Top 250 Movies Like The Rise Of The Great Powers

Diplomats, soldiers and other representatives of a dozen nations fend off the siege of the International Compound in Peking during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion. The disparate interests unite for survival despite competing factions, overwhelming odds, delayed relief and tacit support of the Boxers by the Empress of China and her generals.

In a remote South American colony in the late 18th century, officer Zama of the Spanish crown waits in vain for a transfer to a more prestigious location. He suffers small humiliations and petty politicking as he increasingly succumbs to lust and paranoia.

Former United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, discusses his career in Washington D.C. from his days as a congressman in the early 1960s to planning the invasion of Iraq in 2003

In a country where bella figura is a national pastime, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is the maestro of media manipulation. Having risen to political primacy with the aid of his Mediaset empire, he now controls 90% of the bel paese’s television channels including the state-run RAI network. Quantity, it seems, does not equal quality. Fed on a diet of semi-naked dancing girls, inane competitions and rickety reality shows built around the most ridiculous of premises, is it any wonder that Italians are becoming a nation of fame-hungry wannabes?

William Walker and his mercenary corps enter Nicaragua in the middle of the 19th century in order to install a new government by a coup d'etat.

Set both in Latin America and the United States, the film explores the historic and current relationship of Washington with countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile. Pilger says that the film "...tells a universal story... analysing and revealing, through vivid testimony, the story of great power behind its venerable myths. It allows us to understand the true nature of the so-called "war on terror". According to Pilger, the film’s message is that the greed and power of empire is not invincible and that people power is always the "seed beneath the snow".

This film examines the reasons why the United States decided to engage in the Korean War. Scenes describe Russia's attempt to gain power following World War II (Korea included), and its refusal to allow free elections in the country. Footage shows Soviet-backed North Korean troops' movement into South Korea on June 25, 1950, the United Nations' response, and the armed struggle against both North Korean and later Chinese troops led by General Douglas MacArthur.

Is American foreign policy dominated by the idea of military supremacy? Has the military become too important in American life? Jarecki's shrewd and intelligent polemic would seem to give an affirmative answer to each of these questions.

Betty Boop emcees a show of pet-aid gadgets. Object: a "new deal for pets." Some ideas copied from Betty Boop's Crazy Inventions (1933).

A thought-provoking documentary on the current and historical causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. political involvement.

A documentary on American political campaign marketing tactics and their consequences.

Barley Scott Blair, a Lisbon-based editor of Russian literature who unexpectedly begins working for British intelligence, is commissioned to investigate the purposes of Dante, a dissident scientist trapped in the decaying Soviet Union that is crumbling under the new open-minded policies.

Documentary short demonstrating American reasons for interning Americans of Japanese ancestry following the outbreak of war between the U.S. and Japan.

In 1896, Ethiopia, an African nation, largely armed with spears and knives, defeats a well-equipped and organized Italian military bent on colonization.

A Glasgow man visits war-torn Nicaragua with a refugee tormented by her memories.

Trapped in a loveless arranged marriage to the immature future Czar, a young German Princess proves a skillful political infighter and rises to become Catherine the Great.

Over 100 years ago, Albert Einstein grappled with the implications of his revolutionary special theory of relativity and came to a startling conclusion: mass and energy are one, related by the formula E = mc2. In "Einstein's Big Idea," NOVA dramatizes the remarkable story behind this equation. E = mc2 was just one of several extraordinary breakthroughs that Einstein made in 1905, including the completion of his special theory of relativity, his identification of proof that atoms exist, and his explanation of the nature of light, which would win him the Nobel Prize in Physics. Among Einstein's ideas, E = mc2 is by far the most famous. Yet how many people know what it really means? In a thought-provoking and engrossing docudrama, NOVA illuminates this deceptively simple formula by unraveling the story of how it came to be.

