Drama-documentary about Richard the Lionheart. Was he the heroic warrior of Robin Hood? Or was he just a greedy thug who wanted to loot the Holy Land? Revisionist history suggests that Richard was neither- an extremist Christian, he struggled to lead a fractious international coalition against an impenetrable Muslim stronghold. Saladin used scorched earth tactics which spread dissension through the Crusaders' ranks. Gradually, Richard's coalition fell apart and he returned a failure. In 1191, the English King Richard the Lionheart is just one of several leaders of the Third Crusade to retake Jerusalem. His adversary, the aging Egyptian statesman and empire founder Salah-ad Din, had conquered the pilgrimage city a few years earlier. Before the decisive battle of Arsuf, all signs actually point to a dramatic defeat for the crusaders. But Richard keeps his troops together - it will be the greatest triumph of the warrior king.
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Drama-documentary telling how Napoleon Bonaparte rose from being a penniless French soldier to create an empire, beginning at the siege of Toulon in 1793 where France's leaders first recognised his tactical genius, immense bravery and boundless ambition as he defeated the English. France, late 18th century: In the turmoil of the French Revolution, a Corsican refugee, Napoleon Bonaparte, comes to France. He embarks on a military career and increasingly gains the trust of older commanders. With the successful conquest of Toulon in December 1793, Napoleon laid the foundation for his career, which would eventually make him an important European general. Shot in authentic locations using a script based on documents from the time, including Napoleon's own letters, the film has been written with the advice of modern historians.
2007 • History
Drama-documentary about the Samurai general Tokugawa Ieyasu, a towering figure of Japanese history. He overthrew the governing dynasty of Japan and became the Shogun - the supreme military leader - of Japan. Ieyasu's rise to power climaxes in the biggest Samurai battle in history, the Battle of Sekigahara with 160,000 soldiers fighting for the future of Japan. On the way, there is a story of love for a reckless son, a politician in drag, a night time Ninja attack, suicide and betrayal. Brutal civil wars characterize Japan in the 16th century, it is the time of the samurai. The country is torn apart, powerful clans fight for supremacy. The greatest samurai general of all time is Tokugawa Ieyasu, better known as 'The Shogun'. In the greatest battle in samurai history, he risked everything in history's most daring military decision. His achievements resemble those of Caesar and Napoleon.
2007 • History
Dramatised documentary revealing Spartacus as he really was - a brilliant leader of a guerrilla band, but a flawed and indecisive human being. Starring Anthony Flanagan as Spartacus and Robert Glenister as his nemesis, Marcus Licininus Crassus. 73 BC BC Spartacus is captured and ends up on the slave market in Rome. He is sold to a gladiator school in Capua - his combat skills quickly show. In his first official battle, Spartacus is forced to kill his opponent at the request of the people and their master. From then on he plans his escape - in the same year he escapes with 70 other slaves. The small uprising quickly turns into a bitter fight for the freedom of thousands.
2007 • History
Drama documentary about Hernan Cortes, Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire and won Mexico for the crown of Spain. In, 1519 the Spanish adventurer Hernan Cortes is supposed to have taken on the mighty Aztec empire with a handful of soldiers and 16 horses. The myth claims that the Aztec emperor, Montezuma, surrendered his empire beause he believed Cortes to be a God. But a more accurate account suggests that the Conquistadors started a civil war in Central America, uniting an army of tribesmen who hated Aztec rule. Montezuma is revealed to be a sophisticated ruler. This is the story of a man who, almost in one fell swoop, subdued an entire civilization: the Aztec Empire. It is one of the highlights and at the same time one of the darkest chapters in human history. In August 1519, the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes lands on the east coast of unexplored Central America. Driven by the greed for fabulous riches, Cortes wants to conquer the Aztec kingdom.
2007 • History
Drama-documentary about Richard the Lionheart. Was he the heroic warrior of Robin Hood? Or was he just a greedy thug who wanted to loot the Holy Land? Revisionist history suggests that Richard was neither- an extremist Christian, he struggled to lead a fractious international coalition against an impenetrable Muslim stronghold. Saladin used scorched earth tactics which spread dissension through the Crusaders' ranks. Gradually, Richard's coalition fell apart and he returned a failure. In 1191, the English King Richard the Lionheart is just one of several leaders of the Third Crusade to retake Jerusalem. His adversary, the aging Egyptian statesman and empire founder Salah-ad Din, had conquered the pilgrimage city a few years earlier. Before the decisive battle of Arsuf, all signs actually point to a dramatic defeat for the crusaders. But Richard keeps his troops together - it will be the greatest triumph of the warrior king.
2007 • History
Exploring the myth of the crude savage Attila. Part genius, part psychopath, Attila is unlike the other Huns. A calculating, ruthless gambler, his one goal is conquest - and he's set his sights on Roman cities to test out his brilliant new siege tactics. The Roman Empire is about to fall. Tribes hungry for booty are invading from Asia, the Huns being the fiercest of them. Only two things unite them: The greed for Roman gold and their leader, Attila. He is the greatest warrior the Huns have ever seen, as brutal as he is brilliant. Through skilful tactics and unscrupulous lust for power, he briefly creates an empire that stretches from the steppes of Central Asia to the Danube.
2007 • History
The story of Hitler's lightning invasion of France and its rapid collapse, of the evacuation from Dunkirk, and of the summer of 1940 when Britain fought on alone. In new digital colour, this episode shows the Battle of Britain and the Blitz.
S1E2 • Apocalypse: The Second World War • 2009 • History
The flash of the first atomic blasts exposes a multi-billion dollar clandestine operation: The Manhattan Project. A modern state secrecy apparatus emerges directly out of Los Alamos – only to find itself immediately compromised as Russia announces its own atomic arsenal. Radiation testing on unsuspecting civilians. An 800 page American World War III battle plan that targeted 600 million civilians. Broken Arrows. And the real stories of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
S1E1 • Atomic Age Declassified • 2018 • History
Presenter Bettany Hughes explores the day in 49BC when, defying the Senate, Julius Caesar and his army crossed the river Rubicon, plunging the Republic into civil war. With the aid of the most recent archaeological finds and theories, she examines Caesar's character, his dealings with Crassus, Pompey the Great and Cicero, and how his quest for absolute power effectively sounded the death knell for the Roman Republic and paved the way for dictatorial rule.
S1E3 • Eight Days That Made Rome • 2017 • History
Putin who was against foreign military intervention (and even criticized the west for intervening in Iraq and Libya), suddenly decides to support his ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria by sending Russian air-force to bomb the ISIS territory.
S1E2 • Putin vs the West • 2023 • History
As early humans spread out across the world, their toughest challenge was colonizing the Americas — because a huge ice sheet blocked the route. It has long been thought that the pioneers, known as Clovis people, arrived about 13,000 years ago, but an underwater discovery in Mexico suggests people arrived earlier than previously thought — and by boat, not on foot. How closely related were these First Americans to today’s Native Americans? It’s a controversial matter, focused on Kennewick Man. Few other skeletons engender such strong feelings.
Part 1 • First Peoples • 2015 • History
Since December 1941, a vicious war against Japan was being waged in the Pacific. The Japanese were driven back across the ocean, island by island, in savage hand to hand fighting. American dominance at sea was finally established in "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot", when radar gave the US Navy advance warning of a huge Japanese attack and the last vestiges of Japanese naval air power were destroyed. But this film also looks at the war in the jungles, in places like Burma, where new specialist fighting units - like Orde Wingate's Chindits - slowly pushed back the Japanese despite horrific conditions.
11/13 • World War II In HD Colour • 2009 • History