17 July 1918 and 9 November 1989. The Murder of the Russian royal family marked Russia's irrevocable move from a monarchy to a Communist state. Seventy Years later, the fall of the Berlin Wall symbolised the collapse of the ideology.

9 November 1938 and 14 May 1948. Just ten years after the Nazis openly attacked Jews and their property - a huge step on the nightmare spiral to the Holocaust, the 2000 year old dream of a Jewish homeland becomes a reality and the state of Israel is Born.

26 November 1922 and 17 September 1822. Two days that brought ancient Egypt dramatically to life. In 1822, Jean-Francois champollion cracks Egyptian hieroglyphs. One hundred years later, Howard Carter reads the name on a tomb and makes an amazing discovery.

2 December 1942 and 26 April 1986. The first controlled nuclear chain reaction heralded the atomic age, but Chernobyl's runaway chain reaction was the first warning. How did the most exciting scientific breakthroughs ever lead to the disaster that the world had dreaded?

22 November 1963 and 8 August 1974. No one could have dreamed or anticipated the seismic shocks America suffered in the 20th century with the assassination of its youngest-ever leader and the disgrace and expulsion of its most successful election winner.

14 October 1947 and 4 January 1967. Compelled by a sense of patriotic duty and driven by incredible bravery, 20 years separate the determined efforts of two mens aim to become the fastest men on the planet.

It is 19th October 1977 and Concorde taxis onto the runway at Toulouse Airport. Onboard, the crew are preparing for an historic day - the first supersonic test flight to New York. At JFK airport, protestors are waiting with a hostile welcome, but for the Concorde team and the French and British governments it is a moment that represents the end of an exhausting struggle.

6 May 1937 And 27 January 1986. Two traumatic air disasters highlighting the human cost of aviation: the transatlantic crossing of the luxurious airship Hindenburg ends in disaster while tragic events accompany the launch of the Challenger space shuttle.

25 December 1914

The first Christmas of World War 1 bore witness to an incredible phenomenon. A spontaneous truce broke out in the murderous trenches, led by the gun-fodder troops of each side and reluctantly followed by, for once, important officers and generals.

7 December 1941

The devastating pre-emptive strike on the American fleet in Hawaii that caught the USA sleeping was a strategic triumph for the Japanese. With eye-witness accounts and reconstructions, we relive the events that propelled America into the second World War.

9 May and 28 August 1963. The intriguing stories behind two of Britain's most audacious robberies centres on the parts played by the central characters mastermind criminals, victims, a getaway driver and the King himself.

In September 1970 Terrorists hijacked a number of jetliners, flew them to Jordan and kept numerous hostages to enforce their demands. In December 1988 Pan Am flight 103 was blown from the sky killing all aboard and a number of Lockerbie Scotland residents.