History Archives - Page 52 of 73

Art of Persia episode 1

History, Art / 2 minutes of reading / July 13, 2020 / By HDclump

Art of Persia episode 1: Samira Ahmed journeys to places rarely seen by western audiences to reveal how the Persian Empire was born. Since Ayatollah Khomeini brought revolution to Iran in 1979, the country has become a byword for radical Islam. Western documentary teams are seldom given access, but broadcaster and journalist Samira Ahmed has been given a rare opportunity to discover Iran’s rich, colourful culture and extraordinary history. In this first episode, Samira journeys to places rarely seen by western audiences to reveal how the Persian Empire was born, the mysterious writing of its early people and […]

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Rome’s Invisible City

History / 2 minutes of reading / July 9, 2020 / By HDclump

Rome’s Invisible City: With the help of a team of experts and the latest in 3D scanning technology, Alexander Armstrong, along with Dr Michael Scott, explores the hidden underground treasures that made Rome the powerhouse of the ancient world. In his favourite city, he uncovers a lost subterranean world that helped build and run the world’s first metropolis and its empire. From the secret underground world of the Colosseum to the aqueducts and sewers that supplied and cleansed it, and from the mysterious cults that sustained it spiritually to the final resting places of Rome’s dead, Xander discovers

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Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City episode 3

History / 3 minutes of reading / July 6, 2020 / By HDclump

Jerusalem – The Making of a Holy City episode 3: In the final part of his series, Simon explores how this unique city rose from a crumbling ruin after the crusades to be rebuilt as a world centre of Islamic pilgrimage. He explains how Jerusalem became the object of rivalry between the Christian nations of Europe, the focus of the longing of Jews from all over the world and, ultimately, the site of one of the world’s most intractable conflicts. Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world. For the Jewish faith, it is the site

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Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City episode 2

History / 3 minutes of reading / July 5, 2020 / By HDclump

Jerusalem – The Making of a Holy City episode 2: In episode two, Simon discovers the impact on the holy city of a new faith – Islam. He explores Muhammad’s relationship with Jerusalem, the construction of one of Islam’s holiest shrines – the Dome of the Rock – and the crusaders’ attempts to win it back for Christianity. Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world. For the Jewish faith, it is the site of the western wall, the last remnant of the second Jewish temple. And for Christians, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is

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Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City episode 1

History / 3 minutes of reading / July 3, 2020 / By HDclump

Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City episode 1: In episode one, Simon delves into the past to explore how this unique city came into being, explaining how it became of such major importance to the three Abrahamic faiths, and how these faiths emerged from the Biblical tradition of the Israelites. Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world. For the Jewish faith, it is the site of the Western Wall, the last remnant of the second Jewish temple. For Christians, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the site of the death and resurrection of

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Ancient Egypt’s Greatest Lost City

History / 3 minutes of reading / July 1, 2020 / By HDclump

Ancient Egypt’s Greatest Lost City: Documentary following a team of maritime archaeologists as they uncover the remarkable city of Heracleion, lost to the sea and forgotten for over two thousand years. In the fading days of the pharaohs, the city of Heracleion was the gateway to Egypt and a port beyond compare. In the 4th century BC, this was an opulent and prosperous place adorned with statues and sphinxes. It was a city of religious significance and home to the temple of Amun. In the 2nd century BC it was wiped off the face of the earth. In

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The Last Battle of the Vikings

History / 3 minutes of reading / June 27, 2020 / By HDclump

The Last Battle of the Vikings: Nowhere in the British Isles was the Viking connection longer-lasting or deeper than in Scotland. Hundreds of years after their first hit-and-run raids, the Norsemen still dominated huge swathes of the country. But storm clouds were gathering. In 1263 the Norwegian king Haakon IV assembled a fleet of 120 long-ships to counter Scottish raids on the Norse Hebrides. It was a force comparable in size to the Spanish Armada over three centuries later. But like the Armada, the Norse fleet was eventually defeated by a powerful storm. Driven ashore near present-day Largs,

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SAS – Rogue Warriors episode 3

History / 3 minutes of reading / June 25, 2020 / By HDclump

SAS – Rogue Warriors episode 3: The remarkable story behind the fighting force. Stirling is locked away in Hitler’s most secure prison and leadership of the SAS passes to Paddy Mayne. Stirling is locked away in Hitler’s most secure prison – Colditz. Leadership of the SAS passes to Paddy Mayne, a man who has built his reputation on the battlefield as a warrior of the first rank, but has no interest in charming high command. In 1943, the SAS leaves the desert for Europe to enter a darker and far more complex theatre of war, led by a

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SAS – Rogue Warriors episode 2

History / 2 minutes of reading / June 24, 2020 / By HDclump

SAS – Rogue Warriors episode 2: With the tragic loss of Jock Lewes, Stirling’s second in command is now the newly promoted Captain Paddy Mayne – an officer as unpredictable and dangerous as the new phase of war that is about to begin. Unknown to David Stirling, the Germans are training special units to track, intercept and kill the marauding SAS. The hunters soon become the hunted. The SAS has to adapt if it is going to survive. Disaster strikes when Stirling is captured by the Germans. As the SAS prepare to fight Hitler in Europe, they are

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SAS – Rogue Warriors episode 1

History / 3 minutes of reading / June 23, 2020 / By HDclump

SAS – Rogue Warriors episode 1: The remarkable story behind an extraordinary fighting force. Episode one tells the story of the founding of the SAS in the heat of the north African desert in 1941. The Special Air Service is the world’s most famous combat unit, with the motto Who Dares Wins, but the story of how it came into existence has been, until now, a closely guarded secret. For the first time, the SAS has agreed to open up its archive and allow Ben Macintyre to reveal the true story of their formation during the darkest days

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Britain’s Great War episode 4 – At the Eleventh Hour

History / 2 minutes of reading / June 21, 2020 / By HDclump

Britain’s Great War episode 4 – At the Eleventh Hour: Jeremy Paxman describes how the country came to the very brink of defeat in the last year of the war. Grieving parents held seances to contact their dead sons, surgeons battled to rebuild the faces of the wounded, and a maverick MP tried to pin the blame for the crisis on a conspiracy of sexual deviants in government. And then, dramatically, the tide of battle turned, and exhausted Britons found themselves weeping for joy as the armistice was signed. The nation began to count the cost of four

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Britain’s Great War episode 3 – The Darkest Hour

History / 2 minutes of reading / June 20, 2020 / By HDclump

Britain’s Great War episode 3 – The Darkest Hour: Jeremy Paxman tells the story of how Britain edged close to defeat in the worst conflict it had ever known. Unearthing the wreck of a German U-boat in the Medway, he describes Germany’s attempt to starve the country into submission – could the Win the War Cookbook save the day? Hoarders are put on trial as newspapers expose how the rich dine out on lobsters in Mayfair. Fear of moral corruption prompts the government to police the nation’s bedrooms. A full-length documentary film of fighting in the trenches breaks

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