Andrew Marr's History of the World is a BBC documentary series presented on DVD.

An epic and definitive account of 70,000 years of human history.

Bringing 70,000 years of human history to life, acclaimed British journalist Andrew Marr travels through time to the big stories of history. It is the story of civilisations, cultures, successes and crashing failures, a story that charts progress and development through the centuries, exploring crucial turning points in history.

From the early settlers in Mesopotamia to the wonders of Babylon and Egypt, and from the French Revolution to the Industrial Revolution, viewers are within history; shoulder to shoulder with the people who have shaped the world as we know it today.

Combining dramatic reconstruction with visually stunning graphics recreating lost worlds, History of the World reveals how military campaigns, love stories, assassinations, medical breakthroughs and cataclysmic natural events have had decisive and game-changing effects on the world’s shared history.

Featuring magnificent international locations, such as the Valley of the Kings, the Terracotta Army, the Nazca lines in Peru and the Palace of Knossos, each revelatory episode presents vivid accounts of crucial moments in history, told on location where these events took place and organised around a dominant theme: Survival; Conquest; Divinity; Communication; Trade; Industry; Ideas and Globalisation.

• Contains 8 episodes.

Episode 1 – Survival
Starting with our origins in Africa 70,000 years ago, we trace the story of our nomadic ancestors as they spread out around the world and settled down to become the first farmers and townspeople.

Episode 2 – Age of Empire
We tell the story of the first empires which laid the foundations for the modern world. From the Assyrians' brutal King Sennacherib to the vast empire of Alexander the Great, conquerors rampaged across the Middle East and vicious wars were fought all the way from China to the Mediterranean.

Episode 3 – The Word and the Sword
This episode examines the spiritual revolutions that shook the world between 300 BC and 700 AD. Through visiting Ashoka’s Vishali edict he sees how the bloody prince Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire converted to Buddhism, in a moment of great realisation after mass laughter. We visit the Terracotta army in China, the last stance by emperor Qi’in who wanted to rule China forever.

Episode 4 – Into the Light
This episode examines the Middle Ages, looking at how the Vikings explored and pillaged from Northern Europe to North America. The Vikings laid the foundations of powerful new trading states – including Russia. Travelling to Kiev in Ukraine, we see how the Vikings were able to travel along the Dnieper River and, under the Viking warrior Oleg, trade with Constantinople.

Episode 5 – Age of Plunder
This episode reveals the explosion of global capitalism that began with Christopher Columbus stumbling across America while searching for China. The search for Gold and spread of Christianity caused Europeans to colonise the New World, discovering many new lands, such as that of the Incas in Peru.

Episode 6 – Revolution
In the 17th and 18th centuries, people across the world rose up in the name of freedom and equality against the power of the church and monarchy. We investigate the effects of the Enlightenment as it spread throughout Europe, with Galileo in Venice revolutionizing the way we saw humanity’s place in the universe, to Edward Jenner in England using science to help save the lives of millions from Smallpox.

Episode 7 – Age of Industry
This episode examines how Britain’s Indus­trial Revolution created the modern world with inventors such as James Watt and George Stevenson improving the steam engines and railways. Trade with China was opened up, albeit illegally with the Chinese Opium Wars at the ports of Guangzhou. Following in Britain footsteps, in Russia social change was underway when count Leo Tolstoy attempted to free his serfs at his Yasnaya Polyana Estate.

Episode 8 – Age of Extremes
In this episode, the story comes up to date with the twentieth century – our age. Starting at Munich’s beer halls, We learn about Hitler’s first revolt at the Munich Putsch which resulted in his imprisonment at Landsberg, where the young Hitler was to dictate his memoirs ‘Mein Kampf’. Whilst Hitler was fighting for power in Germany, women were fighting a different battle, that of sexual rights. The series ends with a 360 degree turn, finishing with the Ayoreo tribe in the Chaco region of South America, a tribe who had only recently made their first contact with the outside world.