Conflict and Warfare

2: The Big Bang | Sword, Musket & Machine Gun: Britain's Armed History

Sam Willis on the history of weapons that have shaped Britain. He charts the impact of gunpowder on th...

4: Cromwell | Great Britons (2002)

Monarchist and military historian Richard Holmes proposes Oliver Cromwell, the reluctant republican and revolutionary who helped establish...

S2E2: Revolutions | A History of Britain by Simon Schama

Featuring the revolutionary period in Britain after the execution of Charles I, from Cromwell's iron rule to Charles...

6: The Battle of the Boyne | Battlefield Britain

Peter and Dan Snow explore in depth the battles that shaped the nation. The story of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, when t...

7: Culloden: The Jacobites' Last Stand | Battlefield Britain

Dan and Peter Snow use computer animation and dramatised testimony to relive defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie's h...

3: The Cromwell: New Model Englishman | Plague, Fire, War and Treason

How did this non-descript East Anglian gentleman emerge from the Fens to prove himself a military geniu...

Battle of Naseby | War Walks

Richard Holmes visits Britain's historical sites. He travels to Naseby, where, in 1645, King Charles I lost the decisive battle of the English C...

Formidable Florence Nightingale (Song) | Horrible Histories

Nurse, statistician and social reformer - the Lady with the Lamp did a lot of amazing things!

Mary Seacole (Song) | Horrible Histories

Mary Seacole's life as a nurse in the Crimean War.

3: Rapid Fire | Sword, Musket & Machine Gun: Britain's Armed History

In the final episode, Dr Sam Willis looks at the drive to develop ever more precise weapons on the battl...

5: Nelson | Great Britons (2002)

Historian Lucy Moore makes the case for Horatio Nelson, Britain's most successful naval leader, who died in 1805 while saving the country fr...

2: Horatio Nelson | Great Britons (1990)

Historian David Howarth reviews the life of Admiral Nelson, concluding that Nelson was a legend among his sailors in his own lifetim...

1: Napoleon | Heroes and Villains

Drama-documentary starring Tom Burke and Rob Brydon telling how Napoleon Bonaparte rose from being a penniless soldier to create an empire,...

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 1 | Napoleon

From lowly Corsican Army officer to first consul of France, this episode charts the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte to leader of the French nation in the lat...

S2E2: George IV and the Regency | Royal History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

Lucy Worsley finds the fibs behind the facade of Georgian elegance and discovers how the sto...

S3E5: Survival | Monarchy By David Starkey

Weathering the anti-royalist storm breaking on the continent, Great Britain stands strong against the military might of Napoleon. ...

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 fields whe...

Nelson's Trafalgar

The real story of the battle of Trafalgar and its flawed hero Nelson. How did the British win it? What did it achieve? Why has Nelson become a national mo...

Episode 2 | The Real White Queen and Her Rivals

Philippa Gregory tells the interweaving stories of the women who were decisive figures in the Wars of the Roses - Elizabeth W...

Episode 1 | The Real White Queen and Her Rivals

Philippa Gregory reveals the stories of three women at the heart of the Wars of the Roses - the 'White Queen' Elizabeth Woodv...

3: The Death of Kings | The Plantagenets

In the last century of their rule, four Plantagenet kings are deposed and murdered.

2: The Big Bang | Sword, Musket & Machine Gun: Britain's Armed History

Sam Willis on the history of weapons that have shaped Britain. He charts the impact of gunpowder on th...

1: Cut & Thrust | Sword, Musket & Machine Gun: Britain's Armed History

Sam Willis traces the history of the weapons that have shaped Britain. He gets a lesson in swordsmansh...

1: Knights of the Road: The Highwayman's Story | Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues

Series charting the age of the outlaw begins with the arrival of a new bre...

5: The Knight | Terry Jones' Medieval Lives

Knights were more interested in the fine art of killing people and profiting from war than romantic notions of chivalry.

