Band of Brothers (miniseries)

Band of Brothers is a 2001 American^[2] war drama miniseries based on historian Stephen E. Ambrose's 1992 non-fiction book of the same name.^[3] It was created by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, who also served as executive producers, and who had collaborated on the 1998 World War II film Saving Private Ryan, where the series got many of its visual cues and crew members.^[4] Episodes first aired on HBO from September 9 to November 4, 2001.

The series dramatizes the history of "Easy" Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. It begins during Easy Company's paratrooper training and follows its participation in the Western Front of World War II from D-Day to their occupation of Berchtesgaden. The events are based on Ambrose's research and recorded interviews with Easy Company veterans. Although all the characters are based directly on members of Easy Company, the series took some literary license, adapting history for dramatic effect and series structure.^[5][6] Each episode begins with excerpts from interviews with some of the survivors, who are identified by name only at the end of the finale. The title of the book and series comes from the St. Crispin's Day speech in William Shakespeare's play Henry V, delivered by King Henry before the Battle of Agincourt. Ambrose quotes a passage from the speech on his book's first page; this passage is recited by Carwood Lipton in the series finale.

Band of Brothers received universal acclaim and would go on to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries. Retrospective reviews have cited it as one of the greatest television shows of all time, and it is widely seen as a pioneering entry in Peak TV in large part due to its high production value which many compared favorably to Saving Private Ryan.^[7][8] Its success led to the creation of two companion piece miniseries, also with Spielberg's and Hanks' involvement, that feature the exploits of other military branches during World War II: The Pacific (2010) and Masters of the Air (2024).