Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on when you are reading this blog.  It is the last day of April and tomorrow we will be in May.  The school year continues to wind down and in some places, it may be over with.  Since the school year is continuing to wind down why do I do a documentary about the Transcontinental railroad?  It is about building the final miles of the railroad and how it impacted Southern Wyoming.  It is from the Wyoming PBS station YouTube Channel.  The documentary is called End of Track and it has a run time of 1:00:44.  The documentary is found here.

The Transcontinental Railroad was an incredible feat of engineering.  This railway marched its way through Southern Wyoming.  It would also see the growing pains of the State of Wyoming.  Hell on Wheels was a phrase coined as the railroad was built.  It is also a story of greed, corruption, and murder as the railroad was built.  However, when it was complete it would unite the United States in a way never seen before.  This is the story of the Transcontinental Railway.

The story begins during the Civil War.  Abraham Lincoln seized on the idea of a transcontinental railway and signed the Pacific Railway Act.  This would prompt private companies to build a transcontinental railway.  The Central Pacific and Union Pacific were the two railroads tasked with building the railway.  Both railway companies would fight for government bonds and funding in order to build the railroad.

The land was surveyed and a route was selected.  The route was selected carefully and it was built as straight as it could.  It was going to be built on the old Oregon Trail.  However, there were company men who would not want to build a straight line because they wanted to milk the government for everything they could.  They wanted to build a curving railroad that was a wasteful use of track and land.  On the other hand, the companies wanted to build the railroad as fast as they could in order to race the other companies.  When you think of it, it would have been dumb to try to build crazy routes because accidents would be even more expensive, but that is just my opinion.

Anyway, because the tracks were going up so fast, construction was poor.  This led to derailments and lives lost.  In 1867, the first tracks were laid outside of Omaha, Nebraska.  A large labor force would be needed to build the railroad.  Thousands would come to build the railroad and around the labor camps, there would be moving towns that would spring up.  Some of these places would become permanent places and one of those places would be Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Cheyenne would be established before there was the state of Wyoming.  What would become Wyoming was a part of the Dakota Territory, however with the railroad coming through there was a desire to have a separate government entity and thus the Wyoming Territory was born.  The railroad continued to move west from Cheyenne and the city of Sherman would be established that it was where the railroad turn table was found.  The city of Sherman is gone, but the remains of the turn table are around.  The train continued to move west.

The city of Laramie would eventually be established as well at the “Hell on Wheels.”  So what do the railroad workers encounter along the way?  How will they cross the rugged terrain?  How would Wyoming adjust to the railroad?  How would Wyoming become a state?  Continue to watch the rest of the episode to find out more.

It is an older documentary with footage and historians speaking about the railroad.  That said, it had a really good flow to it and told a very good story.  The scenery was beautiful.  The introduction was brief when it came to what led up to building the railroad.  It was a good overview of what happened when the railroad was built through Wyoming.  Although it was an older style documentary, I found it a very good overview of the building of the railroad.   I would show this to a geography class and I would show this to a history class.

Good morning, now onto a documentary that has been sitting on my list for a while now.  I might as well do it and knock it off my list.  It was a man who took advantage of the German occupation of France to act out on his crimes.  This is part of the Wartime Crime series and it is called Demon Doctor.  It has a run time of 44:13.

Under the name of Dr. Eugene, Marcel Petoit worked to gain the trust of refugees who were hiding in France during World War II.  He offered to help these refugees out of the country.  However, once they entered the house they were robbed and murdered.  It was proven that he had killed at least 27 people.  A whole family was counted among his victims. 

Paris was occupied by the Nazis and overnight life for the French people would have changed.  Distrust was sown amongst the people.   Some people cooperated with the Nazis while others resist the Nazi occupation.  Oddly enough, crime would drop dramatically in France during this time because the people did not want to bring attention to themselves.

