Former CIA agent and Soviet spy Aldrich Ames recounts his years of betrayal, and the costs of his treachery.
Documentary on Russia's infiltration of the Manhattan Project and theft of top-secret nuclear secrets.
Archaeologist Liana Souvaltzis searches for the tomb of Alexander the Great.
A French priest finds clues to the treasure of the Knights Templar.
Some say the Shroud of Turin was created by Leonardo da Vinci.
In the summer of 1940, eight British children flee to safety in Canada.
Allied airmen shot down over France recall atrocities at Buchenwald.
Field Marshal Douglas Haig is lambasted as "the butcher of the Somme."
The U.S. secret service infiltrates Germany to capture Hitler.
Adolf Hitler's final days.
Documents offer evidence of military opposition to Truman's decision to drop an A-bomb on Hiroshima.
Lavrenti Beria, Stalin's chief of the secret police is profiled.
Some think the last prisoner in Spandau was Rudolf Hess' double.
In the 1970s, East Germany's secret service penetrates West Germany's government.
The Viking's navigational system.
Bruno Hauptmann's trial for the Lindbergh kidnapping causes a media frenzy.
New evidence suggests others may have discovered North America before Christopher Columbus.
Seven German prisoners of war are hanged in August 1945 after a U.S. trial.
The "Roaring '20s."
New information arises about the Spanish Inquisition.
With the kamikaze, Japan turns suicide into military strategy.
The Kovno ghetto in Lithuania.
The debate over a possible UFO crash in 1947 Roswell, N.M.
The story of how General Slim and his British 14th Army finally beat the Japanese in Burma during World War II. Includes the heroic stand at Kohima by British and Indian troops.
The story of the duel in the desert between Britain's General Montgomery and Germany's General Rommel during World War Two. The film depicts life for soldiers fighting under harsh conditions.
In 1930 organized crime infiltrates the movie industry.
Vaults house the Soviet Union's Central Party archives.
After the 1953 conquest of Everest, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay clash over the celebrity of the incident.
During World War II, 16,000 POWs die building the Bangkok-Rangoon Railway.
African participation in the slave trade.
Edison and Westinghouse each try to have New York adopt the other's "executioner's current."
On Christmas Eve, 1944, a German U-boat sinks the SS Leopoldville with 800 Americans aboard.
The crew of the USS Pueblo are captured and tortured by the North Koreans in 1968.
It was a centerpiece of the Cold War. The space race between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. resulted in some of the most significant scientific and engineering advances in human history. But it was also marred by tragedy. And while the stories of American mishaps--such as the fire that claimed the lives of three Apollo astronauts in 1967--are well documented, the failures of the Soviet space program remained closely guarded secrets until only recently. Filled with rare, never-before-seen footage from Soviet archives and interviews with insiders like Ronald Sagdeev, Mikhail Gorbachev's science advisor, SECRETS OF SOVIET SPACE DISASTERS brings these long-hidden stories to light. See how personal rivalries, shifting political alliances and bureaucratic bungling led to the more than 150 deaths as well as the eventual failure of the Soviet space program itself.
Go inside Hitler's Wolf's Lair, the site of a July 1944 assassination attempt led by high-ranking Nazi officers that nearly killed Germany's leader and changed history forever. Conspirators and other witnesses explain their complex plan -- known as "Operation Valkyrie" -- and discuss what went wrong. This History Channel documentary also unearths previously classified evidence about a London-based plot to kill Hitler.
The United States conducted experiments on unwitting subjects throughout the Cold War. A man discovers he was tested on with out his knowledge or consent. A woman remember army men at her school giving kids injections and later finds out about 50% of her classmates died of cancer.
Terrorists find chemical and biological weapons a cost-effective alternative to nuclear arms.
The influenza epidemic of 1918 kills 22 million people worldwide.
In 1944, 50 black ammunition-loaders boycott work deemed too dangerous for whites.
Friendship between JFK and Richard Nixon becomes intense rivalry.
North African theater of war; El Alamein; Rommel vs. Montgomery.
The Japanese army seeks to develop biological weapons during World War II.
Subs race to rescue men at sea; only 127 of the 2,000 survive.
In the Depression, U.S. executives tried to guide Soviet industry.
Banks from the United States, England and Switzerland helped fund the Nazi regime.
Altitude tests take place in 1950s New Mexico.
Japanese troops committed atrocities in Nanking, China, in 1937 and '38.
Third Reich military aircraft designs are far ahead of Allied counterparts.
A former Luftwaffe pilot moves up to become head of the West German Air Force.
Special pilots flew thousands of spy missions over communist countries.
Operation Thunderclap rained tons of bombs on Dresden, Germany.
A Russian defector damages the KGB.
