The successive and increasingly bloody land battles on tiny islands in the expansive Pacific, aimed towards the Japanese heartland. Following the bombing of Darwin, the Japanese are progressively turned back at Kokoda, Tarawa, Peleilu, the Philippines, Iwo Jima and finally Okinawa.

The situation in post-war Europe including the allied occupation of Germany, demobilisation, the Nurenburg trials and the genesis of the Cold War. The episode concludes with summations about the ultimate costs, advantages and consequences of the war. Interviewees include Charles Bohlen, Stephen Ambrose, Lord Avon, Lord Mountbatten and Noble Frankland.

This programme remembers the millions of men and women who died during the Second World War. The war was the most significant experience of their lives. They were young and far from home, living dangerously and fighting a good fight.

Hitler's early successes in Russia made him reckless and he resolves to capture Stalingrad. The battle lasts six months with the Russians emerging as victors. The Wehrmacht never recovers.

Following the events from the death of US President Roosevelt through to the dropping of the two bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that prompted Japan's surrender.

The the desert war, starting with Italy's unsuccessful invasion of Egypt and the successive attacks and counter-attacks between Germany and Commonwealth forces, and the Afrika Korps's eventual defeat at El Alamein. Interviewees include General Richard O'Connor, Major General Francis de Guingand and Lawrence Durrell.

This thirteenth episode documents the two-year fight for Italy, initially thought of as a soft spot by Churchill, who later realised his error in complacency

A documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of the end of the war.

Dan Snow travels to Syria to see how the country's fascinating and tumultuous history is shaping the current civil war.

On June 20th, a young Iranian woman was shot in the street in Tehran. The video of her death, filmed on a mobile phone, was seen by millions around the world.

This World has gained rare access to Nelson Mandela, after years of retirement from public life.

Joe Frazier takes British filmmaker John Dower back to 1975 and the most hyped boxing match in history - his epic third and final battle with sporting legend Muhammad Ali.

Timeshift lifts the veil on the taboo that is corporal punishment. What it reveals is a fascinating history spanning religion, the justice system, sex and education.

Timeshift digs into the archive to trace the extraordinary story of the ultimate sanction. At the beginning of the 19th century you could still be hanged in Britain for offences such as stealing a sheep or shooting a rabbit. Even children as young as seven were sent to the gallows. The last hanging in this country took place as recently as 1964.

The surprising story of the hidden powerhouse behind the globalised world - the diesel engine, a 19th-century invention that has become indispensable to the 21st century.

It is unique in the Roman World. A spectacular and complex stone barrier measuring 74 miles long, and up to 15 feet high and 10 feet thick. For 300 years Hadrian's Wall stood as the Roman Empire's most imposing frontier and one of the unsung wonders of the ancient world.

Documentary that looks back to the furore caused by Princess Margaret's affair with Peter Townsend, a divorced commoner. Billed as a constitutional crisis, Margaret's dilemma was the first modern royal scandal which would shape the future of royal relations with the media. In 1955 she chose to sacrifice love for duty by ending the affair, but new evidence presented here suggests that hers was a needless sacrifice.

In the 1950s and '60s, one million Britons voluntarily migrated to what had been a former penal colony only a hundred years earlier. The Ten Pound Pom scheme to Australia was one of the largest planned migrations of the 20th Century.

Documentary looking at the Secret History of the Mongols, said to have been written by Genghis Khan's adopted son, which reveals a very different man to the brutal butcher of Western legend.

New archaeological research has given fresh insight into what happened in the Roman amphitheatre.

In this Timewatch special, historian Bettany Hughes unravels one of the most intriguing mysteries of all time. She presents a series of geological, archaeological and historical clues to show that the legend of Atlantis was inspired by a real historical event, the greatest natural disaster of the ancient world.

Marking the 50th anniversary of the influential novel To Kill a Mockingbird, writer Andrew Smith visits Monroeville in Alabama, the setting of the book, to see how life there has changed in half a century.

Alastair Sooke takes an in-depth look at the art of the Roman Empire.

Alastair Sooke traces how the Romans during the Republic went from being art thieves and copycats to pioneering a new artistic style of warts 'n' all realism.

A look at the artistic legacy of Rome's mad, bad and dangerous emperors, including Claudius's pleasure palace and the cave where Tiberius held wild parties.

Alastair Sooke charts the fall of the Roman Empire through some of its artistic treasures, including one of the best preserved Roman cities in Libya.

Andrew Graham-Dixon explores the ancient Christian practice of preserving holy relics and the largely forgotten art form that went with it, the reliquary.

On December 17th 2003, a 25-year-old woman called Malalai Joya stood up during the Afghan Grand Assembly and declared that many of those present were 'felons' and 'criminals' who had turned the country 'into the nucleus of national and international wars'.

Laura Poitras' film tells how two men whose lives were caught up with Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden ended up taking very different paths after the invasion of Iraq.

Henry Kissinger has done more than any other individual to shape the foreign policy of the United States, both during his time as Secretary of State, and afterwards, as he continued to advise successive presidents and governments around the world.Over a p