Episode Information

History 101 is a new type of history show for a new type of audience: Big History delivered in an unadulterated hit of premium archive and jaw-dropping infographics. This landmark series tackles the biggest developments of the past 100 years and breaks them down into a fast-paced, easy-to-understand 20 minutes, that helps answer the big questions: Why is the world the way it is and how did we get here? Ten episodes span a wide range of topics ripped-from-the-headlines, covering scientific breakthroughs, social movements, and world-changing discoveries: the Space Race, Plastics, Oil in the Middle East, the AIDS epidemic, Nuclear Power, Robots, Genetics, the Rise of China, Fast Food, and Feminism. Unpacking not just what happened but why, and how this created the world we live in today. Archival footage of the events takes viewers back to key moments, allowing them to hear the story directly from the voices of the time; exciting new animations put the stories in context and are packed with ‘take-home’ facts. Did you know that China recently used more cement in three years than the United States did in the entire 20th century? That a space rocket can generate temperatures on re-entry that are half as hot as the sun? That we share 60% of the same DNA as bananas? History 101 isn’t just surprising statistics and little-known facts. It’s classic storytelling with an updated twist, asking provocative questions about the world we live in – why do we bother going into space when it’s so dangerous and expensive? How did China become a global economic powerhouse, and why was the rest of the world so slow to notice? Answering these questions tells an entertaining story about how we got here, but it also gets us thinking…about where we might go next