The Middle Eastern oil industry is the backdrop of this tense drama, which weaves together numerous story lines. Bennett Holiday is an American lawyer in charge of facilitating a dubious merger of oil companies, while Bryan Woodman, a Switzerland-based energy analyst, experiences both personal tragedy and opportunity during a visit with Arabian royalty. Meanwhile, veteran CIA agent Bob Barnes uncovers an assassination plot with unsettling origins.

An off-duty SAS soldier, Tom Buckingham, must thwart a terror attack on a train running through the Channel Tunnel. As the action escalates on the train, events transpire in the corridors of power that may make the difference as to whether Buckingham and the civilian passengers make it out of the tunnel alive.

A portal transports Cpt. Artemis and an elite unit of soldiers to a strange world where powerful monsters rule with deadly ferocity. Faced with relentless danger, the team encounters a mysterious hunter who may be their only hope to find a way home.

When a Spanish Jesuit goes into the South American wilderness to build a mission in the hope of converting the Indians of the region, a slave hunter is converted and joins his mission. When Spain sells the colony to Portugal, they are forced to defend all they have built against the Portuguese aggressors.

Stone (the Antichrist) becomes President of the European Union and uses his seat of power to dissolve the United Nations and create a one world government called the World Union. Megiddo is a supernatural ride into a world teetering on the edge of the Apocalypse. It follows the rise of a Machiavellian leader bent on amassing the armies of the world for the battle of Armageddon while calamities of Biblical proportions pummel the Earth. Though both prequel and sequel to The Omega Code, Megiddo works also as a stand alone story for anyone who missed its predecessor. For at its emotional core, Megiddo is the Caine and Abel story of the two men enamored with the same woman, raised as brothers, who grew up to find themselves pitted against each other over the fate and souls of the entire world.

The inspiring true story of Seretse Khama, the King of Bechuanaland (modern Botswana), and Ruth Williams, the London office worker he married in 1948 in the face of fierce opposition from their families and the British and South African governments. Seretse and Ruth defied family, Apartheid and empire - their love triumphed over every obstacle flung in their path and in so doing they transformed their nation and inspired the world.

Persona Non Grata in his homeland, protest singer Klaus Drittemann must leave East Berlin, his wife and child and emigrate to West Berlin, where the representatives of an American record company are eagerly waiting for him. They plan to exploit his defection from communism both ideologically and financially. But Klaus, as ill-at-ease in the West as he was in the East, is reluctant to be used as an expendable commodity. Leaving his contract unsigned (or signed in his manner), he leaves for Cambridge to meet his father, a concert player, who -just like him - left East Berlin thirty years ago as Klaus was a little boy. He is accompanied by a young French journalist, Emma, who knows where his father has been living since he disappeared for more than a decade. The young lady is cooperative but might hide things from him...

A film about the noted American linguist/political dissident and his warning about corporate media's role in modern propaganda.

In 2008, Natasha, a newly rich woman, decides to open an independent TV station in Russia and builds an open-minded team of outcasts. By 2020, Natasha has lost everything to Russia's war between Propaganda and Truth.

Documentary on advertising. Investigates the way work has disappeared from advertising images, and traces the phenomenon through archive advertising films from 1897 to 1960. Places advertising in the context of historical events and everyday life, archive material being juxtaposed with contemporary images.

After Silvia Broome, an interpreter at United Nations headquarters, overhears plans of an assassination, an American Secret Service agent is sent to investigate.

Cross is an old hand at the CIA who often teams up with Frenchman Jean “Scorpio” Laurier, a gifted freelance operative. After their last mission together, the CIA orders Scorpio to eliminate Cross, leaving him no choice but to obey.

A sweeping drama set in the chaotic aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq, where the life of top UN diplomat Brazilian Sérgio Vieira de Mello hangs in the balance during the most treacherous mission of his career.

