Assault from the air didn't begin with the era of the airplane. Take a look back at early methods of airborne attack. The kite bomb was a medieval siege weapon that dropped bombs from a kite over cities. We'll build one and test it.

The master shipbuilders of the Far East created the most deadly warships of ancient times in their quest for supremacy of the seas.

Military innovation is consistently at the cutting edge of technological advances. Almost all technology on the planet today owes its origins to inventions driven by one purpose--war.

Amazingly, the Ancients understood the principles of the modern tank. They combined armor with speed to create the ancient version of the tank--it could stop an onslaught of bullets. What exactly was this ancient weapon that destroyed enemy-heavy infantry, elephants, and cavalry? Watch as experts and archaeological digs reveal new evidence of this invention, which will be reconstructed.

The amazing successes and stunning failures of ancient military engineers have directly affected the weapons and tactics we use today. In fact, an ancient Greek weapon is still used on modern aircraft carriers. How did the Chinese develop a catapult with a firing rate of 10 rounds per second? Did the living horse battlefield torpedoes of the middle ages actually work? And, how did the great Carthaginian general Hannibal cross the highest mountain range in Europe using equipment still used by today's Special Forces, dissolving solid rocks in his path using an ancient chemical version of dynamite?

We reveal how the science and technology of ballistics actually dates back thousands of years to the ancient world using state of the art forensic techniques and the world's leading firearms experts.

Discover the ancient Roman navy SEAL technique of capturing enemy ships from underwater and replicate the feat with a champion free-diver who will work with ancient tools underwater on one breath for six minutes. We attempt to solve one of History's greatest mysteries, the tactics of ancient Roman war dog units; we meet a historically savage breed of dog--the Mastiff--that may have been used on the battlefields of antiquity. Learn the secrets of the samurai sword--how it was made and how it became the most legendary blade in History. Finally, we build and test an ancient Horro--a Japanese device that could protect a galloping cavalryman from arrow fire, yet was only made from a billowing layer of thin silk.

Holding off invasion and protecting their people, ancient civilizations came up with creative, efficient, and effective means of self-protection and defense. Walk the grounds of the castle that helped create Great Britain and learn why it was such an impregnable fortress. Discover the invisible underground defensive systems of Cappadocia and how they proved so successful that it is the longest continually inhabited fortress in history. Test the ancient Mayan killer bee castle defenses, and release bees in an attack. Next, build a replica section of the ancient Roman fort of Alesia and discover whether the great general Julius Caesar could really have built 24 miles of defenses in just six weeks. Investigate the most impregnable walls in history--the multi-layered defenses of Constantinople, and discover the type of cannon that the sultan Mehmet used to finally destroy them in the great siege of 1453.

Assault from the air didn't begin with the era of the airplane. Take a look back at early methods of airborne attack. The kite bomb was a medieval siege weapon that dropped bombs from a kite over cities. We'll build one and test it.

The master shipbuilders of the Far East created the most deadly warships of ancient times in their quest for supremacy of the seas.

Military innovation is consistently at the cutting edge of technological advances. Almost all technology on the planet today owes its origins to inventions driven by one purpose--war.

Amazingly, the Ancients understood the principles of the modern tank. They combined armor with speed to create the ancient version of the tank--it could stop an onslaught of bullets. What exactly was this ancient weapon that destroyed enemy-heavy infantry, elephants, and cavalry? Watch as experts and archaeological digs reveal new evidence of this invention, which will be reconstructed.

The amazing successes and stunning failures of ancient military engineers have directly affected the weapons and tactics we use today. In fact, an ancient Greek weapon is still used on modern aircraft carriers. How did the Chinese develop a catapult with a firing rate of 10 rounds per second? Did the living horse battlefield torpedoes of the middle ages actually work? And, how did the great Carthaginian general Hannibal cross the highest mountain range in Europe using equipment still used by today's Special Forces, dissolving solid rocks in his path using an ancient chemical version of dynamite?

We reveal how the science and technology of ballistics actually dates back thousands of years to the ancient world using state of the art forensic techniques and the world's leading firearms experts.