3: The Battle of Wales | Battlefield Britain

Peter and Dan Snow revisit the battles that shaped our nation. They tell the story of when the Welsh, led by rebel leader Owain ...

3: Richard III | Historyonics

Nick Knowles tries to discover whether Richard III was as dastardly as history records. He was ruthless and ambitious - but was he really respo...

S1E3: Princes in the Tower | Lucy Worsley Investigates

What really happened to the princes in the tower? Lucy Worsley uncovers the story of the two boys whose disappearance ...

Richard III: The Princes in the Tower

Did Richard III really kill his nephews so that he could be king? A stellar cast of experts including David Starkey and Philippa Gregor...

S1E3: Warwick | Secrets of Great British Castles

In this episode, Dan explores Warwick Castle whose walls echo with tales of betrayal, bloodshed, murder and financial ruin.

Bosworth | War Walks

Professor Richard Holmes travels to historic British sites. He visits the scene of Henry Tudor's victory over King Richard III, which changed the course...

Hastings | War Walks

Professor Richard Holmes walks and rides over the Hastings battlefield that marks a turning point in British history, handling the weapons and equipment...

Agincourt | War Walks

A journey through six centuries of warfare. Military historian Professor Richard Holmes analyses the Battle of Agincourt.

Richard III: The New Evidence

This new documentary explores the results of scientific tests of Richard III's remains. Would his spinal deformity have prevented him from lead...

Richard III: The King in the Car Park

Was a skeleton found under a Leicester car park last September really Richard III? With exclusive access to the investigating team, thi...

The Iron Curtain | Europe: A Natural History

The impact of the Iron Curtain on nature in Europe.

Postwar: E14: United Nations | Politically

Both main parties supported the United Nations, but they disagreed about what that meant.

Postwar: E13: From Yalta to Potsdam | Politically

Between the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, everything changed.

Cumbria's Atomic Pioneers | A History of the World

Stuart Maconie goes in search of Britain's atomic past, discovering the world's first nuclear power station, tucked away i...

3: Geneva 1985 | Summits

David Reynolds uncovers the story of three summit meetings that shaped the modern world. He sees how Reagan and Gorbachev helped ensure a peaceful e...

2: Vienna 1961 | Summits

David Reynolds uncovers the story of three summit meetings that shaped the modern world. How Kennedy and Khrushchev's meeting in Vienna in 1961 near...

Episode 4 | Ameireaga air Film/America in Colour

To Americans the 1950s are the golden years. Having recovered from World War II, the life of the nation was on the up. The n...

5: 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 net...

4: 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 fighti...

1: 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 r...

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.

10: The Weight of Memory (March 1973-Onward) | The Vietnam War

While Watergate forces Nixon to resign, the Vietnamese continue to savage one another.

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

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

8: A Sea of Fire (April 1969-May 1970) | The Vietnam War

With morale plummeting in Vietnam, President Nixon begins withdrawing American troops. As news breaks of an unthinka...

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

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

6: Things Fall Apart (January 1968-June 1968) | The Vietnam War

North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launch surprise attacks on cities and military bases.

5: This is What We Do (July 1967-December 1967) | The Vietnam War

American casualties and enemy body counts mount as marines face deadly North Vietnamese ambushes.

3: 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.

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

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

4: The Age of Union | Story of Ireland

In this edition he reveals how Ireland became part of the UK for the first time following the 1801 Act of Union. Presented by Fergal K...

Episode 2 | The Road to Partition

The second episode explores how political tensions and outbreaks of sectarian violence threatened to destabilise the new Northern Irish state.

Episode 1 | The Road to Partition

Documentary exploring the political brinkmanship and bitter communal violence that led to the partition of Ireland.

3: Enemies | Thatcher: A Very British Revolution

Mrs Thatcher confronts her enemies, leading the country to war, taking the economic fight to her opponents in the trade unio...

S11E1: Brighton Bomb | Secret History

What if Patrick Magee and his accomplices had succeeded and blown up Mrs. Thatcher?

