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Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Discovery Civilisation The Mystery of the Black Death

In 1347 a mysterious new disease appeared in europe. It's symptoms were unlike anything ever seen before: bright marks on the skin, blood soaked cough, strange swelling the size of an egg, it killed within days. it is estimated it wiped out nearly half the population of europe. for hundreds ofyears this mystery killer continued to terrorize europe devistating towns and villages. The helplessness and the horror still haunts us today. "The nightmarishness of you see your friends and parents dieing your left on your own without anyone to look after you and then you start feeling the same symptoms" But at the end of the 19th century scientists announced that they finally cornered the culprit. Generations have grown up safe in the knowledge that the black death was bubonic plague spread by rats, but now there is new evidence that calls into question the true identity of this lethal killer.

The Great War 1964 Series by BBC/CBC/ABC & Imperial War Museum

A 26-episode documentary series from 1964 on the First World War. It was a co-production involving the resources of the Imperial War Museum, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The series, unparalleled at the time for its depth of research, range of source material and historical accuracy - all presented in a sequence of clear narratives - is now considered one of the finest achievements of BBC documentary. Many of the interviewed participants in the First World War were still relatively young - in their late sixties or early seventies - and their memories are still fresh, vivid and disconcertingly frank, giving the series an honesty and a sense of charting still recent history. For that and many other reasons, it remains arguably the definitive television account of the First World War.

Hitler’s British Girl

Part of the High Society Series on Channel 4 On September 3rd 1939, 25-year-old English aristocrat Unity Mitford walked into a Munich park and shot herself in the head. Distraught at the prospect of England declaring war on her beloved Fuhrer, Britain’s most notorious Nazi sympathiser seemed determined to make the ultimate act of fanatical devotion. Featuring original testimony and with the release of secret documents from the Home Office and MI5, this programme examines how this archetypal English aristocrat fell under Hitler’s spell and became one of his closest confidantes; spending five years with an astonishing ringside seat as he plotted global domination.

The Forbidden City, for 500 years the capital of the Chinese empire, lies in the heart of Beijing. From 1420 to 1912, it was home to 24 Chinese emperors. More than a residential palace, it was a city within a city, the seat of a vast bureaucratic government that ruled what is now the earths most populated area. Rumoured to have 9,999 rooms, the Forbidden City is the worlds largest palace complex. The palace buildings, constructed almost entirely of wood, have together been recognized by the United Nations as a World Heritage site. It was truly a "forbidden" city. For centuries access was denied to all but the emperor, his family and his most senior officials and servants.

Adolf Hitler left no offspring when he died in his bunker in 1945. But he wasn’t the last of the Hitler Blood line or was he? But he wasn’t the last of the Hitler line or was he?. He had a nephew, William Patrick Hitler, who grew up in England, moved to America and had three sons. This documentary tells the story of the brothers, their amazing darkly unique heritage as the last known living relatives of the Facist dictator and their bizarre pact with each other to never have children
in order to sever the bloodline of their most infamous relative. It covers many unanswered questions about the Hitler line.

It’s a mysterious book that in its day was believed to contain all human knowledge. But why did medieval people believe that the author sold his soul to the devil to be able to write it? The “Devil’s Bible,” a behemoth volume weighing in at 165 pounds, believed to have been produced by a single monk over the course of decades in the 13th Century, is the focus of this documentary. A complete Old Testament and New Testament, and a collection of a number of secular works besides, the Devil’s Bible is an encyclopedia of medieval knowledge. But it has also been haunted by dark speculation, including that its writing was guided by the devil’s hand.

On the morning of June 1st 1916, 120,000 British soldiers, most of them volunteers, prepared to fight the greatest battle of the First World War. This is the story of the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army told through the letters and diaries of those who were there. Superbly dramatised and produced documentary with archive footage, great battlefield graphics and moving narration. At 7.30am on 1 July 1916, British soldiers mounted an attack on German army positions in northern France: the biggest battle mounted by Britain since Waterloo. "The Big Push" was meant to break the stalemate of trench warfare on the Western Front, offer relief to the French at Verdun, and get the war moving again.