U.S. soldiers man the SIGSALY system in a London department store.
The Soviets shoot down an American spy plane.
Science fiction movies from the '50s might seem dated, but the ideas behind them were not. The History Channel explores the oft-overlooked dreams of NASA space engineers in History Undercover: Code Name - Project Orion. When man first walked on the moon, men on Earth were planning an even longer journey. From a manned mission to Mars to a fully operational space station, the physicists' imaginations knew no bounds. Freeman Dyson and Theodore B. Taylor remember the top-secret plans of Project Orion in this one-hour program.
A 1989 explosion on the USS Iowa kills 47 crew members.
A top secret bunker in West Virginia is designed to protect officials from nuclear attack.
A farmer's son becomes Pope John XXIII and stirs up an ecumenical hornet's nest.
The sudden death of Pope John Paul I gives rise to rumors of a murder plot.
Pope John Paul II does not allow compromise on moral issues.
They were the terror of the sky, a small band of American mercenaries who soared into battle against the Japanese in defense of China's freedom. In 1941, with the U.S. government's tacit approval, retired Army Air Force Captain Claire L. Chennault, then a colonel in China's Air Force, formed the mercenary American Volunteer Group to fight Japan. Later dubbed Flying Tigers, these brave pilots set records yet to be equaled in the annals of aerial history. Against all odds, these true war heroes exceeded the limits of aerial warfare. Living on the edge, on a starvation diet, outnumbered and under-equipped, the Flying Tigers turned adversity into incredible success. With only 29 P-40's, The Flying Tigers shot down 296 confirmed enemy planes and 300 more probables. The AVG also destroyed 573 bridges, 1,300 riverboats and innumerable road vehicles and killed thousands of Imperial Japanese army soldiers. Their combat success has yet to be equaled to this day! Through rare footage of the legen
In the late 1950s, the U.S. secretly began development of atomic powered rockets. One of the bolder ideas was to propel a spaceship the size of a 10-story building carrying people, livestock, and equipment for prolonged trips to other planets. We uncover the story of this astounding plan and talk to some of its principal scientists.
The United States conducted experiments on unwitting subjects throughout the Cold War.
The Allies spread lurid tales of Nazi debauchery to try to bring down the Third Reich.
American mercenary pilots aided China in the early days of World War II.
The S.S. uses ships of concentration-camp survivors as bait for British bombers.
Some believe that it was not James Earl Ray who killed Martin Luther King Jr.
Marshal Hermann Goering's brother rescues victims of Nazi tyranny.
In the early 1960s, 13 women qualify as astronauts.
At least 15 attempts were made on Hitler's life.
The remains in Jesse James' grave may be those of someone else.
Thousands die during a week of black smog in 1952 London.
Pope John Paul II's trip back to Poland helps to topple Communism.
Many die as Japanese captors march American and Filipino POWs day and night.
Nazis murder an anti-Nazi German in an Allied POW camp.
Civilian airline Air America forms a cornerstone of U.S. policy in Southeast Asia.
The CIA's 1961 attempt to invade Cuba goes horribly wrong.
Until recently, most documents surrounding the H-bomb were highly classified.
Scientists explore the Mariana Trench.
Great Olympic athletes feel the gold medal slip through their fingers.
The CIA and British Intelligence plan a coup to maintain control over Iranian oil.
The sexual practices of soldiers during the Civil War.
The CIA, KGB and other spy agencies research the paranormal.
A few foreign-service diplomats secretly save Jews from the Nazis.
Air France Concorde flight AF4590 crashes near Le Bourget.
An overview of the famous Doolittle Raid.
The most famous aerial fighting group of World War II, the Black Sheep Squadron officially shot down 100 planes and may have unofficially shot down another 100. Led by Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, the self-proclaimed "bad boy" of the Marines, in point of fact, the only so-called "screw-up" in the famed unit. The Black Sheep were a motley group of fly boys who rallied around their commander who inspired them where it counted most in combat.
Soviet secret military projects of the cold war revealed. A story of imgainative design, rushed production and the human casualties that resulted.
For more than twenty years, a Mississippi government agency, ostensibly funded to promote the states image, actually secretly spied on it's own citizens. Called the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, it kept files on tens of thousands of people - their so-called crime was sympathizing with the Civil Rights Movement that was threatening their way of life.
The question continues to haunt the families of 34 dead American sailors. Why, in June 1967, was a lightly armed American US ship was attacked by fighter plans and torpedo boats. Just as shocking as the attack itself was the identity of the attackers themselves.
After the murder of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and her cabinet decided they'd had enough. In a precedent-shattering move, she directed the Israeli secret service to carry out covert assassinations of those Palestinians directly or indirectly responsible for the attack. This is the story of how the Mossad tracked down the leaders of the terror group Black September over the next 8 years with deadly success.
