
Explore the universal drama of war: why leaders and soldiers pick up arms to fight, the technologies that have determined outcomes, the tragedies and triumphs of history’s great battles.
The Inca, a vast late medieval civilization in Peru and nearby regions, fell to Spanish conquest in 1533; despite agricultural and architectural feats, they lacked military tech and disease immunity to resist invaders.
The Siege of La Rochelle (1627-28) climaxes the Protestant Huguenot rebellion against the French crown and leads to the rise of the absolute monarchy.
French forces defend Orleans from an English army during a violent and pitiless siege between 1428 and 1429 during the Hundred Years' War.
English King Richard the Lionheart builds a formidable castle along France's Seine River to assert his supremacy over his rich and strategic lands in Normandy.
A look at the siege of Alesia, a great battle between the Gauls and Romans that brought thousands of soldiers to the plains of France and is a classic example of siege warfare.
The Spanish Conquest laid the groundwork for 300 years of colonial rule, which made Spain the richest country in Europe and divided Mexico with a class system.
The War of Independence results in the loss of almost half of Mexico's territory to the U.S. and decades of instability; uprising led by priests Hidalgo and Morelos; the role of Gen. Antonio López de Santa Ana.
The richest and most powerful city in all of ancient Greece leads us in the footprints of a nation of extraordinary builders, thinkers and inventors of incredible machines.