Crossing the Rubicon

Over 2000 years ago Julius Caesar made a decision which changed European history.

• 10 mins

The death of Emperor Hirohito

When the Japanese Emperor died in 1989 it marked the end of an era.

• 10 mins

Zola and the Dreyfus affair

In 1898 the novelist Emile Zola took up the cause of a Jewish prisoner - Alfred Dreyfus.

• 10 mins

Perez de Cuellar goes to Baghdad

In January 1991 the UN Secretary General tried to avert the first Gulf War.

• 10 mins

Folsom Prison Blues

In January 1968 the country legend Johnny Cash recorded a concert in a high-security jail.

• 10 mins

Vietnam draft pardon

In January 1977 President Jimmy Carter said draft dodgers could come home.

• 10 mins

The Great Brinks Robbery

In 1950 a Boston gang stole over $2.5m and they almost got away with it.

• 9 mins

The Warsaw ghetto

On 18 January 1943 German soldiers began a final drive to empty the Polish capital of Jews

• 10 mins

Roe v Wade

In January 1973 abortion was legalised across the USA.

• 10 mins

The Wannsee conference

It is 70 years since senior Nazi officials met to plan the killing of European Jews.

• 10 mins

Jackson Pollock

It is one hundred years since the great American abstract painter was born.

• 10 mins

Japanese soldier in hiding

In January 1972 a Japanese soldier was found in the jungle of Guam.

• 10 mins

The rise of Hitler

On 25 January 1933 the last legal communist march was held in Berlin.

• 10 mins

The Challenger disaster

In January 1986 a space shuttle launch went horribly wrong.

• 10 mins

The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff

It was the worst maritime disaster in history.

• 10 mins

Bloody Sunday

It is 40 years since 13 civil rights marchers were killed in Northern Ireland.

• 10 mins

Dickens in America

How a visit to America in 1842 became a turning-point in the career of Charles Dickens.

• 10 mins

Diane Blood

Winning the chance to conceive a child using sperm from her dead husband

• 10 mins

The Hama massacre

It is 30 years since thousands of Syrians were killed by their own army.

• 10 mins

Umm Kulthum

The great Egyptian singer was buried 37 years ago.

• 10 mins

Death of King George VI

How Britain mourned the death of King George VI in 1952.

• 10 mins

Drugs in Mexico

On 7 February 1985 a US drug enforcement agent was abducted in Guadalajara.

• 10 mins

Charonne Metro deaths

It is 50 years since nine French peace protestors died during a demonstration in Paris.

• 10 mins

50 years of Silicone Breast Implants

In 1962 Timmie Jean Lindsey became the first woman in the world to have the operation.

• 10 mins

Deep Blue versus Kasparov

It was the first time a computer had beaten a reigning world champion chess player.

• 10 mins

The Stolen Generation

Debra Hocking was taken from her indigenous Australian family as a baby.

• 9 mins

Sister Dorothy Stang

In February 2005 a Catholic nun working in the Amazon was murdered.

• 10 mins

The Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan

On 15 February 1989, the last Soviet soldiers rolled out of Afghanistan.

• 10 mins

The bombing of Darwin

In February 1942 Japan launched the largest ever attack against Australia.

• 10 mins

Japanese internment

In February 1942 all Japanese Americans were ordered to internment camps.

• 10 mins