Battlefield Detectives is a forensic documentary television series that aired on the History Channel from 2003 to 2006. The series explores famous battles focusing on the battlefield itself, and tell its story based on recent scientific research. It uses modern science to examine how the battles were won or lost.
According to History Television, "This series approaches the perennially interesting topic of famous battles in a fresh and exhilarating way. Focusing on the battlefield itself, each programme takes an important battle telling its story and posing a puzzling central question about the battle that recent scientific research is helping to illuminate - a contemporary journey of discovery and a compelling story from the past."
List of episodes
Episode name / Original Air Date
Season 1 (9 episodes)
- Custer at Little Bighorn 4 October 2003
- Charge of the Light Brigade 11 October 2003
- The Gallipoli Disaster 18 October 2003
- What Sank the Armada? 25 October 2003
- Who Got Lucky at Hastings? 8 November 2003
- Massacre at Waterloo 9 November 2003
- Agincourt's Dark Secrets 23 November 2003
- Trafalgar 13 December 2003
- Vietnam 27 December 2003
Season 2 (8 episodes)
- World War II: Operation Market Garden 12 November 2004
- Native American Wars: The Apache 19 November 2004
- American Revolution: Battle of Monmouth 26 November 2004
- World War I: The Somme 3 December 2004
- Mexican-American War: Battle of Palo Alto 10 December 2004
- American Revolution: Battle of Cowpens 17 December 2004
- Civil War: Battle of Gettysburg 20 December 2004
- Civil War: Battle of Antietam 20 December 2004
Season 3 (13 episodes)
- Battle of the Bulge 14 November 2005
- Battle of Britain 21 November 2005
- Waterloo 28 November 2005
- Siege of Masada 5 December 2005
- American Revolutionary War: Battle of Oriskany 5 December 2005
- World War I: Jutland 12 December 2005
- Stalingrad 23 December 2005
- The War of 1812: The Chesapeake and the Shannon 23 December 2005
- Pointe du Hoc 30 December 2005
- The 6-Day War 30 December 2005
- Civil War: Shiloh 2 January 2006
- Alesia 9 January 2006
- Battle of Big Hole 30 January 2006
Season 4 (2 episodes)
- Siege of Alesia 5 November 2006
- Trafalgar's Fatal Flaw 19 November 2006
Book
An accompanying book reflects on seven of the most famous battlefields in history: The Battle of Hastings, The Battle of Agincourt, The Spanish Armada, Waterloo, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Battle of Little Bighorn, and Gallipoli. It uses traditional methods and modern technology to discover what really happened on the day. The results include new and controversial insights into some of the world’s enduring military mysteries. Battlefield Detectives uses evidence uncovered by a team of experts from a wide range of disciplines: archaeologists, forensic scientists, crowd dynamics specialists, metal-detectorists and military experts contribute to a new understanding of these fields of war.
- Battlefield Detectives [illustrated] by David Wason.
- (Hardcover/Paperback) 256 pages
- March 2003
- Publisher: Granada Media
- ISBN 0233050833
References
