Epic History TV

This is the second of our five-part series covering the Great War.

Epic History TV brings you the third year of World War One with animated maps and a blow-by-blow account of the action, helping you to make sense of the big picture.

Epic History TV's year-by-year account of World War One continues into 1917. It is the year Germany makes a desperate gamble by reintroducing unrestricted submarine warfare. They hope to knock Britain out of the war in 6 months by cutting off her food supplies, but the new policy soon leads to an American declaration of war.

This is the story of 1918, the last year of World War One, when Germany launched a final do-or-die offensive, as American troops began to arrive in Europe in force.

This is the story of the first day of the Somme Offensive - the worst single day in British military history.

Epic History TV's history of Russia continues! Emerging from the Time of Troubles, Russia fights back against foreign invaders, as Prince Pozharksy and Kuzma Minin liberate Moscow from Polish forces. Russia's assembly, the Zemsky Sobor, turns to a 16 year old boy, Mikhail Romanov, for leadership. He and the early Romanovs oversee a turbulent period of war, reform and rebellion: all Russian peasants are made serfs by the terms of the Sobornoye Ulozheniye, while Patriarch Nikon's religious reforms split the Russian Orthodox Church between Reformers and Old Believers. The Thirteen Years War (1654 – 67) against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth brings Smolensk and Kiev under Russian control, as Cossack renegade (and folklore hero) Stenka Razin leads revolt in the south.

The complete story of the dreaded pirate Edward Thatch, AKA Blackbeard, told in 6 minutes with detailed maps of his voyages and notorious deeds.

Everything you need to know about the Russian Revolution in a 13 min video. Produced in partnership with Bridgeman Images

The History of Russia continues with the reign of Catherine the Great, a time of cultural splendour, 'enlightened autocracy', and enormous territorial expansion. Catherine's reign saw the annexation of Crimea, and the Partition of Poland, and the settlement of Novorossiya by Russian colonists under the supervision of Count Potemkin. European migrants, such as the Volga Germans, settled in Russia, while Russia's new Jewish population lived within the 'Pale of Settlement'.

Part 1 of our animated timeline of America's first 44 Presidents, from George Washington and the Founding Fathers to the trauma of Civil War and Reconstruction.

Part 2 of our timeline of America's first 44 Presidents, from Benjamin Harrison to Barack Obama.

All 44 Presidents in 150 seconds! A timeline of all the presidents in chronological order. If you want more detail check out Epic History TV's 2-part guide to America's Presidents

The History of Russia continues with the accession of Emperor Nicholas I in 1825, who survives the Decembrist Revolt to adopt a doctrine of 'Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality'. Russia is victorious against Persia (1828) and the Ottoman Empire (1829), and crushes the November Uprising in Poland (1830).

The History of Russia continues with the aftermath of the assassination of Alexander II in 1881. The reign of his son, Alexander III, saw a return to Russian autocracy, as revolutionaries were pursued by the Okhrana - the Tsarist secret police - and Jews were targeted in pogroms. Sergei Witte helped to modernise Russia's economy, and work began on the Trans-Siberian railway.

From Prince Rurik to the Russian Revolution, this is a compilation of the first 5 episodes of Epic History TV's History of Russia.