Lucky Looters and the Quest for Control
American History
•
57m
The formation of the Spanish Empire in the Americas can be seen as a remarkable feat, as against seemingly impossible odds a handful of soldiers conquered empires of thousands and took control of much of modern day of Latin America for Spain. But how accurate are the stories? And after the dust settled, how did a monarch in Spain govern a landmass more than ten times the size and population, across an ocean? Dr. Ben Fuggle will offer a brief overview of the two conquests of the Americas, how the Spanish pulled it off in the first place, the role of both well-known and more obscure key figures, and how amidst the chaos the Spanish crown tried to reassert control while the indigenous peoples fought for their lives.
Up Next in American History
-
Reassessing King George III: With And...
Was King George really mad? Could the American Revolution have been avoided? Does the play Hamilton get George III right? To find out Dan Snow spoke to historian Andrew Roberts, biographer of Churchill, Napoleon and now George III.
George III ruled through an extraordinary period of revolutiona...
-
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...
-
Remember Pearl Harbor
Narrated by Tom Selleck: Sunday, December 7, 1941 was a beautiful morning on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. A few sailors and soldiers were already up and playing a game of football near Pearl Harbor. Others were sleeping in their barracks or aboard ships after a late night of partying in Honolulu....