They spend every waking moment training, playing and competing in the dirt and they wouldn’t have it any other way. Take a look into the lives of twelve professional off-road riders in some of the most grueling, gnarly and incredible tracks and trails on the planet. From fifth gear pinned across the harsh California desert, to the rough and deep sands of Belgium and Germany as Team USA prepare for the prestigious Motocross of Nations, to risking their lives jumping a moving train in California or dropping into a mega quarry in the United Kingdom. Witness these riders put it all on the line in their pursuit to being the best.

A group of Welsh rugby fans go over to see Wales play France in the final match of the Six Nations rugby tournament. Caradog Evans goes there also to seek an old flame from his wartime combat in the 1940s. His son, finds a love in Paris too. Written by Reece Lloyd

In 15-years the Black Mafia Family, or BMF as they were called, made close to 300 million dollars trafficking cocaine from Atlanta to Los Angeles. In the Hip-Hop music industry they created a front company called BMF Entertainment, which was a perfect mix of drugs, violence, and street cred that makes their story Hip-Hop's version of the Godfather. This film explores the story of the 15-year investigation by the DEA, FBI and an elite drug task force called HIDTA, which resulted in 41 defendants across the country being charged in one of the largest drug conspiracy cases ever.

Three friends, Victor, Amy and David, reunite after 10 years and uncover one of the key, hidden reasons for the war in Iraq.

This documentary places the Bush Administration's original justifications for war in Iraq within the larger context of a two-decade struggle by neo-conservatives to dramatically increase military spending while projecting American power and influence globally by means of force.

Filmmaker Ning Ying returns to her favorite theme – the gradual decay of traditional Chinese values and culture at the dawn of the 21st century – in this low-key drama. Desi (Yu Lei) is a cab driver who has recently broken up with his wife. Lonely, Desi is searching for a new love, and as he drifts through Beijing in search of fares and a girlfriend, he sees a city that is increasingly bending to the influence of the West, with traditional pastimes and customs forced to make way for the onslaught of the free-market economy. Xia Ri Nuan Yangyang has been screened on the international film festival circuit in two different versions; the cut shown at the 2001 Rotterdam Film Festival ran 99 minutes, while the film was only 79 minutes when it appeared at the Berlin Film Festival that same year.

An American ex-WW II POW returns to Germany 30 years after the war. He teams up with the former commander of his prison camp. Together they spring a Nazi war criminal from jail. He's the only one left who knows where a secret wartime cache of gold is hidden.

Foreign investors converge on a luxury hotel in China to bid on a new kind of radioscope. But, this is a hotel where Burns and Allen are the in-house medical staff, a measles risk sends the whole building into quarantine, and a madcap millionaire crashes dinner in his autogyro. Hotel and radioscope become a stage for an all-star cast of comedians and musicians, from vaudeville to the new generation.

A short documentary film about fashion designer Giorgio Armani; it shows him preparing for a show and discusses his ideas about fashion, his family history and the city of Milan.

Point of Order is compiled from TV footage of the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings, in which the Army accused Senator McCarthy of improperly pressuring the Army for special privileges for Private David Schine, formerly of McCarthy's investigative staff. McCarthy accused the Army of holding Schine hostage to keep him from searching for Communists in the Army. These hearings resulted in McCarthy's eventual censure for conduct unbecoming a senator.

Most people don't think about singing when they think about revolutions. But song was the weapon of choice when, between 1986 and 1991, Estonians sought to free themselves from decades of Soviet occupation. During those years, hundreds of thousands gathered in public to sing forbidden patriotic songs and to rally for independence. "The young people, without any political party, and without any politicians, just came together ... not only tens of thousands but hundreds of thousands ... to gather and to sing and to give this nation a new spirit," remarks Mart Laar, a Singing Revolution leader featured in the film and the first post-Soviet Prime Minister of Estonia. "This was the idea of the Singing Revolution." James Tusty and Maureen Castle Tusty's "The Singing Revolution" tells the moving story of how the Estonian people peacefully regained their freedom--and helped topple an empire along the way.

2019 marks the 30th year since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. Rich Hall examines the relationship between the West and the USSR in his inimitable fashion.

