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During the Second World War, two separate resistance networks, one based in Brussels and then Paris, and the other in Berlin, provided inteligence to the Soviets. This in-depth documentary tells their story and how the Third Reich tried to hunt them down.

The story of the underground resistance networks that provided intelligence to the Soviets during WW2.

The Red Orchestra

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During the First World War France was badly hit, with cities such as Arras and Reims reduced to rubble. In World War II, allied bombings destroyed Germany with cities like Berlin, Cologne and Dresden in ruins by 1945. Later it was the turn of Beirut and then the cities of Syria to be destroyed by war. With extensive archive footage, this documentary looks at the political, social and aesthetic issues of ruins, the very image of war.

The political, social and aesthetic issues of ruins, the very image of war.

Ruins: A History of Contemporary Warfare

The Marchioness Casati was admired throughout Europe for her incredible parties and expensive tastes. She was an eccentric patron of the arts, and her face appears again and again in the works of all the notable painters of her day. But she would rip through her inheritance by the age of fifty and end up wondering the streets of London, going though rubbish bins.

The Lost Ones

The Marchioness Casati went from living in a palace to eking out an existence on the streets of London

Luisa Casati, the Ruined Marchioness

Prospector Jakko Isola went to the icy wilderness of northern Finland in the hope of finding gold. What he found instead was inner peace in the beauty and tranquillity of the far North. That is until he finally did uncover gold…

Prospector Jakko Isola went to the icy wilderness of northern Finland in the hope of finding gold. He found enlightenment instead.

Jaakko Isola's Search for Riches

In 1924, a woman entered the capital of Tibet after having travelled thousands of kilometres on foot. It was the first time a foreigner had crossed the border of the sacred city. This mythical feat, one of many by Alexandra David-Néel, made the reputation of this explorer, writer, anarchist, feminist and traveller.

In 1924, a woman entered the capital of Tibet after having travelled thousands of kilometres on foot. It was the first time a foreigner had crossed the border of the sacred city. 

Alexandra David-Neel: An Adventurer in Tibet

On the shores of the Red Sea he was known as the Sea Wolf.  The extraordinary story of the man who had been everything: Writer, sailor, privateer, arms and hashish dealer.

Henry de Monfreid

In 1967, Sweden flipped a switch: no longer would the country drive on the left like in the UK, it would drive on the right, like the rest of Europe. This simple change was a mammoth undertaking.

City Country Culture

In 1967, Sweden flipped from driving on the left to the right: a simple change was a mammoth undertaking

How Sweden Learnt to Drive on the Right

He was both the most adored and the most feared of the Italian aviation aces during the Great War. Addicted to risk, he joined the utopian enclave of Fiume in 1919, with commander Gabriele d'Annunzio. Guido Keller, the dandy, the eccentric, took part in the spectacular and delirious experiment of creating a dream society.

He was both the most adored and the most feared of the Italian aviation aces during the Great War and he took part in the spectacular and delirious experiment of the Free State of Fiume.

Guido Keller: The Activist Aviator

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20th Century

Over the centuries this famous island, floating between sea and sky, has been a sanctuary, an abbey, a fortress and a prison. But how did this architectural wonder come to be built?

The Enigmatic Labyrinth

Over the centuries this famous world heritage site has been a sanctuary, an abbey, a fortress and a prison.

Mont Saint Michel

A sacred building and hunting lodge, a medieval fortress and Renaissance palace: Chambord, the largest and most famous of the chateaux in the French Loire Valley.

Chambord Castle: King of Architecture

In 1990, a potholer found strange stone circles of stalagmites deep in a cave in South-West France thought to be made by Neanderthals. What were they for? And what can they tell us about Neanderthal man?

The Mystery of the Bruniquel Cave

In 1990, a potholer found strange stone circles of stalagmites deep in a cave in France. What were they for? And what can they tell us about Neanderthal man?

Neanderthal

Standing since 537, Hagia Sophia was the largest Christian basilica in the world for a millennium. Converted into a mosque during the conquest of Byzantium, its beauty will inspire Ottoman architecture. In 1934, the Turkish Republic transformed it into a museum. But its future is uncertain ...

Standing since 537, Hagia Sophia was the largest Christian basilica in the world for a millennium . But its future is uncertain...

Hagia Sophia Unveiled

As a tattoo or worn as a pendant, the Hamsa or Hand of Fatima can symbolise many things. Originally from North Africa and the Middle East, its symbolism and religious significance varies widely.

The Hand of Fatima: A Universal Symbol?

As a tattoo or worn as a pendant, the Hamsa or Hand of Fatima can symbolise many things.

Making History

While the shipping container is instantly recognisable in today's era of globalisation, its ancestor in Greco-Roman Antiquity looked very different: it was the amphora. Patrick Boucheron and the historian Sarah Rey reveal the secrets and meanings behind this "simple" terracotta object.

