History Documentaries

At the turn of the 20th Century Europe is in a state of flux, the perfect conditions for the formation of the most terrifying political organization history has seen, the Nazi’s. How was the country of Germany seduced by them? Was a whole nation under the spell of the Nazi Party or did the hope of a better life quickly turn sour once the killing began? All these questions are answered as we track the birth, rise and ultimate demise of Hitler and the Nazi Party. The Rise of Adolf Hitler: 1889 - 1927: In this episode we will look at how Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Herman Goring, Josef Goebbels and Rudolf Hess made their individual journeys through pre-war Germany, the first world war to Hitler’s first speeches in the Beer Halls, his arrest and eventual imprisonment for treason, and the writing of his infamous book Mein Kampf in 1924.

Japan would create arguably the greatest fighter in the Second World War - the Mitsubishi Zero, but their failed War Factories would ultimately reduce the Zero to a kamikaze plane. This is the story of war production – of how Allied industry won the war by massively out-producing the Axis powers. Forget the big-name generals and battle tactics. This was a war of the factories. Giant firms like General Motors and Ford mass-produced tanks, planes and guns, while firms like Peugeot, in occupied Europe, were sabotaging their own factory-lines to undermine the Nazis. This series will also explore how German compa­nies were crippled by Nazi State planning and will change the way you think about World War Two, and much else besides. For it also helps explains why post-war history turned out as it did.

At the turn of the 20th Century Europe is in a state of flux, the perfect conditions for the formation of the most terrifying political organization history has seen, the Nazi’s. How was the country of Germany seduced by them? Was a whole nation under the spell of the Nazi Party or did the hope of a better life quickly turn sour once the killing began? All these questions are answered as we track the birth, rise and ultimate demise of Hitler and the Nazi Party. Hitler's Legacy of Death: 1939 - 1945 and Onwards: 1939 would see the outbreak of WWII, Hitler sets off his blitzkrieg across Europe and after the popularity from taking Poland and France the tide begins to turn. With a defiant Russia on the East and the American & British on the West the Nazis look to the Jewish population to vent their anger. With the war all but lost and with the German population left in an acute state of shock Hitler and the Nazi Party would carry out one more act of terror and then die but their legacy would live on...

At the turn of the 20th Century Europe is in a state of flux, the perfect conditions for the formation of the most terrifying political organization history has seen, the Nazi’s. How was the country of Germany seduced by them? Was a whole nation under the spell of the Nazi Party or did the hope of a better life quickly turn sour once the killing began? All these questions are answered as we track the birth, rise and ultimate demise of Hitler and the Nazi Party. The Nazi's Grasp for Power: 1927 – 1939: Two key events of the late 1920's see the foundations of the National Socialist Party firmly cemented in nations psyche: The ban on Hitler's public speaking was lifted and Wall Street crashed. The devastating mix of propaganda and unbridled terror caused the German nation to fall under his spell, seemingly oblivious to the racial hatred being doled. WWII loomed, the manufacture of weapons meant unemployment was a thing of the past and the economy bloomed and so Nazi popularity would soar.

A candid look at what life was really like for those living in, and under Hitler's Swastika - at home - and abroad, a record not only of what they saw, but of what they knew. Christmas in Germany 1941 is an unsettling time. Food is scarce, the weather is freezing and news from the front line in Russia is causing Germans to realise the war is a very long way from over. The stage is set for the second half of the war, and through the home movies and diaries of ordinary Germans this film charts the crumbling of Hitler’s dreams and the moral reckoning the German people must now face. It reveals the stories of people battling to save their families from deportation to the death camps while others endure the horrors of ever more deadly bombing raids, all set against a backdrop of propaganda and false hope pouring forth from Nazi high command. In Russia we meet a doctor who is throwing himself into the firing line at every opportunity not to win glory but to save his wife and three young children from deportation to the death camps in the East, while in Dresden a Jewish diary writer struggles to deal with ever-mounting restrictions and deportations. We also meet some of those forced to live under German rule, including extraordinary footage of a group of Jews living in hiding just a mile from Anne Frank, and a family in Normandy who are enjoying a bucolic summer before they find themselves on the front line as the Allies take on the German troops on the Atlantic Wall. The film then moves to the endgame of the war, the choices faced as the net tightens and the crazy efforts to fight to the bitter end even as all hope is gone.