With the ending of the Spanish Civil War, a dispirited band of volunteers from the International Brigades seeks refuge in France. But on reaching the frontier, the band is disarmed, and all are detained as political prisoners. Then come instructions from Vichy that all fit prisoners are to be sent to Morocco to work on the Sahara railway for the Germans. However, one man manages to escape to London with vital information for the Allies.

While visiting Hollywood a starstruck movie fan (Eddie Cantor) fantasizes about himself cast in an Arabian adventure. Director David Butler's comedy--with many songs--also features Tony Martin, Roland Young, Gypsy Rose Lee (billed as Rose Hovick), John Carradine, June Lang, Virginia Field, Charles Lane, The Peters Sisters and many big-name guest stars playing themselves.

This exploration of Japan's fascination with girl bands and their music follows an aspiring pop singer and her fans, delving into the cultural obsession with young female sexuality and the growing disconnect between men and women in hypermodern societies.

In the winter of 2011, after a controversial election, Vladimir Putin was reinstalled as president of Russia. In response, hundreds of thousands of citizens rose up all over the country to challenge the legitimacy of Putin’s rule. Among them were a group of young, radical-feminist punk rockers, better known as Pussy Riot. Wearing colored balaclavas, tights, and summer dresses, they entered Moscow’s most venerated cathedral and dared to sing “Mother Mary, Banish Putin!” Now they have become victims of a “show” trial.

Follow Cesar Millans rise from impoverished illegal immigrant to celebrity dog trainer to international superstar. Join Cesar as he embarks on his live world speaking tour, films his new television series in Spain and leads thousands of dogs and owners on a Pack Walk in Washington, D.C. Cesar reflects on his humble past, his family life and his ever-evolving philosophy, which inspires people to improve their relationships with their dogs while becoming the pack leader of their own lives.

A woman, thrown into the stay-at-home routine of raising a toddler in the suburbs, slowly embraces the feral power deeply rooted in motherhood, as she becomes increasingly aware of the bizarre and undeniable signs that she may be turning into a dog.

As rates of femicide and domestic abuse soar in Turkey and democratic rights for women are increasingly eroded, a lawyer and her clients bravely risk everything for their freedom by standing up to the government and putting violent men behind bars.

"Revealing Ukraine" by Igor Lopatonok continues investigations on of the ongoing Ukrainian crisis following "Ukraine on Fire". In addition, it analyzes the current political backstage and its dangerous potential for the world.

When the ancient continent of Mu sank beneath the ocean, some of its inhabitant survived in caverns beneath the sea. Cowboy singer Gene Autry stumbles upon the civilization, now buried beneath his own Radio Ranch. The Muranians have developed technology and weaponry such as television and ray guns. Their rich supply of radium draws unscrupulous speculators from the surface. The peaceful civilization of the Muranians is corrupted by the greed from above, and it becomes Autry's task to prevent all-out war, ideally without disrupting his regular radio show.

Thomas Wilkins has faithfully worked his entire life on Saville Row. Suddenly he is fired by his boss Mr Gerald, who wants a younger man with new ideas. Thomas advertise under "Lonely Hearts" and receives an answer.

Carlos Quintas, the democratically-elected president of an unnamed South American country, has been deposed by a military coup. He is in London, the head of a government in exile, rallying international support. He is also a poet of talent and reputation, in love with Kate, his assistant, who has a secret of her own and keeps Carlos at a distance. The generals have a team of professionals in London bent on kidnap and assassination. Hovering around Carlos are two Russians, who may be KGB, an American book publisher, who may be CIA, an elusive Brit, probably from her majesty's secret service, and his own few supporters. Is Carlos doomed? Whom can he trust?

Rasputin, a crazed and debauched monk wreaks havoc at the local inn one night, chopping off the hand of one of the drinkers. As the bitter locals plan their revenge, the evil Rasputin works his satanic power over the beautiful women who serve at the Tsar's palace. Even the Tsarina herself is seduced by his evil ways and, as his influence begins to dominate government policy, there is only one course of action left... to destroy him before he destroys them all.