In the cloud forests of Peru the stone walls of a mysterious mountain-top fortress rise out of the jungle. These 60-foot walls are filled with the bones of the Chachapoya: the Cloud Warriors, who lived high in the Andes from AD 800 to the mid-1500s. Only after an intense struggle did the powerful Incan empire gain control of the fiercely independent Chachapoya tribes. But did the Inca ever conquer the Chachapoya stronghold of Kuelap? Archaeologists at Kuelap have uncovered hundreds of elaborate burial sites throughout the settlement that reveal tantalising clues about the identity of the Chachapoya people and how and why they built such a massive fortress. But the biggest mystery of all is: why did the entire Chachapoya civilisation abruptly disappear in the 16th century?

Long before Columbus, the Maya established one of the most highly developed civilizations of their time in the jungles of Mexico and Central America. Yet this advanced society of priests, astronomers, artisans, and farmers suddenly and mysteriously collapsed more than a thousand years ago. Accompany archeologists to Copan, Dos Pilas, and other spectacular Classic Maya ruins as they unearth artifacts and huge temples of incredible beauty. Recently deciphered hieroglyphics and other new discoveries offer astounding clues to the lives of these ancient people. You'll hear the startling story of one kingdom's downfall and its final desperate hours of violent warfare. Through spine-tingling recreations, witness ancient rituals reenacted on sites where they originally occurred. And meet the enduring Maya who still maintain many of their ancestor's traditions. You'll hear the voices of a magnificent civilization as you uncover Lost Kingdoms of the Maya.

The meals of King Henry VIII of England were among the most fantastic ever created. Henry consumed meals of dolphin, songbird and enjoyed intricate puddings molded from sugar. Based on astrology as much as taste Tudor food included elaborate jellies made from deer antler even alcoholic spirits flavored with pure gold. From their great palaces the Tudor monarchs were served extravagant meals that combined the outrageous with the every day, helping to shape the way we eat and taste to the present day. As we journey back in time to the 16th century we will discover the secrets of royal cuisine and reveal a meal fit for a king.

This is a British documentary about the real-life New Jersey Mob often dubbed the Real Sopranos. It traces the similarities between the hit TV series and the brutal real life of the DeCavalcante crime family, including the clubs, scams and heists. It also reveals how they were fans of the television series, and how this actually led to their downfall.

Lucy Lawless hosts 5 one-hour episodes in this documentary series produced by October Films production - Discovery Networks Co-production This series of five films bring to life History’s most charismatic women warrior. Shot on location in France, Ireland, Britain, China, and New Mexico, the stories are a heady mix of historical sleuthing and provocative reconstruction brought to the screen by television’s most famous women warrior: Lucy Lawless, star of the television series Xena, Warrior Princess. Each story investigates the intimate, gritty details of the life and times of these real women and celebrates the popular mythology that surrounds them a popularity that has grown exponentially in our zest for Hollywood-sized depictions of these iconic heroines.

A major two-part documentary series offers a unique and personal insight into the life and work of The Duke of Edinburgh. Over the past six decades as consort to the Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh has been a constant figure in the lives of the British people, a fixed point in a changing landscape. But he still remains something of an enigma. Bombastic and autocratic say his critics. Colourful and stimulating say his admirers. Famous for his so-called gaffes, while some of his initiatives have shown him to be a man ahead of his time, such as The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, which has been an outstanding success and imitated around the world. Granted unparalleled access over recent months, ITV has followed the Duke, producing a fascinating chronicle of the solo portfolio HRH has carved out for himself.

A Way of Life presents the role of the Tibetan Book of the Dead among the traditional Tibetan Buddhist communities of Ladakh. Filmed in the spectacular heart of the Himalayas where a rich Buddhist culture still survives, cameras document the whole process of the death rituals with readings from the Book of the Narrated by Leonard Cohen, this two-part series explores ancient teachings on death and dying and boldly visualizes the afterlife according to Tibetan philosophy. Tibetan Buddhists believe that after a person dies, they enter a state of "bardo" for 49 days until a rebirth.

