The History Channel

Two underdogs of American culture go head to head to prove how hillbillies and rednecks have shaped our states.

We're the United States, but sometimes, it's every state for itself. Nearly every state has pulled a power play that gamed the system and changed the map. How much can you get away with when it's state vs. state?

America's most iconic rivalry was more than just a feud between families. The fight between the Hatfields and McCoys nearly launched a war between two states.

It began like the common cold. Then fever, baseball-sized black swellings on the neck, coughing of blood. Few lived more than two days. The year--1347. It was history's worst biological disaster and almost half of Europe's population died within three years. Visit the plague ships' rat-infested holds, witness the terror that swept through the towns, and walk with the religious flagellants. Follow a princess as she travels into the center of the plague, a doctor who struggles to understand what is happening, and a Jewish merchant caught up in violent attacks. Hear the actual words of the victims, taken from diaries and journals. From the Pope's palace to the humble huts of medieval peasants, watch as people live and die in the unforgiving grip of fear and death, and wonder how we would act if such a terrible event happened today.

Nightmarish terrors long relegated to the pages of science fiction are threatening to become a reality in the 21st Century. As science continues to evolve, the boundaries of fantasy and reality have blurred as we uncover new truths about our world and beyond. This countdown to future Apocalypse has lead everyday people to prepare for survival in the face of the looming Doomsday. Utah housewife Peggy Layton has stored years worth of food in an underground shelter and zombie researcher Matt Mogk has developed his own survival plan including a stockpile of weapons specifically chosen to fend off a zombie attack.

The Hopi people have warned us that the world is headed for extinction. Based in the Arizona Desert, the Native American tribe of the Hopi has been prophesying about the fate of society for centuries. They have accurately predicted the coming of the settlers to their land, the birth of telecommunication, and the worldwide spread of the internet. The Hopi believe that our actions have caused the earth to become out of balance which will lead to a cataclysmic great purification of the planet that few will survive. To herald these end times, the Hopi believe that a blue star will arise in the heavens, followed by a great shaking of the earth. These prophecies have been passed down from generation to generation and warn of massive earthquakes, tsunamis and super-volcanos that threaten the lives of millions. The Foster family of Illinois is prepping in their own way to be ready for the end.

Located on a rocky plateau overlooking the Dead Sea, the now-ruined fortress of Masada once had walls 1400m long and 4m thick, storehouses, barracks, an armory, a palace and massive cisterns filled with rainwater. Designed to withstand any invader, it became the scene of one of history's most bloody sieges... a siege that ended in mass suicide.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

England/France, September 1943--July 1944: Patton's victories in Sicily are overshadowed by the infamous "slapping incident." Instead of leading the D-Day invasion of France, Patton is assigned to command a fictitious army in England as part of a ruse to fool the Germans. The deception pays off, and the Allies land on the beaches of Normandy. Patton helps plan the break-out from the weeks-long battle, and American armored forces blast through the German lines. Patton is finally able to lead some of the lightning-fast armored assaults he is famous for.

As Patton's men prepare to cross the Rhine River into Germany, other American units in Belgium are completely shattered by a German counterattack, kicking off the Battle of the Bulge. Patton is called on to rush to the rescue. The small city of Bastogne quickly becomes the centerpiece of the campaign as American troops struggle to hold their ground. Despite the worst weather in 20 years, Patton's Third Army races northward, smashing through the German lines and relieving the beleaguered defenders of Bastogne.

Patton's blitzkrieg is so successful that his army outruns its own supply lines. Despite being short on fuel and ammunition, he invades the province of Lorraine, hoping to cross into Germany before Christmas. But delays from the fuel shortages have given the Germans time to regroup. Stubborn German defenses at the Moselle River are finally crushed, and the Third Army captures the key city of Nancy. Then Adolph Hitler demands that his generals launch a major counterattack and a furious tank battle erupts near the town of Arracourt. Despite the inferiority of their tanks, the Americans emerge triumphant. But Patton remains stuck in Lorraine, just a few miles closer to Germany than he was at the beginning of the month.

A two-hour portrait of the evolution of the Holocaust--from the early days of persecution in Nazi Germany to the final days of wanton annihilation. This special travels through the archives of Eastern Europe, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., and the restoration labs of Yad Vashem in Israel tell the story of persecution, theft and murder through artifacts, rarely seen photographs and motion picture footage. Experts from across the globe illuminate what it took to systematically implement the destruction of millions of people.