Modern Global History

05: 1968 Vietnam | Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields

Peter and Dan Snow reveal the techniques use by US marines to flush out Communist fighters who lived in a ne...

12: Mr Kennedy and Mr Khruschev | Twentieth Century History

The contest between the United States and the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1963 leading to the Cuban Missile Cri...

11: The Cold War Confrontation | Twentieth Century History

The Berlin blockade of 1948-49 and the Korean War 1950-53.

07: Chasing Ghosts (June 1968-May 1969) | The Vietnam War

Public support for the war declines, and American men of draft age face difficult decisions.

04: 1951 Korea | Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields

Peter and Dan Snow, at the border between North and South Korea, tell of two key moments in the years of fight...

08: Age of Extremes | Andrew Marr's History of the World

In this episode, Andrew Marr brings the story right up to date with the twentieth century.

10: Cuba: 1959-1962 | Cold War

Fidel Castro comes to power following the Cuban Revolution. Cuba aligns itself with the Soviet Union and the government starts nationalising A...

11: Vietnam: 1954-1968 | Cold War

After losing the Battle of Dien Bien Phu the French leave Vietnam. A stream of refugees flee to the south after the Communist north institu...

Korean War | Twentieth Century History

An explanation of how the Korean war unfolded.

Vietnam War | Panorama

Panorama looks at the Vietnam War. Includes an investigation into the attitudes of US citizens to the war and coverage of Sennator Robert Kennedy's sp...

03: Hell Come to Earth (January 1964-December 1965) | The Vietnam War

With South Vietnam in chaos, Hanoi hardliners seize the initiative and send combat troops.

01: Deja Vu (1858-1961) | The Vietnam War

Revolutionaries led by Ho Chi Minh end French colonial occupation. Vietnam is divided in two at Geneva.

14: Red Spring: 1960s | Cold War

Likewise the Soviet Union started the decade with growing openness and optimism. There was also an emerging cohort of youth with no memory o...

05: Korea: 1949-1953 | Cold War

Korea after the Second World War was occupied by both the Soviets and the Americans, who respectively installed Kim Il Sung and Syngman Rhee ...

20: Soldiers of God: 1975-1988 | Cold War

Nur Mohammad Taraki comes to power in Afghanistan and attempts to modernise the country on Marxist-Leninist lines, provoking a rebe...

Beyond Utopia: Escape from North Korea

A documentary that takes a suspenseful, immersive look at the lengths to which people will go to gain freedom, following various indiv...

09: Fratricide (May 1970-March 1973) | The Vietnam War

Massive US airpower makes the difference in halting an unprecedented North Vietnamese offensive.

04: Doubt (January 1966-June 1967) | The Vietnam War

Defying American airpower, North Vietnamese troops stream down the Ho Chi Minh Trail into the south.

12: MAD: 1960-1972 | Cold War

The United States nuclear strategy of counterforce, intended to counter a Soviet conventional attack by targeting military facilities, is discr...

01: Lyndon Johnson's War | Wheeler on America

A look back at the classic series Wheeler on America from 1996. Charles Wheeler traces changes in US society since the liberal ...

S01E04: Hiroshima | Days That Shook the World

Documentary recalling 6 August 1945, when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, with testimony from American colonel Paul Tib...

Hiroshima

Dramatic reconstruction of the devastating impact of the first atomic bomb to be used against people on the citizens of Hiroshima.

08: Pearl Harbour to Hiroshima | Twentieth Century History

On 7th December 1941, Japanese planes bombed the US fleet at Pearl Harbour. Programme looks at what caused Japan t...

S07E08: Miracle On The River Kwai | Secret History

The hospital created by the doctors and medical orderlies among prisoners of war of the Japanese in Thailand.

Episode 2 | Japan with Sue Perkins

Sue Perkins enjoys a night out with Kyoto's geishas, goes free diving with some ama divers and visits Hiroshima. In Tokyo, she explores ho...

14: 1945: Fallout | People's Century

Nuclear weapons make the world more dangerous than ever before. The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 by atom bombs is haile...

