The Power of the Past • 2013 • episode "S1E3" • Archaeology: A Secret History

48:54

Many people believe the Hiroshima atomic bomb instantly incinerated nearly everyone in the Japanese city. That was true at ground zero, but not everywhere. Hiroshima government officials have been tirelessly collecting records on those killed to find out how they died. Using this "big data", NHK created a visualization of the movements of the 557,000 victims of the 6th August 1945 attack. Some did indeed perish instantly. Others burned to death in collapsed buildings. But what about the people who died in a strange "donut zone of death" days after the bombing and in areas more than 2 kilometers from ground zero? This documentary goes beyond big data to provide heart-rending accounts from people close to victims and survivors, revealing the true story of what happened on that dark day more than 70 years ago.

2017 • History

24:36

A famous scientist wrote to the President of the United States, and the face of war, and our world, was changed forever. How and why did humanity develop a weapon capable of almost total destruction?

S1E9 • Butterfly Effect • 2016 • History

58:48

400 years ago British merchants landed on the coast of India and founded a trading post to export goods to London. Over the next 200 years, their tiny business grew into a commercial titan. Using the letters and diaries of the men and women who were there, this documentary tells the story of the East India Company, which revolutionised the British lifestyle, sparked a new age of speculation and profit and by accident created one of the most powerful empires in history. Yet inexorable rise ended in ignominy. Dogged by allegations of greed, corruption and corporate excess, by the 1770s the company's reputation was in tatters. Blamed for turning its back as millions died in the Bengal famine, and thrown into crisis by a credit crunch in Britain, the world's most powerful company had run out of cash, sparking a government intervention.

S1E1 • The Birth of Empire: The East India Company • 2014 • History

44:38

How the First World War transformed life on the home front, from a greater number of women in the workplace to increased government interference in everyday life.

S01E04 • The Great War in Numbers • 2017 • History

17:24

In the region that includes the Mediterranean, the Aegean, Mesopotamia and Egypt, the Bronze Age arrived about 3000 BC and lasted nearly 2000 years. What singled out this period and the new societies and cities that emerged? The development of formal writing is one among several important factors.

S1E1 • Bronze Age • 2016 • History

43:57

In this first episode we follow the Ottomans rise from obscure beginnings as a nomadic tribe in Anatolia to their game changing conquest of the famed Byzantine capitol of Orthodox Christianity, Constantinople. Julian’s journey begins in Bursa, the Ottomans first capitol city and one of Turkey’s historical gems, where he explores the wealth of early Ottoman architecture and examines the legends, cultural traditions and unique circumstances that helped give birth to an empire.

S1E1 • Ottomans Versus Christians: Battle for Europe • 2016 • History