Warfare has always driven the development of technology; from penicillin and pioneering plastic surgery to the development of the internet and GPS, we rank the most influential inventions of warfare.

From the super-dreadnought battleships of the First World War to the stealth submarines of the Cold War, maritime vessels have proved decisive in the fight for naval supremacy.

Weapons win wars; it's been claimed that the human race has spent more time, money, and effort in developing weapons than in any other single field of human endeavour.

What makes a successful war leader? Influential leaders of warfare all share a vision and the ability to inspire others to follow their orders, but how they lead differs hugely.

The grave of Bad Dürrenberg revealed not a male warrior, but a powerful and dark-skinned female shaman; misrepresented by the Nazis, her true story still fascinates 9,000 years on.

Archaeologists hunt for clues to the origins and explosive rise of the mighty Inca Empire - at their height, the largest empire in the world.

Archaeologists hunt for clues to how the mysterious Inca conquered much of South America, and why, when Europeans arrived, the mighty empire crumbled.

In southern Peru stands an Inca city uninhabited for several centuries but still virtually intact: Machu Picchu. We discover the secrets behind its construction and the genius of the Inca builders.

We trace the story of Troy back 150 years to follow Heinrich Schliemann's quest to find a lost city and prove that the Trojan War really happened.

How new discoveries and breakthroughs in the 20th and 21st centuries have offered more clues to the truth behind the legend of the Trojan War.

Historians and archaeologists set off in the footsteps of Genghis Khan in Mongolia; thanks to exceptional excavations in the field, they are rediscovering the lost cities of the Mongol empire.

Thanks to exceptional excavations in four lost cities of the Mongol empire, archaeologists are revealing the visionary society created by Genghis Khan in the 13th century A.D. / C.E.

Jun 1942: the most decisive naval-air battle in the Pacific started as a Japanese trap and ended as an American ambush. A totally unpredictable conflict, made up of luck, code-breaking and gambles.

Jan-May 1944: Atop the hill in Monte Cassino lies an abbey of which its Commander has forbidden its military use. Despite this, the abbey is reduced to rubble and the fight claims over 200,000 deaths.

Jan 1944: Two divisions land at the Italian port of Anzio in one of the easiest Allied assaults of the war. But they fail to exploit their advantage, giving the German defenders time to reinforce.

June 1944: A stretch of beach overlooked by fortified cliffs created a devastating baptism of fire. Failed plans, missed opportunities and courage make this frontline a major turning point in WWII.

Jun-Jul 1944: Three weeks after D-Day, the Allied advance has stalled. The killing fields around Hill 112 become the start of a brutal war of attrition that the Nazis cannot afford to wage.

When a rugby team's plane crashed in the Andes Mountains in October 1972, they were stranded in one of the world's most unforgiving environments with little hope of rescue.

After surviving a plane crash in the Andes, a rugby team battles against cold, hunger and avalanches; while alone on the mountain, the team face many life-or-death situations.

Two months after surviving a plane crash in the Andes, the rugby team realise that they must find the strength to try a trek through a dangerous and inhospitable mountain range.

Deep sea divers hunt for the wrecks of Hitler's dreaded U-Boat fleet off Ireland's Northwest coast while historians unravel the early stages of WWII's longest campaign.

Divers hunt for the wrecks of WWII's longest campaign that lie off Ireland's Northwest coast as historians explore the Allied fight back at sea and the human cost of war.