Radiance - Civilisations - watch free online documentaries

Category: History

58:59

Second Moment of Creation

A look at the formative role art and imagination have played in the forging of humanity.

2018 • History

58:33

How Do We Look

In this episode of Civilisations, Professor Mary Beard explores images of the human body in ancient art, from Mexico and Greece to Egypt and China.

2018 • History

58:59

Picturing Paradise

Simon Schama explores one of our deepest artistic urges - the depiction of nature. Simon discovers that landscape painting is seldom a straightforward description of observed nature - rather it is a projection of dreams and idylls, as well as of escapes and refuges from human turmoil, the elusive paradise on earth.

2018 • History

58:52

The Eye of Faith

Professor Mary Beard broaches the controversial, sometimes dangerous, topic of religion and art. For millennia, art has inspired religion as much as religion has inspired art.

2018 • History

58:58

The Triumph of Art

Think Renaissance and you think of Italy. But in the 15th and 16th centuries, the great Islamic empires experienced their own extraordinary cultural flowering.

2018 • History

58:57

First Contact

In the 15th and 16th centuries distant and disparate cultures met, often for the first time. These encounters provoked wonder, awe, bafflement and fear.

2018 • History

59:00

Radiance

Simon Schama starts his meditation on colour and civilisation with the great Gothic cathedrals of Amiens and Chartres. He then moves to 16th-century Venice...

2018 • History

59:12

The Cult of Progress

If David Olusoga's first film in Civilisations is about the art that followed and reflected early encounters between different cultures, his second explores the artistic reaction to imperialism in the 19th century. David shows the growing ambivalence with which artists reacted to the idea of progress, both intellectual and scientific, that underpinned the imperial mission and followed the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution.

2018 • History

58:58

The Vital Spark

Simon Schama begins Civilisations with this premise: that it is in art - the play of the creative imagination - that humanity expresses its most essential self: the power to break the tyranny of the humdrum, the grind of everyday.

2018 • History

59:12

Civilisations on your Doorstep

From Roman marbles and Egyptian mummies to Renaissance masterpieces and African sculptures, in this special accompanying programme to Civilisations, Mary Beard goes in search of extraordinary works of art from all over the world that can be seen here in Britain.

2018 • History

51:59

49-34 Events 20th Century

We count down from 49 to 34 events that include a Treaty in Versailles aimed at bringing peace to the world, the Watergate political scandal, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the assassination of John Lennon.

S1E5 • 101 Events that Made the 20th Century • 2018 • History

46:53

Part 1: Henry VIII - Going It Alone

The story of Henry VIII's fear of Catholic Europe, told via his castles, cannons and spies. The first episode examines the surviving traces of Henry VIII's fear of invasion from Catholic Europe through physical reminders, including mighty castles and cannons, that survive to this day. At her headquarter in Walmer Castle, built in 1540 in Kent to defend the town against a French invasion, Alice gets her hands on a vast hoard of Tudor coins and a 500-year-old jousting scorecard, as she learns how Henry's greed and ambition led him to bankrupt the nation and lay the foundations for the modern secret service. Danielle visits Henry's mighty castle at Deal and witnesses the awesome power of the cannons built to defend England, while Onyeka gets within touching distance of the iconic Mary Rose.

S1E1 • Fortress Britain • 2022 • History

51:27

Lightning War

This film shows how the Nazis developed a terrifying new military tactic - Blitzkrieg - and how it caught first Poland and then Britain and France utterly unprepared. It charts the fall of Poland and how Hitler then conquered France in just a few weeks, an achievement that had eluded Germany throughout all the four years of World War One. It also reveals how heroic French resistance allowed the British to escape from Dunkirk and live to fight another day.

2/13 • World War II In HD Colour • 2009 • History

59:09

The Rebirth of God's City

Simon Sebag Montefiore charts Rome's rise from the abandonment and neglect of the 14th century into the everlasting seat of the papacy recognised today. His story takes us through the debauchery and decadence of the Renaissance, the horrors of the Sack of Rome and the Catholic Reformation, through to the arrival of fascism and the creation of the Vatican State. By taking us inside Rome's most sensational palaces and churches and telling the stories behind some of the world's most beloved art, Sebag Montefiore's final instalment is a visual feast.

S1E3 • Rome: A History of the Eternal City • 2012 • History

44:43

Weapons of War

By the beginning of 1915 the horrific killing power of machine guns and artillery had taught all sides that the only way to survive was to find shelter and dig in.

S01E02 • The Great War in Numbers • 2017 • History

38:23

The Golden Empire

After Egypt brings new purpose, Alexander embarks on a dangerous quest to find an oracle and discover his identity.

S1E4 • Alexander: The Making of a God • 2024 • History

Radiance • 2018 • episode "7/10" • Civilisations

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Civilisations • 2018 • 10 episodes •

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