When feudal lord Itakura Katsuakira decides to prepare his samurai troops for the onslaught of modernization by having them compete in a marathon, his independent-minded daughter Yuki secretly joins the race.

Mack is a former soldier who, after the war, moved to a town with a nuclear power plant, where nearly everybody works. Life is peaceful for him there, until a gang of mercenaries led by Ron storm the reactor and take everybody hostage, including a group of children on a school trip. Now Mack is in a race against the clock and must use his military training to defeat Ron before he puts the reactor into meltdown. Along the way he discovers Ron’s motive, which unravels a greater secret Mack’s town is hiding.

To understand firsthand what the United States of America can learn from other nations, Michael Moore playfully “invades” some to see what they have to offer.

"The Search for the Meaning" is a collective experience, carried out with the audiovisual contribution of countless people who record their testimonies and spiritual experiences in 19 countries, to show a new spirituality that is being born...

When social unrest plagues a Kingdom in ancient China, the Imperial Court collects stockpiles of gold from local governments to expand the royal army. However, the gold is robbed while in transport. In a desperate move to retrieve the stolen treasure, elite royal guards are sent on a mission to go after the gold but soon find out they are not the only ones in pursuit of it.

A multicultural band of acrobatic do-gooders take on gangsters of three great nations in this action-packed sequel to the French box-office smash Yamakasi. The Yamakasi are a team of crime fighters who can scale buildings and urban towers with the ease of a fly walking up the wall; after leaving their home base in Paris to set up operations in England, the men decide to set up a satellite facility

In World War II, an American Air Force pilot of the Flying Tigers was flying over Yunnan province of southern China on a special mission, carrying vital information. He was shot down and captured by Japanese invasion forces. A small rescue party of American GIs teamed up with resistance guerrilla fighters in the minority tribes of the south. The GIs and local guerrilla together conducted an International Rescue of the pilot and his information vital to the war effort.

This documentary tells the story of the man who overcame his own failings for the sake of his nation. When his older brother, Edward VIII, abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, nervous-mannered successor George "Bertie" VI was plagued with shyness and a speech impediment when speaking to his subjects. An introvert as well as a humble man, events and circumstances resulted in him becoming an inspiration for the British nation during its war with Germany.

Writer, producer, puppeteer, songwriter--America's Favorite Neighbor takes a thorough look at the career of legendary children's television host Fred Rogers. Produced for Pittsburgh's WQED, this informative documentary tracks his rise as floor manager for various NBC programs, such as Your Hit Parade, to the major awards he received later in life, such as the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Along the way, he's seen launching public TV programs The Children's Corner, which featured a soon-to-be-famous puppet named King Friday, and Canada's MisteRogers. The latter, naturally, was followed by Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which made its national debut in 1968, and would eventually became the longest running program in PBS history. Hosted by fellow Pennsylvania native Michael Keaton (Batman), who worked on his show in the early days, America's Favorite Neighbor is suitable for all ages, but is geared more towards adults, particularly parents and educators.

The English novelist, John Le Carré discusses his life as a secret agent and writer in this documentary about spies in fact and fiction, produced for British television.

After 3 years, Danila Poperechniy returns with his long-awaited new program "FUN/LIFE". While looking at the lists of banned artists and fake propaganda posters accusing him of betrayal, Danila decides to go on an international stand-up tour for the first time in his life. Shot in London in November 2022.

The 60s, London: The Krays are on the rise, using their inimitable violent ways to gain power over the city. One man, the fearless Detective Nipper Read, is sent in to tackle the unenviable task of bringing the city back under the rule of law and taking on the country's most feared mobsters in the process. As he faces bent coppers, political backstabbing, and terrified witnesses, Nipper becomes increasingly obsessed, putting everything and everyone he knows at risk.