June 1976. Air France flight 139 bound from Tel Aviv to Paris is hijacked by a group of Palestinian and German terrorists and flown to Entebbe, Uganda. On board are 226 passengers and crew - more than half of them Israeli citizens. What unfolds over the next seventy-two hours is the largest, most complex, and amazing hostage rescue operation in history.

Newly declassified MI5 files reveal the story of the female spy who stole Britain's atomic secrets and gave them to the Soviets. In January 1941, Ursula Kuczynski, a Jewish German refugee, arrives in Oxford with her children, on a British passport. She has no possessions, no accommodation and seemingly no connections in the area. But this woman has a secret - she is a Soviet spy.

At the outset of the Yalta Conference on February 4, 1945, the «Big Three» were all optimistic: victory was in no doubt, and the accord that they had achieved seemed likely to preserve the values they had fought for. However, in just a few months, nothing would remain of this agreement apart from irreconcilable differences. United in war, the Allies would reveal themselves as divided and rivals in peace. How can such a rapid failure of a real effort at entente be explained? With the Yalta Conference in 1945 to 1953, discover a new world order drawn up by three men, looking for a lasting peace... that would lead inevitably to the Cold War. Combining archive footage, photographs, original letters and unique testimonies, these two episodes revisit this crucial period in History. A full immersion into postwar years and an emerging new world order. Part 2 : The Dawn of The Cold War: Upon Roosevelt's death, only two months after the Yalta Conference, Truman became the new President of the United States. Roosevelt was the great peacemaker. Without him, could the Westerners and Soviets succeed in getting along and building lasting peace? Could Truman, the "little tie salesman from Missouri" stand up to the powerful and feared Stalin? Now that the war was won in Europe, Churchill attempted to warn the new American President: the British Prime Minister was convinced that Stalin was going to take advantage of him and set up communist regimes everywhere he could. This is precisely what he had already done in Romania, while laying the groundwork in Poland and elsewhere. Truman, Churchill, and Stalin met together only once, on 17 July 1945 at the Potsdam Conference. In the very middle of the conference, and much to the surprise of one and all, on the day following the British elections, which Churchill had lost, he was replaced by Clement Attlee at the negotiating table. But Truman had an ace up his sleeve. For the past four years, in the greatest secrecy, the top scientists on the planet had been perfecting what was to become the absolute weapon: the atomic bomb.

With the Red Army closing in on Berlin, Hitler is a wreck of a man: prematurely aged, pill-dependent, losing touch with reality, and determined to fight to the end. Nazi ringleaders maneuver to save themselves and cut their own deals with the Allies. The inner circle gathers for one last time to celebrate the Führer's 56th birthday. Days later, he implements his own final solution. How did Adolf Hitler and his small band of criminal conspirators persuade the German people to follow him into a nightmare of brutality, genocide, and military defeat? This 10-episode documentary chronicles how Hitler and his inner circle rose to power by exploiting the economic turmoil of their time.

While civilization covers the entire globe today, there was a time when it rose as isolated islets in a vast sea of barbarism. That is why the few cultures that were able to accomplish this feat have been the objects of scholarly scrutiny for generations.In “Ancient Civilizations Uncovered,” we approach these civilizations from a diverse array of perspectives and look at the factors which made them so successful. Also, we examine their lingering effect on the civilizations of today. This documentary delves into Indus Valley Civilization and the mysterious city of Harappa which was equipped with an intricate system of canals and wells. We learn of the startling modern conveniences of the ancient city and of the people who designed and built them.

