History Archives - Page 57 of 73

The Silk Road episode 3

History / 2 minutes of reading / February 17, 2020 / By HDclump

The Silk Road episode 3: In the final episode of his series tracing the story of the most famous trade route in history, Dr Sam Willis continues his journey west in Iran. The first BBC documentary team to be granted entry for nearly a decade, Sam begins in the legendary city of Persepolis – heart of the first Persian Empire. Following an ancient caravan route through Persia’s deserts, he visits a Zoroastrian temple where a holy fire has burned for 1,500 years, and Esfahan, one of the Silk Road’s architectural jewels and rival to Sam’s next destination – […]

The Silk Road episode 3 Read More »

The Silk Road episode 2

History / 2 minutes of reading / February 17, 2020 / By HDclump

The Silk Road episode 2: In the second episode of his series tracing the story of the most famous trade route in history, Dr Sam Willis travels west to Central Asia, a part of the Silk Road often overlooked and yet the place of major innovations, big historical characters and a people – the Sogdians – whose role was pivotal to its success. In the high mountain passes of Tajikistan, Sam meets the last survivors of that race, who once traded from the Mediterranean to the China Sea. In the Uzbek cities of Samarkand and Bukara, he discovers

The Silk Road episode 2 Read More »

The Silk Road episode 1

History / 2 minutes of reading / February 15, 2020 / By HDclump

The Silk Road episode 1 : Dr Sam Willis reveals how the Silk Road was the world’s first global superhighway where people with new ideas, new cultures and new religions made exchanges that shaped humanity. In the first episode of his series tracing the story of the most famous trade route in history, Dr Sam Willis starts in Venice and explores how its Renaissance architecture and art has been shaped by the east and by thousands of exchanges along the route. From Venice Sam travels to China’s ancient capital, Xian. Here, Sam’s story takes him back in time

The Silk Road episode 1 Read More »

Vikings episode 3

History / 2 minutes of reading / February 12, 2020 / By HDclump

Vikings episode 3: Neil Oliver explores how the Viking Age finally ended, tracing the Norse voyages of discovery, the first Danish kings, and the Christian conversions that opened the door to European high society. He also uncovers the truth about England’s King Canute – he was not an arrogant leader who thought he could hold back the waves, but the Viking ruler of an entire empire of the north and an early adopter of European standardisation. Vikings episode 3 Cnut the Great Cnut Sweynsson, known as Cnut the Great or Canute, was King of Denmark, England

Vikings episode 3 Read More »

Vikings episode 1

History / 2 minutes of reading / February 10, 2020 / By HDclump

Vikings episode 1: In the first programme, Neil begins by discovering the mysterious world of the Vikings’ prehistoric ancestors. Neil Oliver heads for Scandinavia to reveal the truth behind the legend of the Vikings. The remains of weapons-filled war boats, long-haired Bronze Age farmers and a Swedish site of a royal palace and gruesome pagan rituals conjure up an ancient past from which the Viking Age was to suddenly erupt. Vikings episode 1 Viking Age The Viking Age (793–1066 AD) is a period in the history of the Scandinavians, during which they expanded and built settlements

Vikings episode 1 Read More »

The Man who Discovered Egypt

History / 3 minutes of reading / February 7, 2020 / By HDclump

The Man who Discovered Egypt: Documentary about English Egyptologist Flinders Petrie, the pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology. Ancient Egypt was vandalised by tomb raiders and treasure hunters until this Victorian adventurer took them on. Most people have never heard of him, but this maverick undertook a scientific survey of the pyramids, discovered the oldest portraits in the world, unearthed Egypt’s prehistoric roots – and in the process invented modern field archaeology, giving meaning to a whole civilisation. The Man who Discovered Egypt Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, commonly known as Flinders Petrie, was

The Man who Discovered Egypt Read More »

The Flu That Killed 50 Million

History / 4 minutes of reading / February 6, 2020 / By HDclump

The Flu That Killed 50 Million: It is 1918 and the end of WWI. Millions have died, and the world is exhausted by war. But soon a new horror is sweeping the world, a terrifying virus that will kill more than fifty million people – the Spanish flu. Using dramatic reconstruction and eyewitness testimony from doctors, soldiers, civilians and politicians, this one-off special brings to life the onslaught of the disease, the horrors of those who lived through it and the efforts of the pioneering scientists desperately looking for the cure. Narrated by Christopher Eccleston, the film also

The Flu That Killed 50 Million Read More »

Napoleon episode 3

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

Napoleon episode 3: Historian Andrew Roberts charts the fall of Napoleon, a defining moment in global history, which saw him taken to the remote island of St Helena in the Atlantic Ocean in 1815 as a prisoner of the British. It had taken just a year for the monarchies of Europe, the anti-Napoleonic powers of the world, to destroy him. He trusted the Tsar of Russia – but the Tsar reneged on their deal. Napoleon sought revenge by invading Russia in 1812 – but the campaign was a disaster. He sought to defend France against her enemies –

Napoleon episode 3 Read More »

Napoleon episode 2

History / 3 minutes of reading / January 14, 2020 / By HDclump

Napoleon episode 2: This episode of the series charts the transformation of a political leader of the French to emperor and global statesman, from a son of the French Revolution to husband of the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, the most powerful, conservative, monarchist nation on earth. In 1805, when Napoleon was crowned King of Italy, he was at the height of his power – the previous year, he had been crowned Emperor of the French. It features the Battle of Austerlitz, one of the greatest military encounters of the 19th century, the rise of a Napoleonic

Napoleon episode 2 Read More »

Napoleon episode 1

History / 2 minutes of reading / January 13, 2020 / By HDclump

Napoleon episode 1 : The first of three documentaries telling the story of Napoleon. With access to a unique archive of Napoleon’s personal letters, many of which have never been published before, historian Andrew Roberts journeys through the history and geography of Europe to bring this story vividly to life as he retraces the footsteps of the legendary leader himself. The films shed new light on Napoleon as an extraordinarily gifted military commander, a mesmeric leader whose private life was, contrary to popular belief, littered with disappointments and betrayals. From lowly Corsican Army officer to first consul of

Napoleon episode 1 Read More »

Frederick the Great and the Enigma of Prussia

History / 2 minutes of reading / January 12, 2020 / By HDclump

The Prussian king Frederick the Great was one of the greatest warriors and leaders in modern European history, achieving greatness through the Seven Years War and lauded as a philosopher and cultured ‘Prince of the Enlightenment’. Yet the reputation of both Frederick and his Prussia was to be tarnished by association with Hitler’s Nazi regime. Historian Christopher Clark re-examines the life and achievements of one of Germany’s most colourful and controversial leaders. Frederick the Great Frederick II ruled the Kingdom of Prussia from 1740 until 1786, the longest reign of any Hohenzollern king, at 46 years. His

Frederick the Great and the Enigma of Prussia Read More »

A History of Ancient Britain part 4

History / 2 minutes of reading / January 11, 2020 / By HDclump

A History of Ancient Britain part 4: Neil Oliver continues his epic tour of Britain’s most distant past with the arrival of metals and the social revolution that ushered in a new age of social mobility, international trade, and village life. A History Of Ancient Britain will turn the spotlight onto the very beginning of Britain’s story. From the last retreat of the glaciers 12,000 years ago, until the departure of the Roman Empire in the Fifth Century AD this epic series will reveal how and why these islands and nations of ours developed as they did and

A History of Ancient Britain part 4 Read More »