At least until one night.  A couple reached out to the police complaining about a foul smell coming from the house.  It had gone on for several days but the couple started to get sick from the smell.  The police broke into the house and what they found in the house horrified them.  There were bodies upon bodies in the house.  A stranger came up to the house and asked what was going on and the police told him.  However, the stranger was the owner of the house and he was the man that was perpetrating the crimes.

The man’s name was Marcel Petoit, and he had been let go by the police.  Eventually, the police let him go and this led him to flee with his wife.  Newspapers of the day sensationalized the story as a warrant was issued for his arrest.  The fact that the gentleman was a doctor shocked the public.  The house was a torture chamber and the bodies were badly decomposed.  Complicating things, was the fact that the Gestapo Petoit was arrested and let go a year earlier.  Some stories started to emerge of Petoit.

They started to collate around one theory that the Petoit was the center of an escape network.  Desperate people turned to the doctor to try to escape overseas, however, they disappeared.  People came forward with information about friends who were in contact with the doctor who had disappeared.  As the investigation pressed on, it was soon realized that he was a serial killer.  Growing up, the mothers from his hometown said that he would come to no good.  As a child, it was clear that he would be a psychopath. 

Eventually, he would become a doctor and charmed his patients.  His patients loved him.  From time to time he stole things from his patients.  He charmed a lady and would make her his mistress.  Rumors flew that she was pregnant and one night she vanished.  However, one day the headless body of a young woman was discovered in a river that could have been the lady in question.  Eventually, he would become of mayor of a town in a dubious election.  However, he would get in trouble and he would lose his position as mayor.  This led him to leave for Paris.  It would be here that he tries to reestablish his reputation.  However, he was going to collide with the rise of Nazi Germany and this would give him the cover to perpetrate his crimes.  So what would prompt him to start his life of crime?  Does he get caught?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

This was a fast-moving story.  The background about Petoit was very well done and it gave some very good on him.  It also gave a good background on the escape networks that arose as a result of the Nazi occupation.  This was a very well documentary and something very different when it comes to World War II.  I would use it for research purposes, but I would not show this to a history class.

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on when you are reading this blog.  April is going by fast and soon it will be May.  This documentary will come from the American Experience YouTube Channel.  It is about time I did another documentary on American History.  The run time for this documentary is 1:53:11.  This documentary is called The Gilded Age.

The Gilded Age was an age of confidence. America was rapidly becoming an economic powerhouse on the world stage.  It was also an age of excess and parties for the elite.  It was a period of optimism and opportunity.  However, there was a wider and wider gap between the rich and the poor.  The rich gathered at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City to host a ball.  The price tag of the ball could have fed 1,000 working-class people for one year.  So what underlies the Gilded Age?

Even after the Civil War, America was still defined by its regions.  The economies were local and neighbors knew neighbors.  However, America was becoming a nation of cities due to industrialization.  The railroads were bringing the nation together and were transporting goods nationwide.  There was a short discussion on what was being transported by the railroads.  People could expand their thinking beyond local markets and could think of a nationwide market.  People were leaving the farms to go into the cities to find jobs.  Then it shifts and how the people moved into urban areas

The documentary then shifts to the story of Andrew Carnegie and how he consolidated his manufacturing cooperation under one banner.  He was a man who enjoyed riding and he would ride daily through New York.  He was a self-made man who grew wealthy.  Then there was a discussion on Carnegie’s origins in Scotland.  Carnegie was a go-getter from the start and was supporting his family by he was a teen.  He would eventually get involved with the steel industry and he would rise in standing and wealth.  He was a man who was very well read and would seek answers as to how he made all this money.

The documentary then transitions to a house in New York.  It was called a gleaming palace at the time.  It took its inspiration from houses in Europe and it was designed by Alva Vanderbilt.  The house would eventually become the talk of the New York Society.  It was a house that shocked New Yorkers because it was highly unusual.  Alva wanted to make the Vanderbilts the top of New York Society.  However, the older New York families were eyeing the Vanderbilts with suspicion.

