20th Century

20th Century

Defined by a rise of nationalism, two world wars, clashing super powers, nuclear weapons and space exploration, the 20th Century is certainly not void of fascinating history. Enjoy our enormous library of documentaries on key events such as D-Day or the sinkng of the Titanic, interviews with leading experts such as Tom Holland, David Cannadine and fascinating podcasts on the history of warfare.

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20th Century
  • Ireland: War and Revolution

    Between 1919 and 1921, Ireland played host to a long and bloody guerrilla conflict between British state forces and Irish republican guerrillas, in the form of Irish Volunteers or the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The conflict would completely transform the political landscape in Ireland.

    In this...

  • Endurance: Rediscovered

    It was one of the last great lost shipwrecks of history - Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance. But now, incredibly, it has been rediscovered - over a century after it sank beneath the ice in freezing Antarctic waters.

    Organised by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, the expedition to locate the...

  • Emmeline Pankhurst: The Making of a Militant

    This documentary takes a rare look at Emmeline Pankhurst’s personal story.
    Emmeline Pankhurst led an army of women onto the streets of Britain – the likes of which has never been seen before or since. Fearsome, fearless and ready to fight to the death for her political beliefs she is remembered a...

  • My Neighbour Hitler

    From 1929 to 1939, Edgar Feuchtwanger lived across the street from Adolf Hitler in a bourgeois building in Munich, Germany. From his bedroom, the young Jewish boy had a view of the Führer across the avenue on the second floor. A schoolboy in Munich at the time, Edgar witnessed the rise of Nazism ...

  • A Stitch in Time

    1 season

    Presented by fashion historian, Amber Butchart, and featuring a raft of talented historical clothiers, this living history series not only offers a fascinating glimpse into the wardrobes of history’s most prominent figures, but also the wider societies and cultures in which they lived.

  • Benjamin Ferencz: The Nuremberg Prosecutor

    Brilliant Lawer, at only 27 years old, Benjamin Ferencz was the youngest prosecutor in charge of the sentencing nazi criminals in Nuremberg on 1946. Relentless fighter for peace he never stopped trying to make the world a more human place, always governed by the spirit of the law.
    After the war a...

  • A Very Animated Cold War

    From 1945 to 1989, after the capitulation of Nazi Germany, two rival ideologies, communism and capitalism, faced each other in a merciless battle.

    On one side of the Iron Curtain and on the other, throughout the Cold War, the USSR and the United States sought to shape children’s imaginations thr...

  • The Trial of Adolf Eichmann

    The Eichmann trial marks a real turning point in the emergence of the memory of the genocide of the Jews, in Israel, Germany and the United States. It is the first major transnational narrative that constructs the genocide of the Jews as a distinct event in the Second World War. It was intended a...

  • Memories of D-Day

    June 6th 1944. Operation Overlord begins. Discover D-Day through the photographic eyes of the British Soldiers. In this film the memories of Peter Norris, Harry Oakes, John Aldred and Peter Handford of their photographic activity during D-Day are recollected and allow us to better understand the ...

  • Inside Britain's Secret Nuclear Bunker

    In the wake of the Second World War, Britain moved to cement itself as one of the world's main nuclear powers. The erection of a series of nuclear bunkers followed across the UK, tasked with protecting a fortunate few against any devastating nuclear attack. Sarah Agha explores Britain's secret nu...

  • The Greatest Air Race and the Heroes the World Forgot

    The Greatest Air Race is the story of how Sir Ross Smith and his three-man crew became the first aviators to cross the planet. It’s a feat that remains largely overlooked in the history of flight.
    The Greatest Air Race is presented and narrated by astronaut Andy Thomas as he embarks on a trans-co...

  • The 1900 Island

    1 season

    Set on the wild west coast of Anglesey, in a time of hand to mouth existence - four families face the harsh realities of one of the toughest ways to make a living in 1900 Britain.
    A new living history series follows the fortunes of four modern day families as they head back over 100 years to the ...

  • Elizabeth and Margaret: Love and Loyalty

    1 season

    No one can fault the Queen’s commitment to duty. Her sister Margaret, however, is seen as the royal rebel, whose partying lifestyle caused embarrassment and scandal.

    But this couldn’t be further from the truth. For the first time, Elizabeth & Margaret: Love and Loyalty reveals how Margaret sacri...

  • Titanic's Tragic Twin: The Britannic Disaster

    This documentary explores the sinking of the Britannic during the First World War, examining how she ultimately came to suffer the same fate as her sister ship, the Titanic.

    Titanic had a twin sister, Britannic, which despite being bigger and better built, sank to the bottom three times faster t...

  • Tanks of World War Two: With James Holland

    1 season

    Historian, broadcaster and World War Two expert James Holland investigates the most iconic armoured fighting vehicles of the Second World War.

  • Queen Elizabeth II: A Life in History

    Queen Elizabeth II was born in a totally different world to today. Her life spanned decades of profound change, both in the United Kingdom and around the globe.

    In this special programme, Dan Snow and royal historian Prof. Kate Williams reflect on the early years of Elizabeth II’s remarkable l...

  • A City At War: Chicago

    At the beginning of America's involvement in World War II, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) called on the country to become "an arsenal of democracy" – to become producers of war materiel to help defeat the Axis powers – Germany, Japan and Italy. This is the story of how Chicago answered...

  • Galahad: The Untold Story

    On the 8th June 1982, at the height of the Falklands War, 53 men lost their lives in the Argentine air attacks on the British ships, Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram.

    32 of those men were Welsh Guards - some of them no more than boys.

    A further 160 Welsh Guards were injured, many suffering severe b...

  • The Falklands: The Last British War

    1 season

    On the night of the 2nd April 1982, without warning, Argentina launched the invasion of the Falklands Islands. What followed was Britain’s last solo war: the last major conflict fought over British imperial territories, the last major conflict Britain fought by itself rather than as part of a coa...

  • Shackleton: The Story of Endurance, 3-Part Series

    1 season

    This 3-part documentary celebrates an explorer who failed in everything he set out to do, but whose toughness, courage and leadership made him a legend: Sir Ernest Shackleton.

  • Uncovering the Band of Brothers

    1 season

    80 years ago, millions of American soldiers started arriving in Britain, a friendly invasion that was here to prepare for the liberation of Europe. Amongst them was Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment - that would become the famous Band of Brothers. Now, a team of volunteers, in...

  • D-Day Collection

    6 seasons

    On 6th June, 1944, the Allies embarked on the liberation of Europe. Explore the events of Operation Overlord with our specially selected documentaries.

  • Philip: Prince, Husband, Father

    When he died just weeks before his 100th birthday, the country celebrated Prince Philip's devotion to duty and to the Queen as friends and family paid tribute to his many accomplishments.

    But, as the Queen also said, Prince Philip didn’t “take easily to compliments.’ This film, as far as possib...

  • Bismarck: The Definitive Account

    1 season

    A definitive account of the hunt for and sinking of the flagship of the German Kriegsmarine, Bismarck. Featuring Andrew Choong, curator at the National Maritime Museum, naval historian Nick Hewitt and Angus Konstam, author of 'Hunt the Bismarck'. Presented by Dan Snow.