Get.factual schedule

Episode Two explores the military’s tightening control over Japanese society, the disbanding of labour unions and influences upon education.

Japan seized more than 2,500,000 km² of land in Southeast Asia and almost the entire western half of the Pacific.

On the day that Nagasaki was bombed, the Trans Baikal and 2nd Far East Fronts of the Red Army invaded Manchuria, the 1st Far East Front moved from Vladivostok.

The final act of the Second World War is its most costly episode. More than one million German soldiers die in 1945 alone.

In the first episode of the three-part series, The Biblical Plagues, scholars deal with the first six natural disasters. In the Nile, scientists discovered deadly microorganisms that caused the fish to die and a stress situation among the frog population.

For a long time, scientists have tried to prove that nine of the Ten Plagues described in the Old Testament point to a serious breakdown of the climate, triggering an ecological chain reaction. Apart from theological considerations, scholars all over the world have studied individual phenomena, tryi

Although nine disastrous plagues had already devastated the land along the Nile, Pharaoh remained stubborn and would not release Moses and his people from slavery. And so their God, Yahweh, planned his final assault: At midnight, he sent death over Egypt – all the firstborn, Man or beats, had to die

Monsters have always been part of our nightmares and fairy tales. But where do they actually come from? How much of them is truth, how much is myth? Going to great lengths in this documentary, the filmmakers join scientists to explore a number of the best known sagas and legends in the world.

“... all the waters that were in the river [Nile] were turned to blood. And all the fish that was in the river died,” reports the Bible, “and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river.” (Exodus 7:20–21).

“… so there were lice upon man, and upon beast,” reports the Bible, “all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 8:18, 17). Even today, two million people die every year from malaria transmitted by mosquitoes, mainly in Africa.

“… and the Lord sent thunder and hail, … and fire mingled with the hail,” reports the Old Testament. “And the hail smote … all that was in the field, both man and beast.” (Exodus 9:23–25).

“... locusts … invaded all Egypt …. They covered all the ground until it was black,” reports the Bible. “They devoured … everything growing in the fields … – nothing green remained on trees or palms in all the lands of Egypt.” (Exodus 10:14–15). Swarms of locusts are still a very real plague today.

“… darkness that can be felt … covered all Egypt for three days,” reports the Bible. “No one could see anyone else … for three days.” (Exodus 10:22–23). Dust storms frequently paralyze public life during the storm season in many of the most arid regions of the Earth, burying roads and human settleme

In many cultures there are myths about “wolf children” who were taken from their families and then grew up in the wild, either alone or with wolves, bears or other animals. But how close are such stories to reality? This program offers a combination of two stories: the true story of the monkey boy J

Todays’ Silicon Valley is the home for multi-million dollar IT companies. In the beginning, however, it was unsophisticated, colourful, chaotic, and revolutionary. Hippies and amateur entrepreneurs initiated an unprecedented revolution: the pioneers of the PC wanted to change the world in an attempt

In 1959 the USA decided to build a military town under the ice sheet of North Greenland. The superpower wanted to use all its might to gain a strategic advantage over the Soviet Union.

At the bottom of the Baltic Sea lies a cog, a relic of the might of the German Hanse, a league of merchantmen founded about 1200 AD. Archaeologists are retracing its final voyage using state of the art technology as well as ancient scripts. Their search takes them to the Norwegian port of Bergen, to

He is one of the greatest German explorers of all time even though his name fell into oblivion: As luck would have it, in 1772 17-year-old Georg Forster was given the chance to accompany the greatest navigator of his time, James Cook, on his world circumnavigation. On this voyage, Captain Cook disco

In the spring of 1930, when Alfred Wegener sets off on his third Greenland expedition, he hopes it will be the crowning glory of his career. Just a few years earlier he created a furore when he published his theory of continental drift; now he intends to revolutionise climatic research. For a whole

When Jason and his crew of 50 men set sail, a dangerous journey to what was then known as the end of the world lies ahead of the Greek heroes. The young hero had a one-of-a-kind galley built for the voyage, which he baptized "Argo." The mighty rowing boat was designed to take the committed band to t

For most Europeans, the wolf is more of a myth than an actual wild animal. But since the nineties, Isengrim has been making his way back to the middle of the continent, kilometre by painstaking kilometre. Part One of ‘Wandering Wolves’ follows the renowned biologist Francesca Marucco and other exper

In Part Two of the documentary, the wolf experts Luigi Boitani, Francesca Marucco, Ilka Reinhardt and Hubert Potocnik track the animals all the way across Europe. We see how wolves often cover over a thousand kilometres on their migrations. They swim through fast-flowing rivers and traverse icy moun

Giacomo Casanova was born in Venice in 1725, to poor parents. Initially, he is expected to become a priest, but he is ultimately going to reject this career path. His destiny is governed by the love of women, and he challenges the most powerful institutions of his time: the Catholic Church and the V

In the first episode of the three-part series, The Biblical Plagues, scholars deal with the first six natural disasters. In the Nile, scientists discovered deadly microorganisms that caused the fish to die and a stress situation among the frog population.

For a long time, scientists have tried to prove that nine of the Ten Plagues described in the Old Testament point to a serious breakdown of the climate, triggering an ecological chain reaction. Apart from theological considerations, scholars all over the world have studied individual phenomena, tryi