Discover the ancient Roman navy SEAL technique of capturing enemy ships from underwater and replicate the feat with a champion free-diver who will work with ancient tools underwater on one breath for six minutes. We attempt to solve one of History's greatest mysteries, the tactics of ancient Roman war dog units; we meet a historically savage breed of dog--the Mastiff--that may have been used on the battlefields of antiquity. Learn the secrets of the samurai sword--how it was made and how it became the most legendary blade in History. Finally, we build and test an ancient Horro--a Japanese device that could protect a galloping cavalryman from arrow fire, yet was only made from a billowing layer of thin silk.

Holding off invasion and protecting their people, ancient civilizations came up with creative, efficient, and effective means of self-protection and defense. Walk the grounds of the castle that helped create Great Britain and learn why it was such an impregnable fortress. Discover the invisible underground defensive systems of Cappadocia and how they proved so successful that it is the longest continually inhabited fortress in history. Test the ancient Mayan killer bee castle defenses, and release bees in an attack. Next, build a replica section of the ancient Roman fort of Alesia and discover whether the great general Julius Caesar could really have built 24 miles of defenses in just six weeks. Investigate the most impregnable walls in history--the multi-layered defenses of Constantinople, and discover the type of cannon that the sultan Mehmet used to finally destroy them in the great siege of 1453.

Assault from the air didn't begin with the era of the airplane. Take a look back at early methods of airborne attack. The kite bomb was a medieval siege weapon that dropped bombs from a kite over cities. We'll build one and test it.

The master shipbuilders of the Far East created the most deadly warships of ancient times in their quest for supremacy of the seas.

Military innovation is consistently at the cutting edge of technological advances. Almost all technology on the planet today owes its origins to inventions driven by one purpose--war.

Amazingly, the Ancients understood the principles of the modern tank. They combined armor with speed to create the ancient version of the tank--it could stop an onslaught of bullets. What exactly was this ancient weapon that destroyed enemy-heavy infantry, elephants, and cavalry? Watch as experts and archaeological digs reveal new evidence of this invention, which will be reconstructed.

The amazing successes and stunning failures of ancient military engineers have directly affected the weapons and tactics we use today. In fact, an ancient Greek weapon is still used on modern aircraft carriers. How did the Chinese develop a catapult with a firing rate of 10 rounds per second? Did the living horse battlefield torpedoes of the middle ages actually work? And, how did the great Carthaginian general Hannibal cross the highest mountain range in Europe using equipment still used by today's Special Forces, dissolving solid rocks in his path using an ancient chemical version of dynamite?

We reveal how the science and technology of ballistics actually dates back thousands of years to the ancient world using state of the art forensic techniques and the world's leading firearms experts.

Discover the ancient Roman navy SEAL technique of capturing enemy ships from underwater and replicate the feat with a champion free-diver who will work with ancient tools underwater on one breath for six minutes. We attempt to solve one of History's greatest mysteries, the tactics of ancient Roman war dog units; we meet a historically savage breed of dog--the Mastiff--that may have been used on the battlefields of antiquity. Learn the secrets of the samurai sword--how it was made and how it became the most legendary blade in History. Finally, we build and test an ancient Horro--a Japanese device that could protect a galloping cavalryman from arrow fire, yet was only made from a billowing layer of thin silk.

Holding off invasion and protecting their people, ancient civilizations came up with creative, efficient, and effective means of self-protection and defense. Walk the grounds of the castle that helped create Great Britain and learn why it was such an impregnable fortress. Discover the invisible underground defensive systems of Cappadocia and how they proved so successful that it is the longest continually inhabited fortress in history. Test the ancient Mayan killer bee castle defenses, and release bees in an attack. Next, build a replica section of the ancient Roman fort of Alesia and discover whether the great general Julius Caesar could really have built 24 miles of defenses in just six weeks. Investigate the most impregnable walls in history--the multi-layered defenses of Constantinople, and discover the type of cannon that the sultan Mehmet used to finally destroy them in the great siege of 1453.