Great Plague part of Channel 4 set Plague, Fire, War and Treason: A Century of Troubles

Documentary examining the Great Plague of 1665, one of the darkest moments in Britain's history, when over one-fifth of London's population of 500,000 perished in a matter of months. Much is known of the disaster from the perspective of the largely well-to-do contemporary chroniclers, but this film tells the story from the perspective of the poor through the account of a local councillor who lived a stone's throw from Fleet Street. Shown as part of the Plague, Fire, War and Treason: A Century of Toubles season. In the programme, Dr Champion charts what happened in the months of the Great Plague of 1665, linking film sequences that dramatise life in one London street, Cock & Key Alley, within the City walls. During that time, the authorities virtually abandoned London. The Privy Council fled to the provinces and issued orders from a safe distance. Around 100,000 people died of the 'plague' across the City and suburbs. The parishes, which were responsible for the day-to-day running of London, were left to keep order and provide what care and protection they could. Neighbours in the alley took on new roles as the parish paid them to enforce plague orders. The widow Rebecca Andrews fell sick and was shut into her house along with the orphan she cared for. The blacksmith fitted the locks and another neighbour stood on guard outside. When the gravedigger was infected, his family were shut in with him, but later his son was released to carry on the family trade of burying the dead. The Channel 4 programme is based on Dr Champion's book, London's Dreaded Visitation: The Social Geography of the Great Plague 1665

Britain's Big Freeze examines the freezing winter of early 2010, meeting experts and eyewitnesses, revealing dramatic stories from the news and from individuals, and looking at the big freezes of 1947, 1963 and February 2009: just how does 2010 compare? The documentary asks what has happened, why has it happened, what have the consequences been, and should we expect these conditions in British winters to come?

For the first time ever, an international investigation team joins forces to unravel the mysteries of the Malleus Maleficarum, or Hammer of Witches. Written in 1486, this infamous medieval manual changed the way the Western world saw evil. With detailed instructions on how to find, prosecute, and punish witches, the Malleus inspired centuries of accusation and bloodshed on both sides of the Atlantic.

Horizon - Auschwitz, The Blueprint Of Genocide

Using newly-released (in 1994) files, concealed by the KGB in Moscow and held in archives for nearly 50 years, the programme exposes the events behind the planning and building of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Professor Gerald Fleming, a researcher into Nazi war crimes and architect Robert van Pelt, investigate these files and reveal evidence which shows how German civilian engineers and Bauhaus-trained architects deliberately colluded with the SS to plan the genocide. UKTV Version.

Highland Clans 2007 (Clans Series 1)
MacKenzie: From Warlords to Landlords
Fraser: From Normandy to Normandy
Campbell: With God on Their Side.
MacLeod: A Culture of Blood and
MacDonald: Lords of the Isles
MacGregor Scotland's Clans - Paul Murton previously covered 6 clans from the North of Scotland in his first series "The Highland Clans". In this second series, he now travels through the Lowlands and reveals the history of the families there, some of which made a lasting mark not only on Scotland but on the whole of Britain and beyond.

At a time when immigration reform continues to be one of the most heated topics in political and business circles, this feature-length special reexamines the controversial war that resulted in the United States taking control of what was nearly half of Mexico’s territory. Featuring lavish reenactments, and interviews with both Mexican and American historians to ensure accuracy from both nations’ points of view, we convey the story of President James K. Polk’s desire to expand US territory to the Pacific Ocean. Hosted by boxing legend Oscar de la Hoya, we also travel to Mexico City to visit the historic Castillo de Chapultepec, where the climactic battle of the war took place, and the Palacio Nacional, the home of Mexico’s government.

Robert Beckford explores the historical evidence for claims that Jesus had brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles and nephews, as well as a deep friendship with Mary Magdalene. Beckford and many other theologians believe that Jesus did indeed have an extended family that survived some 300 years after his death. However, they have been airbrushed from history and excised from the Bible as the result of a power struggle in the early church.