15: 1951: Asia Rising | People's Century

Through thrift, hard work and discipline, Japan and later South Korea enjoy economic miracles that bring growth, prosperity and conf...

11: Thinking Ahead | Inside Japan

Film about the Japanese adaptability and flexibility in industry, shown through the organisation of the Mitsubishi company.

08: Love the Criminal, Hate the Crime | Inside Japan

A look at the treatment of prisoners at one of Japan's largest prisons.

04: Factory Flower Office Lady | Inside Japan

Looking at the life of two working girls in Japan, their opportunities and expectations as women in Japan today.

03: Harmony of the Team | Inside Japan

Baseball has been played in Japan for more than 100 years, and it's now the country's most popular sport.

01: The Chrysanthemum People | Inside Japan

Most people think of Japan as an urban, industrial country. In many important ways, however, life in Japan is still an extension ...

Episode 1 | The Australian Wars

Sydney was the first frontier war battleground. No treaty between European occupying forces and the First Nations people meant conflict, and ...

06: Empire for Sale | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

The fall of the British empire is usually attributed to nationalist groups fighting for independence, yet as ...

Episode 3 | The Australian Wars

Colonists spread across the continent, assisted by the proliferation of rifles and horses. Everywhere, they were met with resistance from Fir...

10: India: The Brightest Jewel | Twentieth Century History

Programme covers events in India from the 1930s to Independence and Partition in 1947.

S07E04: Mau Mau | Secret History

The story behind a bitter conflict during the last phase of the British Empire, which saw the Mau Mau attack white settlers in a savage bid ...

Mau Mau Uprising | This World

History and witness experiences of the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya.

Episode 2 | The Australian Wars

Film-maker Rachel Perkins examines what happened when the increasing number of arriving European colonists encroached upon the prime hunting ...

S02E06: Gurinder Chadha | Who Do You Think You Are?

Director Gurinder Chadha learns about her father's life in Kenya and her grandmother's experiences during the partition o...

02: Conspiracy | Suez: A Very British Crisis

This episode provides an insight into the way in which Eden secretly plotted with France and Israel, behind the USA's back, not ...

13: 1947: Freedom Now | People's Century

European powers are forced to relinquish their colonies in Africa following the Second World War, but in most cases the newly indepe...

05: Activists | Icons

Exploring the achievements of the greatest figures of the 20th century. Examining the lives of Emmeline Pankhurst, Mahatma Gandhi, Helen Keller and Mar...

06: Freedom | Michael Wood: The Story of India

Michael Wood examines the British Raj and traces the events that led to the Partition of India in 1947.

The Extraordinary Equiano

The story of Olaudah Equiano, a black slave who emerged from the horrors of the African holocaust to become an English gentleman, marry a white wom...

The First World War: 04: Living and Dying | History File

The Great War was the first 'world' war, there were soldiers from Africa, Australia and India as well as Europe. In ...

01: First Encounters | Black and British: A Forgotten History

Historian David Olusoga explores the enduring relationship between Britain and people whose origins lie in Afri...

05: Maxim Force | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

The 'scramble for Africa' by competing European nations during the last years of Queen Victoria's reign is the co...

Mau Mau uprising | African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power

Afua Hirsch discusses the 1952-1960 Mau Mau uprising in Kenya.

03: Pomp and Power | Lost World of the Raj

Set against the backdrop of British India from the 1920s to Independence in 1947, this third and last programme in the series tell...

02: Sex and Sensibility | Lost World of the Raj

Raj society was based on a formal order of precedence, but behind the scenes there was a great deal of flirtation, fun, affai...

01: Home from Home | Lost World of the Raj

The first episode recreates the era of the 1930s, when British expatriates attempted to create an idyllic version of English life ...

04: Cities | Africa's Great Civilisations

This episode looks at the powerful, cosmopolitan cities that dotted Africa at the time when Europe was in its Middle Ages.

03: The Mission | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

Following the religious revival that started in the late 18th century, missionaries began working in Africa and I...

