Enormous gatherings and torch-lit marches down Main Street. At first glance, images like these conjure up some of America’s darkest moments. But this wasn’t the Klan. These black-clad torch-bearers were the Wide Awakes: a para-military political machine with one mission: get Abraham Lincoln into the White House and put an end to slavery once and for all. This is the story of how a small group of young, politically-inspired northern nobodies launched a nationwide movement that just may have helped to rewrite American History.
Up Next in Revolutions
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Life and Death in Nelson's Navy
200 years ago, Britain's Royal Navy was the most technologically advanced and supremely efficient force in the history of naval warfare.
But what was it like to live and work on board these ships? What did the men eat? How did the ships sail? What were the weapons they used?
In this documentar...
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Stourhead: The Grand Tour
Kicking off our new series, Great British Houses, we join Alice Loxton and Dan Snow on a journey through one of the gems of the National Trust’s collection, the magnificent Stourhead.
In this documentary Alice and Dan set off on a whirlwind tour of the social and cultural movements which influen...
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Saint Helena
They needed a prison for the most dangerous man in the World. Napoleon had seized supreme power in France. He’d marched his armies from Portugal to Moscow. But now he was a prisoner. His captors needed a prison from which escape was unthinkable. Their answer lay in the South Atlantic. A scrap of ...
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