Chocolate Wars Archive

Chocolate is as synonymous with America as baseball and apple pie. From the Hershey Bar to M&M's, chocolate is the favorite guilty pleasure of millions of Americans. However, the men who introduced this grand confection to the masses were every bit as quirky as characters in the most outlandish children's novels. The story of the war between the two great American chocolate companies is just as entertaining as some of the greatest works of fiction.

Chocolate Wars, a one-hour documentary to be shown on the Discovery Channel, explores the murky world of the American candy industry. The show will mainly focus on the duel between the Hershey Corporation and the Mars Corporation, who have been competing for dominance over the American candy market since the 1930s. NewspaperARCHIVE.com, the largest database of newspapers online, is providing a free archive on the history of the American chocolate industry in conjunction with the documentary.

Within the archive, you will find articles that chronicle the history of Milton Hershey, Frank, Ethel and Forrest Mars from Milton Hershey's early days in the caramel-making business to the current-day battle for chocolate supremacy played out on supermarket, drugstore and convenience store shelves. Click on the timeline above to view newspapers in chronological order or begin searching the newspaper pages with your own key words.