S5E10: 1999 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland

The full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement is stalled over the issue of decommissioning. The Ulster Unionist Party insists ...

S5E9: 1996 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland

The peace process is stalled over the issue of decommissioning. In January, Senator George Mitchell's report recommends the beginning ...

S5E8: 1991 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland

The violence continues throughout the year. In February the IRA launch an attack on the cabinet when a mortar bomb explodes in the gar...

S5E7: 1989 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland

The violence continues in Northern Ireland. February sees allegations of ‘state collusion' in the killing of solicitor Pat Finucane. I...

S5E6: 1986 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland

Unionist opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 continues. In January, 15 by-elections in Northern Ireland, caused by Unionis...

S5E5: 1983 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland

The NI Assembly continues to sit but remains without any powers due to a nationalist boycott. The year sees the beginning of the contr...

S5E4: 1980 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland

This week Pop Goes Northern Ireland focuses on 1980. The government holds a constitutional conference in the hope of making progress o...

S5E3: 1978 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland

The IRA are feeling the squeeze as secretary of state Roy Mason continues with a 'military solution' to the conflict. However, althoug...

S5E2: 1975 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland

In January the IRA declare an 'indefinite ceasefire' and secret talks take place between the government and Sinn Fein. Unionists and l...

S5E1: 1963-1968 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland

When Terence O'Neill becomes the new prime minister of Northern Ireland, there is hope that sectarian tensions will reduce as he ...

S4E7: 1992 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland

This episode focuses on 1992. The year starts badly when an IRA bomb kills seven protestant builders at Teebane crossroads. In the fol...

S4E8: 1995 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland

This episode focuses on 1995. The IRA and Loyalist ceasefires are still in place but the "peace process" is stalled over the issue of ...

S4E6: 1990 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland

This week Pop Goes Northern Ireland focuses on 1990. The year starts with secretary of state for NI Peter Brooke calling for all-party...

S4E5: 1987 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland

This week Pop Goes Northern Ireland focuses on 1987. Unionists continue their campaign against the Anglo-Irish Agreement, launching a ...

S4E4: 1984 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland

This week Pop Goes Northern Ireland focuses on 1984. The violence continues across Northern Ireland and March sees the attempted murde...

5: 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 net...

1: 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 r...

10: The Weight of Memory (March 1973-Onward) | The Vietnam War

While Watergate forces Nixon to resign, the Vietnamese continue to savage one another.

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

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

8: A Sea of Fire (April 1969-May 1970) | The Vietnam War

With morale plummeting in Vietnam, President Nixon begins withdrawing American troops. As news breaks of an unthinka...

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

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

6: Things Fall Apart (January 1968-June 1968) | The Vietnam War

North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launch surprise attacks on cities and military bases.

5: This is What We Do (July 1967-December 1967) | The Vietnam War

American casualties and enemy body counts mount as marines face deadly North Vietnamese ambushes.

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

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

3: 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.

2: Riding the Tiger (1961-1963) | The Vietnam War

President Kennedy and his advisers wrestle with how deeply to get involved in South Vietnam. As the increasingly autocratic...

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

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

S9E1: Orphans Of The Airlift | Secret History

Documentary looking at the airlift of over one hundred orphans from Saigon in 1975, orchestrated by the editor of the Daily Mai...

23: 1975: War of the Flea | People's Century

While in the second half of the century there are fewer conventional wars, civil conflicts under the backdrop of superpower riva...

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...

Lyndon Johnson's War | Wheeler on America

(1/5) Charles Wheeler looks at how the Vietnam War destroyed President Johnson, and a conspiracy by the Nixon presidential campaign.

History | GCSE Bitesize Revision

This GCSE Bitesize special tells the story of Modern History using archive film and action figures, and shows the horror of medieval surgery...

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...

Harold Wilson Interview | Panorama

Including an interview with Harold Wilson in which the prospect of devaluation of the pound is discussed along with the Vietnam War and un...