World War Weird explains the most mysterious and bizarre events of both the World Wars. In the chaos of battle men claim to have witnessed some of history’s strangest sightings and in the minds of their leaders; ludicrous military plans have been hatched. From unexplained sea monsters spotted by U-boat captains to some of the weirdest weaponry of the Wars, each episode will examine the stories in fascinating detail. Despite decades of research by historians and experts, many accounts still remain a complete mystery. Using de-classified documents and military historians, World War Weird attempts to explain the unexplainable and explore the fascinating history associated with some of the darkest periods in human history. Submarines and Sea Monsters: World War One German U-boat activity has awaked something strange in the oceans. Weird sightings and bizarre encounters recorded by the officers of the Kriegsmarine lead to speculation that creatures unknown to modern science may be lurking in the depths. Fire from the Sky: In retaliation for the daring Doolittle raids on Tokyo, the Japanese develop one of the weirdest weapons of WW2. Using the jet stream they plan to float deadly incendiary bombs all the way to America’s West coast. Will Japan’s sinister new weapon deliver the panic and chaos they hope for? Hitler’s Halt Order: Hitler has the British forces at his mercy, huddled in Dunkirk with no hope of escape; but then he makes the strangest order of his command. That all his Wehrmacht troops must halt immediately. Historians have debated for years why he did this. Was it occult beliefs or the ravings of a drug addled mind or his close links to the British aristocracy that made him do it? To this day his order remains a mystery…

Episode four recounts the rise of the Netherlands from its humble beginnings in the 16th century as a country the size of Michigan's Upper Peninusla to its belle epoque in the 17th century. In 1492, Spain banished its entire Jewish population, beginning their exodus through Portugal which culminated in their settling in the Netherlands. When the Dutch declared independence from Spain, freedom of religion became its national creed. Among those who left Spain were talented merchants who exacted their revenge by engineering the Netherlands' rise as the hegemon of European commerce, bringing Spain to its knees. Rise of Great Powers' is an odyssey across time and space, going from ancient Rome to America in the 20th century. It is the fruit of two years of labor which traces the great powers’ rise to glory. The world’s leading academics reveal the 'X factor' that these nations had and others didn’t. This historical quest ultimately addresses the universal question - “What is it that makes a nation, community or organization powerful?”

The Ku Klux Klan is the oldest terrorist group in the United States. This secret society, created in 1865, has survived throughout the decades and has always managed to rise from its ashes. It has been making the news for over 150 years. 150 years of hatred, racism, and horror. A cruel history whose demons still haunt America. Part 2: With the civil rights movement gaining momentum, the Ku Klux Klan once again set out on the march in the Southern United States. Complicity with local authorities, white supremacists unleashed a wave of hatred in the 1960s: the attack on the church in Birmingham, the assassination of civil rights activists. Their crimes shocked public opinion. Under political pressure, the FBI went on the offensive. The result: in the 1970s, the Klan had only a few thousand members left. A new leader, David Duke, tried for a time to give it a veneer of respectability, but terror was still part of the organization's DNA. Little by little, the Klansmen swapped their hoods for military fatigues and swastika tattoos. Today the ranks of the Klan and other supremacist groups are swelling once again in Donald Trump's America.

The Nazis groom the nation for the worst genocide in human history. Blaming the Jews for everything from Germany's surrender in World War I to its postwar economic woes, Hitler takes a series of steps to deny them their rights as citizens and then their rights as human beings. How did Adolf Hitler and his small band of criminal conspirators persuade the German people to follow him into a nightmare of brutality, genocide, and military defeat? This 10-episode documentary chronicles how Hitler and his inner circle rose to power by exploiting the economic turmoil of their time.

It has been said that no two sisters were ever less alike. One reserved and proper. The other lively and controversial. One the anchor of a commonwealth of nations. The other searching for purpose in life. Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret are among the most photographed women in history. But what of the real women beyond the royal splendour, balcony and cheering crowds - beyond the Crown itself?

