Band of Brothers is a 2001 American war drama miniseries based on the 1992 non-fiction book of the same name by historian Stephen E. Ambrose. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, who also served as executive producers and collaborated on the 1998 World War II drama Saving Private Ryan, wrote and directed it. The first episode was broadcast on HBO on September 9, 2001. In 2001, the series was nominated for Emmy and Golden Globe awards for best miniseries.
The series depicts the history of the 101st Airborne Division’s ‘Easy’ Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, from jump training in the United States through participation insignificant events in Europe, up until Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II.
Ambrose’s research and audio interviews with Easy Company soldiers were used to create the events. For dramatic effect and series structure, the series used some literary license, altering history. The characters shown are based on Easy Company members. Preludes to the episodes feature excerpts from interviews with some of the survivors, although they are not revealed by name until the finale.
The St Crispin’s Day Speech, delivered by King Henry before the Battle of Agincourt in William Shakespeare’s play Henry V, inspired the title of the book and series. On the first page of his book, Ambrose repeats a paragraph from the speech; this passage is uttered by Carwood Lipton in the series finale.
