Episode Guide

Alexander the Great's final campaign begins as the great general leads his massive empire into India, proving that deception is one of the most powerful weapons a general can wield.

As Alexander leads his armies into the country, he faces one of the most difficult tactical challenges any ground commander can confront ... a river-crossing during a raging thunder storm against a vicious enemy. Alexander is able to deceive the Indian General Porus into believing that he will not attempt a crossing.

But under cover of darkness, he maneuvers his infantry across the river, catching the Indian Legions unaware. Victory is at hand thanks to this strategic brilliance and soon Alexander’s final campaign is underway.

For a time, Gallic victory seems possible. They outnumber the Romans five to one and hold the high ground atop the hilltop fortress city of Alesia.

But ever fearless, General Julius Caesar builds a second wall around the city, cutting it off from all possible supply lines. When Gallic reinforcements arrive to break the blockade, Caesar puts a startling twist on his strategy. He constructs a third wall between his army and the reinforcements. It is a siege upon a siege. Fortunately, the Romans are better supplied.

In a move of utter desperation, the Gauls expel the women and children of Alesia, believing Caesar will show mercy and let them through. However, Caesar orders that nothing be done. Both sides watch as these innocents starve to death in the no man’s land between the fortifications of Alesia and the Roman line. Totally demoralized by watching their wives and children die before their eyes, the Gauls are annihilated and Rome conquers Gaul.

Against all odds, young David defeats the Philistine giant Goliath. With a single slingshot to the head, David's decisive victory changes the course of Israelite history.

While most know David as a popular king, few know of his treachery and his political ambition. Before his legendary duel, the oft-warring tribes of the Israelites finally joined together and choose a king for the first time in their history.

Hannibal's merciless attacks on Roman soil deal a near fatal blow to the burgeoning Empire. Sworn by his father to a blood oath against the Romans, Hannibal of Carthage does something completely unthinkable. Hannibal marches 40 war Elephants and a massive army over the Alps to gain the element of surprise. In three key battles, Hannibal uses terrain, intimidation and his iron will to literally annihilate the Roman Legions, killing every Roman soldier that crosses his path.

In this bloody first battle of the conquest of the Promised Land, Joshua’s special operation forces secretly infiltrate and destroy Jericho from the inside out.

The walls of Jericho were believed to be impenetrable. But Joshua’s spies found a defector in Jericho named Rahab. As Joshua’s army paraded around the walled city for six days, the Israelites sneaked special ops forces into Rahab’s house. Once they amassed forty soldiers inside, Joshua and his army outside the city blew their horns and attacked. The forty troops inside caught the city completely unaware and Jericho fell. Only Rahab was spared from the massive bloodletting that was the taking of Jericho.

An outmanned, outmatched Athenian army uses their knowledge of the terrain to defeat a rampaging Perisan onslaught. After years of perceived disrespect, a gravely offended Persian army sets sail to teach the insolent Athenians a lesson.

The massive Persian fleet seems predestined to overpower the small Athenian army, abandoned by their allies, the Spartans. But a brilliant defensive strategy, the extreme mettle of Greek troops, and a runner whose route would go down in history, all combine to drive the Persians back across the Aegean, defeated and dripping in their own blood. The Battle of Marathon sets up one of the most famous battles between Greece and Persia - the Battle of the 300.

In a manoeuver of strategic brilliance, Moses leads his people out of Egypt and lures the Egyptian army to its death.

Most consider the Israelites' exodus out of Egypt an act of Divine intervention. Whether inspired by God or not, the exodus is not merely a migration of slaves, but a military maneuver by a group of combat-hardened mercenaries.

An enraged Pharaoh released his army to hunt the Israelites down after they sacked an Egyptian town as they made their exit. But Moses’ sharp military mind and intimate knowledge of the terrain proved more than the massive, heavily armed Egyptian army could handle. While the Israelites performed a complicated night water crossing, Moses lured the Egyptians to a watery grave in the Sea of Reeds.

A seemingly insignificant border battle sparks a massive armed engagement between the Egyptians and the Hittites, two superpowers of the ancient world. What begins as a dispute over a buffer zone escalates quickly into a struggle for regional dominance, as two of the great Empires of the Ancient world trade blows.

The Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses is baited into overextending his armies, believing the first fighting force to arrive at the contested city of Kadesh will be victorious. But Ramses has been deceived ... the Hittite Army lies in wait. They strike when he is at his weakest and his troops exhausted.

Ramses suffers desertion and heavy losses. His weakened force is surrounded on three sides. Amazingly, the pure fighting ability of the Egyptian soldiers is enough to enable them to battle their way out of their corner and escape.