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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. However, they were...
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What forces led the United States away from its agrarian roots, transforming it into a nation dependent on mechanized farming, heavy industry, and large corporations? This program helps identify answers as it examines the Industrial Revolution in the latter half of the 19th century. Viewers learn about the establishment of the transcontinental railroad and its role in industrial growth, including the rise of the steel industry led by Andrew Carnegie....
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In the early 1900s, President Theodore Roosevelt's progressive legislation, dubbed the Square Deal, aimed to limit the power of corporations, protect consumers, and conserve natural resources. The Square Deal drastically changed the United States – and still impacts our lives today.
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In the 20th century, polio was one of the most dreaded childhood diseases, devastating its victims. Ingenuity, trial and error, even acts of scientific desperation would pave the way to one of the greatest breakthroughs in scientific history - a vaccine. Modern Marvels traces the technology that eradicated the health scourge of the century.
11) Oil Strike
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Kerosene is lighting America after dark in unprecedented ways. The demand for oil is sky high and Vanderbilt knows that oil can fill his trains.
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This program explores our history and culture during the early 20th century, when a wave of reforms changed our political system and attempted to remedy the social and economic inequities arising from industrialization and urbanization. Progressive President Theodore Roosevelt helped set the tone of the era by supporting regulation of industry, initiating government reforms, and promoting conservation of public lands. The Progressive Era altered the...
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Over 4 million people visit the Statue of Liberty annually. The most photographed statue in the world, its meaning is universal and represents freedom, hope and protest to generations of people throughout the world. Liberty: Mother of Exiles casts a new light on one of America’s most familiar symbols, revealing its little-known history and surprising challenges, and celebrating it as an enduring beacon of hope for generations of immigrants. Produced...
15) The New Machine
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A young engineer named Henry Ford devises the plan for a gas-powered car. McKinley is assassinated and his VP Theodore Roosevelt takes office and quickly passes a series of regulations increasing oversight of American business.
16) Blood Is Spilled
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Carnegie hires a hatchet man, Henry Frick, to help him achieve his goal of besting Rockefellar. The partnership seems promising, but Carnegie does not know that Frick is running his factories far beyond capacity.
17) The Gilded Age
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In 1873, Mark Twain co-authored a satirical novel entitled The Gilded Age. The process of gilding involves applying a thin layer of gold to an object to make it appear more valuable. Historians adopted Twain's title to describe a period of American history characterized by prosperity and industrialization that thinly disguised blatant corruption in politics and business. This program explores many facets of the Gilded Age, including industrialization...
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The Industrial Revolution in America began in the 1850s, creating a new middle class and all but eliminating house servants. This transformation was responsible for the invention of today's household wonders including the stove, microwave, sewing machine and refrigerator. Learn how and why these machines became indispensable to modern homes.