It was originally written for American soldiers to help them understand why the United States was involved in the war, but US President Franklin Roosevelt ordered distribution for public viewing.

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Frank Capra, daunted but impressed and challenged by Leni Riefenstahl's 1935 propaganda film Triumph of the Will, worked in direct response.

The series faced various challenges, such as convincing a noninterventionist nation to get involved in the war and to become an ally of the Soviet Union.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and America's subsequent joining World War II, American film director Frank Capra enlisted with the armed forces.

He was already an established Hollywood director responsible for directing films winning Academy Award such as It Happened One Night (1934) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939).

Marshall felt that the Signal Corps, an army branch responsible for communications, was incapable of producing "sensitive and objective troop information films".

You see, Frank, this idea about films to explain "Why" the boys are in uniform is General Marshall's own baby, and he wants the nursery right next to his Chief of Staff's office.

[2]Shortly after his meeting with General Marshall, Capra viewed Leni Riefenstahl's "terrifying motion picture", Triumph of the Will.

Though panoplied with all the pomp and mystical trappings of a Wagnerian opera, its message was as blunt and brutal as a lead pipe: We, the Herrenvolk, are the new invincible gods!

[3]Weeks later, after major efforts and disappointments, Capra located hard-to-reach archives within government facilities, and by avoiding normal channels, he was able to gain access: Peterson and I walked away on air.

[3]Produced from 1942 to 1945, the seven installments range from 40 to 76 minutes in length, and all are available for free on DVD or online since they have always been public domain material by the US government.

[12] The films employed a great deal of stock footage, including enemy propaganda (such as the Nazis' Triumph of the Will) recontextualized to discredit its creators.

The quotation ending each film ("The victory of the democracies can only be complete with the utter defeat of the war machines of Germany and Japan") is from the Army Chief of Staff George Marshall.

"Throughout his career, Capra depended upon his skill as an editor to achieve the contrast of the individual and the group, critical in the success of his Hollywood movies.

[25][26] Capra was involved in a number of other World War II propaganda films that were not part of the Why We Fight series.