Discovery Civilisation The Tower Series

A three part series from the Discovery Civilisation channel, all about the Tower of London This is the story of the tower of London, past and present. With unique access to the tower, this series will unlock its private, as well as public life. Revealing the hidden history of well-known stories, and uncovering forgotten tower secrets. More than anywhere else in Britain these building have stood at the heart of history for over 900 years. The truth of what happened here is still being discovered. From executions with block and axe, to spies shot in the first world war, it has prisoners as familiar is queen Elizabeth the first, and as recent as World War Two u-boat men.

Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and Russia

In November of 1939, when Finland was invaded by the Soviet Union, no one expected that this tiny nation could resist the largest military force in the world. And no one anticipated that 1939 would be one of the coldest winters in recorded history – a winter many historians have described as a ‘frozen hell.’

Filmed on the old battlefields of Finland and Russia, “Fire and Ice” dramatically depicts the intensity of the warfront and the homefront. Outnumbered and outgunned, Finns knew this war was not about changing the borders between nations. The Winter War involved all of Finland’s people, including its women who organized themselves into a unique corps called Lotta Svärd. Finland's fierce resistance changed the course of World War II and saved a democracy. “Fire and Ice” is a timeless story of courage against all odds, of a people united to preserve their freedom.

Searching for traces of a mysterious age. Could a sword with magical powers really have existed? Was there really a camelot? Who was King Arthur and the knights of the round table? Where was the legendary grail castle located? The castle which housed the most sacred relic in Christendom: the holy grail? Our journey begins in the mountains of southwestern Germany, where archaeologists have discovered the grave of a celtic prince. The man was buried over 2500 years ago. Along with his body they found a valuable bronze vessel. The first step in the journey for the holy grail brings us into the mysterious world of the celts. They came to europe from the east. With them they brought their culture, rituals and tradition.

For nearly 50 years, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover amassed secret files on America's most prominent figures, files he used to smear and control presidents and politicians. Frontline/Timewatch reveals how Hoover's own secret life left him open to blackmail by the Mafia and offers a startling new explanation why the FBI allowed the mob to operate unchallenged for over two decades.

Reporter John Sweeney travels more than 5000 miles through the old Soviet Union, from Stalin's birthplace in Georgia to a former labour camp in Russia, to find out if one of the twentieth century's most notorious mass-murderers is really being rehabilitated.

BBC World Affairs Correspondent Allan Little looks back at the tumultuous Thatcher years and assesses the effect they had on Scotland. The programme also examines the personal, human relationship between Margaret Thatcher and Scotland. Why did she become the subject of so much bile? And what does that say about the Scots and their attitudes? With archive film and in-depth interviews with politicians, historians and those who lived through and reported on the Thatcher years.

Stories From The Stone Age is a three-part documentary that attempts to explain why and how humans abandoned the nomadic hunting and gathering existence they had known for millennia to take up a completely new way of life - the decisive move to farming. The series utilises detailed re-enactments and short interviews with key archaeological experts. The series asks some intriguing questions. Why did some of our ancestors never become farmers at all? Why do some still continue hunting and gathering despite their contact with farming people and advanced technologies? How and why did our paths become uniquely shaped after emerging as a species from a single genetic family in Africa?

The 900-day siege of Leningrad created heroes as well as victims, and gave the city a taste for independence. Dr John Barber relives the city's struggle, and explains why Stalin felt so threatened by the former capital that he purged 2,000 of its inhabitants. Stalin was always suspicious of Russia's former capital. Its huge cultural, scientific and economic importance, its historical role as the cradle of the 1917 Revolution, its pre-eminent position in the history of the Russian intelligentsia - all produced a dangerous spirit of independence when viewed from the Kremlin. From 1918 to 1926, moreover, it was the power base of Grigorii Zinoviev, one of Stalin's main rivals to succeed Lenin.

During World War II, a remarkable band of female pilots fought against all odds for the right to aid the war effort. Without these Spitfire Women, the war may never have been won. These trailblazers were part of the Air Transport Auxiliary, a thousand-strong organisation that delivered aircraft to the frontline RAF during Britain's darkest hours. Every day, responsibility fell on their shoulders to get the planes to the fighters, which often pushed them into dangerous and even deadly situations. Using interviews with the last few surviving veterans, archive footage and dramatic reconstruction, this documentary brings to life the forgotten story of the ATA. The resilience of these women in the face of open discrimination is one of the most inspiring and overlooked milestones in women's rights. Their story is one of courage, sexism and patriotism, but above all a story about women who want to break the confines of the world they live in and reach for the skies.

