The History Channel

Their soaring height is imposing. Their narrow design makes them some of the most difficult and dangerous structures to move -- from the 100-foot-tall obelisks of Ancient Egypt to the 1,483 foot tall Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Those that dare try to move these tall structures face almost certain defeat. Yet, despite the risks our team proves it can be done -- first by peering into the future to move two of the world's tallest skyscrapers, and then taking on a present-day challenge never before attempted -- simultaneously moving two towering silos connected by a common wall.

How do you move a 180 foot railroad bridge? An 8 story lighthouse? A 500 ton oil rig? Or an entire beach all in one week? This two-part compilation of last season's Mega Movers highlights the travels and travails of relocating the biggest, heaviest and least mobile structures imaginable. You'll see all the crucial steps from planning to placement as highly skilled movers tackle the impossible knowing that an inch miscalculation here or there can mean the difference between a successful move and disaster. Will these mega structures find their way safely to a new home or will they disintegrate and be lost for all eternity?

Humans have mapped every corner of the globe--from jungles and deserts to the depths of space. Yet we've gone only seven miles below the Earth's surface--just one five hundredth of the way to the Core. This documentary special goes deeper: 4,000 miles down to the heart of our planet. Along the way, scientists, engineers, explorers and adventurers encounter an underground world where: strange life forms inhabit deadly environments over a mile down; trees force their way through 400 feet of rock to find water; 1500-foot tall skyscrapers are built on sand; mines are the size of cities; and prospectors give the Earth electric shocks to help find oil. It also a place where people run marathons, make parachute jumps and scuba divers edge their way to the base of the world's deepest caves. Finally, find out how our very existence depends on the mysterious underground forces that shape the Earth.

A unique perspective on the rise of Nazi Germany and how millions of people were so vulnerable to fascism, told through rare and never-before-seen amateur films shot by the Germans who were there.

It starts with a spark, but some ideas catch fire and in the process change the world. Necessity is the mother of invention--from darkness, man found light (the candle) and from even the farthest distances we can still find each other (the telephone). But some inventions have transformed our lives far beyond our homes (the steam engine), our planet (the telescope), and our wildest dreams (the Internet). This countdown highlights how human ingenuity comes in all shapes and sizes. Some were born from the humblest means (the hammer) while others push the limits of what was ever believed possible (the airplane). But regardless of the ratio of inspiration to perspiration, each invention to make the cut was destined to change our lives forever.

In the late Stone Age, the pagan people of the British Isles constructed some of the greatest monuments of the ancient world. Fabulous constructions of wood, earth, and stone arose. In this hour, we enter the world of their builders. We travel from the ancient stone villages of the Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland, to Stonehenge, in Southern England. We reveal a startling new theory about the role this extraordinary structure played in the lives of the pagans. With computer animation, we reconstruct the monument as it appeared to them. We then trace a forgotten ancient pathway to Stonehenge's lost twin--Woodhenge, explore the secrets of Silbury Hill, the world's largest man-made mound, and visit Maiden Castle, a fortress that witnessed the pagan world's end.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

The state of the art in high-rise living, New York City's Time Warner Center features all the amenities: a health club, restaurants, dry cleaners, top notch security, and citywide views. But high-rise, high-density living isn't new. Romans were living in high-rise apartments 2,000 years ago. Host Michael Guillen travels to Rome and its ancient seaport of Ostia where a number of them still exist. He illustrates many similarities we share with the ancient Romans including health clubs and dry cleaners. Food of all kinds was available at restaurants called thermopelia. As for the apartment complexes, some were as high as seven stories but building with un-reinforced concrete limited their height. We travel to Bath, England for an appreciation of the brilliantly designed Roman baths. Michael shows how ancient dry cleaners, known as fullers, cleaned garments with human waste. And the Los Angeles Fire Department helps demonstrate the Roman fire pump.

First, a trip to Wembley, England to examine the world's most technologically advanced football stadium. When completed the new Wembley Stadium will seat 90-thousand people, contain over 3-million cubic feet of concrete, and will be covered by an eleven acre moveable roof. All quite state of the art, but not exactly new technology. The ancient Coliseum had many of the same features nearly two thousand years earlier. So, we're off to Rome to build and test a Roman crane and demonstrate how the ancient Romans managed to erect the 16 story stadium in the middle of a crowded city. We'll also see if the Coliseum could empty its 55-thousand spectators in under 15 minutes, as some historians claim.

In September 1943, the German army marched into Rome, beginning a 9-month battle for control of the "Eternal City". It was the Allied aim to preserve the Holy City's sacred institutions and treasures. So the staggering human cost before the city's military conquest is nearly incomprehensible. The special is based on the book The Battle for Rome--its author Robert Katz was subject to five penal proceedings over the years for his contention that fear of Communism produced a Faustian pact between the Vatican and the occupying Germans. The research draws on interviews with participants inside the city, and also on previously secret documents from Italian, German, Vatican, OSS and CIA archives. We hear from ordinary Roman citizens, informants, opportunists, spies, double agents, and Germans who risked death in efforts to save Jews. We see Rome as the hotbed of assassination, intrigue, treason, and bravery that it was as we look unflinchingly at unresolved controversies.

For more than 500 years, Rome was the most powerful and advanced civilization the world had ever known, ruled by visionaries and tyrants whose accomplishments ranged from awe-inspiring to deplorable. One characteristic linked them all--ambition--and the thirst for power that all Roman emperors shared fueled an unprecedented mastery of engineering and labor. This documentary special chronicles the spectacular and sordid history of the Roman Empire from the rise of Julius Caesar in 55 BC to its eventual fall around 537 AD, detailing the remarkable engineering feats that set Rome apart from the rest of the ancient world. Featuring extensive state-of-the-art CGI animation, and exclusive never-before-seen footage shot on a diving expedition in the water channels underneath the Colosseum.

The towering 80-ton statues on Easter Island and the 800-ton trilithon stones of the Roman God of Thunder's Temple are examples of ancient engineering miracles that would appear to be too heavy to move. Scientists and engineers search for clues and set out to solve the mysteries of how primitive man pushed the limits of ingenuity and pulled off the impossible.