They Chose China

In January 1954, months after the end of the Korean War, U.S. soldiers held in POW camps were at last free to return home. A small group, however, refused repatriation to the U.S. and, after being given 90 days to reconsider their decision, 21 American soldiers decided to stay in China. In They Chose China, Academy Award-nominated Chinese documentarian Shuibo Wang tells the controversial story of these forgotten American dissidents.




Using rare archival footage, excerpts from American and Chinese TV programs, as well as period and contemporary interviews, They Chose China chronicles the fascinating history of this group of young Americans who were hailed in China as "peace fighters" and denounced in America as "turncoats" and "traitors." U.S. media claimed that these young POW's had been "brainwashed" by the Chinese communists. The film shows conditions inside these Chinese camps, featuring never-before-seen footage, plus contemporary interviews with some of the camps' Chinese translators, instructors, lecturers, and officers.

The majority of the 21 Americans became disillusioned and returned to America, where they recanted their statements and were imprisoned by the military. Others remained in China, got educations, worked in a variety of jobs, married and raised families. In interviews today, several of the surviving men—including those who remained in China and those who returned to the U.S—along with members of their families recount their unusual experiences, explain their thinking at the time, and the nature of their beliefs today.

The Forgotten Refugees

The Forgotten Refugees is a documentary about the mass exodus of Jews from Arab countries and Iran in the 20th century. The Forgotten Refugees explores the history and destruction of Middle Eastern and North African Jewish communities, some of which had existed for over 2,500 years.




Employing extensive testimony of survivors from Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Iraq and Iran, the film recounts the stories – of joy and of suffering – that nearly a million individuals have carried with them for so long. Segments on the contributions of Middle Eastern Jews to politics, business and music, testify to the enormously rich cultures which fleeing Jews left behind.

Watch forgotten refugees.avi in Faith & Spirituality | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The film weaves personal stories with dramatic archival footage of rescue missions, historic images of exodus and resettlement, and analysis by contemporary scholars, to tell the story of how and why the Arab world’s Jewish population declined from one million in 1945 to several thousand today.

Click here for the official website.

Vlad The Impaler

This documentary examines the bloody career of Vlad the Impaler, the 15th-century prince of Wallachia who took no prisoners in his resistance to the spread of the Ottoman Empire. Known as Dracula, he learned the arts of war as a hostage of the Turks, but asserted his independence by working his own disloyal nobles to death and repelling a Turkish invasion by filling the battlefield with 23,000 impaled corpses.




When he came to power, Vlad immediately had all the assembled nobles arrested. The older boyars and their families were immediately impaled. The younger and healthier nobles and their families were marched north from Târgovişte to the ruins of Poienari Castle in the mountains above the Argeş River.

Vlad was determined to rebuild this ancient fortress as his own stronghold and refuge. The enslaved boyars and their families were forced to labor for months, rebuilding the old castle with materials from another nearby ruin. According to tradition, they laboured until the clothes fell off their bodies and then were forced to continue working naked. Very few of the old gentry survived the ordeal of building Vlad's castle. This documentay is a must for those that like to seperate fact from myth.

People Must Love Their Leader!

Idi Amin Dada is a name that is familiar to many over the age of 35, but is almost unknown to those younger than that. The story of Idi Amin is an example the potential of humanity to carry out the most grave atrocities and offers a lesson for us all. This self proclaimed leader of Uganda came to power via a coup, but was eventually challenged by armed exile group. How Uncle Idi chose to deal with this threat makes him one of the most notorious genocidal dictators of the previous century.




Wiki has this to say about the dark years of Idi Amin's rule in Uganda during the 1970s.

Amin retaliated against the attempted invasion by Ugandan exiles in 1972 by purging the army of Obote supporters, predominantly those from the Acholi and Lango ethnic groups. In July 1971, Lango and Acholi soldiers were massacred in the Jinja and Mbarara Barracks, and by early 1972, some 5,000 Acholi and Lango soldiers, and at least twice as many civilians, had disappeared. The victims soon came to include members of other ethnic groups, religious leaders, journalists, senior bureaucrats, judges, lawyers, students and intellectuals, criminal suspects, and foreign nationals. In some cases entire villages were wiped out. In this atmosphere of violence, many other people were killed for criminal motives or simply at will. Bodies floated on the River Nile in quantities sufficient to clog the Owen Falls Hydro-Electric Dam in Jinja on at least one occasion.