Episode 2 | Empire State of Mind

Sathnam Sanghera goes on a very personal journey to unearth the roots that bind his country to its colonial past. Travelling across Britain ...

03: High Tide | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

Dan Snow presents a series on the Royal Navy's role in British history. Dan looks at the evolution o...

The British in India | Timewatch

Tonight's programme follows historian Andrew Roberts across the Indian subcontinent as he argues that Britain should take pride in its imper...

03: Empires of Gold | Africa's Great Civilisations

Henry Louis Gates travels to the shores of the Sahara Desert to see the transformation of north and west Africa.

01: Origins | Africa's Great Civilisations

Henry Louis Gates Jr looks at the discoveries that point to Africa as the genetic home of all currently living humanity.

02: White Plague | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

The concept of 'plantation' is explored in this programme, referring not to crops but the settlement of British ...

06: Mahatma Gandhi | Walden on Heroes

Gandhi did more than drive the British out of India using "passive resistance". He also fought for better conditions for workers, persu...

Challenge of the Sixties | Panorama

Panorama reports from India, Africa, America and Russia to highlight the problems and challenges that the next ten years will bring. The ...

S01E06: Kristallnacht | Days That Shook the World

Two days defined the fortunes of 20th-century Jews: Kristallnacht on September 9, 1938, a turning point in Nazi persecution...

Shot for Going to School

Schoolgirl Malala Yousafi was just 14 when she was shot for campaigning for girls' education in Pakistan. Nel Hedayat travels to the areas where the...

Malala: Shot for Going to School | Panorama

One year ago, Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban on her school bus. In this Panorama special, she talks exclusively to Mish...

The Settlers | Louis Theroux

Fourteen years after his first visit, Louis Theroux meets some of the growing community of religious-nationalist Israelis who have settled in th...

14: Israel and the Arab States | Twentieth Century History

Schools history programme narrated by John Tidmarsh, looking at Palestine in the 1930s and the relationship betwee...

The Road to Palmyra

Documentary which follows historian Dan Cruickshank and photographer Don McCullin into war-torn Syria on a mission to document the cultural destruction w...

At War: Crisis in the Middle East | Panorama

Panorama reports on the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Reporter Jane Corbin hears the human stories on both sides and asks w...

S02E08: Terrorism: Assassination of Abraham Lincoln | Days That Shook the World

How the commercial airplane has been used as a terrorist weapon: the Black September hijackin...

S01E06: The Birth of Israel | Days That Shook the World

Two days defined the fortunes of 20th-century Jews: Kristallnacht on September 9, 1938, a turning point in Nazi perse...

A History of Syria with Dan Snow | This World

Dan Snow travels to Syria to see how the current civil war has been shaped by the country's tumultuous history, unpicking the h...

Episode 1 | How Facebook Changed the World: The Arab Spring

The story of how the Arab world erupted in revolution. Mishal Husain charts events in Tunisia and Egypt, meets le...

01: Wellspring of Holiness | Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City

Simon Sebag Montefiore begins a history of Jerusalem by exploring how it came into being and how it became ...

The fall of the Ottoman Empire | Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City

Simon Sebag Montefiore discusses the role that Britain played following the fall of the Ottoman Empire ...

01: War | Once Upon a Time in Iraq

As war began, many Iraqis were hopeful. Ahmed Al Bashir, now a famous comedian, remembers practising his English with US troops before the...

06: 1973 Middle East | Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields

Peter and Dan Snow unpick the fighting that broke out in 1973. Known by some as the Yom Kippur War, it w...

S03E08: The Iranian Revolution | Days That Shook the World

The departure of the Shah of Iran while Ayatollah Khomeini awaited in Paris.

01: Betrayal | Suez: A Very British Crisis

Archive material, interviews, and dramatisations provide an insight into to the Suez crisis of 1956; the Egyptian uprising that br...

05: Legacy | Once Upon a Time in Iraq

America eventually leaves Iraq, but when Isis emerges to take over huge swathes of the country, the US is forced back to confront the b...