October 1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink of nuclear catastrophe. What we didn't know for 40 years was that four Russian diesel submarines in the Caribbean, each carrying a nuclear torpedo, were in position to blow the U.S. Navy out of the water. For the first time, we hear from senior Russian sub officers who reveal that they came within seconds of firing their weapons and starting the first nuclear war. Also interviewed, former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.
The story has long been repeated as gospel: on August 2nd, 1943, when the PT Boat he commanded was struck and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, a young John Kennedy demonstrated extraordinary courage and dedication in saving the lives of 10 crewmembers. JFK's rise to the presidency was sped along by his status as a wartime hero, but History Undercover® dares to ask whether that reputation was deserved. "JFK and PT-109: A Hero in Question" reviews official documents and examines the testimony of surviving crew members and the naval officers who investigated the incident. What emerges is a markedly different version of what happened. Based on these sources and insight from experts like Nigel Hamilton, the author of JFK: Reckless Youth, and Paul B. Fay, Jr., the commander of PT 167, "JFK and PT 109" suggests that the Kennedy family made a deliberate and successful attempt to bury the facts in order to protect the carefully-shaped image of their favorite son. After nearly 60 years, another side of one of WWII's best-known tales finally comes to light.
One boxing match in 1938 captivated Americans more powerfully than any Subway Series or Superbowl. Joe Louis and Max Schmeling were fighting for more than the heavyweight title; their showdown was promoted as a morality-play. Good vs Evil. Democracy vs Nazism.
The Tomb of The Unknown at Arlington National Cemetery includes and inscription: "Keeping faith with America's missing servicemen". It was added in 1999 giving official recognition to thousands who were listed as 'Missing in Action'.
Roswell. It's a name that conjures up images of UFOs and a government coverup that launched a thousand conspiracy theories. Many people believe that an alien spaceship crashed into the New Mexico desert near Roswell in 1947. And that the government has lied about it ever since. The History Channel has gained exclusive access to top-secret files that have recently been declassified and for the first time on television we reveal the contents of those files.
Towards the end of World War II, Germany was desperate to stave off their inevitable defeat, or at the very least deliver a final parting shot to get a measure of revenge for the collapse of the Third Reich. THE NAZI PLAN TO BOMB NEW YORK exposes one of the most chilling of all such efforts. Aviation historian David Myrha has been investigating secret Nazi aircraft projects for more than 20 years, and he recently came across documents which prove that the Germans were attempting to deliver a radioactive bomb to New York in 1944. Three aerospace engineers--including Wernher von Braun--were charged with designing a plane that could deliver the deadly payload, and they raced the imminent end of the conflict and each other to come up with the best plan. HISTORY UNDERCOVER visits the secret labs and factories where the "Amerika Bombers" were being designed, tested and constructed when the war came to a close, finally telling a story that remained secret for over 50 years.
At the dawn of the 20th century Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin launched his first airship igniting what promised to be a revolution in warfare. But America's attempt to deploy light than air weapons went down in flames - literally - with a series of deadly disasters.
Also Known As: Siege: The Taking of Nord-Ost
A worldwide electronic surveillance network monitoring matters of international security --conspiracy-theorist fantasy or reality? Echelon is the moniker for an information-sharing policy entered into by five countries--the U.S., Canada, England, Australia, and New Zealand--that share internal espionage to sidestep national laws that forbid spying on their own citizens. Explore the technological aspects of this partnership, including encryption and hi-tech satellite communication.
A German U-boat may have sunk an American vessel off the coast of New England.
On June 8, 1967, during the Six Day War, the intelligence ship USS Liberty was attacked off the Sinai Peninsula. The unprovoked assault came first from jets, then torpedo boats, all of which were unmarked. Virtually unique among such cases, the incident has never been formally investigated by Congress. HISTORY UNDERCOVER® goes where the government won't with this unblinking look at the event that strained US-Israeli relations. We'll hear from survivors of the attack about what it was like onboard the Liberty, and the disbelief the crew felt when they realized that their anonymous assailants were their alleged allies. We'll look for signs of a cover-up in a thorough analysis of the public statements made by both the US and Israeli governments. And we'll examine the leading theories put forth to explain the motive behind the attack.
The HMT Rohna's sinking in 1943 marks the greatest loss at sea of U.S. Army personnel in World War II.
Today's world economy is increasingly dependent on the Internet and the computer networks that it connects--including all of America's critical infrastructures, such as telecommunications, transportation, banking and finance, and energy. We explore the possibility of a cyberterrorist attack on these vital infrastructures...an attack in which computers could be used as potential weapons of mass destruction! With most of the Internet in private hands, how can the government fight it?
