The BEST episodes of History Channel Documentaries season 2003

#1 - Nazi Guerillas

Season 2003 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/11/2003

In the months and years following the end of the World War Two, Allied forces faced a series of bombings and attacks in occupied Germany. Nazi loyalists attempted to derail the rebuilding process by killing any Germans collaborating with the enemy. And the mysterious SS-Werewolves underground organization boasted of the coming rebirth of the Party.

#2 - No Surrender: German and Japanese Kamikazes

Season 2003 - Episode 27 - Aired 1/31/2003

The Axis forces of World War II fear defeat and begin using suicide tactics. Discover the human stories behind the kamikaze phenomenon.

#3 - Saddam's Secret Tunnels

Season 2003 - Episode 26 - Aired 11/11/2003

Saddam Hussein was notorious for being meticulous and paranoid, so it was no great surprise when rumors of a secret system of tunnels beneath Baghdad turned out to be true.

#4 - U.S. Weapons Against Iraq

Season 2003 - Episode 25 - Aired 1/15/2003

Stealth fighters and bombers are among the key weapons that could be deployed in a possible U.S. campaign against Iraq.

#5 - Time Machine: Banned from the Bible

Season 2003 - Episode 22 - Aired 7/17/2016

#6 - Russia, Land of the Tsars

Season 2003 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/27/2003

Product Description Its forests stretch from Europe to the Pacific. Its winters have vanquished the mightiest armies ever mustered. Its people have borne the excesses of some of history's most notorious rulers. RUSSIA: LAND OF THE TSARS illuminates the imperial past of the world's largest nation. At the heart of this epic tale are the figures whose names have become legend: Ivan the Terrible who expanded the empire at the rate of 50 miles-and innumerable lives-a day; Peter the Great whose sweeping reforms westernized the nation; and Catherine the Great whose rule was marked by conquest change and controversy. Filmed on location throughout Russia enriched by exclusive visits to important sites and museums and filled with commentary from renowned scholars this is a kaleidoscopic captivating portrait of a land that has endured centuries of despair and rebellion innovation and conflict. DVD Features: 3 Episodes of A&E's Award-Winning Series Biography: Peter the Great: The Tyrant Reformer Ivan the Terrible: Might and Madness Rasputin: The Mad Monk; Tsar Timeline; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection From the Back Cover Its forests stretch from Europe to the Pacific. Its winters have vanquished the mightiest armies ever mustered. Its people have borne the excesses of some of history's most notorious rulers. RUSSIA: LAND OF THE TSARS illuminates the imperial past of the world's largest nation. At the heart of this epic tale are the figures whose names have become legend: Ivan the Terrible, who expanded the empire at the rate of 50 miles--and innumerable lives--a day; Peter the Great, whose sweeping reforms westernized the nation; and Catherine the Great, whose rule was marked by conquest, change and controversy. Filmed on location throughout Russia, enriched by exclusive visits to important sites and museums, and filled with commentary from renowned scholars, this is a kaleidoscopic, captivating portrait of a land that has endured centuries of despair and rebelli

#7 - Failure Is Not An Option

Season 2003 - Episode 17 - Aired 8/24/2003

Documents the United States' space program with insights from the flight engineers, project managers, flight controllers, astronauts, and others involved inside the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Speakers include Chris Kraft, Gene Kranz, Jim Lovell, Jerry Bostick, Ed Fendell, Gene Cernan, John Llewellen, John Aaron, Glynn Lunney, Wally Schirra, and Gerry Griffin. It takes the viewer from the Launch of Sputnik through the moon missions. Based on the Gene Krantz's book of the same name. Narrated by Scott Glenn.

#8 - We Can Make You Talk

Season 2003 - Episode 20 - Aired 11/9/2003

Ever since images of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay were first broadcast, the methods used to interrogate suspects in the War on Terror have come into the spotlight. This 2-hour history of modern interrogation methods uses a groundbreaking combination of reality TV and historical documentary. We pit a group of volunteers who think they can keep a secret against a team of military interrogators; and reveal stories of the 20th century's most influential interrogators and those they tried to break.

#9 - Conquest Of Hawaii

Season 2003 - Episode 19 - Aired 10/12/2003

This feature-length History Channel documentary surveys the tumultuous but colorful history of Hawaii, the 50th state in the Union. Utilizing a combination of elements including maps, illustrations and archival footage, the program travels back in time by several centuries and touches on events including the area's initial discovery, its first contact with outsiders (and the culture clash that erupted as a consequence of this), the arrival and influence of figures including King Kamahameha and Captain Cook, the voyages of the Polynesians and much more - before ultimately discussing the area's incorporation as one of the United States in August 1959.