03: Fallujah | Once Upon a Time in Iraq

The infamous battle of Fallujah is told by eye-witness accounts from journalists, soldiers and civilians.

Isis: Terror in Iraq | Panorama

An investigation into Isis and how it is ripping Iraq apart. Paul Wood speaks to members of the terror group and sees the fighting in Iraq fi...

20: 1949: Great Leap Forward | People's Century

Communism helps modernise China, but the decisions and personality cult of CCP Chairman Mao Zedong has a traumatic effect on ...

06: The Age of Revolution | The Story of China

Michael Wood explores the history of the world's newest superpower. Michael investigates three cataclysmic revolutions which s...

13: One Man's Revolution: Mao Tse-Tung | Twentieth Century History

Mao Tse Tung's 42-year leadership of the Chinese Communist Party changed the face of China, the world's mo...

05: More Lustrous than Gold | Hidden Empire

The story of beautiful Chinese courtesan Saijinhua. Following the Opium War, China was demoralised and impoverished while an enem...

15: China: 1949-1972 | Cold War

Following the Chinese Revolution Mao Zedong aligns China firmly with the Soviet Union. China becomes the recipient of Soviet aid, supports Co...

Morning Sun | Storyville

A multi-perspective view of the Chinese Cultural Revolution as seen through the eyes of its supporters and opponents.

Mao | Inside the Mind of...

A panel of experts discuss of the psychology of Chairman Mao Tse-tung.

Mao's cultural revolution | Storyville

Mao secured his socialist revolution by promoting a new proletariat art.

02: Revolutionary Paris | Filthy Cities

Dan Snow sniffs out the French revolution to explore how Paris was once buried in an inescapable stench.

Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution

Drama-documentary on the 365 days that Robespierre sat on the Committee of Public Safety - known as 'The Terror' - during which...

S02E01: The French Revolution | Royal History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

Lucy Worsley explores the fibs of the French Revolution. Marie Antoinette's comment, 'Let them...

06: Revolution | Andrew Marr's History of the World

Andrew explores the Age of Revolution, when people across the world rose up in the name of freedom and equality.

Episode 3 | Napoleon

Andrew Roberts charts the fall of Napoleon, a defining moment in global history. Grave military misjudgements led to his defeat at Waterloo and exile to...

Episode 2 | Napoleon

This edition charts the transformation of a political leader of the French to emperor and global statesman. Presented by British historian Andrew Roberts.

01: The American Revolution | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

Lucy Worsley explores how the history of the American Revolution has been mythologised and ma...

03: Bohemian Rhapsody | Paris

Sandrine Voillet tells how the city embraced technology, counter-culture and immigration.

01: City of Dreams | Paris

Documentary series about the history of Paris. Art historian Sandrine Voillet tells how Paris rose up from the French Revolution to become the wor...

02: Blood and Chocolate | Paris

Art historian Sandrine Voillet continues her history of Paris and meets top fashion designer Christian Lacroix, leading porn star Ovidie and ...

S03E01E1: Forces of Nature | A History of Britain by Simon Schama

The French Revolution sent shockwaves through Britain. While some watched transfixed, others were horrified...

S01E02: Waterloo | War Walks

Wellington's victory against Napoleon in 1815 ended the most powerful European empire since the Romans. Professor Holmes visits the farms and fi...

03: The New Generation | The World Against Apartheid: Have You Heard from Johannesburg?

The Soweto Uprising and the murder of Steven Biko turned South Africa into a worldwid...

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)

Idris Elba and Naomie Harris star in a biopic based on Nelson Mandela's autobiography, chronicling his journey from a rural village to o...

01: The Road to Resistance | The World Against Apartheid: Have You Heard from Johannesburg?

To the world's horror, protesters are gunned down in Sharpeville and Nelson Mande...

Nelson Mandela | Prisoners of Conscience

Nelson Mandela has been in prison in South Africa for the past 19 years. From 1950 Mandela became increasingly important in African ...

01: Leaders | Icons

Trevor examines the lives of Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela. He discovers exactly what made each of t...