Vietnam: Journal of a War | Panorama

Panorama reports on the Vietnam War.

8: 1991 Gulf | Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields

Peter and Dan Snow tell the story of Operation Desert Storm, revealing how the battle was dominated by cutting-e...

Evacuation Manor House

Twelve modern boys and girls experience life as 1940s evacuees at one of the finest country houses in the land. The evacuees face the challenge of liv...

Episode 2 | Back in Time for Tea

The Ellis family discover how life has changed for northern working class families. The postwar years see the family on rations with no frid...

Episode 1 | Back in Time for Tea

The Ellis family travel back in time to reveal how life has changed for northern working-class families over the past 100 years. Their exper...

Bristol bomb shelters | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

Inadequate shelters forced Bristolians to seek shelter in disused railway tunnels.

Incendiary bomb | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

An exploration of the incendiary bomb used by the Luftwaffe.

Mass Observation | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

The Ministry of Information contracted Mass Observation to gather information about the morale of Bristol, from the ...

Government censorship | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

The Ministry of Information had strict control over the press which caused a lot of resentment in Bristol.

Bristol Blitz | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

Luftwaffe bombing tactics for the Bristol Blitz. First the Luftwaffe would send elite pathfinders with flares and incen...

Photographs of the Blitz | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

The photojournalist Jim Facey's photographs are a unique record of the Bristol Blitz.

Remembering the Clydeside Blitz | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

The residents of Clydeside still remember the loss of more than 500 Bankies in the Blitz.

Clydeside Blitz | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

Clydeside was almost entirely destroyed in the Blitz.

Red Clydeside | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

The socialist history of the workers in Clydeside industry.

Industry in Clydebank | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

The role that the industry in Clydebank played in the war effort.

RAF Carpet bombing | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

Government scientist Professor Solly Zuckerman's psychological surveys were used to decide whether to carpet bomb ...

Blitz surveys | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

Government scientist Professor Solly Zuckerman was put in charge of conducting surveys about the impact of the Blitz on...

Blitz experience | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

Survivors share their experiences of the Blitz in Hull. Contains some strong language.

School children writing about the Blitz | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

The Hull History Centre archive holds a collection of essays written by school children about...

Hull | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

Hull became a target for the Luftwaffe during the Blitz.

Self help during the Blitz | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

The solutions people found to stay safe during the Blitz, including using tube stations and crypts as shel...

Armistice Day 1918 | Witness History

On November 11th 1918 at 11am, the guns of World War One finally fell silent. Listen to voices from the archives remembering that moment.

Z is for Zeppelin | WWI A-Z

Newsreel, photographs and a school child's commentary give an account of the Zeppelin raids on Britain which began in January 1915.

Y is for Your Country Needs You | WWI A-Z

A selection of British newspaper headlines from World War One suggest the impact propaganda had on the Home Front.

X is for Xmas Truce | WWI A-Z

The story of the unofficial 'Christmas truce' that broke out between the opposing armies at Ypres on 24th December, 1914.

W is for Women | WWI A-Z

Newsreel of women working on the land and in factories, focusing on the munitions factories, which employed more than 1 million women in the war years.

V is for Victory | WWI A-Z

Newsreel shows the victory celebrations sparked by news of the armistice on 11th November 1918.

U is for Unsung Heroes | WWI A-Z

Newsreel and schoolchildren's commentary illustrate and describe the role animals played in the trench warfare of World War One.

T is for Trenches | WWI A-Z

Descriptions of the conditions of British trenches on the Western Front in World War One.

S is for Shrapnel | WWI A-Z

Shrapnel shells caused more injuries than any other weapon of the war years.

Q is for Quartermaster | WWI A-Z

Newsreel and commentary examine the role of the quartermaster in keeping British troops supplied and equipped during World War One.

R is for Remembrance | WWI A-Z

Schoolchildren describe the national act of remembrance that takes place on 11th November each year.