This documentary, filmed and told by residents, shows how the city was ravaged and what it was like to live through the Russian attacks. Hear from those who survived the bombing of the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre and a maternity hospital, who hid in the bunkers of the Azovstal plant, and who escaped the occupied city, only to return to save family members.

Docu-drama profiling Ying Sheng, the first Emperor of China. Charting the life of the man who unified China, this documentary begins with the future Emperor's rise to power after the death of his father, becoming King of Qin at the age of thirteen. Mostly told through the use of re-enactments, the story continues to the present day and the discovery of the Emperor's tomb and terracotta army in 1974.

WWII from Space delivers World War II in a way you've never experienced it before. This HISTORY special uses an all-seeing CGI eye that offers a satellite view of the conflict, allowing you to experience it in a way that puts key events and tipping points in a global perspective. By re-creating groundbreaking moments that could never have been captured on camera, and by illustrating the importance of simultaneity and the hidden effects of crucial incidents, HISTORY presents the war's monumental moments in a never-before-seen context. And with new information brought to the forefront, you'll better understand how a nation ranked 19th in the world's militaries in 1939 emerged six years later as the planet's only atomic superpower.

Waldemar Januszczak explores the impact of Mary Magdalene's myth on art and artists. In art all Christian saints are inventions but Mary Magdalene has been the subject of more invention and re-invention than any other.

Montezuma is a 2009 BBC Television documentary film in which Dan Snow examines the reign of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II.

In 1986, Louis Malle (himself a transplant to the United States) set out to investigate the ever-widening range of immigrant experience in America. Interviewing a variety of newcomers — from teachers to astronauts to doctors — in communities from coast to coast, Malle paints a humane portrait of their individual struggles in an increasingly polyglot nation.

This landmark film uses new evidence to investigate the truth behind Mona Lisa's identity and where she lived. It decodes centuries-old documents and uses state-of-the-art technology that could unlock the long-hidden truths of history's most iconic work of art.

Writer and historian Dr Helen Castor explores the life - and death - of Joan of Arc. Joan was an extraordinary figure - a female warrior in an age that believed women couldn't fight, let alone lead an army. But Joan was driven by faith and today, more than ever, we are acutely aware of the power of faith to drive actions for good or ill. Since her death, Joan has become an icon for almost everyone: the left and the right, Catholics and Protestants, traditionalists and feminists. But where, in all of this, is the real Joan - the experiences of a teenage peasant girl who achieved the seemingly impossible? Through an astonishing manuscript, we can hear Joan's own words at her trial and, as Helen unpicks Joan's story and places her back in the world that she inhabited, the real human Joan emerges.

Documentary written and presented by scientist Richard Dawkins, in which he seeks to expose "those areas of belief that exist without scientific proof, yet manage to hold the nation under their spell", including mediumship, psychokinesis, acupuncture, and other forms of alternative medicine.

From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga is a 1983 television documentary special that originally aired on PBS. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the original Star Wars trilogy, with particular emphasis on the final film, Return of the Jedi. Narrated by actor Mark Hamill, the documentary was written by Richard Schickel who had written the previous television documentaries The Making of Star Wars (1977) and SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

Documentary looking at Orson Welles and the production of the film CITIZEN KANE fifty years ago, considering the furore that accompanied it and the real life press baron William Randolph Hearst upon whom Kane is based, and his efforts to halt the film, destroy the negative and persecution of people involved with its production and showing. It includes BBC interviews with Welles made in 1960 and 1982, and film historian Robert Carringer looks at the scenes that never made it to the screen. American film critic Pauline Kael also analyses the film's enduring appeal. Extracts from "The RKO Story" (producer: Rosemary Wilton) and "Yesterday's Whitness" (producers: Christopher Cook and Stephen Peet).

