‘Moments in Time’ puts events into focus

“December 19, 1777. Meet Gen. George Washington: loser,” begins the narration by host James Woods. “In just three months, he has lost three catastrophic battles in a row. Even the Founding Fathers are on the run.” The British have overrun the fledgling nation’s capitol.

This is hardly the recollection of the American Revolution that comes to mind on July 4 nights when “the rockets’ red glare” is in the air. But this is the way of human nature: Events tend to become compressed and details erode over time. So the Discovery Channel’s new documentary series, “Moments in Time,” attempts to put viewers “in the moment” of historical events.

Tonight’s premiere at 9 fleshes out details of the run-up to the most critical battle of the Revolutionary War. “Valley Forge: The Crucible” effectively utilizes realistic re-creations and interviews with historians and archeologists to pick away at myths and reveal the magnitude of the events of the day, in the process opening a window onto the life of a typical soldier.

In the months before the battle, Washington’s situation was dire: His men hadn’t been trained and drilled; they’d made an agonizing march over frozen ground; they were exhausted and had little to eat. Morale was low and the troops didn’t even share a common language. There were French, Irish, Polish, German and African, all equally disenchanted with the war.

The man known for his honesty was forced to lie -- underreporting the number of sick to his troops, overstating the situation to the Founding Fathers as he appealed for more funds.

The program does a good job of establishing the drama, then goes on to examine the strategies that each side employed and demonstrates in detail why the colonists prevailed.

Subsequent episodes of “Moments in Time” will delve into such topics as the secrets of Antony and Cleopatra and the battle at Actium in 31 B.C.; the founding of Jamestown in 1607; the 1883 eruption of the Krakatoa volcano; and the spread of the plague across the European continent in the 14th century.