history Archives - Page 48 of 61

The Victorians – Their Story In Pictures

Art, History / 3 minutes of reading / December 26, 2019 / By HDclump

In The Victorians, Jeremy Paxman takes his love of Victorian paintings as the starting point for a journey into Victorian Britain. Such pictures may not be fashionable today, but they are a goldmine of information about the most dynamic age in British history. The Victorians Part 1: Painting The Town He investigates the most dramatic event of Victorian Britain: the explosion of great cities. At first the Victorians feared these new monsters in their midst, but then grew to love and transform them. Jeremy explores the canals and sewers, suburbs and back streets, workhouses and magnificent buildings of the […]

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The Medici – Godfathers of the Renaissance

History / 4 minutes of reading / December 25, 2019 / By HDclump

The Medici – Godfathers of the Renaissance: From a small Italian community in 15th-century Florence, the Medici family would rise to rule Europe in many ways. Using charm, patronage, skill, duplicity and ruthlessness, they would amass unparalleled wealth and unprecedented power. The Medici – Birth of a Dynasty part 1 Europe, 1400: A continent torn apart by war and plague is dominated by the authority of the Catholic Church. In the towns and cities live merchants and entrepreneurs who sense that their world is changing. With increasing trade and wealth an appetite for enlightenment develops. No longer neglected

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Hannibal in the Alps

History / 2 minutes of reading / December 24, 2019 / By HDclump

Hannibal in the Alps: Hannibal, one of history’s most famous generals, achieved what the Romans thought to be impossible. With a vast army of 30,000 troops, 15,000 horses and 37 war elephants, he crossed the mighty Alps in only 16 days to launch an attack on Rome from the north. For more than 2,000 years, nobody has been able to prove which of the four possible routes Hannibal took across the Alps, and no physical evidence of Hannibal’s army has ever been found…until now. In Secrets of the Dead: Hannibal in the Alps, a team of experts –

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Rosslyn Chapel: A Treasure in Stone

History / 2 minutes of reading / December 23, 2019 / By HDclump

Rosslyn Chapel: A Treasure in Stone: Art historian Helen Rosslyn, whose husband’s ancestor built the chapel over 500 years ago, is the guide on a journey of discovery around this perfect gem of a building – Rosslyn Chapel. Extraordinary carvings of green men, inverted angels and mysterious masonic marks beg the questions of where these images come from and who were the stonemasons that created them? Helen’s search leads her across Scotland and to Normandy in search of the creators of this medieval masterpiece. The exquisite Rosslyn Chapel is a masterpiece in stone. It used to be one

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Alexander the Great

History / 2 minutes of reading / December 22, 2019 / By HDclump

Alexander the Great: Legendary military leader and conqueror of the ancient world, Alexander the Great is brought to life in this stunning documentary. Alexander the Great Part 1: The Path To Power Born in Macedonia in 356 BC, Alexander succeeded his father Philip II to the throne at the age of twenty. But the kingdom Alexander inherited was volatile. How did he defeat enemies at home and reassert Macedonian power within Greece? And what prompted his urge to dominate the world? Part 2: Until the End of the World Against overwhelming odds, and with brilliant military strategy, Alexander led his

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The Story of China episode 6 – The Age of Revolution

History / 4 minutes of reading / December 21, 2019 / By HDclump

The Story of China episode 6 – The Age of Revolution: Between 1850 and 1950, three cataclysmic revolutions shook China to the core, but out of them, today’s China emerged. ‘Revolution’, Michael Wood observes, ‘has been a fact of life in Chinese history’. The film begins in Canton with the meeting of a US missionary and a Chinese student. Inspired by the Christian story and calling himself God’s second son, Hong unleashed the bloodiest war of the 19th century, the Taiping Rebellion. Wood heads into wild mountain villages in the south, where the revolution began. As imperial China

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The Story of China episode 5 – The Last Empire

History / 3 minutes of reading / December 20, 2019 / By HDclump

The Story of China episode 5 – The Last Empire: Michael Wood looks at China’s Qing empire, which lasted from 1644 to 1912. Under the Qing, China doubled in size and became arguably the world’s greatest economy. China’s last empire, the Qing, lasted from 1644 to 1912. It began in violence and war as the Manchus swept down from the north, but invaders became emperors, with three generations of one family ruling the country. Among them, Michael Wood argues, was China’s greatest emperor – Kangxi. Under the Qing, China doubled in size to include Xinjiang in the far

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The Story of China episode 4 – The Ming

History / 4 minutes of reading / December 19, 2019 / By HDclump

The Story of China episode 4 – The Ming: The tale of the Ming dynasty begins with the amazing story of Hongwu, a peasant rebel. Michael Wood explores the history of the world’s newest superpower. The tale of one of China’s most famous dynasties begins with the amazing story of Hongwu, a peasant rebel who founded one of greatest eras in Chinese history. The Story of China episode 4 – The Ming The film takes us to his great capital Nanjing, with its 21 miles of walls, each brick stamped with the name of the

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The Story of China episode 3 – The Golden Age

History / 2 minutes of reading / December 18, 2019 / By HDclump

The Story of China episode 3 – The Golden Age: This episode tells the tale of what’s broadly considered China’s most creative dynasty – the Song (960-1279). Michael Wood heads to the city of Kaifeng, the greatest city in the world before the 19th century. Here in Twin Dragon Alley, locals tell him the legend of the baby boys who became emperors. He explores the ideas and inventions that made the Song one of greatest eras in world culture, helped by China’s most famous work of art, the Kaifeng scroll, which shows the life of the city in

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The Story of China episode 2 – Silk Roads and China Ships

History / 3 minutes of reading / December 17, 2019 / By HDclump

The Story of China episode 2 – Silk Roads and China Ships: Michael Wood tells the tale of China’s first great international age under the Tang Dynasty (618-907). From the picturesque old city of Luoyang, he travels along the Silk Road to the bazaars of central Asia and into India on the track of the Chinese monk who brought Buddhism back to China. This tale is still loved by the Chinese today and is brought to life by storytellers, films and shadow puppet plays. Then in the backstreets and markets of Xi’an, Michael meets descendants of the traders

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The Story of China episode 1 – Ancestors

History / 3 minutes of reading / December 16, 2019 / By HDclump

The Story of China episode 1 – Ancestors: Michael Wood explores the history of the world’s newest superpower, from its ancient past to the present day. Starting in Wuxi, Michael joins the Qin family reunion, when 300 relatives gather to worship their ancestors on Tomb Sweeping Day. ‘Like the nation, the family has been through so much,’ one says. ‘Now everyone wants to know – what are our roots?’ To answer that question, Michael journeys to the plain of the Yellow River, where he joins a million pilgrims at the shrine of ancient goddess Nüwa, who legend says

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WWI – The Final Hours

History / 2 minutes of reading / December 14, 2019 / By HDclump

WWI – The Final Hours: On 8 November 1918, an Englishman, a Frenchman and a German gathered in secret, on a train carriage in a forest near Paris. Their meeting would last for three days. Its aim: bring peace to Europe, and an end to four long years of brutal and deadly war. One hundred years after the end of the First World War, this documentary uncovers the extraordinary events leading up to the Armistice negotiations, and the repercussions that would ripple across the continent, and throughout the 20th century – sometimes with catastrophic consequences. WWI –

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