From Ancient Greece to the frozen North, rulers have always needed their elite troops – men trained to perfection, skilled with a devastating array of weaponry – men who will track down their leader’s enemies and kill them. All assassination teams faced one big problem: getting close enough to kill. No one in the ancient world had sniper rifles. As a result even the most formidable Japanese Ninjas got captured and tortured. This series brings some of the most dramatic tales of antiquity to life with a mixture of dramatic reconstruction, documentary filming and expert testimony. Each episode details the intricate complexity of the elite troops who performed the assassination missions and how they worked. It shows what they had to do to achieve elite status, how they could dress, and the weapons they got to use when they completed their first mission.
The true story of the Assassins. Originally a persecuted band of Ismailis, a Shi’ite Muslim sect, they found themselves vastly outnumbered by the Sunnis of medieval Persia. So the…
How the training of the Spartan 300 is bizarrely similar to that of today’s special forces. Here we see the distinctive Spartan helmet (pictured) protects them from spear thrusts …
The specialist hit squads that wreaked havoc against the Roman invaders in Jerusalem. This deadly band of stealthy assassins would eventually be cornered in the mighty hilltop for…
The Germanic Ghost Warriors were one of the first special forces trained to fight specifically at night. They emerged out of the fiercely independent tribes of Germania, the wild …
The Viking Beserkers were the elite shock-troops of Viking warlords. Fuelled by alcohol, religious fervour and possibly hallucinogenic magic mushrooms, they believed they could ad…
A look at the story of the Varangian Guard, the elite bodyguards of the Byzantine Emperor.
A look at the story of what happened when 2 planes ended up on a collision course above Brazil.
A look at the formidable Hawaiian Koa Warriors trained in the art of Loa, Hawaii's own martial arts.
The history of Ninja's, who first were a division of Japan's greatest Shogun.
A look at the group of 47 Ronin - dishonoured Samurais who had lost their status.
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