The old families had descended from the original Dutch settlers and they believed in modesty and not showing off.  The entrepreneurs were new money and they were the ones who showed off their wealth.  Caroline Astor was the leader of this old money and she would decide who could be part of New York Society.  These families became known as the 400 because 400 people could fit in the Astor ballroom.  Astor was especially wary of the Vanderbilt Family, although she respected the money. 

Once the Vanderbilt house was complete, they were going to host a housewarming ball.  Caroline Astor would receive an invitation, but would she accept the invitation?  In the meantime, this drama was going to play out in the newspapers.  Alva Vanderbilt would take journalists into her house and show off the decorations.  The day of the ball happened and New York Society was abuzz.  So would Caroline Astor accept the invitation?  Who would come to the ball?  Would the Vanderbilts be accepted into society?  What about what was going on in the steel mills?  What about the American economy?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

Oh come on American Experience, please time-stamp your documentaries.  It would have been very helpful to track what was being talked about in each section.  It would also help to pick a place to end the documentary if shown in a classroom.  The lead-up to the Carnegies, Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, and the Astors took forever.  In my opinion, it would have been better to just start off with Andrew Carnegie and then go on.  This was a good documentary and a good introduction to the Gilded Age.  I would show this to a history class.

Good morning, and I hope that you are doing well today!  Just like that April is almost done.  I thought Mao’s Cold War was only two episodes, but it turns out that documentary series is three episodes.  This episode, unlike what was hinted in the second episode, is about the relationship between China and the Soviet Union.  It is part of Mao’s Cold War Series and this episode is called China versus the Soviet Union.  The run time for this episode is 44:36.

The alliance between the Soviet Union and China was thought to last forever.  However, China became fed up with the unequalness of the relationship between the Soviet Union and China.  Mao Zedong wants to put China on the map as a superpower and major player on the world stage.  So China is going to make a move that would annoy the Soviet Union.

Zhenbao Island is a tiny island in a river between China and the Soviet Union.  It was here in March 1969 that war would break out between the Soviet Union and China.  Wang Lianqi, a soldier, talks about going to Zhenbao Island.  He knew something was going on but he did not know what it was.  China and the Soviet Union were at odds over acres of land that were taken by the Russian Tsar from China, that China wanted back.

Lianqi had only been enlisted for a month before being ordered to Zhenbao Island.  This Island was only a day’s march away from Beijing, and so Mao wanted to secure this post.  He had images of the Soviet Union marching onto Beijing.  He wanted to stop that from happening.  The Chinese Army had immediate success with the capture of a Soviet Tank.  This tank had technology more advanced in comparison to the Chinese tanks and so this would help the Chinese army advance their capabilities.  Mao would use this tank as a stepping stone to build a better army.

This documentary throws it back to twenty years earlier.  Mao was a great admirer of Joseph Stalin and was looking for Soviet help when it came to building the Chinese nation.  Both the Chinese and the Soviets would sign a treaty that would put the Chinese on the back foot.  Everything was designed to benefit the Soviet Union.  One historian says that it was clear that the Chinese were the junior partner in the relationship.  Mistrust would develop between the two nations.

Then the Korean War started.  Stalin required Mao to intervene in the war, and Mao wanted to take advantage.  Mao was insisting that China take the lead in the fighting.  There were many exchanges between Mao and Stalin, and there was mistrust between the two parties.  Eventually, Mao would send troops into Korea.  In exchange, Stalin should have sent planes to provide cover for the troops.  However, when the invasion began, the planes were not to be found.

