Britain is a country that has been forged by centuries of warfare. Each episode charts one key battle which could have gone either way, and did much to shape the nation that Britain is today. Dynamic father-and-son team Peter and Dan Snow, together with historical renactors, give the soldiers perspective on what it must have been like to ride, march, fly and sail into battle. Episodes include: Boudicca's Revolt, The Battle of Hastings, Battle for Wales, Spanish Armada, Battle of Naseby, Battle of the Boyne, Battle of Culloden, and the Battle of Britain.
They were the dreaded forces on the fringes of civilization, the bloodthirsty warriors who defied the Roman legions and terrorized the people of Europe. They were the Barbarians, and their names still evoke images of cruelty and chaos. But what do we really know of these legendary warriors? From the frigid North Sea to the Russian steppes, this ambitious series tells the fascinating stories of four of the most fabled groups of fighters in history, tracing 1,000 years of conquest and adventure through inspired scholarship and some of the most extensive reenactments ever filmed. Mongols rides with Genghis Khan and his descendants as they sweep from Asia to the heart of modern Germany in a frenzy of expansion.
They came in waves from out of the dark forests of Europe and over the course of a millennium they drove a mighty empire to its knees. Relentless unmerciful and united only in their hatred for Rome each of these warrior tribes had its own violent agenda dark rites savage tactics and secret weapons. This documentary follows eight of history’s most fearsome tribes: The Goths, Mongols, Huns, Vikings, Vandals, Saxons, Franks and the Lombards as they cut a swath of destruction through the world.
Eight Episodes.
A Gladiator's Story has the distinct advantage of purely historical accuracy. The Roman gladiator whose story is told here is Verus. One of two victors in the only gladiatorial battle that was ever described in detail (by the Roman poet Martial in 80 A.D.). Using this factual record as its basis, Colosseum follows Verus as he is recruited from slavery, trained in gladiator's school, rises to favor among wealthy Romans, and ultimately battles his best friend, Priscus.
ATHENS and Sparta were both Greek cities and their people spoke a common language. In every other respect they were different. Athens rose high from the plain. It was a city exposed to the fresh breezes from the sea, willing to look at the world with the eyes of a happy child. Sparta, on the other hand, was built at the bottom of a deep valley, and used the surrounding mountains as a barrier against foreign thought. Athens was a city of busy trade. Sparta was an armed camp where people were soldiers for the sake of being soldiers. The people of Athens loved to sit in the sun and discuss poetry or listen to the wise words of a philosopher. The Spartans, on the other hand, never wrote a single line that was considered literature, but they knew how to fight, they liked to fight, and they sacrificed all human emotions to their ideal of military preparedness.
A look at the making of the Gladiator and the historical aspects presented within the film. Interviews with cast, crew and historical professors about certain locations and characters that were in the movie. Originally aired on Discovery Channel as a promotion for the 2000 film.
A History of Britain does not pretend to be a definitive chronicle of the turbulent events which buffeted and shaped the British Isles. Stretching from the Stone Age to the year 2000, free of the staleness of traditional academe, personalizing key historical events by examining the major characters at the center of them. Not all historians would approve of the history depicted here as shaped principally by the actions of great men and women rather than by more abstract developments, but it is a good deal more enthralling as a result.
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