20th Century
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Apollo 11: How Humans Reached the Moon
By the late 1950s the superpowers of USA and Soviet had moved beyond attempting to dominate land, sea and air and now set their sights firmly on space. After the USSR succeeded in launching an unmanned satellite and sending a man into orbit first, the USA announced a massive spending programme in...
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Salisbury Plain: Training for War
Salisbury Plain is the Ministry of Defence's largest training ground, covering an area the size of the Isle of Wight. Dan Snow is shown around the Plain by MOD archaeologist Richard Osgood, to explore how British, Commonwealth and Allied troops prepared for the two great wars.
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Romeo Vecht
Dan interviews Romeo Vecht, a Jewish refugee captured and imprisoned in Spa, Belgium during the Second World War. This episode is part of a series of films revealing the experiences of children during the Holocaust.
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Ruth Becker
Dan interviews Ruth Becker, a Jewish refugee in France during the Second World War. This episode is part of a series of films revealing the experiences of children during the Holocaust.
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The Devil's Porridge
Dr James Rogers visits the Devil's Porridge Museum to find out more about H.M. Factory, Gretna - the United Kingdom's largest cordite factory during World War One. He discovers the untold story of the young 'Gretna girls' that worked in the Factory and the dangerous task they faced creating the p...
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The Western Front
The Western Front, a 400-plus-mile stretch of land weaving through France and Belgium from the Swiss border to the North Sea, was the decisive front during World War One. Despite the global nature of the conflict, much of the world remembers the scars of the Great War through the lens of these ba...
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Bristol: Aerospace Museum
This was our first city road trip for Snow on the Road - 3 days in Bristol visiting its most interesting historical sites. What's so wonderful about Bristol is how its history is interwoven into the fabric of the city. World treasures like the SS Great Britain and Underfall Yard are visible all a...
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The Aftermath of World War One
Today Dan is joined by Margaret MacMillan, professor at St. Antony's College at Oxford University and author of Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War. Together they discuss the effects WWI had on the world, and how Europe began to rebuild in the years that fol...
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D-Day Veteran Interviews: WarGen
A series of four D-Day veteran interviews from WarGen - an online repository of oral history from the people who lived through World War Two. Short versions of these interviews with Arthur Davis, Ken Stone, Harry Appleton and Jack Bracewell also feature in our documentary D-Day: As It Happened.
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D-Day Veteran Interviews: Frederick Bates
History Hit subscriber Nathan Portlock Allan interviews Fred Bates who was a Private landing on Gold Beach on D-Day. In this poignant interview, Bates recalls what it was like for the young men who stormed the beaches and remembers those who were left behind.
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Behind the Photograph: Taxis to Hell and Back
At c.7.40am 6 June 1944 Robert F Sargent took one of the most famous photographs from D-Day - and the whole of the Second World War - on a landing craft at Omaha Beach. This is the story behind the photograph.
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D-Day Deception: Operation Bodyguard
British deception before D-Day was such that it tricked the Germans into concentrating their forces around the Pas-de-Calais, rather than near the beaches of Normandy. Blow up tanks, scarecrow paratroopers and dropping tin foil all contributed to creating a huge diversion and helped secure the be...
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9 Remarkable D-Day Photos Colourised by Marina Amaral
Marina Amaral is a Brazilian artist. Her remarkable colourisations of original photographs have been compiled in the recent book The Colour of Time: A New History of the World, 1850-1960, authored with Dan Jones. In this video, some of the most famous photographs of the Allied landings during Ope...
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D-Day with James Holland
James Holland, author of Normandy ‘44: D-Day and the Battle for France, answers the key questions surrounding D-Day.
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D-Day: As It Happened
An immersive documentary of how the Allied landings on D-Day unfolded from midnight to late afternoon on 6 June 1944. Using extensive archive footage, veteran interviews and expert interviews this will get viewers closer to what happened during the Normandy landings, as it happened.
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Liberating Armies Invade Normandy
This short film includes contains remarkable footage from several beaches on D-Day - but particularly Sword. You can clearly see just how tiny some of the Allied beach heads were in the immediate aftermath of the invasion - a huge amount of men, tanks, guns and supplies were being shipped into ve...
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5 Great Speeches By Allied Leaders on D-Day
Many Allied political leaders and generals delivered remarkable speeches on D-Day, here are 5 of the greatest.
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The Spirit of France
Having been defeated by Nazi Germany in the Battle for France of April and May 1940, French resistance fighters carried on the underground struggle, causing difficulty for the German occupiers, and supplying the Allies in Britain with much needed intelligence in the build up to D-Day. An archive ...
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Tank Mission World War Two
A US War Department film details the vital role of tanks in defeating the Axis during World War Two, particularly in Europe. Not only were tanks deployed for punching through enemy lines, but also mine and obstruction clearance and supporting engineer units. Sourced via AP Archive.
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Consolidating in Normandy
Once the beach heads were secure on 6 June 1944, the Allies faced a huge battle for the domination of northern France. Despite landing over 1 million men and having vast air superiority over the German defenders, the Battle for Normandy continued for two more months. In August, several German arm...
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D-Day Minus One
Before the masses arrived by sea on D-Day, the brave few came from the air. This archive documentary follows the operations of the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, who landed behind enemy lines to prepare the way for the D-Day landings.
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D-Day Veteran Interviews: George Skipper
Recently Dan met D-Day Veteran and Chelsea Pensioner George Skipper at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. After being called in to the British Army in 1940 as an eighteen year old, by June 1944 he was already a veteran of the North African campaign. During the D-Day landings, George and his regiment lan...
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D-Day Veteran Interviews: Bill Fitzgerald
Recently Dan met D-Day Veteran and Chelsea Pensioner Bill Fitzgerald at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. After enlisting with the British Army as an eighteen year old in 1944 Bill reveals the extraordinary preparations he and his fellow recruits went through for D-Day with the famous 7th Armoured Divi...