When Stalin died, the new Soviet leaders urged the Chinese to end the Korean War which was done.  The relationship between the Soviets and Russia soured.  Mao realizes that China needs to be self-sufficient.  Once Stalin died, Mao embarked on an ambitious plan to make China a world power player.  He would make China a powerful industrial nation that even the Soviet Union would have to respect.  Whoever took over the Soviet Union after Stalin, would be in for a big shock when it came from China.  Who took over the Soviet Union after Stalin?  How would he react once Mao’s ambitions were unleashed?  How would China react when Mao unleashed his ambitions?  How would it turn to war between the two nations?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

I really wonder what the thought processes of the filmmaker was when they crafted this documentary series.  I felt like it could have been ordered better in the storytelling because it seemed to be out of order.  Anyway, despite my quibbles with that, it was still a very good documentary.  It was a primer on what happened behind the scenes in China when it came to the Cold War.  I would use this for research purposes and I would show this to a history class.

Good morning, today I want to continue with the two-part series Mao’s Cold War.  This time, this episode explores the relationship between the United States, the Soviet Union, and China.  There have been newly released documents that talk about China’s involvement in the Cold War, which goes to show how our understanding of history changes.  The episode is called China versus the US.  It would probably be more accurate to say China versus the Soviet Union and the United States, just based on the introduction, but I digress. The run time for this episode is 45:04.

After World War II, the Cold War started.  It was the communists versus the capitalists.  Each was looking to dominate the world.  However, China started to rise in power and they oftentimes shifted sides.  At times they were allied with the Soviets and other times they were allied with the United States.  So what was really going on with China in the Cold War?

The story has a false beginning with the Korean War.  It was a battle between the Communists in North Korea and the Capitalists in South Korea.  The North Koreans and the South Koreans were fighting each other and eventually, the United States got involved.  The US Army eventually pushed the North Korean Army back all the way to the Chinese border.  You got the impression that the really begins with the rise of Mao Zedong and he would have risen in the aftermath of World War II.  He would have learned military tactics as a result of not only fighting Japan but also the result of the Chinese Civil War. 

The story goes back to the Korean War.  Mao made the decision to send Chinese Troops into the Korean War.  He did it as a way to flex his muscles as a superpower and he also did it to galvanize the people.  The People’s Republic of China was one year old, but Mao was looking to consolidate his power and to legitimize his rule.  He needed his people to believe in him.  However, he was a man who was nervous.  Song Ling was a young lady who believed in Mao and so she was a nurse during the Korean War.  Soon China would become involved in the Korean War.

One of the first battles between the Americans and the Chinese happened on the Yalu River.  Over three hundred thousand Chinese would converge on this river and they started to infiltrate the border.  The attack caught the UN Forces off guard.  The number of forces that invaded North Korea was so overwhelming it surprised the Americans.  The Chinese continued to press south, and Mao’s son was killed in battle.  Mao would not be deferred and the troops continued to go south towards the 38th Parallel.  For eight months, the US and China fought each other in a prolonged war.  The Chinese were using weapons from World War II and from the Soviet Union.  They were going up against the more modern weapons of the United States.  The Chinese took heavy losses. 

The Korean War continued on, the war was becoming a stalemate with China and the United States swapping victories and losses.  Eventually, the war would have to end, and to learn more about how the Korean War ended watch the rest of the documentary.  How else did China impact the Cold War?  Would they continue their quest to prove themselves a superpower?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

As I watched the second episode of this documentary, I thought about how it would be very nice for the documentary to have time stamps on it.  With time stamps, it would be easy to pull out clips and use them for lectures or just to show a short part of the documentary.  It was also very good to see that the filmmakers named the participants in the documentary.  Overall, this was a very good documentary.  The storytelling was very well done and the participants did a good job forwarding the story.  The archival footage was great.  It was a very good introduction to Mao Zedong.  I would show this episode to a history class and would use it for research purposes.

Good morning and April is winding down.  Soon we will be in May and then it will be June and well-earned summer break.  Anyway, I want to do a documentary on something you never really hear about.  Did you know that India and China went to war?  I did not hear that before and so this is a series that will feature the Cold War between India and China.  It looks like this documentary is part of a larger series called Cold War.  This particular series is called Mao’s Cold War: China versus India and it has a run time of 44:09.

