In episodes 11 and 12, the Allies try to turn victory in North Africa into a direct road toward Nazi Germany, only to discover that Italy will be anything but the “soft underbelly” Winston Churchill imagined. From Sicily to Salerno, Anzio, Monte Cassino and the long road to Rome, the campaign becomes a grinding test of endurance, strategy and sacrifice. What was hoped to be a swift breakthrough into the heart of Hitler’s Reich turns into months of mud, mountains, shattered towns and devastating losses, revealing the brutal cost of forcing open a new front in Europe. The story then rises into the skies, where another deadly battle is being fought above the continent. Allied bomber crews fly from England into the heart of Nazi-occupied Europe, facing freezing altitude, flak, fear and the lethal power of the German Luftwaffe. As B-17s, fighter escorts and air commanders struggle to win control of the air, every mission becomes a gamble between destruction and survival. Together, these episodes show a war closing in on Germany from the ground and from the sky, where courage, technology and human endurance collide on a terrifying scale.
Set in a brutal, mysterious and dangerous world of warriors, gods and ambition, this first season follows Ragnar Lothbrok, a Viking farmer and fighter who refuses to accept the limits imposed by tradition. While others look east for poor and familiar lands, Ragnar dreams of sailing west across the ocean, convinced that richer kingdoms lie beyond the horizon. His hunger for discovery, glory and freedom puts him on a collision course with the old powers of his society, turning one man’s vision into the beginning of a legend that could change the Viking world forever. In the first two episodes, Ragnar begins his son Bjorn’s passage into manhood while secretly preparing for a far greater initiation of his own: a forbidden voyage into the unknown. With the help of Floki’s new ship and a small crew willing to risk death, disgrace and the wrath of Earl Haraldson, he chooses to break the law rather than bury his dream. As family loyalty, political fear and ancient belief collide in Kattegat, the stage is set for the first journey west, where the promise of treasure is matched only by the danger of challenging everything his people think they know.
During 1959-1961 both the Americans and Soviets are planning manned space flight, and we see both sides preparing to do so with the development of the Vostok programme (Russia) and Project Mercury (USA). After difficulties and failures on both sides, the Soviets succeed in putting Yuri Gagarin into space first, with the Americans putting Alan Shepard up shortly afterwards.
The story then rises into the skies, where another deadly battle is being fought above the continent. Allied bomber crews fly from England into the heart of Nazi-occupied Europe, facing freezing altitude, flak, fear and the lethal power of the German Luftwaffe. As B-17s, fighter escorts and air commanders struggle to win control of the air, every mission becomes a gamble between destruction and survival. Together, these episodes show a war closing in on Germany from the ground and from the sky, where courage, technology and human endurance collide on a terrifying scale.