The best World War II documentary is now available to stream for free

WWI: Moment guns fell silent at the end of First World War

The World At War is a 1973 documentary series that can now be viewed on the website U.co.uk, which is great news for history enthusiasts like former England player Wayne Rooney.

Rooney's interest in history was highlighted by football writer Henry Winter, who accompanied the England squad to Auschwitz ahead of Euro 2012 when the team was based in Poland.

Winter noted: "Nothing prepares you for the evil within. It's vital to visit, to learn, to pay your respects, and to never forget. It was important for Wayne Rooney and some of the England players to leave their Euro 2012 base in nearby Krakow to make this visit. Footballers should step out of their bubble."

Rooney asked some of the most insightful questions of their guide, including, "How could the camp director step outside the gates and lead a normal family life after inflicting such horrors?"

This theme was recently explored in The Zone of Interest. When Winter asked Rooney how he became so knowledgeable about the Second World War, the striker revealed that he was "obsessed" with The World At War.

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World War II documentary The World At War is hugely acclaimed. (Image: Getty)

The documentary is a 26-part series narrated by legendary actor Laurence Olivier which details the events of the conflict. "I've been to Auschwitz and Auschwitz II-Birkenau five times, each visit as grim as the last," Winter wrote in the Spectator.

Speaking at the time, Rooney said of the visit: "It's hard to understand, so tough. When you see the amount of children's clothes and shoes, it's such a sad experience. You have to see it first-hand to understand, and of course it puts football into perspective.

"It will never be forgotten. We know that kids nowadays are interested in footballers, and if a few more people understand what happened because we came here today then that has to be good."

The World at War attracted widespread acclaim and now it is regarded as a landmark in British television history.

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Winston Churchill is one of the best known figures of the war. (Image: Getty) SUBSCRIBE Invalid email

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The series focused on a portrayal of the experience of the conflict: of how life and death throughout the war years affected soldiers, sailors and airmen, civilians, concentration camp inmates and other victims of the war.

The series took four years to produce, for £900,000 (equivalent to £13,700,000 in 2023), a record for a British television series. It was first shown in 1973 on ITV.

In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, which was compiled by the British Film Institute in 2000 and voted for by industry professionals, The World at War ranked 19th, the highest-placed documentary on the list.

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The series was originally transmitted on the ITV network in Britain between 31 October 1973 and 8 May 1974 and has since been shown worldwide.

It was first shown on various stations in the US in 1974. WOR in New York aired the series in the mid-1970s, although episodes were edited for graphic content and to include sufficient commercial breaks.

PBS station WNET in New York broadcast the series unedited and in its entirety in 1982 as did WGBH in the late 1980s.

The Military History Channel in the UK broadcast the series over the weekend of 14 and 15 November 2009. The Military Channel (now American Heroes Channel) in the United States aired the series in January 2010, and has shown it regularly since.