P is for Post Office | WWI A-Z

Overview of the role of the Post Office in conveying messages and parcels from home to British Tommies in the trenches.

O is for Owen (Wilfred) | WWI A-Z

Examining the life of Wilfred Owen, today one of the most widely recognised poets of World War One.

N is for Nurses | WWI A-Z

Commentary and newsreel describe the role of nurses during World War One, including the work of volunteer nurses.

M is for Medicine | WWI A-Z

Newsreel and commentary about the advances in medicine made during World War One.

L is for Lusitania | WWI A-Z

A German U-Boat submarine sank the Lusitania off the coast of Ireland on 7 May, with the loss of 1,202 lives.

K is for Keep the Home Fires Burning | WWI A-Z

Newsreel and commentary about the role of patriotic songs in World War One.

J is for Jutland Jack | WWI A-Z

Newsreel and commentary about Jack Cornwell, a boy of sixteen serving on HMS Lancaster, who died at the Battle of Jutland in 1916.

H is for Home Front | WWI A-Z

Newsreel and photographs illustrate life on the Home Front in Britain during World War One.

I is for In Flanders Fields | WWI A-Z

Newsreel, photographs and commentary about Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian field surgeon who served on the Western Front.

Churchill's secret telephone | Horrible Histories

Winston Churchill holds conversations with American President Roosevelt in his secret loo.

The RAF Pilots - The Few (Song) | Horrible Histories

The pilots of WWII take us through their experiences in the skies.

7: USA | The Road to War

Using archive footage and eyewitness accounts, this instalment looks at the USA's isolationism and events leading up to bombing of Pearl Harbor.

8: Global War | The Road to War

Charles Wheeler shows how Germany's desire for expansion in eastern Europe, starting with Poland, developed into a worldwide conflict.

6: Japan | The Road to War

This episode traces Japan's road to war from drawing plans to destroy the US fleet in the Pacific (1907) to the Pearl Harbour attack (1941).

5: France | The Road to War

In this programme, he discusses the economic and political problems France faced in the aftermath of victory in World War I and asks why this led...

3: Soviet Union | The Road to War

Charles Wheeler examines the role of the Soviet Union in the war, and Stalin's relationship with Hitler.

4: Italy | The Road to War

Charles Wheeler examines the role played by Italy.

2: Germany | The Road to War

Charles Wheeler examines events on the German side.

Dunkirk (2004)

The Allies are in retreat, but the Navy can only pick up a few soldiers and Churchill is advised to make peace to save the rest.

2: Evacuation | Dunkirk (2004)

To evacuate the thousands at Dunkirk, the Admiralty requisitions small boats, while the Navy races to lift as many as it can.

Postwar: E20: What if? | Politically

What would Britain have been like if Winston Churchill had won the 1945 general election?

Postwar: E18: Churchill: Lion in Winter | Politically

What happened to Winston Churchill in the years after the 1945 general election?

Postwar: E15: Debt to America | Politically

In 1945, Britain was the most indebted country in the world.

Postwar: E12: Art, War and Propaganda | Politically

With the formation of the Arts Council in 1945, on-going state patronage of the arts began.

Episode 3 | 1940s House

Reality show where a contemporary family are placed in a house for a number of months in an attempt to live under the conditions experienced in warti...

Episode 1 | 1940s House

Reality show where a contemporary family are placed in a house for a number of months in an attempt to live under the conditions experienced in warti...

Episode 2 | 1940s House

Reality show where a contemporary family are placed in a house for a number of months in an attempt to live under the conditions experienced in warti...

S2E5 | World on Fire

Tragedy strikes at the heart of Harry's unit as the siege drags on in Tobruk. In Manchester, Kasia is confronted by more of the horrors of war. In Franc...

S1E6 | World on Fire

The Nazis have taken Paris with not a bullet fired. Webster and Albert's life in the city they love will never be the same again.