The killings, motivated by ethnic, political and financial factors, continued throughout Amin's eight-year reign. The exact number of people killed is unknown. The International Commission of Jurists estimated the death toll at no less than 80,000 and more likely around 300,000. An estimate compiled by exile organizations with the help of Amnesty International puts the number killed at 500,000. In August 1972, Idi Amin declared what he called an "economic war", a set of policies that included the expropriation of properties owned by Asians and Europeans. Uganda's 80,000 Asians were mostly from the Indian subcontinent and born in the country, whose ancestors had come to Uganda when the country was still a British colony.

Many owned businesses, including large-scale enterprises, that formed the backbone of the Ugandan economy. On 4 August 1972, Amin issued a decree ordering the expulsion of the 60,000 Asians who were not Ugandan citizens (most of them held British passports). This was later amended to include all 80,000 Asians, with the exception of professionals, such as doctors, lawyers and teachers. A plurality of the Asians with British passports, around 30,000, emigrated to Britain. Others went to Australia, Canada, India, Pakistan, Sweden, and the U.S. Amin expropriated businesses and properties belonging to the Asians and handed them over to his supporters. The businesses were mismanaged, and industries collapsed from lack of maintenance. This proved disastrous for the already declining economy.

The Myths of Pearl Harbour

Every American knows the date December 7, 1941 the morning the Japanese Imperial Navy launched a massive attack on Pearl Harbor. What most people don't know is that the first shots of the battle were fired by an American naval vessel, nearly an hour before the air attack started! The ship's target? One of Japan's four secret weapons the so-called "midget? subs two-man vessels designed to cripple U.S. ships from below, while Japanese bombers rained fire from above.




Examine the role these midget subs played in the Pearl Harbor attack, the technology and strategy behind the subs and the recent discovery of one sub sunk outside the harbor that morning. Accompany marine archaeologists on a dive as they get their first look at the sub and watch as a World War II vet gets his second look 61 years later. Forensic photo analysts use state-of-the-art technology to determine whether a controversial photo taken from a Japanese plane reveals a mysterious fifth sub firing on American ships inside Pearl Harbor that morning. Could the Americans have been warned in time to defend themselves against the Japanese attack?

Pearl Harbor was one of the greatest sea and air battles of the history. For many years, it's been said that the Japanese soldiers attacked first and that they were guilty of the deaths. However, many historians have doubts about this and they believe that the American soldiers overreacted against a simple exploration mission, provoking the Japanese troops to attack. With the help of experts and pictures taken during the battle, this documentary will try to determine what really happened that day.

The Battle for Canada

In the first half of the 18th century, British and French interests in North America increasingly overlapped. British war minister William Pitt ordered an invasion up the St. Lawrence. Racing winter, British forces scaled the cliffs near Quebec City at night, with no retreat possible.




For 3 years French and British soldiers had fought for control of North America. In a suprise attack led by English General James Wolfe in 1759, British forces scaled the steep cliffs surrounding the fortress of Quebec, overtaking the French and ushered in an era of British rule of Canada.

This excellent documentary is part of the 'History's Turning Points" series and is a definative history of this important event in the history of North America.

The Celts

For 800 years, a proud, vibrant, richly imaginative warrior people swept ruthlessly across Europe. The ancient Greeks called them "Keltoi" and honored them as one of the great barbarian races. Follow their fascinating story from their earliest roots 2,500 years ago through the flowering of their unique culture and their enduring heritage today, enhanced with stunning reconstructions of iron-age villages, dramatizations of major historical events and visits to modern Celtic lands.




The Celts gives an in depth view on Celtic civilization from past to present. It shows culture, history, music and language and the struggles of the Celtic people to find their identity. It covers all genres of the culture and is beautifully written. This collection contains a wealth of information and is probably one of the best sources of information on the Celts ever.

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

Click here for more on the Celts.

Titanic Documentaries

Thanks to Kevin for suggesting a documentary about who sank the Titanic. I am not sure if the one you had in mind is amongst the following two films, but they are good Titanic documentaries nonetheless.




Wiki has this to say about the Titanic...

