History's turning points II: the rise of the Mob
This program describes how the Volstead Act was passed and the Mafia took over America. In 1920, the American government cracked down on drinking and banned the sale and consumption of alcohol. But instead of making America a better place, prohibit...
History's turning points: the Black Death
When a plague-ridden ship landed in Venice in 1347, it was immediately put into quarantine...but no one could stop the rats from corning ashore. Within three years, a third of Western Europe's population was dead. It was the greatest calamity in his...
History's turning points: the marriage of Pocahontas
On the land of the Algonquins, 150 English settlers had built a trading post called James Town. And though Captain John Smith promised the Indians the colony was temporary, they saw it as a lie. He was captured and about to be stoned, when 13 year o...
History's turning points II: the shot that started the Great War
This program explains how the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered the start of a world war. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, arrived with his wife Sophie in the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarajevo, on J...
History's turning points II: the Spanish Armada
In this program, the planned Spanish invasion of England fails and England dominates the waves. It is 1588 and the conflict between the Catholic Philip II of Spain and the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England is at a breaking point. In May, Phil...
History's turning points II: search for Troy
Heinrich Schliemann was a German grocer's boy who had made a fortune in the gold fields of California and became an archaeologist. He dug for three years at Hissarlik in modern Turkey, determined to prove that it was the site of the Troy of the anci...