Episode 1
The Dawn of History
1989-01-01 • 30 min
The origins of the human race are traced from anthropoid ancestors to the agricultural revolution.
TV season
1989-01-01
Episode 1
1989-01-01 • 30 min
The origins of the human race are traced from anthropoid ancestors to the agricultural revolution.
Episode 2
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Egyptian irrigation created one of the first great civilizations.
Episode 3
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Settlements in the Fertile Crescent gave rise to the great river civilizations of the Middle East.
Episode 4
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Metals revolutionized tools, as well as societies, in the empires of Assyria, Persia, and Neo-Babylonia.
Episode 5
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Democracy and philosophy arose from Greek cities at the edge of the civilized world.
Episode 6
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle laid the foundation of Western intellectual thought.
Episode 7
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Alexander's conquests quadrupled the size of the world known to the Greeks.
Episode 8
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Hellenistic kingdoms extended Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean.
Episode 9
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Through its army, Rome built an empire that shaped the West.
Episode 10
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Rome's civil engineering contributed as much to the empire as did its weapons.
Episode 11
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Christianity spread despite contempt and persecution from Rome.
Episode 12
1989-01-01 • 30 min
The old heresy became the Roman empire's official religion under the Emperor Constantine.
Episode 13
1989-01-01 • 30 min
While enemies slashed at Rome's borders, civil war and economic collapse destroyed the empire from within.
Episode 14
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Despite the success of emperors such as Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, Rome fell victim to barbarian invasions.
Episode 15
1989-01-01 • 30 min
From Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire carried on the traditions of Greece and Rome.
Episode 16
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Nearly a thousand years after Rome's fall, Constantinople was conquered by the forces of Islam.
Episode 17
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Barbarian kingdoms took possession of the fragments of the Roman Empire.
Episode 18
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Charlemagne revived hopes for a new empire in Western Europe.
Episode 19
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Amid invasion and civil disorder, a military aristocracy dominated the kingdoms of Europe.
Episode 20
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Bishop, knight, and peasant exemplified some of the social divisions of the year 1000 A.D.
Episode 21
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Famine, disease, and short life expectancies were the conditions that shaped medieval beliefs.
Episode 22
1989-01-01 • 30 min
The great churches embodied the material and spiritual ambitions of the age.
Episode 23
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Two hundred years of war and plague debilitated Europe.
Episode 24
1989-01-01 • 30 min
A new urban middle class emerged, while dynastic marriages established centralized monarchies.
Episode 25
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Renaissance humanists made man "the measure of all things." Europe was possessed by a new passion for knowledge.
Episode 26
1989-01-01 • 30 min
The discovery of America challenged Europe.
Episode 27
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Voiced by Martin Luther, Protestantism shattered the unity of the Catholic Church.
Episode 28
1989-01-01 • 30 min
As the cities grew, new middle-class mores had an impact on religious life.
Episode 29
1989-01-01 • 30 min
For more than a century, the quarrels of Protestants and Catholics tore Europe apart.
Episode 30
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Amid religious wars, a few cities learned that tolerance increased their prosperity.
Episode 31
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Exhausted by war and civil strife, many Europeans exchanged earlier liberties and anarchies for greater peace.
Episode 32
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Arguments about the legitimate source of political power centered on divine right versus natural law.
Episode 33
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Monarchs considered reforms in order to create more efficient societies, but not at the expense of their own power.
Episode 34
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Intellectual theories about the nature of man and his potential came to the fore.
Episode 35
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Scientists and social reformers battled for universal human rights during a peaceful and prosperous period.
Episode 36
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Freedom of thought and expression opened new vistas explored by French, English, and American thinkers.
Episode 37
1989-01-01 • 30 min
The British colonists created a society that tested Enlightenment ideas and resisted restrictions imposed by England.
Episode 38
1989-01-01 • 30 min
A new republic, the compromise of radicals and conservatives, was founded on universal freedoms.
Episode 39
1989-01-01 • 30 min
In France the old order collapsed under revolutionaries' attacks and the monarchy's own weakness.
Episode 40
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Liberty, equality, and fraternity skidded into a reign of Terror.
Episode 41
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Technology and mass production reduced famine and ushered in higher standards of living.
Episode 42
1989-01-01 • 30 min
A consumer revolution was fueled by coal, public transportation, and new city services.
Episode 43
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Leaders in the arts, literature, and political theory argued for social justice and national liberation.
Episode 44
1989-01-01 • 30 min
The great powers cooperated to quell internal revolts, yet competed to acquire colonies.
Episode 45
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Public education and mass communications created a new political life and leisure time.
Episode 46
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Everyday life of the working class was transformed by leisure, prompting the birth of an elite avant-garde movement.
Episode 47
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Old empires crumbled during World War I to be replaced by right-wing dictatorships in Italy, Spain, and Germany.
Episode 48
1989-01-01 • 30 min
World War II was a war of new tactics and strategies. Civilian populations became targets as the Nazi holocaust exterminated millions of people.
Episode 49
1989-01-01 • 30 min
The U.S. and Soviet Union dominated Europe and confronted each other in Korea.
Episode 50
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Burdened with the legacy of colonial imperialism, the Third World rushed development to catch up with its Western counterparts.
Episode 51
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Keeping up with the ever-increasing pace of change became the standard of the day.
Episode 52
1989-01-01 • 30 min
Modern medicine, atomic energy, computers, and new concepts of time, energy, and matter all have an important effect on life in the 20th century.