The rise of a Napoleonic Empire • 2015 • episode "2/3" • Napoleon

95:00

Academy Award winner Peter Jackson's poignant WWI documentary 'They Shall Not Grow Old' to commemorate the centennial of the end of the first World War. The acclaimed documentary is an extraordinary look at the soldiers and events of the Great War, using film footage captured at the time, now presented as the world has never seen. By utilizing state-of-the-art restoration, colorization and 3D technologies, and pulling from 600 hours of BBC archival interviews, Jackson puts forth an intensely gripping, immersive and authentic experience through the eyes and voices of the British soldiers who lived it. Jackson recorded a special introduction to the film offering his perspective on why the film is important for audiences, who have never experienced WWI footage as anything but grainy black & white, and silent. Jackson opens a window to the past in a way that has never been seen or heard before, noting, "Restoration is a humanizing process."

S1E3 • 2018 • History

59:01

How did an insignificant cluster of Latin hill villages on the edge of the civilised world become the greatest empire the world has known? In the fifth programme of the series, archaeologist and historian Richard Miles examines the phenomenon of the Roman Republic, from its fratricidal mythical beginnings, with the legend of Romulus and Remus, to the all too real violence of its end, dragged to destruction by war lords like Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar. Travelling to Sicily and North Africa, Richard tells the story of Rome's century-long struggle for dominance with the other great regional power, Carthage. It was a struggle that would end with the total destruction of this formidable enemy and the transformation of landlubber Rome into a seapower, and the Republic into an Empire. But with no-one left to beat, the only enemy that Rome had left was itself.

5/6 • Ancient Worlds • 2010 • History

88:56

Between 1950 and 1953, more than 24 nations sent troops to Korea as the opposing ambitions and ideologies of the emerging Cold War superpowers - China, Russia and the USA - fought for supremacy on the peninsula. With first-hand testimony and new historical material, Korea: The Never Ending War retraces the history of a conflict that resulted in millions of deaths, brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, and continues to shape history to this day. The 1953 armistice brought a fragile peace to the Korean Peninsula, but the war has never officially ended and deep divisions - and the threat of nuclear conflict - remain.

2019 • History

54:11

See how Idi Amin used lessons learned in the colonial British army to build a powerful dictatorship in Uganda. Through a combination of populist charm and brutal violence, he ruled for eight years until his strategic blunders brought him down.

6/6 • The Dictator's Playbook • 2019 • History

59:25

Bettany Hughes' series profiling the most celebrated thinkers of the Ancient world continues as she turns her attention to Socrates. Heading to Greece, she details how the Athenian philosopher secured a reputation as an influential maverick. She also highlights how his contributions as one of the founders of Western philosophy did not please his detractors, as his outspoken defence of his beliefs ultimately led to his execution.

Part 2 • Genius of the Ancient World • 2015 • History

44:11

February 24, 1956. During the Soviet Communist Party's twentieth Congress, Khrushchev stuns everyone by denouncing Stalin's crimes. Without denying the ideology, the USSR's new leader seeks to distance himself from his predecessor and open up to the outside world. "Mister K" is full of surprises. He drinks Pepsi with Nixon and insists on spending a day at Disneyland when he visits America... But behind this clown-like character, the "executioner of the Ukraine" hasn't gone soft. In 1956, he didn't hesitate to crush the uprising in Budapest in bloodshed. Now, he is preparing a co-existence with newly elected President Kennedy that will not be all peaceful: construction of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban missile crisis, and not forgetting the aid to Ho Chi Minh in the preparation of his new war for reunification... The Vietnam War is beginning. Kennedy tries to retaliate: in Vietnam, he sends military advisers to train the army of the south. And in Berlin, on June 26, 1963, he gave the famous speech of hope, declaring in front of an excited crowd: "Ich bin ein Berliner".

S1E5 • Apocalypse: War of Worlds 1945-1991 • 2019 • History