Scottish movie star Alan Cumming returns to his homeland to take a tour of the locations of some classic Scottish movies. He celebrates some of the weird and wonderful movies inspired by Scotland, such as The Wicker Man, which was filmed in Dumfries and Galloway. Film experts and actors, including Peter Mullen and David Hayman, compare the blockbusters Braveheart and Rob Roy, while Edinburgh's contribution to Scottish cinema is celebrated by the contrasting films The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Trainspotting. Director Bill Forsyth meets Cumming in Cumbernauld - the setting of Forsyth's film Gregory's Girl - and explains why the new town was such a fitting location for his enduringly popular film.

Rory Bremner and the Fighting Scots

The Scots have a reputation as brave, ferocious warriors. Despite a troubled history with England, history shows that more of Scotland's young men sign up to fight for the crown than anywhere else in Britain. Rory Bremner, whose own father and great grandfather were distinguished Scottish soldiers, sets out to discover why rebel clansmen became loyal servants of the military establishment. His story takes him to Culloden, Crimea and northern France. As the sound of the pipes floats over Scottish military camps in Afghanistan he asks if, after 250 years, the Scottish soldier's loyalty to Queen and country is running out?

The history of Colombia's thirty-year struggle with international drug trafficking seen through the eyes of a pet hippopotamus. Recounting the absurd and paradoxical history of Colombia's thirty-year struggle with international drug trafficking, at once a farce and a tragedy, as seen through the eyes of the extravagant pet of the most powerful drug baron in history: a hippopotamus named Pablo.

They are responsible for some 60 million deaths. They ruled their countries with iron fists, squashing all dissent and directing government-sponsored programs of terror against their own citizens. Drawing on the latest findings and expert analysis from leading psychologists and historians, Hitler and Stalin Roots of Evil examines the 20th century's worst villains. The parallels are striking: both had abusive fathers and doting mothers, both were extremely insecure about their physical appearance and ashamed of their backgrounds, and both came to power at roughly the same time. From Hitler's "Jewish nose" to Stalin's deformed foot, the Final Solution to the Gulags, this incisive special compares the backgrounds and policies of these two despots, interpreting the latest evidence and theories in the hopes of illuminating the personal, emotional and mental underpinnings of their actions. The first program of its type, Hitler and Stalin Roots of Evil adds a new facet to our understanding of these two reviled dictators. Historically speaking, it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that Hitler and Stalin forged an alliance: the totalitarian demagogues stood on very similar footing as paragons of all that is base and evil when ruling their respective Germany and U.S.S.R. But the similarities run deeper than some might initially realize: both men grew up with abusive, domineering fathers and overprotective mothers; both shunned their backgrounds and expressed disdain over their physical appearances; and both rose to power with an iron fist at exactly the same moment in history. This documentary special from The History Channel draws these and other parallels between the two men in an attempt to ascertain what emotional, psychological, psychosocial and mental factors could prompt an individual to lead a nation to ruin and commit mass genocide - the Great Purge in Stalin's case, the Final Solution in Hitler's. In relaying its disturbing yet illuminating account, the program utilizes such elements as rare archival footage, incisive analysis from historians and psychologists, and much more.

Hitler's Private World Revealed

The great shock in reviewing the lives of famous inhumane dictators like Hitler is the realization that they were also human with the innate capacity to love and care but they took a wrong and deadly moral turn toward evil ~ a choice which all of us are capable of making when we separate from love, altruism and soul consciousness and instead embrace the dark strategies and devices of ego consciousness.When Adolf Hitler bought Eva Braun a movie camera, to film the people and parties which occurred at their expansive and heavily guarded Bavarian retreat, the technology to include synchronized sound had not yet been developed.