#10 - April 1865: The Month That Saved America

Season 2003 - Episode 14 - Aired 4/21/2003

This 2-hour documentary is based on the best-selling book by historian Jay Winik. It covers the last few weeks of the Civil War from President Abraham Lincoln’s second inauguration to the surrender at Appomattox; it concludes with the assassination of Lincoln and the final laying down of arms by the Confederacy.

#11 - The Samurai

Season 2003 - Episode 1 - Aired 12/8/2003

They were the knights of medieval Japan. An elite of warriors who seized the power for more than 700 years. Masters of the sword and the bow, and subjected to an ironclad ethical code, proved their ferocity in combat. They threw out the foreign invaders and fought among them for land, status, honor and power. His legacy of martial arts and self-discipline has lasted to this day. They were, the samurai.

#12 - The True Story of Black Hawk Down

Season 2003 - Episode 12 - Aired 5/7/2003

The true story of “Black Hawk Down” through the memories and voices of the American Special Forces survivors. Also included are Somali militiamen as they recount their harrowing experiences of battle.

#13 - TR: An American Lion

Season 2003 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/20/2003

A sickly, asthmatic child who became a world adventurer and renowned politician, with jobs ranging from cowboy to Police Commissioner of New York City to the 26th President of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt contained almost literary contradictions: He was both a social reformer who fought the abusive power of corporate monopolies and an advocate for war who sought to extend American power across the globe. The History Channel's enormous biography Teddy Roosevelt: An American Lion follows this prickly personality from such low points as the death of his mother and first wife on the same day to his rapid political rise to his tumultuous presidency (which was launched by the assassination of President McKinley and included trust-breaking, labor conflicts, environmental reform, brokering an end to war between Russia and Japan, and setting in motion the Panama Canal) to his failed attempt at creating a third political party. It's fascinating viewing, told through photographs, films from the time, dramatizations, and interviews with Roosevelt's descendants, academics, and former President Bill Clinton.

#14 - Ellis Island

Season 2003 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/28/2003

In ELLIS ISLAND, immigrants of every ethnic background recall their extraordinary adventures, from the treacherous passage across the sea to the daunting challenge of starting life over in a new land. Historians explore the island's sometimes insensitive policies, including the casual Americanization of names. Firsthand accounts along with interviews from the Ellis Island Oral History Project reveal what the immigration experience was actually like. And rare photographs and films tell the stories of the famous people who passed through its doors many of whom would change America forever.

#15 - Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked

Season 2003 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/23/2003

#16 - LBJ vs. The Kennedys: Chasing Demons

Season 2003 - Episode 6 - Aired 6/1/2003

The death of President Kennedy thrust Lyndon Johnson into the nation's highest office--and a new chapter in a bitter feud with Robert Kennedy. One of the greatest rivalries in U.S. history, this feature-length look at their tumultuous relationship features never-before-heard oral histories and LBJ's White House telephone recordings. We reveal how the Kennedys saw Johnson as a threat to the New Frontier, while LBJ nursed a deep-seated fear of being overshadowed by an increasingly mythologized JFK legacy.

#17 - The Louisiana Purchase

Season 2003 - Episode 5 - Aired 4/28/2003

Encompassing the western half of the Mississippi River basin, the Louisiana Territory was acquired from France in 1803. At less than three cents per acre for 828,000 square miles (2,144,520 square km), it was the greatest land bargain in U.S. history. The purchase doubled the size of the United States, greatly strengthened the country materially and strategically, provided a powerful impetus to westward expansion and confirmed the doctrine of implied powers of the federal Constitution.

#18 - April 1865

Season 2003 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/11/2003

Fall of Richmond; Lee's harrowing retreat; surrender at Appomattox Court House; Lincoln's assassination; reconstruction.

#19 - Blood From a Stone

Season 2003 - Episode 3 - Aired 6/9/2003

An Israeli treasure hunter recounts his 15-year quest to recover a trove of diamonds. In 1988, an international terrorism expert named Yaron Svoray began covertly searching the forest hills outside an ancient walled village near the French-German border. He hoped to uncover a fortune in buried diamonds left there at the end of World War II. In 1945, two American GIs in the 7th Army had killed a group of German SS officers as they were dividing up 40 uncut diamonds. The GIs took the priceless gems and buried them in a foxhole, planning to return at the end of the war. They never made it back. BLOOD FROM A STONE, based on Svoray's book of the same name, details how he found out about the trove and took up the search for the diamonds--a quest that would consume 15 years and lead him from South African mines to the diamond centers of Amsterdam and Antwerp, the Jewish ghettos and shtetls of Eastern Europe, and the Nazi death camps. Before his journey's end, Yaron would discover something far greater, more momentous and life altering than the monetary riches that had motivated his search.