The last shots had been fired in the First World War — but peace had yet to be made. Inspired by Margaret MacMillan’s acclaimed work of popular history, Paris 1919 takes us inside the most ambitious peace talks in history, revisiting the event with a vivid sense of narrative. Evoking a pivotal moment when peace seemed possible, director Paul Cowan reflects upon the hard-learned lessons of history.

For more than 70 years, the UN has been at the forefront of work to uphold human rights and promote global peace. But what happens when the fixer of the world’s problems is itself faced with allegations of wrongdoing and corruption? What happens when UN staff try to call out their own managers and colleagues?

This tells a story literally 'hidden from history'. In the 1960s and 70s, British governments, conspiring with American officials, tricked into leaving, then expelled the entire population of the Chagos islands in the Indian Ocean. The aim was to give the principal island of this Crown Colony, Diego Garcia, to the Americans who wanted it as a major military base. Indeed, from Diego Garcia US planes have since bombed Afghanistan and Iraq. The story is told by islanders who were dumped in the slums of Mauritius and in the words of the British officials who left a 'paper trail' of what the International Criminal Court now describes as 'a crime against humanity'

The changing position of the sun in the sky affects the behaviour of animals and plants across our planet. From the moment it rises, animals are waiting, ready to take advantage of the opportunities that the sun creates. A quirky chameleon uses solar power to survive, while a family of lemurs get a morning heat fix. But, as the day progresses and the sun climbs higher in the sky, becoming more powerful, animals must also react as it pushes them toward moments of crisis. As the sun sets and its great heat and light are extinguished, a night-time world wakes, full of characters who have carved a niche in the darkness. But even in the dead of night, the sun is not lost. Its rays are reflected in the moon, our 'ghost sun.' We take the rising and setting of the sun for granted, but it is the ultimate game changer. The way the natural world responds will be the difference between success and failure, life or death.

Russia, 1917. After the abdication of Czar Nicholas II Romanov, the struggle for power confronts allies, enemies, factions and ideas; a ruthless battle between democracy and authoritarianism that will end with the takeover of the government by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

A guide to human history through its most audacious power grabs. From Julius Caesar to Napoleon; from Mussolini to the strongmen of the present day - we see how the world we know has been shaped by those who dream big.

Around 800 BC, Kush, a little-known subject state of Egypt, rose up and conquered the Egyptians, enthroned its own Pharaohs, and ruled over the empire of King Tut for nearly 100 years. This unlikely chapter of history has been buried by the Egyptians and belittled by early archaeologists, who refused to believe that dark skinned Africans could have risen so high. But now, in the heart of Sudan, archeologists Geoff Emberling and Tim Kendall are bringing the truth about the Black Pharaohs to life.

George Lucas discusses how Joseph Campbell and his concept of the Monomyth (aka the Hero's Journey) and other concepts from mythology and religion shaped the Star Wars saga.

Fred and Rose West were a married couple who killed at least ten young British girls, some of them their own daughters. February 24, 1994 was the beginning of the end -- the end of the extraordinary things that had been going on in the ordinary three-story house in central Gloucester. But it was also the beginning of a discovery as the layers of secrets hidden at 25 Cromwell Street were slowly peeled away. Twenty years on, Sky News investigates the unanswered questions with an in depth documentary.

This documentary follows an expedition taken by the United Nations to observe the increasingly rapid glacial melt forming at the base of the Himalayas.

Sir David Attenborough recalls moments from his early television career and discusses the stories behind them. Among the highlights are Sir David's first encounter with Born Free's Elsa the lioness, and being the first to film Indri lemurs using recordings of their calls to entice them out of hiding. Having recently completed the landmark natural history series Africa (2012), Sir David also talks about his very first trip to the continent in 1955 when filming 'Zoo Quest to West Africa'.

Mark Ronson, hit songwriter and producer openly discusses his life and musical influences. With interviews from Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Broadcast on National Album Day.