On the night of 14 April 1912, during her maiden voyage, Titanic hit an iceberg and sank two hours and forty minutes later, early on 15 April 1912. The sinking resulted in the deaths of 1,517 people, making it one of the most deadly peacetime maritime disasters in history. The high casualty rate was due in part to the fact that, although complying with the regulations of the time, the ship did not carry enough lifeboats for everyone aboard. The ship had a total lifeboat capacity of 1,178 people even though her maximum capacity was 3,547 people. A disproportionate number of men died also, due to the women-and-children-first protocol that was followed.


The Titanic used some of the most advanced technology available at the time and was, after the sinking, popularly believed to have been described as “unsinkable”. It was a great shock to many that, despite the extensive safety features and experienced crew, the Titanic sank. The frenzy on the part of the media about Titanic's famous victims, the legends about the sinking, the resulting changes to maritime law, and the discovery of the wreck have contributed to the interest in and fame of the Titanic that continues to this day.

The Iceburg that Sank the Titanic

The Ship that Never Sank

The Primitive Celts

Terry Jones travels round the geography of the Roman Empire - through Europe and Africa - bringing wit, irreverence, passion and the very latest scholarship to transform a history that seemed well past its sell-by date, and make it relevant to living with the new American world empire.




In De Bellico Gallico, Julius Caesar wrote that he invaded Celtic Gaul in 58 BC to protect the Northern borders of the Empire from these volatile people. But Caesar's account was a smokescreen for a more sinister truth.

The Celts, according to Rome, were a warring and illiterate people. Yet Terry Jones discovers that the Celts had culture, tradition and even mathematical know-how beyond that of Rome itself.

Opus Dei Revealed

The bad guys from the Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei is a semi-autonomous cult operating within the Catholic Church. It devout members, known as Numeraries, are chaste and engage in personal mortification to remember the sacrifice of Jesus.




Founded in 1928 by Josemaría Escrivá (now a Saint within the Catholic church), it has received criticism as being secretive, cladestine and cultish. Opus Dei is a very conservative and orthodox flavour of Catholicism, and the organization also supported the fascist Franco regime in Spain.




Wiki has this to say about Opus Dei...

Opus Dei is an organization of the Catholic Church. As such, it shares the theology of the Catholic Church. Opus Dei places special emphasis on certain aspects of Catholic doctrine. A central feature of Opus Dei's theology is its focus on the lives of the ordinary Catholics who are neither priests nor monks. Opus Dei emphasizes the "universal call to holiness": the belief that everyone should aspire to be a saint, that sanctity is within the reach of everyone, not just a few special individuals.

Opus Dei does not have monks or nuns, and only a minority of its members are part of the priesthood. A related characteristic is Opus Dei's emphasis on uniting spiritual life with professional, social, and family life. Whereas the members of some religious orders might live in monasteries and devote their lives exclusively to prayer and study, members of Opus Dei lead ordinary lives, with traditional families and secular careers, and strive to "sanctify ordinary life". Indeed, Pope John Paul II called Escrivá "the saint of ordinary life".

The Seven Deadly Sins

The Seven Deadly Sins — lust, envy, gluttony, sloth, greed, anger and pride — have had an enormous impact on the moral compass of the modern world. These sins have had different interpretations in Christianity, Islam and Judaism, and some argue that they have even greater significance than the Ten Commandments.




The series traces the history of the sins, how they became part of religious doctrine, and looks at historical figures who have been the worst perpetrators of each. Each of the seven sins is explored, from their origins and nature, their opposing virtue, and their corresponding punishment.

PART ONE - Lust

Christianity says lust is a sin but the Greek and Roman empires celebrated it. The history of the sin of lust reveals surprising twists—including Gnostic Christian orgies, Puritan anti-fornication laws, and exorcists who battled the demon of lust called Asmodeus. Today scientists believe lust maybe more genetics than choice... but can they prove it?

Watch 1-7 Seven Deadly Sins (Lust) in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

PART TWO - Envy

The medieval philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas said that those guilty of the sin of envy take "pleasure at another's misfortune." Italian writer Dante characterized the envious as "sinners [who] have their eyes sewn shut because they enjoyed watching others brought low." The sin of envy has led to murder, revolution and even the fall of empires.

Watch 2-7 Seven Deadly Sins (Envy) in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

PART THREE - Gluttony

As early as the 4th century those of Christian faith believed that eating too much could send you to Hell. During the Dark Ages theologians believed there were seven ways to commit the sin of gluttony, from "eating too much" to "eating too daintily." Crusaders fought against the sin with religious fasts to Prohibition.