At the start of World War 2, Hitler relied on three ‘superweapons’ to dominate the sea, the sky and the land: his U-Boats, his Stuka dive-bombers and his Panzer tanks. The company that can perhaps lay claim to doing much to defeat all three, was Britain’s engineering giant Vickers-Armstrong. Vickers had its roots in the Industrial Revolution, in a steel foundry built in 1828 by a miller, Edward Vickers. In 1888 it made its first piece of armour plate and a few years later took on Sir Hiram Maxim, inventor of the feared and revered Maxim Gun – the world's first machine gun. Soon it was producing the Armstrong breech-loading gun and an improved version of the Maxim - the Vickers gun - which became the standard machine gun throughout the British Empire and Commonwealth till well after WW2. But it wasn’t just guns. Vickers made tanks. The Vickers 6-Ton Tank was purchased not by the British Army, but by the Soviets, who renamed it the T-26. This tank was produced in greater numbers than any tank of the period. The tank, and the variants that followed, are widely considered the most successful of WW2. Behind the extraordinary story of tank production in the Soviet Union, is Britain’s Vickers. But more than this, Vickers-Armstrong was one of the most important warship manufacturers in the world. Vickers had gone into ship building in 1897. It built the first ever submarine for the Royal Navy. Largely because of Vickers, Britain entered the war with the largest navy in the world. It had 15 battleships and battlecruisers with five more battleships under construction, 66 cruisers with another 23 under construction, and 184 destroyers with 52 more under construction. During the war the Royal Navy lost 278 major warships and more than 1,000 small ones. Nevertheless, thanks to Vickers, during the war, Britain built more submarines and convoy escort ships than the U.S., and around two thirds as many battleships, cruisers and destroyers. But Vickers didn’t stop here. In 1928 they had bought a small seaplane manufacturer, called Supermarine. In the 1930s, with the threat of war looming, Vickers got aircraft engineer R.J. Mitchel to design a new kind of intercept fighter plane. ‘Prototype K5054’ astonished the test-pilots who flew it. It was soon given a name, the Spitfire, and it inflicted terrible damage on the Luftwaffe. In the skies, at sea, and on land, Vickers did much to defeat the Nazi menace.

The Allies make a gruesome discovery as they advance through Germany: Nazi concentration and death camps - the systematic murder of millions. They institute a program of denazification - ending in 1951. By then, Germany is front and center of the Cold War; the Allies believe former Nazis can help them prevail in this Cold War. How did Adolf Hitler and his small band of criminal conspirators persuade the German people to follow him into a nightmare of brutality, genocide, and military defeat? This 10-episode documentary chronicles how Hitler and his inner circle rose to power by exploiting the economic turmoil of their time.

This documentary, made entirely with remastered and colourised archive footage, traces Operation Overlord from its genesis to the Battle of Normandy. The film depicts the epic story of one of the greatest military operations ever conceived by man, from the summer of 1941 – when Churchill and Roosevelt first discussed the issue – to the touch down on 6 June 1944. It sets out Hitler’s strategy for preventing and countering the landings. Beyond the military strategies that will be evoked, it will also be a question of recounting this crucial turning point of the Second World War from a geopolitical angle (the difficult alliance between London, Moscow and Washington) as well as from an economic angle (the preparations were far from easy). Without forgetting the anonymous combatants who paid a heavy price…

America is completely underprepared for aircraft warfare when war breaks out. The Luftwaffe has almost a decade on them in preparation time. America does not even have a separate air force before the war. America needs aircraft fast, and in unprecedentedly huge numbers. But there is no American aircraft company that can even begin to conceive of producing in these numbers. In fact there is no aircraft manufacturer anywhere in the world that could begin to countenance such an order. Across the globe up until this point, aircraft product has been a boutique affair, with highly skilled workers catering to a small luxury market. Henry Ford. Ford is slow to joint the war effort (in the early years of Nazi rule, he had expressed admiration for them), but he would play more than his part in bringing Hitler down. Ford sets out with the help of Albert Kahn, to build a giant new factory in Michigan. It covers an incredibly three and a half million square feet, and includes an aircraft production line half a mile in length. The factory is called Willow Run. And it is the largest factory the world has ever seen.

The story of America’s ‘Liberty Ships’ is one of the most remarkable of World War Two. Ships had never been produced in this number, and at this speed, ever before. As German U-Boats wreaked havoc upon the British merchant ships in the Battle of the Atlantic, a radical solution was needed to stem the unsustainable loss of vessels. Known as Liberty ships, they became the Model T Fords of the ocean. Made in record time by workers with no ship building experience, these prefabricated vessels would roll off the production line in their thousands. As yards competed with each other to increase production rates, one yard was able to build a ship in an astonishing time of 4 days and 15 hours. When Imperial Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbour devastated the U.S. battle fleet, America harnessed its full industrial might and took mass production of shipping to a whole new level. Within weeks of the attack U.S. shipyards had built 13 new warships, and went into production with 15 battleships, 11 carriers, 193 destroyers and 73 submarines. Over the course of the war American shipyards produced more than 100,000 ships for the U.S. Navy. As one Japanese general warned, ‘we have woken a sleeping giant.’ The United States started the war with a fleet half the size of the Royal Navy. By the end it will be larger than the combined fleets of the entire world.