Tony Robinson’s VE Day: Minute By Minute will take a unique look at a pivotal day in the history of the modern world, delving into the key events that made VE Day such a momentous twenty-four hours. This is the story of what happened on that most celebrated and important day, including original interviews with historians and veterans who tell their stories and share their first-hand experiences. Using unseen archive footage and stills, plus never told accounts from veterans who were there, this one-off special will chart the moment the clock struck midnight, to 24 hours later, when fighting officially stopped across Europe. Up and down the country it was dawning on people that they were waking up not with fear or anxiety, but with relief and excitement. This was a Great Britain no one had experienced for six years. A Britain at peace. At almost no notice street celebrations were being prepared and tens of thousands were flocking to London and other city centres.

One day in the life of television is a documentary that was broadcast on ITV on 1 November 1989. Filmed by over fifty crews exactly one year earlier, it was a huge behind-the-scenes look at a wide range of activities involved in the production, reception and marketing of British television. The project was organised by the British Film Institute and produced and directed for television by Peter Kosminsky.

The Berlin Air Lift from the point of view of two NCOs.

A willful young boy follows his just as obstinate grandmother in a journey across Iraq, determined to discover the fate of her missing son, Ahmed's father, who never returned from war.

Two epic stories of an incredible saga. In 1836, Cynthia Ann Parker, a lovely nine-year-old girl with cornflower-blue eyes, gets kidnapped by Comanches from the far Texas frontier. She then grows to love her captors and becomes infamous as the "White Squaw", a pioneer woman who refused to return until her tragic capture by Texas Rangers in 1860. Her mixed-blood son, Quanah, succeeds her and becomes the last and greatest chief of the Comanches. Their legacy is wrapped around the rise, and ultimately, the fall of the most powerful Indian tribe in American history, battling a war spanning four decades, holding up the development of the new American nation. In a beautiful tale encompassing Spanish colonialism, the Civil War, the destruction of the buffalo herds, and the arrival of the railroads, is the war of the Comanches.

A wild country girl moves to Shanghai with her painter boyfriend and experiences exploitation and poverty.

With unprecedented access to Taiwan’s sitting head of state, director Vanessa Hope investigates the election and tenure of Tsai Ing-wen, the first female president of Taiwan. Thorough, incisive and bristling with tension, Invisible Nation is a living account of Tsai’s tightrope walk as she balances the hopes and dreams of her nation between the colossal geopolitical forces of the U.S. and China. Hope’s restrained observational style captures Tsai at work in her country’s vibrant democracy at home, while seeking full international recognition of Taiwan’s right to exist. At a time when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated the ever-present threat of authoritarian aggression, Invisible Nation brings punctual focus to the struggle of Taiwan as it fights for autonomy and freedom from fear.

In 1945 the Second World War came to an end and the Nazis fled. Scientists and military elite escaped across borders and found themselves in new worlds. Some fled to Russia, some the United States and others to South America. But there was another division, a forgotten group. A top secret and powerful team of men and women formed in the womb of the Nazi Occult. Now, decades after the war, their work is nearing completion. The 4th Reich is ready. It's more powerful and destructive than ever before. An army of hell is coming. Only one man knows the truth. His mission now, is to convince the world. Based on years of occult research and insider knowledge, Dead Walkers is a film packed with spies, soldiers, Nazis and secrets. But also a very dark and mysterious army raised in the pit of Nazi hell.

Prelude to War was the first film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, commissioned by the Pentagon and George C. Marshall. It was made to convince American troops of the necessity of combating the Axis Powers during World War II. This film examines the differences between democratic and fascist states.

By the People: The Election of Barack Obama is a documentary film produced by Edward Norton broadcast in November 2009 on HBO, which follows Barack Obama and various members of his campaign team, including David Axelrod, through the two years leading up to the United States presidential election on November 4th, 2008.

Investigative journalist, Jeremy Scahill is pulled into an unexpected journey as he chases down the hidden truth behind America's expanding covert wars, and examines how the US government has responded to international terrorist threats in ways that seem to go against the established laws of the land.