While today we use the shipping container, its ancestor was the amphora

The Amphora

The history of tax returns is also the story of how the state slowly became more centralised and more controlling. From historical documents, to the most contemporary and computerised forms, this is the history of income tax returns (and tax evasion).

This is the history of income tax returns (and tax evasion)

A History of Taxes

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The history of the suit and tie, from the end of the 19th century onwards, overlaps with the Americanisation of the industrial world. Manuel Charpy deciphers the suit's ideal of dynamism and modernity and the social distinctions of the clothes we wear.

The Suit: Uniform of the Modern Man

The statue of the tyrant killers Harmodius and Aristogeiton was erected in the 5th century BC as a memorial to the victory of democracy over tyranny on the Agora of Athens. The motif was also adopted on Greek vases and coins. Historian Vincent Azoulay explains how the depiction of the tyrant killers has evolved over the centuries, culminating in the most controversial of all contemporary monumental sculptures.

The Statue of Tyrannicide

The statue of Harmodius and Aristogeiton was erected in the 5th century BC as a memorial to the victory of democracy over tyranny.

The Great Wave of Kanagawa, painted by Hokusai around 1830, became internationally famous as Japan opened up to the outside world during the Meiji era from the 1860s onwards. Emmanuel Lozerand, professor of Japanese language and literature explores the meaning of this iconic work.

Hokusai: The Great Wave

Emmanuel Lozerand, professor of Japanese language and literature explores the meaning of this iconic work created in 1830.

The first magnifying glasses or "reading stones" were used in monasteries in the Middle Ages. Reading glasses appeared in cities such as Florence in the 13th century and accompanied the invention of paper. Claire Angotti, historian who studies tools related to knowledge, tells us more.

The Invention of Eye Glasses

The first magnifying glasses or "reading stones" were used in monasteries in the Middle Ages

How does a flower become a political and legal symbol? The camellia in Brazil represents the late abolition of slavery in 1888. It speaks to us of the republics of fugitive slaves, but also of the violent conditions of an abolition "conceded" by only a part of the former masters. It is under the banner of this flower that a deeply divided and unequal rainbow nation was born.

The Camelia, the Flower of Emancipation

How does a flower become a political and legal symbol?

A powerful symbol of justice meted out by the royal hand, the hand of justice played a prominent place in the coronation rituals of the Kings of France. The symbol first emerged in the 13th century to represent how kings of France delegated the management of the justice system to the courts.

The Hand of Justice

The hand of justice played a prominent place in coronation rituals in France

Symbol of the industrial revolution at the end of the 18th century, the extraction of coal catapulted the world into the modern era. It also galvanised the labour movement and continues to be burned to this day. But it will accelerate climate change.

Coal: The Poisonous Black Diamond

Symbol of the industrial revolution at the end of the 18th century, the extraction of coal catapulted the world into the modern era.

Peter Durand invented the tin can, a small but mighty innovation that changed the world. The method meant Western powers were able to feed entire armies all around the world as Europe wrestled for global dominance.

The Tin Can: Conserve and Survive

Peter Durand invented the tin can, a small but mighty innovation that changed the world

Mummies are not only from Ancient Egypt, the desire to preserve the dead runs throughout history. 19th century embalming practices, for example, revealed a new relationship to mourning and the afterlife. Historian Anne Carol takes us through our relationship to the body and death.

Mummies are not only from Ancient Egypt, the desire to preserve the dead runs throughout history.

The Mummy and its Metamorphosis

In the 18th century, patterned fabrics became fashionable and were used both in dresses and in bourgeois furniture upholstery. This trend was the result of the international cotton trade from India, an exchange that foreshadowed globalisation. Indiennes fabrics are considered the first specimen of "fast fashion", as we know it today.

Indienne Fabrics and the Birth of Fast Fashion

Indiennes fabric from the 17th century is considered the first specimen of "fast fashion"

While the shipping container is instantly recognisable in today's era of globalisation, its ancestor in Greco-Roman Antiquity looked very different: it was the amphora

The heroicisation of athletes conflates their physical ability with personal economic success. The football shirt is at once a useful everyday object and the stuff of legend. It's the modern day, real life hero's cape.

The Football Shirt: The Modern Hero's Uniform

The football shirt is at once a useful everyday object and the stuff of legend

The ceremonial smoking pipe is Amerindian, but without a name from the Amerindian language. It was 'discovered' by French and British colonists who came into contact with the indigenous population in the 17th century. Amerindians then boarded French ships and took the pipe to the other side of the Atlantic, where it quickly became popular.

Ceremonial Smoking Pipes: Conflict and Resolution

 What was the original meaning of the 'peace pipe' used by Native Americans?