Watch 3-7 Seven Deadly Sins (Gluttony) in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

PART FOUR - Sloth

Simply put, the sin of sloth is the sin of the lazy. Some scientists suggest that the sin of sloth may actually be a medieval diagnosis of clinical depression. The historical cures for the sin of sloth range from ancient Greek doctors who fought it with herbs, to medieval monks who prescribed prayer and fasting.

Watch 4-7 Seven Deadly Sins (Sloth) in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

PART FIVE - Greed

While vilified from the time of Moses, the sin of greed has created vast empires and doomed them as well. Wise men from the philosopher Aristotle to Jesus have railed against this vice, but the 18th Century economist Adam Smith theorized that capitalism itself was based on the sin of greed. Has greed become good?

Watch 5-7 Seven Deadly Sins (Greed) in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

PART SIX - Anger

The sin of anger is the sin that kills. The prophet Moses was prone to fits of rage. The mythic warriors of Sparta meditated in order to banish the sin of anger before a battle. Italian writer Dante placed those that committed the sin of anger in the "Fourth Circle of Hell," tearing each other limb from limb for eternity.

Watch 6-7 Seven Deadly Sins (Anger) in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

PART SEVEN - Pride

The Italian writer Dante called the sin of pride the "Chief of All Sins" - the sin of Satan himself. The sin of pride was condemned by the Bible and the philosopher Socrates, while Romans and Vikings made it their greatest virtue. The sin of pride is thought to have led to the fall of Satan but strangely enough, the most famous story about Satan is not in the Bible.

Watch 7-7 Seven Deadly Sins (Pride) in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The Gunpowder Plot - Exploding the Legend

This interesting documentary draws on input from respected historians to illustrate this facinating chapter of history.




Wiki has this to say about the Gunpowder Plot...

The Gunpowder Conspiracy of 1605, or the Powder Treason or Gunpowder Plot, as it was then known, was a failed assassination attempt by a group of provincial English Catholics against King James I of England and VI of Scotland.

Watch The Gunpowder Plot - Exploding the Legend in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The plot intended to kill the king, his family and most of the Protestant aristocracy quite literally in a single blow, by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening on 5 November 1605. The conspirators had also planned to abduct the royal children (not present in Parliament) and lead a popular revolt in the Midlands.

The Medici - Godfathers Of The Renaissance

The Medici were one of European history's most influential merchant families and patrons to some of the greatest artists in the Italian Renaissance -- including Leonard da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. Movers and shakers from the 14th century onward, the Medici used any means necessary, whether it be money or merciless tactics, to leave a lasting impression on art and science.




From a base in 15th-century Florence, the Medici family used charm, patronage, duplicity, and ruthlessness to amass wealth and power. The Medicis also ignited Western history's most important cultural and artistic revolution, the Renaissance, but doomed their own ordered world. This epic drama in the courts, cathedrals, and palaces of Europe traces a family's powerful ambition and a continent's tortured struggle to emerge from the Dark Ages.

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

More documentaries like this...

The True Story of Rasputin

Spartacus - Behind The Myth

Leonardo - The Man Behind the Shroud?


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The Adventure of English

Melvyn Bragg travels through Britain to tell the story of how an insignificant German dialect, which only arrived in the country in the fifth century, evolved into a language which is now spoken and understood by more people than any other around the world. We trace English from its humble roots to its flowering in the writing of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. English is a global language.




Every day, in cities all around the world, English is used in encounters between people of different countries. It is estimated that well over a thousand million people around the world speak, or have a working understanding of, English. This is its story. It's a story that really reads like an adventure of extraordinary survival, invasion, near extinction on more than one occasion, and astonishing flexibility.

PART ONE - Birth of a Language

PART TWO - English Goes Underground

PART THREE - The Battle for the Language of the Bible

PART FOUR - This Earth, This Realm, This England

PART FIVE - English in America

PART SIX - Speaking Proper

PART SEVEN - The Language of Empire

PART EIGHT - Many Tongues Called English, One World Language

The Black Death

In the 14th century the Black Death was an unprecedented human disaster. In 3 dreadful years over one third of Europe's population was wiped out. This documentary examines the spread of the plague & its effects on medicine, religion & society at the time.




Some people believe it was sent by God to punish the sins of the world. First recognized in 542 AD, the plague swept from Egypt through Asia Minor and Europe on a path of destruction, killing more than 100 million in countless outbreaks and plunging the world into the Dark Ages.