Nelson Mandela | Icons

At the trial that saw him sent to prison, Mandela made a speech that galvanised international condemnation of Apartheid South Africa. 27 years later t...

Apartheid in the 1950s | Witness History

Following the death of Nelson Mandela we remember the system he was fighting against. Using BBC archive we present a snapshot of the...

Union of South Africa | Panorama

Woodrow Wyatt investigates the impact of new apartheid laws, such as the Group Areas Act. Wyatt interviews politicians from all parties, inc...

S01E03: The Release of Nelson Mandela | Days That Shook the World

Nelson Mandela's release from prison on February 11, 1990.

05: Nelson Mandela | Walden on Heroes

The series ends controversially as Brian Walden claims that Nelson Mandela does not deserve to be regarded as a hero. While admiring Ma...

02: Fair Play | The World Against Apartheid: Have You Heard from Johannesburg?

In this episode, athletes and activists around the world hit white South Africa where it hurts...

Nelson Mandela: One Incredible Life

Actress Lenora Crichlow sets off to South Africa to discover the story of how Nelson Mandela brought peace to his country and what he mea...

Episode 1 | Mandela: The Living Legend

Former South African President and global statesman, Nelson Mandela offers a unique glimpse into his hectic daily life. David Dimbleby...

Nelson Mandela | Great Speeches

Nelson Mandela addresses the crowd in Wembley following his release from Prison.

16: 1957: Skin Deep | People's Century

Through nonviolent and more direct methods, people rally to fight segregation in South Africa, and several states in the United States.

05: Free at Last | The World Against Apartheid: Have You Heard from Johannesburg?

The campaign to free Nelson Mandela ignites a worldwide crusade which brings apartheid to a...

04: The Bottom Line | The World Against Apartheid: Have You Heard from Johannesburg?

Citizens all over the world mount a grassroots campaign to use economic pressure to help...

Oti Mabuse: My South Africa

Strictly's Oti Mabuse returns to her childhood home to revisit the people and places that inspired her to be the dancer and woman she is today.

Nelson Mandela: The Fight for Freedom

David Dimbleby presents a look back at the life of Nelson Mandela, featuring interviews conducted with Mandela in 2003 and contribution...

Mandela, The Myth and Me | Storyville

Documentary which raises important questions about Nelson Mandela's legacy, featuring interviews with those who knew and loved Mandela,...

05: The Milosevic Interview | The Death of Yugoslavia

President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic talks to Laura Silber about his rise to power, nationalism and the war, in an in...

Episode 1 | The Balkans: Europe's Forgotten Frontier

The BBC's Europe editor, Katya Adler, travels to Croatia, Bosnia and Albania. Thirty years on from the Yugoslav wars of ...

Episode 2 | The Balkans: Europe's Forgotten Frontier

Katya Adler travels to Romania, where she visits what will be Nato's largest European base, Kosovo, Europe's youngest co...

07: Pax Americana | The Death of Yugoslavia

The Bafta award-winning team who made the original documentary series, shown last year, returns to Bosnia for a follow-up report ...

06: A Safe Area | The Death of Yugoslavia

This is the story of three years of international failure in Bosnia. The main participants tell how promises to the Bosnian Muslims...

03: Wars of Independence | The Death of Yugoslavia

Two days after Croatia and Slovenia's declarations of independence, war in Yugoslavia commenced. Witnesses testify that ce...

04: The Gates of Hell | The Death of Yugoslavia

New evidence shows that it was President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia himself who ordered the ethnic cleansers into Bosnia. F...

02: The Road to War | The Death of Yugoslavia

In August 1995, President Tudjman of Croatia swept 150,000 Serbs out of the Krajina region of former Yugoslavia. He and the Ser...

01: Enter Nationalism | The Death of Yugoslavia

In this first programme, President Milosevic of Serbia and his inner circle describe how he betrayed his political patron, se...

Ordinary People | Inside Story

A portrait of Karlovac UN transit camp in Croatia, recording the shattered lives of the Bosnian Muslims who pass through its doors.