The Lumière brothers not only invented the cinematograph: in 1903 they also succeeded in fixing colours on glass plates. Looking at those images, time flattens. These long-dead models staring back through a now non-existent lens seem vivid and alive. But thirty years later, colour had once again been drained out of the frame. Historian Adrien Genoudet explains what happened.

Autochrome: Life in Colour

The oldest colour photography in the world distorts time: these long-dead models seem vivid and alive

Around 4 billion postcards were sent in France during the First World War as soldiers on the front kept in touch with family and loved ones back home. But did these postcards accurately depict what life was like at war?

The Postard - War Hero

Around 4 billion postcards were sent in France during the First World War. But did these postcards accurately depict what life was like at war?

With the advent of the modern cemetery, came the coffin. Gone were the days of mass graves and ossuaries. The adoption of the coffin results in the development of a funeral market as discreet as it is profitable.

Coffins Gain Ground

How changing customs created a booming death industry

The political history of the microphone throughout the 20th century is also the story of how free speech became democratised. This advance in technology triggered major cultural shifts, as the voiceless suddenly found they could make themselves very, very loud.

The Microphone

The political history of the microphone throughout the 20th century is also the story of how free speech became democratised

The gilded frame appeared in the Middle Ages transforming a work of art into a picture that could be bought and sold. Historian Charlotte Guichard explains how the invention of the frame made the modern art market, and art collections, possible.

The Picture Frame - A Window on the Art World

In the tropical colonies, Europeans wore a white pith helmet to protect themselves from the sun. This humble piece of headwear came to symbolise colonial oppression and reinforced the separation between coloniser and colonised.

The Colonial Pith Helmet

Historians reveal the fascinating history of objects: Documents, materials, devices or clothes, everything has a tale to tell.

During the Second World War, two separate resistance networks provided intelligence to the Soviets. The gestapo called them the Red Orchestra.

The Red Orchestra (1/2)

Mixing in-depth excavation work and scientific analysis of the  forgotten city of Naachtun, this documentary traces the dawn and dusk of the once-flourishing Mayan civilisation.

The Forgotten Mayan City

 Tracing the dawn and dusk of the once-flourishing Mayan civilisation.

Naachtun

Since the Elysée Treaty of friendship was signed between France and Germany in January 1962, the two countries have built ever closer ties. In this intimate documentary, individual Germans from both east and west share their experiences of French culture in the post-war era.

In this intimate documentary, individual Germans from both east and west share their experiences of French culture in the post-war era.

How the Germans Learned to Love France

An investigation into a little-known story from the Second World War. Having planned and executed their mass murders, the Nazis meticulously eliminated traces of their crimes against humanity between 1942 and 1944: The so-called Operation 1005.

How the Nazis Covered up their Crimes

The Nazis meticulously eliminated traces of their crimes against humanity between 1942 and 1944: The so-called Operation 1005.

Operation 1005

Over the centuries this famous island has been a sanctuary, an abbey, a fortress and a prison.

During the Second World War, two separate resistance networks, one based in Brussels and then Paris, and the other in Berlin, provided information to the Soviets. This in-depth documentary tells the story of these organisations and how the Third Reich tried to hunt them down. In part two the Gestapo begin to close in on the resistance networks.

The story of how resistance networks passed Nazi secrets to the Soviets in world war 2.

The Red Orchestra (2/2)

Is it possible to write a history of our own reflection? Historian Philippe Artières, reflects on the mirror as an object and the action of observing oneself that for ordinary citizens only dates back to the nineteenth century.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Is it possible to write a history of our own reflection? Historian Philippe Artières, reflects on the mirror as an object.

The little-known story of the film archives brought together for the Nuremberg trials in 1945 in order to prove Nazis war crimes.  Two young American soldiers, Budd and Stuart Schulberg are given the mission of collecting film evidence of the horrors of the concentration camps used in the trials of the leaders of the Third Reich.

The little-known story of the film archives brought together for the Nuremberg trials in 1945 in order to prove Nazis war crimes.  

The Lost Film of Nuremberg

What if it never happened? A look at a turning point in history that shaped the word of today. In this episode: what if, in the fourth century BC, Alexander the Great, already at the head of "the whole of the known world," took a break before trying to conquer India?

Alexander Before He Was Great

Alexander the Great and the fateful turn his life - and our world - could have taken

Turning Points

A few weeks before the end of World War II, a light aircraft took off from Berlin, before crash landing in a forest some 70 km to the east of the German capital. Who was on board this mysterious aeroplane? Where were they going? And did they survive?

Berlin - The Mysterious Crash of April 1945

With extensive archive footage, this documentary looks at the political, social and aesthetic issues of ruins, the very image of war.

April 1939, Germany secretly launched the Uranium project. On August 2 of the same year, renowned physicist Albert Einstein signed a letter to the President of the United States to warn him of the possible development of a devastating new type of Nazi bomb.