Tibet, an area that has always proven to be a sticky situation.  It was the area of the world that would turn allies into foes.  China and India were allies before the start of the conflict.  However, as China rises in prominence and grew more militant, India started to question their relationship.  The issue of Tibetan independence would continue to arise between these two nations.  This question would eventually lead the two nations into war.

In border regions of China and India, something is brewing.  Tensions are rising between two nations: China and India.  Wang Shiyao, a recruit in the People’s Liberation Army talks about what was going on and how the people were eager to sign up.  It was 1959, and the people of Tibet were on the verge of rebellion.  Mao Zedong considered Tibet as part of China and blamed the Tibetan upper class for the rebellion.  Mao tells the international world not to interfere, but India is keeping a close eye on events at their northern border.

India and China were allies, and this alliance was forged after the two nations became independent.  Both nations were the most populous nations in the world.   This friendship between the nations is spearheaded by India’s prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.  Both were nations interested in taking a stand against colonialism and imperialism.  Zhou Znlai was the first foreign minister of China.  He would forge a friendship with Nehru.  However, Mao was suspicious and so cracks started appearing in the Alliance.

Soon a rivalry developed because both China and India saw themselves as leaders of the Eastern World.  There were squabbles over where the borders truly lie as China refused to recognized treaties that defined the borders.  It would come to a head with the issue of Tibet and Tibetan independence.  The people believed that the new laws China implemented had no respect for their traditions.  There were rumors that the Dali Lama was going to be kidnapped and as a result, the people surrounded the Dali Lama’s palace to prevent that from happening.

Mao did not mind the chaos in Tibet, because it would give him an excuse to invade.  He continued to build up the military and would invade Tibet.  China would invade Tibet’s capital and the Rebellion would spread throughout Tibet.  Eventually, the conflict would spill into the disputed borderlands.  Nehru would step up to defend these people which would enrage Mao.  He had been preparing for war and he was going to get it.  Mao would organize a coordinated attack on both disputed borders.

In a matter of days, the Indian Army was defeated and other fortifications were captured.  The Chinese Army was an effective fighting force and it caught the Indian soldiers by surprise.  The army was very effective on the rugged terrain and the troopers had no answer for them.  So would India be forced to the negotiating table?  Would India be able to mount a counter-offensive?  What about the reaction of other countries around the world?  Continue to watch the rest of this documentary to learn more.

It is a documentary that actually names the participants in the documentary, that was great because it helped me spell names right.  The participants in the documentary were also very good and kept the history moving forward. I found the documentary very well done and it was a very interesting subject.  I had never really heard about these border wars between China and India and this documentary did a very good job at giving a background to these wars.  So far, this would be a good documentary to show to a history classroom.

Hello, I hope that you are doing very well.  Now that I got that nasty documentary out of the way, I can move on to a documentary on my review list.  Anyway, I am going to a documentary from the state of Oregon.   It is a good idea to change what I do from time to time.  The documentary is from the Oregon PBS station.  It is called the Flooding of Vanport and it has a run time of 59:53.

In the 1940s, the city of Vanport, Oregon was the second largest city in Oregon and was the largest wartime housing project in Oregon.  However, in 1948 that would change.  A flood completely destroyed the city.  It was the largest loss of life and property in the Columbia River Basin.  What happened?  What caused the flood?  How would the people rebuild?  Would Vanport ever be the same again?

Vanport: the city in Oregon that was wiped out by a flood.  It was a city that lived a short life, but the survivors of the flood were bonded forever.  In the early 1940s, it was a city that boasted a population of 40,000 people.  The people would enjoy life in Vanport.  One survivor recalls only going to Portland from time to time because Vanport had everything that the residents needed.  It was a city that sprung up out of a national emergency.

