Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uncovers the complex trade networks and advanced educational institutions that transformed early north and West Africa from deserted lands into the continent’s wealthiest kingdoms and learning epicentres. In Part 4 Gates explores the power of Africa’s greatest ancient cities, including Kilwa, Great Zimbabwe and Benin City, whose wealth, art and industrious successes attracted new European interest and interaction along the continent’s east and west coasts.
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Parts 1 and 2. Henry Louis Gates Jr. explores Africa's rich history. Journey with Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to Kenya, Egypt and beyond as he discovers the origins of man, the formation of early human societies and the creation of significant cultural and scientific achievements on the African continent. In part 2: Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. charts the ancient rise of Christianity & Islam, whose economic & cultural influence stretched from Egypt to Ethiopia. Learn of African religious figures like King Lalibela, an Ethiopian saint, and Menelik, bringer of the Ark of the Covenant.
2017 • History
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uncovers the complex trade networks and advanced educational institutions that transformed early north and West Africa from deserted lands into the continent’s wealthiest kingdoms and learning epicentres. In Part 4 Gates explores the power of Africa’s greatest ancient cities, including Kilwa, Great Zimbabwe and Benin City, whose wealth, art and industrious successes attracted new European interest and interaction along the continent’s east and west coasts.
2017 • History
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the impact of the Atlantic trading world, giving rise to powerful new kingdoms, but also transatlantic slave trade. Learn of the revolutionary movements of the 18th & early 19th centuries, including the advent of the Sokoto Caliphate. In the final part Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the dynamism of 19th century Africa, the “Scramble” by European powers for its riches, and the defiant and successful stand of uncolonized Ethiopia.
2017 • History
The search for the tomb of the greatest warrior who ever lived is a 2000-year-old mystery. The film searches all over Egypt and beyond and discovers how his body has been used as a political tool throughout the ages. Drama and CGI bring Alexander back to life and as we follow the clues we finally may have solved the mystery.
Part 5 • Egypt Unwrapped • 2008 • History
In late Victorian England, women began to organize to gain the right to vote. The fight for women's suffrage lasted well into the early 20th Century.
S2E2 • Butterfly Effect • 2017 • History
When did World War II begin? This film answers that question in a way most audiences will find surprising. Americans might say December 7th 1941... The day the Japanese Imperial Navy attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. For Europeans, it was September 1st 1939... When Nazi Germany invaded Poland. But in China, people will tell you a different date, August 13th 1937. That day, after a century of humiliation, and six years of repeated "Incidents" initiated by the Japanese military, China at last "stood up." This act of defiance took place in Shanghai, the most international city in Asia. It was headline news around the world. Today, the story is largely forgotten… except in China. The Battle of Shanghai has been described as the last battle of World War I, and the first battle of World War II. It was a warning to the world, a warning that was ignored. And it was the place where the destiny of modern China was set in motion.
2018 • History
Follows a Ukrainian battalion on the frontline of the war against Russia, filmed by the soldiers themselves as they try to defend a vital railway line, the capture of which would enable Russia to mount a direct attack on Ukraine's second largest city Kharkiv. The film examines the lives of the 99-strong military company as they face sustained Russian assaults, presenting a ground-level view of the war through the eyes of the troops fighting it.
2024 • History
We explore the legacies of the Ancient Greeks, what they have given us today, and asks why these legacies have lasted through time. Democracy, art, architecture, philosophy, science, sport, theatre - all can be traced back to ancient Greece. Travelling across the ancient Greek world, from Athens to Olympia, Macedon, Turkey and Sicily, Michael discovers why the ancient Greeks were so successful, why their culture and way of life spread across continents and through time and why they still have such a powerful hold over our imaginations today.
S1E2 • Who Were the Greeks? • 2013 • History
Chapter 1: Most Wanted The return of the documentary, picking up in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, when the Allies uncovered the scale of the Holocaust. Preparations began for a trial at Nuremberg, where 22 of the highest-ranking Nazis, including Hermann Goering, were to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. But not all the highest-ranking Nazis had been captured, and the job of tracking them down fell to Allied soldiers. Chapter 2: The Ratline After the Nuremberg trial, the most senior ranking Nazis had been executed or imprisoned - but many of the worst criminals were still at large. They included Adolf Eichmann, who arranged the transportation of millions of Europe's Jewish people to death camps, and Nazi secret police chief Klaus Barbie, who became known as "the Butcher of Lyon" because of his reputation for extreme cruelty. This documentary follows the hunt for these two war criminals. Chapter 3: The Reckoning The continuing story of the diehards committed to hunt down thousands of Nazi war criminals, some of whom were living in plain sight. One such woman was German Beate Klarsfeld, determined to right the wrongs of her country's dark past and identify Nazis who had gone unpunished - including the notorious Klaus Barbie. The documentary also tells the story of Josef Mengele - who performed gruesome experiemnts on Auschwitz inmates - and the son so appalled by his father's actions he considered turning him in.
S4 • Rise of the Nazis • 2019 • History