Today, much is known about this ancient scourge, and modern medicine is largely able to contain it. But its origins remain unclear, and there is always the threat that a new, disease-resistant strain could once again prove to be a major threat to mankind. The Black Death is a comprehensive look at the deadliest disease to ever strike mankind.

Secret Files of the Inquisition

Based on previously unreleased secret documents from European Archives including the Vatican, Secret Files of the Inquisition unveils the incredible true story of the Catholic Church's 500-year struggle to remain the world's only true Christian religion.




At the dawn of the second millennium Europe was slowly emerging from the blackness and ignorance of the Dark Ages. There were no nations and the people were loyal only to their immediate community and to God. The keeper of God's word was the Catholic Church, the only religion in all of Christendom. The supreme religious leader, the Pope in Rome, crowned the Kings who became rulers of the Holy Roman Empire stretching from Sicily north to Poland. The Emperor was ruler of the temporal world while the Pope and his Bishops reigned supreme over the Spiritual world.




By the 12th and 13th century, cracks began appearing in this ordered world. Emperors no longer submitted to being crowned by the Pope and across Europe Kings demanded the right to select their own Bishops. But for the Pope the most terrifying threat came from upstart Christian sects who challenged church doctrine and the absolute power of the Roman Pope. To preserve the purity of the faith and the unquestioned authority of the Pope, the Church began to crack down on all dissenting with a new weapon: the Inquisition. For over half a millennium a system of mass terror reigned. Thousands were subject to secret courts, torture and punishment.

PART ONE - Root Out Heretics

PART TWO - The Tears Of Spain

PART THREE - The War Of Ideas

PART FOUR - The End Of The Inquisition

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The Hidden Story of Jesus

What Would Jesus Buy?

The Bible's Buried Secrets

Judgement Day - Intelligent Design on Trial


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Racism - A History

This documentary series chronicles the shifts in the idea of 'race' and the history of racism in Europe, The Americas, Australasia and Asia. These films show how ideas of racial difference have evolved in response to historical events, and identify the profound impact that the idea of 'race', and the fact of racism, has had on science, culture, society and global history.




By exploring the history of 'race' - from the early emergence of racial consciousness to the impact of the very latest discoveries in genetics - this series examines the nature of the 'racial landscape' which, for five centuries, has occupied such an important place in the collective imagination of the West.

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

1453 AD - The Siege of Constantinople

In 1204 crusaders sacked the city, then renamed Constantinople. For the next thousand years, the Byzantine Kings hid safely behind the massive walls of Constantinople.

Then in 1453, with the Turkish Ottoman Empire encircling the city, Sultan Mehmet brought the newest technology of the 15th century, the cannon, and finally brought down the walls of the world's most impregnable fortress.


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The True Story Of Black Hawk Down

On October 3, 1993, an elite force of 120 American Delta units and Ranger infantry were dropped into Mogadishu, Somalia, to abduct two lieutenants of Somalian warlord Mohmaed Farrah Aidid. When two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down, a mission that was supposed to last one hour turned into a 15-hour ordeal that resulted in 18 American deaths and 73 American casualties. This documentary combines actual footage of the operation and interviews with key survivors to present a minute-by-minute account of the battle.




Drawing on Mark Bowden's bestselling book about the incident and extensive interviews with the author, The True Story Of Black Hawk Down is a compelling, minute-by-minute look at the battle that claimed 18 American lives. US Rangers and Somali militiamen share their harrowing experiences, and former officials from Aidid's organization reveal how they were able to use the attack to their advantage. Finally, diplomats and high-ranking officers reflect on the incident's legacy, including the widely-held assumption that it weakened America's resolve to send troops abroad.

Balancing exceptional combat footage, brilliant commentary and the recollections of those who were there, The True Story Of Black Hawk Down is an unforgettable look at modern warfare.

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The True Story - Escape from Alcatraz

This is a historical documentary examining a remarkable escape attempt from Alcatraz prison. In June 1962, three inmates successfully broke out of the jail and took to the waters of San Francisco Bay in a makeshift raft, never to be seen again.

Watch The True Story - Escape from Alcatraz | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The film uses interviews with former inmates, guards and FBI to piece together the story of the escape, while three modern-day coastguards board a replica of the raft to see if it could have carried the men to freedom.


Get this documentary on DVD today...