Then December 7, 1941, the United States would be at war with Japan and Germany.  The United States would need to build ships and the states would need to build those ships fast.  The Portland, Oregon area boasted three shipbuilding firms, and with people pouring into the city, there was a need for housing.  Portland would establish a housing authority and houses would be built.  However, the housing authority would underestimate the need for housing in the Portland Area.  The shipyard owners were unhappy with the pace at which the houses were built.  Eventually, the shipyard owners would take matters into their own hands and purchase land to build houses themselves.

Vanport would be built, however, the area that was chosen was an area prone to flooding.  However, the city that would be known as Vanport would arise from this floodplain.  The houses went up rapidly and eventually, the people would move in.  The construction went on through winter and women would help build the homes.  Some of the homes were prefabricated so could go up quickly.  There was an effort to make it into a real town.  Thousands of people would have converged on the town to live.

There was a police station, a fire station, and a library.  There was a school built for the children.  It was a vibrant community.  Life would have been perfect for the residents.  People from all over the United States came to move to Vanport.  It was interesting to hear from the former residents of Vanport and how they came to Vanport.  One of the former residents was very funny when he talked about coming to Vanport.  The former residents talk about life in Vanport and the houses that they lived in.  It was fun to hear stories about the icebox.

Vanport was controlled by the housing authority and did not have a local government.  The Multnomah Sherrif’s department helped provide law enforcement.  During the summer, the kids would go out to play.  Vanport was a very diverse community and everyone would play together.  They played together in nature and on hot days they would play in the water.  So it was a very ideal life for the kids and the adults at Vanport.  Unfortunately, things would change, so what would happen?  To learn about what happened when Vanport flooded continue to watch the rest of the episode.

The introduction was good, although I think I would have cut out the section about Portland declining Federal Funds for housing it was just a few minutes too long.  The discussion on how life went was also a tad bit long, it was over twenty minutes before the film got to the actual flooding.  The story was very well told and the participants were enjoyable to listen to.  This would be a good documentary for a United States regional history class.

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening and I hope that you are doing well today.  I am going to do an older documentary that has been sitting on my documentary review playlist for a while.  I am fed up with seeing it on my list, so I am going to work on it today.  It is a controversial topic: cannibalism.  So I am watching this documentary so you do not have to!  Although it is posted on the Odyssey Ancient History YouTube Channel, it feels like it comes from the Secrets of the Dead series and has a run time of 48:11.  It was called Canyon Cannibals.

The Anasazi, in the southwestern United States, were thought of as peaceful farmers.  Their society was thought of as utopian by historians and archeologists.  They observed the stars and grew maize.  They were the earliest urban planners.  However, they suddenly disappeared from the landscape leaving their buildings behind.  Unfortunately, this has changed with new and startling research.  This research suggests a far darker side to these people.  What was discovered still shocks people today: Cannibalism.  So did the Anasazi really practice cannibalism or were they victims?

For the past thirty years, Christie Turner has investigated the remains of ancient peoples in the Southwest United States.  He talks about the bones he studies and notes features in the skulls.  He theorizes that the ancient people of the Southwest were more violent than was initially thought.  In my opinion, our ancient ancestors are a lot more complicated than you think you are.  This led him to conclude that the ancient people practiced cannibalism.  Cannibalism is one of the most controversial areas of history that could be explored.  When Turner presented his original paper, it was roundly rejected.

However, he continued to explore this theory and gathered the evidence.  He would present this evidence to his students in the classroom.  However, the attacks continued and there were First Nation Tribes that roundly rejected that the Anasazi were cannibals.  One spokesman says there are stories of violence, but nothing like Turner was proposing.  In this section, I wish the names of the participants were added to this documentary. 

