The Western Tradition

Episode 1

The Dawn of History

The origins of the human race are traced from anthropoid ancestors to the agricultural revolution.

Episode 2

The Ancient Egyptians

Egyptian irrigation created one of the first great civilizations.

Episode 3

Mesopotamia

Settlements in the Fertile Crescent gave rise to the great river civilizations of the Middle East.

Episode 4

From Bronze to Iron

Metals revolutionized tools, as well as societies, in the empires of Assyria, Persia, and Neo-Babylonia.

Episode 5

The Rise of Greek Civilization

Democracy and philosophy arose from Greek cities at the edge of the civilized world.

Episode 6

Greek Thought

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle laid the foundation of Western intellectual thought.

Episode 7

Alexander the Great

Alexander's conquests quadrupled the size of the world known to the Greeks.

Episode 8

The Hellenistic Age

Hellenistic kingdoms extended Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean.

Episode 9

The Rise of Rome

Through its army, Rome built an empire that shaped the West.

Episode 10

The Roman Empire

Rome's civil engineering contributed as much to the empire as did its weapons.

Episode 11

Early Christianity

Christianity spread despite contempt and persecution from Rome.

Episode 12

The Rise of the Church

The old heresy became the Roman empire's official religion under the Emperor Constantine..

Episode 13

The Decline of Rome

While enemies slashed at Rome's borders, civil war and economic collapse destroyed the empire from within.

Episode 14

The Fall of Rome

While enemies slashed at Rome's borders, civil war and economic collapse destroyed the empire from within.

Episode 15

The Byzantine Empire

From Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire carried on the traditions of Greece and Rome.

Episode 16

The Fall of Byzantium

Nearly a thousand years after Rome's fall, Constantinople was conquered by the forces of Islam.

Episode 17

The Dark Ages

90 mins

Barbarian kingdoms took possession of the fragments of the Roman Empire.

Episode 18

The Age of Charlemagne

Charlemagne revived hopes for a new empire in Western Europe.

Episode 19

The Middle Ages

Amid invasion and civil disorder, a military aristocracy dominated the kingdoms of Europe.

Episode 20

The Feudal Order

Bishop, knight, and peasant exemplified some of the social divisions of the year 1000 A.D.

Episode 21

Common Life in the Middle Ages

Famine, disease, and short life expectancies were the conditions that shaped medieval beliefs.

Episode 22

Cities and Cathedrals of the Middle Ages

The great churches embodied the material and spiritual ambitions of the age.

Episode 23

The Late Middle Ages

Two hundred years of war and plague debilitated Europe.

Episode 24

The National Monarchies

A new urban middle class emerged, while dynastic marriages established centralized monarchies.

Episode 25

The Renaissance and the Age of Discovery

Renaissance humanists made man "the measure of all things." Europe was possessed by a new passion for knowledge.

Episode 26

The Renaissance and the New World

The discovery of America challenged Europe.

Episode 27

The Reformation

Voiced by Martin Luther, Protestantism shattered the unity of the Catholic Church.

Episode 28

The Rise of the Middle Class

As the cities grew, new middle-class mores had an impact on religious life.

Episode 29

The Wars of Religion

For more than a century, the quarrels of Protestants and Catholics tore Europe apart.

Episode 30

The Rise of the Trading Cities

Amid religious wars, a few cities learned that tolerance increased their prosperity.

Episode 31

The Age of Absolutism

Exhausted by war and civil strife, many Europeans exchanged earlier liberties and anarchies for greater peace.

Episode 32

Absolutism and the Social Contract

Arguments about the legitimate source of political power centered on divine right versus natural law.

Episode 33

The Enlightened Despots

Monarchs considered reforms in order to create more efficient societies, but not at the expense of their own power.

Episode 34

The Enlightenment

Intellectual theories about the nature of man and his potential came to the fore.

Episode 35

The Enlightenment and Society

Scientists and social reformers battled for universal human rights during a peaceful and prosperous period.

Episode 36

The Modern Philosophers

Freedom of thought and expression opened new vistas explored by French, English, and American thinkers.

Episode 37

The American Revolution

The British colonists created a society that tested Enlightenment ideas and resisted restrictions imposed by England.

Episode 38

The American Republic

A new republic, the compromise of radicals and conservatives, was founded on universal freedoms.

Episode 39

The Death of the Old Regime

In France the old order collapsed under revolutionaries' attacks and the monarchy's own weakness.

Episode 40

The French Revolution

Liberty, equality, and fraternity skidded into a reign of Terror.

Episode 41

The Industrial Revolution

Episode 42

The Industrial World

Episode 43

Revolution and Romantics

Episode 44

The Age of the Nation-States

Episode 45

A New Public

Episode 46

Fin de Siècle

Every day life of the working class was transformed by leisure, prompting the birth of an elite avant-garde movement.

Episode 47

The First World War and the Rise of Fascism

Episode 48

The Second World War

Episode 49

The Cold War

The US and Soviet Union dominated Europe, and confronted each other in Korea.

Episode 50

Europe and the Third World

Burdened with the legacy of colonial imperialism, the Third World rushed development to catch up with its Western counterparts

Episode 51

The Technological Revolution

Keeping up with the ever-increasing pace of change became the standard of the day

Episode 52

Toward the Future

Modern medicine, atomic energy, computers, and new concepts of time, energy, and matter all have an important effect on life in the 20th century.