivations for risking it all. Gen. Clark is a 38-year veteran with the U.S. Army who, during that time, rose to the rank of four-star General and served as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander and in Chief of the United States European Command. Episodes include: "Hitler's False Flag," where Adolf Hitler needed to convince the world he was justified in attacking Poland by training and equipping recruits to act as Polish soldiers, who then attacked German facilities along the German-Polish border; "MacArthur's Great Gamble," where Gen. Douglas MacArthur devised an amphibious assault at Inchon after having failed to stop Kim Il Sung's forces on land; "Castro's Revolution," where Fidel Castro's failed attack on Gen. Fulgencio Batista's Moncada Barracks drove him to Mexico, where he and his army trained for a date with Batista's mighty military; "Saddam vs. the Ayatollah," where Khomeini uncovered a coup plot amongst the Iranian air force and executed scores of airmen, giving Hussein the opportunity to strike; "Thatcher's War," where the Argentinian Military Junta invaded the Falklands, a rocky British outpost long regarded by Argentinians as their own; and "Taking Down Noriega," where President George H. W. Bush ordered a highly organized invasion, Operation Just Cause, to capture the general Panamanian Defense Forces personnel who killed an off-duty U.S. Marine just before Christmas.