Gladiator Spartacus led 70,000 slaves in rebellion against Rome in 73 B.C.E. / B.C., ending with 6,000 crucifixions; philosopher Hypatia was murdered in 415 C.E. / A.D. during religious conflict.

Duke Louis d'Orléans was ambushed and killed in 1407 by rival John the Fearless, who claimed tyrannicide; Athenian general Alcibiades switched sides repeatedly before Persian assassins killed him.

For 2,000 years, whoever controlled the Mediterranean controlled the resources of the known world. In WWII, this area was in control of the British Empire, and Mussolini wanted it back.

Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and armaments minister, built the industrial foundations of the Nazi war machine; after the downfall, he crafted a carefully managed myth to escape the gallows.

In the shadows of the Villa Oplontis, slave quarters, amphora, and Villa B recall the lives of the enslaved. The bodies of Vesuvius' victims are reminders of Rome's strict social hierarchy.

For 2,000 years, whoever controlled the Mediterranean controlled the resources of the known world. In WWII, this area was in control of the British Empire, and Mussolini wanted it back.

In 1609, in the Basque Country, a local dispute turned into accusations of witchcraft. Between the 15th and 17th centuries, up to 60,000 people were condemned. Historians find out what really happened.

This episode traces the war in the West and how the geography of Western Europe provided both the Nazis and the Allies with advantages and disadvantages.

World War II fostered the emergence of both iconic and unusual tanks that were each engineered with distinct aims; we explore diverse tank innovations and the overall trajectory of armoured warfare.

Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and armaments minister, built the industrial foundations of the Nazi war machine; after the downfall, he crafted a carefully managed myth to escape the gallows.

Lombard King Alboin forced his wife to drink from her father's skull, leading her to conspire in his murder; German King Philip of Swabia was killed in 1208 by Count Otto VIII over marriage disputes.

War hero Gilles de Rais was tried and executed in 1440 for murdering over 100 children; at the 1440 Black Dinner, the young Douglas brothers were invited to dine with the king, then seized and killed.

The Pazzi family attacked the Medicis during Easter Mass in 1478, killing Giuliano; Byzantine Empress Maria of Antioch was strangled in 1182 after her cousin Andronikos incited massacre.

King William Rufus was struck by an arrow while hunting in 1100; Japan's last Minamoto shōgun Sanetomo was assassinated by his nephew outside a shrine in 1219.

For 2,000 years, whoever controlled the Mediterranean controlled the resources of the known world. In WWII, this area was in control of the British Empire, and Mussolini wanted it back.

World War II ignited a fierce battle for aerial dominance and drove nations to pioneer secret aircraft technologies; this episode explores the development of early jet fighters.

King William Rufus was struck by an arrow while hunting in 1100; Japan's last Minamoto shōgun Sanetomo was assassinated by his nephew outside a shrine in 1219.

The Tollund Man is a natural mummy offering a rare face-to-face encounter with the past; who was he, how did he live, and what was he doing here in the peat with a rope around his neck?

The Eastern Front saw Hitler's most brutal WWII campaigns, but it is also where the Soviets, with mastery of the ground on which they lived, beat him all the way back to Berlin.

Italian archaeologists begin the biggest dig in a generation at Pompeiil; they find a bakery, a wealthy house, and a fresco of a so-called 'pizza' before making a grisly discovery.

Starting in the beerhalls of post-First World War Munich, Adolf Hitler captivated a nation desperate for hope; a movement was sparked that drew a loyal inner circle together driven by ambition, extremism, and blind devotion. This sprawling series unravels how economic turmoil, wounded national pride, and 'charismatic' leadership gave rise to unprecedented brutality shaped by the men and women who stood closest to Hitler; each episode focuses on one Nazi figure and provides insight into their lives. These are the threads that made up Hitler's unleashed nightmare...

Lombard King Alboin forced his wife to drink from her father's skull, leading her to conspire in his murder; German King Philip of Swabia was killed in 1208 by Count Otto VIII over marriage disputes.

War hero Gilles de Rais was tried and executed in 1440 for murdering over 100 children; at the 1440 Black Dinner, the young Douglas brothers were invited to dine with the king, then seized and killed.