The Russian revolution changed the world forever. Almost overnight an entire society was destroyed and replaced with one of the most radical social experiments ever seen. Poverty, crime, privelage and class division were to be eliminated. A new era of socialism promised peace prosperity and equality for all the peoples of the world. But the social experiment failed, millions were killed and within a generation almost one third of the worlds population was living in the shadow of communism. Less than 20 miles from St. Petersburg is a small fortified island and it's garisson town of Kronstaad. It was built to defend the former capital of Russia against attack from the sea. Only recently has the story of what happened here in the early years of the revolution and the role of the sailors stationed here in starting the revolution been pieced together.
This program shows how an idealistic dream turned into a nightmare as seen by the sailors at the vanguard of the revolution. Drawn from their letters and accounts the story is told using archive and reconstructions of the events, all in color, just as they might have seen it. This is the story of the Russian Revolution.

The worldwide Nazi search for archaeological and historical support for their beliefs in the Aryan (German) master race. The program outlines how the racialist theories of the SS were drawn from archaeology, myth and legend, as well as selected history. Nazi ideas about “Aryans” and the “master race” came out of historical and ethnic fantasies in which legends such as the Holy Grail and the lost city of Atlantis supposed to be a home of the Aryan race played their part. Hitler's Search for the Holy Grail contains rare and previously unseen footage, including
* color film of the Nazi expedition to Antarctica;
* film of the Nazi expeditions across the world, from the Baltic to Venezuela;
* footage of the 1938 expedition to Tibet, with the measuring of skulls of Tibetans;
* documentary evidence for expeditions to Peru, Iceland and Iran, and footage of SS chief Heinrich Himmler at archaeological sites.

The film conjures the eerie world that permeated the thoughts of key members of the Nazi leadership, especially Himmler, and shows how top scholars, some of them still alive, collaborated in this project.

By Nazi law anyone who was 25% Jewish was a Jew. Remarkably, many of these partial Jews, or "Mischlinge" (the German word for "mutt") were proud Germans, with roots that went back hundreds of years. Many were drafted into the Nazi army. This fascinating documentary examines the life of four men who faced this paradox. "Hitler's Jewish Soldiers" tells an engrossing story of madness and vicious absurdity; a study into the systematic mind of Hitler's personal chaos.

Adolf Hitler consistently hushed up or denied his family lineage for fear that his ragtag bunch of ancestors and living relatives could tarnish his reputation or expose his imperfect Aryan background. His family had a history of psychiatric disorders, and his second cousin, Aloisia Veit, was locked up in an asylum for nine years before being sent to the gas chambers for being "unworthy of life". Hitler was embarrassed by his sister Paula, and made her live under the assumed name of Paula Wolf. Paula became engaged to Dr Erwin Jekelius, medical director of the asylum who sent hundreds of mentally ill patients, including Aloisia Veit, to their deaths

How did Hitler decide he was a messiah and persuade a whole nation to follow him to damnation? This is a subject that has been mined many times in fiction - Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Constantine, Hellboy, Bulletproof Monk and English horror writer James Herbert's book The Spear - as well as documentary. Based on Ken Anderson's 1995 book of the same name, this aims to show how the Nazi party was originally made up of several occult groups that believed a messiah was on the way to save Germany. Adolf Hitler decided that he was that messiah and somehow persuaded a whole nation to follow him down the road to damnation. How did he do that? Were the reasons economic and social? Or, wait for it, supernatural? It's already well documented that he appropriated Christian symbols - the Spear of Destiny, which supposedly pierced Christ's side on the Cross, and the Holy Grail - for his own purposes. Ditto the swastika, which had religious significance for earlier cultures.

Discovery Channel The Spear of Jesus

Legend has it this ancient spearhead was thrust into the side of Christ as he hung on the cross. An act that transformed it into a weapon shrouded in mystery and legend. The promise of victory has seduced many over the centuries. Coveted by roman emperors, fought over by medieval kings, stolen by dictators. But how much of this epic story is true. Amid tight security the ancient spearhead is undergoing the latest scientific testing. Can 21st century science reveal the truth behind the many myths of the Spear of Jesus?

One of the impressive locations of the ancient world, Persepolis was burnt and destroyed by Alexander the Great in 330 BC and lay forgotten for over 2000 years. This film travels to Iran to bring Persepolis back to life and investigate the complesities of the Persiam empire that was responsible for creating this city.

