The union of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, two able rulers known jointly as the Catholic Monarchs, set the stage for the unification of Spain religiously as well as politically and economically. This program utilizes dramatizations, location footage of historical landmarks, and maps to illustrate their consolidation of power, including the final conquest of Granada, the expulsion of the Jews, and the establishment of the Inquisition...

This program presents the six-year term of Luis Echeverría, a lifetime bureaucrat who ascended to the presidency immediately following the Tlatelolco Massacre. Despite his efforts to enact populist economic and political reforms, he was blamed for the Tlatelolco massacre by those on the left, while he antagonized the business community and conservatives. Economic instability created tensions that erupted in protests repressed by the military.

After the disappearance of Tartessos, other Iberian locales rose to prominence and flourished-until their successes drew the unwanted attention of rival civilizations. This program tracks the history of Iberia during the era of Carthaginian and Roman expansion. Paintings, dramatizations, and maps reconstruct the course of the Punic Wars. In addition, the characteristics and cultures of these embattled regions are examined through re-creations of everyday...

Writing in the late 1200s, the Spanish nobleman Ramon Lull listed various duties which no knight could ignore. They included fidelity to the monarch, defense of the Christian faith-and, only slightly lower on the list, maintaining order among the tenants on one's estate. This program examines the means by which such political "ideals" were implemented and enforced during the Middle Ages. Spelling out the similarities between serfdom and slavery, the...

This program sets the stage for an in-depth study of the Spanish Civil War by making sense of the political situation during the run-up to the war; by profiling disparate groups-centrists, anarchists, socialists, communists, separatists-and their leaders and backers; and by tracking the volatile events that snaked, like a powder train, toward the conflagration that in 1936 erupted in Madrid and touched off the military uprising in Spanish Morocco....

In late-medieval England, English quietly ousted French in law and government- but the move to make it God's language meant bloodshed. This program looks at the battle for a Bible in English, a struggle with huge impact on the language itself. Dramatic readings from successive English Bibles show the language's evolution. Location footage and original manuscripts illustrate key figures and events, such as John Wycliffe, the Lollards, and the first...

Our present-day civilization is the result of a learning process that has taken thousands of years. Human beings have slowly developed their intelligence and utilized the possibilities offered to mankind by nature. This program covers the major advances of humankind throughout the ages. Beginning more than two million years ago, the program covers how people created the first tools, discovered fire, invented the wheel, created written language, and...

This program examines the most tumultuous and consequential period in African-American history: the Civil War and the end of slavery, and Reconstruction's thrilling but brief "moment in the sun." From the beginning, African Americans were agents of their liberation-by fleeing the plantations and taking up arms to serve in the United States Colored Troops. After Emancipation, African Americans sought to realize the promise of freedom-rebuilding families...

In peaceful times, the US Armed Forces are well stocked with brave men and women who voluntarily sign up to serve. However, in the event of a third catastrophic global conflict, it is possible for the U.S. government to rapidly recruit from the civilian population, thanks to the Selective Service System. In this video, we will find out where it comes from and how compulsory it really is.

Alex is digging for buried treasure, when Timeblazers Jen and Sam tell him that his pirate's map is a fake. To help him better understand fact from fiction, they head back to ancient Greece and Plato, who made up the story of the mythical island Atlantis. Next Alex learns that the story of King Arthur and the Round Table is just a good story, written by Geoffrey of Monmouth; also that the Sword Excalibur and Merlin come from Celtic myths and legends....