A programme to commemorate anniversary of the Battle of Britain, told through the technology, the heroes of the time and the spirit and determination of the British people. 2010 marks the anniversary of the Battle of Britain – this film marks this important occasion, paying tribute to all those who ended Nazi intentions of gaining control of the British skies prior to landing some 30,000 troops on the shores of southern England. 13 Hours That Saved Britain explores the events of a single day, 15th September 1940 – the day Churchill described as the ‘crux of the battle’, a day that is now celebrated as Battle of Britain Day. Dramatic colour film footage of aerial combat combined with contemporary interviews will illustrate that the events of seventy years ago still resonate with a new generation. The documentary is a gripping and powerful account of the pilots of Fighter Command who defended Britain in the summer of 1940 and the strong arm behind the shield, a nation united to defend its freedom and pave the way for the eventual victory.

In 1932 The German aviation industry produced a mere 36 planes and employed only 3200 people, yet in just a few short years it will go on to create the largest and most formidable air force the world had ever seen. At its height it would employ 3 million workers, produce tens of thousands of aircraft and represent over half of total German war production. So how did this fledgling industry come to dominate the skies of Europe... and then how did it all go so wrong?

It is a great ‘what-if’ of the last century. What if Robert F. Kennedy, brother of the murdered JFK, had not himself been assassinated while campaigning for the Presidency in 1968? This documentary reveals how Kennedy transformed from Cold War warrior to advocate of peace, from son of privilege to champion of the down-trodden, from timid adolescent to potential President. And it will ask what might have been, had Kennedy lived…

Inside the Reich: Germany is defeated, but not yet occupied. While the Red Army is already at the Oder, the Allies are making slow progress in the West. Only when Cologne is conquered and the bridge at Remagen has fallen into the hands of the Americans does the Wehrmacht's will to defend itself weaken. Now American camera teams are also allowed into the areas liberated from the Nazis. Their first destination is the Remagen Bridge, which has already become a legend. The evacuated inhabitants of Cologne return to their destroyed city. Impressive colour shots show the faces of the defeated. Other teams of "Special Film Project 186" and Hollywood director George Stevens follow the US troops through the Westerwald towards Thuringia. When US troops conquer Nazi Germany from the West in March 1945, camera teams follow, documenting the defeated and occupied country. The special feature: they shoot in 16mm colour. The result is unique film footage of the destroyed cities and their inhabitants, but also depressing images of the victims of terror and the policy of extermination.

World War Weird explains the most mysterious and bizarre events of both the World Wars. In the chaos of battle men claim to have witnessed some of history’s strangest sightings and in the minds of their leaders; ludicrous military plans have been hatched. From unexplained sea monsters spotted by U-boat captains to some of the weirdest weaponry of the Wars, each episode will examine the stories in fascinating detail. Despite decades of research by historians and experts, many accounts still remain a complete mystery. Using de-classified documents and military historians, World War Weird attempts to explain the unexplainable and explore the fascinating history associated with some of the darkest periods in human history. Stalin’s Flying Saucer: At the end of the war British and American troops sweep through Germany looking for the crème de la crème of Nazi Scientists, desperately wanting to enlist them before the Russians. Top secret Nazi blue prints of a super plane are found by the Allies but they suspect the Russians have got there first. A new investigation alleges the most infamous UFO sighting ever at Roswell could be explained by the stolen Nazi wonder weapons Stalin’s scientists got to first... Ghost Army: The Allies have a problem when it comes to invading France, that the Germans are defending all the main ports. For a successful D-day attack they need a plan. Operation Fortitude is the most audacious, crazy plan ever conceived in war time but if it works, the German war machine could be finished. Fake harbours, wooden tanks, even fake armies are all brought to play in duping the Germans. What Happened To Glenn Miller?: Glenn Miller was the darling of wartime America, his music and military band buoyed the troops and lifted morale. But his mysterious death flying across the English Channel has sparked countless theories of cover ups and conspiracies. The weirdest being that Miller was a super spy. Recent investigations allege that the big band hero was doing a lot more than just singing for America, he was actually on a top secret mission to topple Hitler and bring the war to an end!