Season 1 (1989)
Episodes: 52
Star Cast:
Episodes List
Ep.1 The Dawn of History
Air Date: 1989-01-01
The origins of the human race are traced from anthropoid ancestors to the agricultural revolution.
Ep.2 The Ancient Egyptians
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Egyptian irrigation created one of the first great civilizations.
Ep.3 Mesopotamia
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Settlements in the Fertile Crescent gave rise to the great river civilizations of the Middle East.
Ep.4 From Bronze to Iron
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Metals revolutionized tools, as well as societies, in the empires of Assyria, Persia, and Neo-Babylonia.
Ep.5 The Rise of Greek Civilization
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Democracy and philosophy arose from Greek cities at the edge of the civilized world.
Ep.6 Greek Thought
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle laid the foundation of Western intellectual thought.
Ep.7 Alexander the Great
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Alexander's conquests quadrupled the size of the world known to the Greeks.
Ep.8 The Hellenistic Age
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Hellenistic kingdoms extended Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean.
Ep.9 The Rise of Rome
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Through its army, Rome built an empire that shaped the West.
Ep.10 The Roman Empire
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Rome's civil engineering contributed as much to the empire as did its weapons.
Ep.11 Early Christianity
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Christianity spread despite contempt and persecution from Rome.
Ep.12 The Rise of the Church
Air Date: 1989-01-01
The old heresy became the Roman empire's official religion under the Emperor Constantine.
Ep.13 The Decline of Rome
Air Date: 1989-01-01
While enemies slashed at Rome's borders, civil war and economic collapse destroyed the empire from within.
Ep.14 The Fall of Rome
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Despite the success of emperors such as Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, Rome fell victim to barbarian invasions.
Ep.15 The Byzantine Empire
Air Date: 1989-01-01
From Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire carried on the traditions of Greece and Rome.
Ep.16 The Fall of Byzantium
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Nearly a thousand years after Rome's fall, Constantinople was conquered by the forces of Islam.
Ep.17 The Dark Ages
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Barbarian kingdoms took possession of the fragments of the Roman Empire.
Ep.18 The Age of Charlemagne
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Charlemagne revived hopes for a new empire in Western Europe.
Ep.19 The Middle Ages
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Amid invasion and civil disorder, a military aristocracy dominated the kingdoms of Europe.
Ep.20 The Feudal Order
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Bishop, knight, and peasant exemplified some of the social divisions of the year 1000 A.D.
Ep.21 Common Life in the Middle Ages
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Famine, disease, and short life expectancies were the conditions that shaped medieval beliefs.
Ep.22 Cities and Cathedrals of the Middle Ages
Air Date: 1989-01-01
The great churches embodied the material and spiritual ambitions of the age.
Ep.23 The Late Middle Ages
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Two hundred years of war and plague debilitated Europe.
Ep.24 The National Monarchies
Air Date: 1989-01-01
A new urban middle class emerged, while dynastic marriages established centralized monarchies.
Ep.25 Renaissance & the Age of Discovery
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Renaissance humanists made man "the measure of all things." Europe was possessed by a new passion for knowledge.
Ep.26 Renaissance & the New World
Air Date: 1989-01-01
The discovery of America challenged Europe.
Ep.27 The Reformation
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Voiced by Martin Luther, Protestantism shattered the unity of the Catholic Church.
Ep.28 The Rise of the Middle Class
Air Date: 1989-01-01
As the cities grew, new middle-class mores had an impact on religious life.
Ep.29 The Wars of Religion
Air Date: 1989-01-01
For more than a century, the quarrels of Protestants and Catholics tore Europe apart.
Ep.30 The Rise of the Trading Cities
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Amid religious wars, a few cities learned that tolerance increased their prosperity.
Ep.31 The Age of Absolutism
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Exhausted by war and civil strife, many Europeans exchanged earlier liberties and anarchies for greater peace.
Ep.32 Absolutism and the Social Contract
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Arguments about the legitimate source of political power centered on divine right versus natural law.
Ep.33 The Enlightened Despots
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Monarchs considered reforms in order to create more efficient societies, but not at the expense of their own power.
Ep.34 The Enlightenment
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Intellectual theories about the nature of man and his potential came to the fore.
Ep.35 The Enlightenment and Society
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Scientists and social reformers battled for universal human rights during a peaceful and prosperous period.
Ep.36 The Modern Philosophers
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Freedom of thought and expression opened new vistas explored by French, English, and American thinkers.
Ep.37 The American Revolution
Air Date: 1989-01-01
The British colonists created a society that tested Enlightenment ideas and resisted restrictions imposed by England.
Ep.38 The American Republic
Air Date: 1989-01-01
A new republic, the compromise of radicals and conservatives, was founded on universal freedoms.
Ep.39 The Death of the Old Regime
Air Date: 1989-01-01
In France the old order collapsed under revolutionaries' attacks and the monarchy's own weakness.
Ep.40 The French Revolution
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Liberty, equality, and fraternity skidded into a reign of Terror.
Ep.41 The Industrial Revolution
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Technology and mass production reduced famine and ushered in higher standards of living.
Ep.42 The Industrial World
Air Date: 1989-01-01
A consumer revolution was fueled by coal, public transportation, and new city services.
Ep.43 Revolution and Romantics
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Leaders in the arts, literature, and political theory argued for social justice and national liberation.
Ep.44 The Age of the Nation-States
Air Date: 1989-01-01
The great powers cooperated to quell internal revolts, yet competed to acquire colonies.
Ep.45 A New Public
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Public education and mass communications created a new political life and leisure time.
Ep.46 Fin de Siècle
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Everyday life of the working class was transformed by leisure, prompting the birth of an elite avant-garde movement.
Ep.47 The First World War and the Rise of Fascism
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Old empires crumbled during World War I to be replaced by right-wing dictatorships in Italy, Spain, and Germany.
Ep.48 The Second World War
Air Date: 1989-01-01
World War II was a war of new tactics and strategies. Civilian populations became targets as the Nazi holocaust exterminated millions of people.
Ep.49 The Cold War
Air Date: 1989-01-01
The U.S. and Soviet Union dominated Europe and confronted each other in Korea.
Ep.50 Europe and the Third World
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Burdened with the legacy of colonial imperialism, the Third World rushed development to catch up with its Western counterparts.
Ep.51 The Technological Revolution
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Keeping up with the ever-increasing pace of change became the standard of the day.
Ep.52 Toward the Future
Air Date: 1989-01-01
Modern medicine, atomic energy, computers, and new concepts of time, energy, and matter all have an important effect on life in the 20th century.