In January 1945 Hitler engaged his new working office – underground in the bunker, and since then he never no longer saw neither dawns nor sunsets nor solar rays. In the bunker he ate and slept, were carried out military meetings, there was married Eva Brown, and there he put an end to himself by five months later. Bunker still there, underground, but no one knows, where precisely it is located. We completely reconstructed this construction with the aid of the remained plans and the maps, and now we can see the place, where conducted his last hours Adolf Hitler.

Nazi Hunters chronicles the stories of those individuals who chased some of the most hated and reviled criminals on earth. Prepared to hunt the perpetrators of the World War II atrocities that shocked the world, these pursuers of justice included the likes of Winston Churchill, the British Special Air Services, the strategists who planned the D-Day landings and the Israeli Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (Mossad).

Through breathtaking discoveries, archaeologists are uncovering the early years of the ancient Maya to reveal a dynamic, sophisticated culture that was flourishing before the time of Christ. The Preclassic Maya—once dismissed as primitive—created massive pyramids, elaborate art, early writing, and more. Investigate the rise of one of the world's greatest and most mysterious civilizations. Journey to the latest digs in the Guatemalan jungle that are reshaping our understanding of the extraordinary Mayan civilization in "Dawn of the Maya."

The Spanish conquest of the Americas in the sixteenth century was one of the most cataclysmic events in history. Spanish expeditions had to endure the most unbelievable hardships to open up the lands of the New World. Few stories, if any, in history match these for sheer drama, endurance and distance covered. In conquistadors Michael Woods travels in the footsteps of some of the greatest of the Spanish adventures, from Amazonia to Lake Titicaca, and from the desserts of North Mexico to the heights of Macchu Picchu.

In 2001, divers discovered a shipwreck off the Panamanian coast.Was the sunken galleon one of Christopher Columbus's doomed fleet?

This is a definitive look back at how a handful of pioneers deciphered the intricate system of hieroglyphs developed by the Maya. One of the greatest detective stories in all of archaeology, it has never been told in depth on television before. With glorious footage of Mayan temples and art, this documentary culminates in the fascinating account of this once magnificent ancient civilization's ingenious method of communication.

Throughout the ages, civilisations have risen up and then disappeared. Traditionally, the disappearance of certain ancient civilizations has been left to the theologians and historians to explain. Now scientists have entered the fray. In this series geologists, archaeologists and climatologists explain their findings. Ancient Apocalypse seeks to explain how human achievements were destroyed by the forces of nature. Death on the Nile - Prof Fekri Hassan attempts to determine why the Egyptian Old Kingdom, the civilisation of the great pyramids, collapsed around 2200 BC. Can science show that terrible forces of nature were to blame? Clues come from the deserts of southern Egypt, the glaciers of Iceland and a find in the Nile delta

Namibia: Genocide and the Second Reich A hundred years ago, three quarters of the Herero people of the German colony of Namibia were killed, many in concentration camps. Today, the descendants of the survivors are seeking reparations from the German government. This film tells for the first time this forgotten story and its links to German racial theories.
Described by the BBC as the story of Germany’s forgotten genocide. This powerful documentary by David Adetayo Olusoga took a sensitive and uncompromising look at the tragic circumstances leading to the massacre of three quarters of the Namibia population in German concentration camps built in Africa.

When an Allied photo reconnaissance plane flew over southern Poland in the summer of 1944, it took horrifying images of the Nazi's most evil extermination camp--Auschwitz. The gas chambers and the crematoria in which 12,000 people were being murdered daily are clearly visible. But the photos were not analyzed at the time--simply filed away. Using these photos as a unique starting point, we take a new look at the Holocaust and ask what the Allies knew about the extermination camp and when they found out. When Churchill heard about Auschwitz, he implored the RAF to bomb it or the railway lines leading to it. But this was not done. We explore all the arguments around the practical difficulties of bombing Auschwitz, but the question remains whether the Allies should not have done something to stop the killing. Includes interviews with Auschwitz survivors and expert historians.

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