During World War Two, the Nazis also tried to develop nuclear weapons

Turning Points: Einstein and the Manhattan Project

What if it never happened? A look at a turning point in history that shaped the word of today. In this episode: Genghis Khan, the emperor of the Mongols.

The Empire of the Steppes

In this episode: Genghis Khan, the emperor of the Mongols

Turning Points: Genghis Khan

What awaits us after death? Death is everywhere in our world. How we deal with it shapes religious belief, culture and social relations. A history of death from ancient times to the modern day.

A History of Death

How we deal with death shapes religious belief, culture and social relations. A history of death from ancient times to the modern day.

This Mortal Coil

Did you know that the last war between France and Spain took place in the 1970s? It was the war of the stop signs in Llívia, a Spanish town - but in France, in the Pyrenees. This bizarre quirk is due to a treaty signed centuries ago. This really is a case for Crazy Borders! 

Llivia, Between France and Spain

Did you know that the last war between France and Spain took place in the 1970s?

Crazy Borders

For twenty years, archaeologists and craftsmen have been building the fortified castle of Guedelon in Burgundy using the techniques and materials available in medieval times. This documentary explores the fascinating building project that is recreating a vivid picture of the past.

Guedelon - Rebuilding the Past

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Considered the land of opportunity, the USA attracted 30 million Europeans to its shores during the great migrations of the 19th century. These men and women left behind poverty and persecution to make a new life in the new world.

Europeans in the New World

Considered the land of opportunity, the USA attracted 30 million Europeans to its shores over the 19th century. 

The American Dream

What if it never happened? A look at a turning point in history that shaped the word of today. This episode: it's the year 1214, and there's a violent competition between Philip II of France and John, King of England.

France in Peril

1214: Philip II of France and John, King of England, go head to head

How, at the turn of the seventeenth century, the unity of Japan and civil peace were established.

The Battle of the Samurai

How, at the turn of the seventeenth century, the unity of Japan and civil peace were established

Turning Points: Japan

History is a series of crucial turning points that shaped everything that came after. When the young Charles Darwin came to board the Beagle, the captain wanted to prevent him because he feared it would be bad luck. What if he had won the argument?

When the young Charles Darwin came to board the Beagle, the captain wanted to prevent it

Turning Points: The Evolution of Darwin

1865, in Tennessee: former Confederate officers found the Ku Klux Klan. Fast forward to 1955, Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. And 1963: Martin Luther King delivers his famous speech. These three events permanently altered the course of American history. 

Dreaming of Freedom

The modern day black civil rights movement can be traced back to three key events: the fpunding of the KKK, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King's speech

Turning Points: Martin Luther King

A dive into key moments in history through the lens of what seemed to be minor events but that ended up changing everything. In 497 BC, Confucius, Minister of Justice of Lu province, abandoned his job and embarked on a 14-year-long odyssey that would shape China for centuries to come.

How Confucius changed the world when he quit his job

Turning Points: Confucius and China

On August 9, 378, at the Battle of Adrianople, the Roman army was destroyed by a coalition of Germanic tribes. In 390, Rome, which had remained untouched for eight centuries, was sacked. On September 4, 476, the last Western Roman Emperor was overthrown. Closely linked, these three milestones sealed the fall of the Roman Empire.

The three key events that led to the fall of the thousand-year-old Roman Empire

Turning Points: Barbarians in Rome

On July 5, 1954, in Nashville, Tennessee, Elvis Presley recorded his first two songs. Ten years later, Great Britain breathed new life into this music with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, before hard rock and punk broke out onto the scene. Rock is the soundtrack to protest movements. 

Rock is the soundtrack to protest movements

Turning Points: Rock, the Sound of Protest

On April 12, 1961, in the midst of the Cold War, Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth, making him a household name overnight. But Houston decided to set its sights on an even greater feat: on September 12, 1962, the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, announced the US would send the first man on the moon. A few years later, on July 21, 1969, the American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. 

Trip to the Moon

During the Cold War, the USSR and the USA were in a battle to conquer space 

This fearless scientist and explorer has laid down a basis for modern oceanography. A passionate portrait of a great man of science and adventure.

A passionate portrait of a great man of science and adventure.

Polar adventure - Jean-Baptiste Charcot

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This is the story of death and survival, exclusion and hope told by those who lived through it. 40 years ago an HIV infection seemed like a death sentence. When the first patients fell ill with high fever, pneumonia and fungal infections in the early 1980s, doctors were at a loss. Most of those affected were gay men, but the cause of the mystery illness escaped them.
After much protests and medical advancements, the stigma of HIV has lessened but the virus is still with us.

Silence = Death

This is the story of death and survival, exclusion and hope told by those who lived through it.

40 Years of AIDS

The 2018 French film comedy Let the Girls Play told the story of the French women’s team that broke the mould in the late 1960s. A look at the true story behind the film.