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Human bones found on an idyllic beach in Antigua trigger an investigation by naval historian Sam Willis into one of the darkest chapters of Britain's imperial past. As archaeologists excavate a mass grave of British sailors, Willis explores Antigua's ruins and discovers how the sugar islands of the Caribbean were a kind of hell in the age of Nelson.

The story of the war's most concentrated aerial attack on London in 1941 and how the city nearly perished under the German barrage. Featuring harrowing first-hand accounts from survivors of the attack and dramatic recreations of events based on newly declassified information, this film brings to life the story of one night that nearly changed the course of history. Had Hitler trusted the intelligence on the amount of damage to the city and continued his attack, London would have crumbled under the sustained barrage.

The Schlieffen Plan was the German General Staff's early 20th century overall strategic plan for victory in a possible future war in which the German Empire might find itself fighting on two fronts: France to the west and Russia to the east. It took nine years to devise this plan, i.e. from 1897 to 1905. The First World War later became such a war, with both a Western and an Eastern Front. The plan took advantage of expected differences in the three countries' speed in preparing for war. In short, it was the German plan to avoid a two-front war by concentrating troops in the West and quickly defeating the French and then, if necessary, rushing those troops by rail to the East to face the Russians before they had time to mobilize fully. The Schlieffen Plan was created by Count Alfred von Schlieffen and modified by Helmuth von Moltke the Younger after Schlieffen's retirement; it was Moltke who actually implemented the plan at the outset of World War I. In modified form, it was executed to near victory in the first month of the war. However, the modifications to the original plan, a French counter-attack on the outskirts of Paris (the Battle of the Marne) and surprisingly speedy mobilization of the Russian and French forces, this was down to the fact that they used all the public transport they possesed to move their armies, ended the German offensive and resulted in years of trench warfare. The plan has been the subject of intense debate among historians and military scholars ever since. Schlieffen's last words were 'remember to keep the right flank strong,' which was significant in that Moltke strengthened the left flank in his modification.

Five years into World War II, the future of Europe hangs in the balance, as 34,000 US soldiers embark on a mission to launch the biggest attack ever from sea. This fascinating documentary, interviews the soldiers who fought at Omaha, recalling their experiences as they approached the shore line under intense cross fire. Using CGI graphics to recreate and illustrate what happened on D Day, the programme also explores the weaponry used in the first wave of the invasion. Of the 1450 soldiers to arrive in the first wave that day, it is estimated that over one third of these men were casualties within the first hour. 'Surviving D Day' graphically details one of the biggest turning points in modern history, and tells the gripping story of the brave soldiers that gave their lives to liberate Western Europe.

Argentinian doctor; joined Castro in Mexico in 1954; a leader of the 1956-59 Cuban Revolution. Che served as president of Cuba's national bank and as Cuba's minister of industry in the period immediately following the Cuban Revolution. Towards the end of his formal affiliation with the Cuban government, Che came to implicitly criticize Soviet bureacracy. His positions put him at odds with the party line of the Cuban CP. In 1965, Che realized that the defence of the Cuban revolution and the creation of revolutions abroad were naturally not always in sync, and this ultimately led to his resignation and his return to revolutionary work abroad. During Che's subsequent revolutionary campaigns, he wrote his Message to the Tricontinental (1967) in which he openly criticized the Soviet Union; claiming that the Northern hemisphere of the world, both the Soviet Union and the US, exploited the Southern hemisphere of the world. He strongly supported the Vietnamese Revolution, and urged his comrades in South America to create 'many vietnams'. In 1965 Che left Cuba to set up guerrilla forces first in the Congo and then later in Bolivia, where he was ultimately captured and killed in October 1967. Accounts of his execution have varied over the years, but many contemprary accounts indicate some degree of collaboration between Bolivia's government troops and the United States CIA. Guevara developed a theory of primacy of military struggle, in particular concept of guerilla foquismo. Many of Che's theories regarding guerilla tactics are articulated in his 1961 work 'Guerilla Warfare.'

The story of the tumultuous years after the Civil War during which America grappled with how to rebuild itself, how to successfully bring the South back into the Union and, at the same time, how former slaves could be brought into the life of the country.

The Catalpa rescue was the escape, in 1876, of six Irish Fenian prisoners from what was then the British penal colony of Western Australia.

Mass graves and forensic evidence reveal a complex truth about how the Inca Empire fell. Through a mix of crime-lab science, archeology, and history, this NOVA/National Geographic special presents new evidence that is changing what we know about the final days of the once-mighty Inca Empire. This probing story of archeological discovery begins in a cemetery crammed with skeletons that offer tantalizing clues about a fierce 16th-century battle between warriors of the collapsing Inca Empire and Spanish invaders. Now, the long-accepted account of a swift Spanish conquest of the Inca—achieved with guns, steel, and horses—is being replaced by a more complete story based on surprising new evidence, including what may be the first gunshot wound in the Americas.

The story of how a small band of pioneering aircraft designers and engineers invented modern warfare in the four years between 1914 and 1918, turning the aeroplane from an eccentric novelty to the decisive weapon of modern conflict. With exclusive access to ‘The Vintage Aviators’, a unique fleet of replica aircraft owned by director Peter Jackson (‘The Hobbit’, ‘King Kong’), the programme includes a series of dazzling aerial experiments, as present-day test pilots push the meticulously re-created planes to the limit. On both sides of the war, experimental engineers scrabbled for superiority of the skies, with British pioneers like Geoffrey de Havilland competing to out do Anton Fokker, the Dutchman whose planes helped Germany to dominate the sky. These were men working in the dark with a brand-new technology, battling the scepticism of their superiors while the fate of thousands of men rested on their ability to beat the enemy to the next engineering breakthrough.

As England was plunged into civil war, from the turmoil one man emerged a hero: Oliver Cromwell. He rose from fenland farmer to become the most powerful commoner in British history, and he got there by very un-British means: revolution. His convictions led to the killing of a king, and gave Britain its only experience of republican rule.