That said, Turner turns his research to Chaco Canyon and the bones that were discovered at this site.  Thousands of bones were discovered at the site.  These bones were scattered and not buried carefully.  What did these piles of bones mean?  It was through these bones that the claims of cannibalism arose.  These initial findings were dismissed.  Richard Wetherell a local guide was the first to propose this theory in the early 1900s, but he was roundly rejected.  Eventually, he was murdered and buried nearby.  From time to time the theory continues to pop up and the theory continues to outrage people.

However, Turner continues to press on with the cannibal theory.  He developed a checklist to help examine this theory.  He knows the stakes are high and has created a high standard to study the phenomenon of cannibalism.  There was one man who was putting this theory into practice and he demonstrated how the Anasazi would have cut human flesh off bones.  The documentary continues to explore the controversy.  Does Turner come to the wrong conclusion about cannibalism in the canyons?  To continue to learn about the Anasazi and cannibalism continue to watch the rest of this episode.

Turner puts forward the argument well and shows the evidence of what he has gathered over the years.  It was also very good to hear that the test for cannibalism was very strict and the bar was set high.  It is a challenge to human nature.  Doing genealogy and watching these documentaries, I have concluded that life in the past is not as straightforward as it seems.  Life was as complicated back then as it is complicated now.  Some of the people who spoke on the controversy need to learn that lesson.  Anyway, this documentary was very dated and am I sure that there is newer information.  That said in today’s environment it will probably never be made.  This would be interesting just for research and as far as showing this to a classroom, I would give this documentary a skip.  It really does not add much valuable content to the classroom.

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on when you are reading this.  When I saw the title of the episode, I recall a documentary on the Vikings that mentioned the Varangian Guard.  It was a documentary from Nova about the Vikings.  I hope that one day it will be posted to YouTube, as well as the documentary on the Monitor.  Anyway, this documentary comes from the Chronicle Medieval History Channel and is about the Varangian Guard.  It has a run time of 49:30.  It is part of the Ancient Black Ops series and this episode is called the Varangian Guard.

The Varangian Guard was an elite group of Viking soldiers.  They were renowned for their brutality and loyalty.  This group struck fear throughout Europe.  They had their choice of weapons: ax, spear, or sword.  The Byzantine Emperor looked at them and decided to hire a guard for protection.  The emperor ruled the biggest and richest state and he looked for someone to help keep him in power.

Emperor Basil II, the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire ruled the biggest state in Europe.  However, there are revolts along the way and so he needs protection to keep himself in power.  He would do that by marrying his sister off to Vladimir the Great.  He was the Grand Duke of Kyiv and was descended from Vikings.  He was a man infamous for his violence.  It does not matter to Basil, who gets 6,000 Varangian guard members. 

The Vikings had gone on a bloody campaign throughout Europe, and this is where I was reminded of the Nova documentary.  Other Vikings went east, and they would make their fortunes by hiring themselves out as mercenary soldiers.  They had a variety of weapons that they could use for the people who paid for their services.  This was where the documentary talked about the sword, ax, and spear.  The spear was the cheapest weapon to make and was an easy weapon to wield.

Anyway, this group of Vikings wanted riches.   Would have thought they would have incorporated something about the trade routes and how they managed to get to Kyiv and eventually to the Byzantine Empire.  I know this is a documentary on an elite fighting force, but there could have been something about the rivers that they could travel to get to the Empire.  Anyway, the Varangian guard would eventually be hired by the Byzantine Emperor.

Emperor Basil II would use the Varangian guard to secure his empire.  Once the rebellions were put down, they would secure the capital.  It was here that the Varangian guard would gain a reputation for their brutality.  They were put in charge of the prisons and were brutal in torturing people.  They were paid well and were gaining a reputation for being hard partiers.  They would get drunk and would enjoy the chariot races. 

The locals were not impressed by the Varangian guard.  The guardsmen were often drunk and they caused ruckuses through the city.  A piece of Viking graffiti still remains in the Haga Sophia Cathedral.  The Emperor would not be put off by his guards and he would use the Varangian guards to expand the Byzantine empire.  They would be incorporated into the Byzantine army, and for the first time, they would have to learn military discipline and would be employed in a new way.  To learn more about the Varangian guard continue to watch the rest of this episode.

Just a warning, there are images of violence throughout the documentary.  Oh yay, Andrew Gough is participating in this documentary.  He is someone who rubs me the wrong way no matter what information he presents.  I cannot stand him and he needs to be knocked down a few rungs because of his arrogance.  Anyway, there could have been a better introduction to the Varangian guards because the documentary just seemed to jump into Basil II.  The filmmakers had elements of weapons, who they were, and tactics but in my opinion, it would have been better to have it at the start and not scattered through the documentary.  This would be something I would show to older students for a history class and I would use this for research purposes.  I would not show this to younger students.

Good morning and I hope that you are doing very well.  Woot, woot!  I found the sixth episode of Alexander’s Lost World Series, and this will be the conclusion of the series I have been working on for the past few days.  David Adams continues to inspire with his documentaries and I hope that This episode is called Land of the Golden Fleece and it has a run time of 47:48.

Alexander not only sought out riches during his conquest of the East but he was also inspired by the quest of Jason and the Argonauts.  Adams continues to retrace the route that both Alexander the Great and the traders who sought the treasures of the East.  The Oxus River region was a land of shifting environments and a challenge to the people who traveled it.  Adams faced these challenges head-on as he followed the footsteps of Alexander the Great.  What treasures will Adams find along the way?

Alexander and his army continued to press on.  He and his troops had endured battle for five years.  He was seeking the treasures of the East, the treasures that the legendary Jason would have encountered on his journeys.  The routes Adams and his crew travel are a challenge and they have to rely on maps that were created in the 1980s which would have been completely different from the world of Alexander the Great.  The Delta of the Oxus River is an area of shifting sands and disappearing islands.  Whole islands and villages can get taken out.

Although Adams and his guides may have been confused, Adams believes that Alexander the Great knew exactly where he was going and where he was.  Adams theorized that where they were traveling was the site of a large sea and that this was a trading route during the Neolithic Period.  The legend of the Golden Fleece was born out of this sea.  Gold, rubies, and rare minerals continue to be mined in this area today.

Adams and his guide make the journey through Taliban territory to learn more about Alexander the Great.  As the guide gets directions, Adams goes to an ancient fort.  This fort was possibly built to either protect the village or to protect the trade route.  The French discovered the fort in the 1970’s but other than that not much is known about the fort.  Adams and his crew are going into uncharted territory.  They continue to follow the Oxus River.  This was the center of a large trade network between two ancient civilizations.

Adams and his crew stop for the night at a Halo Trust encampment.  The Halo Trust is an organization that goes and removes mines.  The mines were laid during the Soviet invasion, and these mines kill the nomadic people who travel through the area.  Adams, after signing his blood type, goes into the minefield to help the Halo Trust detect mines.  It is a careful and time-consuming job to remove the mines, but removing the mines will allow the local people to plant crops and live a relatively normal life.  It takes time to locate mines because sometimes empty bullet casings are found.  During this section, a mine is discovered and detonated.

Alexander the Great would not have encountered mines, he would have encountered landslides and ambushes.  He was locating a great treasure, and so Adams pressed on.  He goes through the Afghan badlands and it is an area that you do not want to get lost in.  They are called to the police outpost because they are not expecting someone like Adams to come.  It is eventually worked out and Adams gets directions to the ancient trade route.  So what treasure does Adams find that Alexander was seeking?  What does Adams learn about the ancient trade routes?  Continue to watch the episode to find out.

The market was surprised and it was interesting to see a box of Special K cereal in Afghanistan.  Anyway, you really have to wonder what the locals think about this man coming through Afghanistan.  This was an interesting episode, although there were elements of danger to it.  This is one element of history you never really hear about when it comes to Alexander the Great.  I would recommend this for a history and geography class.