Modern Marvels

10,40

1993

8 / 10

Episodes

EP 1: Trans-Siberian Railroad

It’s the longest, most expensive and complicated railroad ever built. Ordered by the Czar in an effort to save his empire and unif...

EP 2: Castles & Dungeons

Some of the most imposing structures ever built, medieval castles withstood both bloody assaults and the test of time. Designed li...

EP 3: Ice Road Truckers

Based on the book Denison’s Ice Road by Edith Iglauer, the episode detailed the treacherous job of driving trucks over frozen lake...

EP 4: Winter Warriors

Traces the story of the U.S. Army’s legendary 10th Mountain Division. They were formed after WWII began, specifically to fight in ...

EP 5: Booby Traps

All it takes to set off a booby trap is an unsuspecting victim lifting, moving, or disturbing a harmless-looking object. Booby tra...

EP 6: The Alcan Highway

Today, vacationers travel from British Columbia north through the Yukon Pass on their way to Fairbanks, Alaska, thanks to one 2-la...

EP 7: Twin Towers of the East

Rising almost 1,500 feet high, the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia were named the world’s tallest in 1996 by the Council on Tall ...

EP 8: The Mackinac Bridge

Until recently, the Mackinac Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world. One of the top engineering marvels of the 20th...

EP 9: Bullet Trains

Traveling between 135 and 190 miles per hour with an astonishingly high safety record, bullet trains can be found throughout Europ...

EP 10: Non-Lethal Weapons

They stun, debilitate, immobilize–providing police and peacekeepers with options other than shouting or shooting. From the ancient...

EP 11: Space Stations

...

EP 12: Army Corps of Engineers

Made up of soldiers and civilians, scientists and specialists in an enormous variety of fields, the US Army Corps of Engineers was...

EP 13: Black Hawk: Night Stalker

For over 20 years, the Black Hawk has been the U.S. Army’s front-line utility helicopter for air assault, air cavalry, and medical...

EP 14: Japanese Guns of WWII

As Japan bombed its way into the Pacific during WWII, Imperial soldiers carried pride, a sense of invincibility, and an arsenal of...

EP 15: Titanic Tech

Welcome aboard the luxury liner Titanic, the world’s largest ship and pride of the White Star Line. Watertight compartments and a ...

EP 16: Coal Mines

Coal–the fuel responsible for more than half the electricity used daily. We unearth the amazing technological advances that have l...

EP 17: Secrets of the Acropolis

With a thrilling combination of dramatic reconstructions and 3-D animation, we step back in time to the Golden Age of Greece and t...

EP 18: Machine Guns

...

EP 19: Ball Turret Gunners

In war, certain missions demand the most and constitute much of the legends of bravery. Journey back to the Second World War when ...

EP 20: U.S. Guns of World War II

...

EP 21: MiG 15

After World War I, Russia began building its most prolific aircraft, the MiG line. MiG pilots fought with distinction in WWII, but...

EP 22: T-34: Russian Victory

Born out of a desperate need to defend the Motherland, Stalin enlisted the ideas of an American engineer, J. Walter Christie, to d...

EP 23: Tank Crews

During WWII, American tank crews duked it out with Nazi Panzers in a high-explosive duel to the death. The German tanks had thicke...

EP 24: Harley-Davidson

From humble beginnings in the Davidson family garage to one of the world's most famous companies and a marketing juggernaut, Harle...

EP 25: Torture Devices

For more than 3,000 years, emperors and generals, dictators and police, criminals, clerics, and even medical doctors have created ...

EP 26: Cosmodrome

The story of Russia’s “Crown Jewels”, the finest rocket engines in the world, built under conditions of absolute secrecy to land a...

EP 27: Exterminator

In a raging war for control of Earth, occupying forces buzz and skitter, with some out to draw blood! Termites, mosquitoes, rats, ...

EP 28: Million Dollar Guns

They are the treasures of a select few. Each holds a story of human triumph…epic pagentry or desperate tragedy…cast forever in iro...

EP 29: High Voltage

Look closely at those tall metal towers that span the country and you might see tiny specks climbing up the soaring steel like spi...

EP 30: 4x4

In this full immersion journey through the world of maximum off-roading, learn what it’s like to blow the carbon out of your syste...

EP 31: Dangerous Cargo

Toxic traffic is everywhere! An average of 800,000 shipments of hazardous materials hit our highways and railways daily. From Wild...

EP 32: Gunslingers

...

EP 33: More Engineering Disasters

...

EP 34: Engineering Disasters 4

Engineering disasters can result in personal tragedy, national humiliation, and economic ruin. But buried within their wreckage li...

EP 35: Nature Tech: Tsunamis

Among the most mysterious disasters, tsunamis–Japanese for “harbor waves”–claimed over 50,000 lives in the 20th century! Generated...

EP 36: Logging Tech

When Paul Bunyan cried "Timber!", he never foresaw today's cutting-edge, controversial industry that feeds a ravenous, lumber-craz...

EP 37: Breaking the Sound Barrier

For decades, the sound barrier loomed as an impenetrable wall against manned flight that buffeted planes with shock waves as they ...

EP 38: Car Crashes

In the mid-1960s, the US lost an average of 55,000 people yearly to car crashes. Since then, the number of cars on the road has do...

EP 39: Sandhogs

Sandhogs work hundreds of feet down, where it is dark, damp, and dangerous, challenging nature’s awesome forces to drive tunnels t...

EP 41: Loading Docks

Each day ships, trains, trucks, and planes haul supplies that keep store shelves full and factories moving. At every stop there’s ...

EP 42: Terror Tech: Military

The chance of enemy confrontation by sea, tank, or air battle is small, but terrorist networks operating in the shadows will likel...

EP 43: Nature Tech: Tornadoes

How does technology grasp nature’s most violent, chaotic storm? For half a century, U.S. meteorologists have been building a count...

EP 44: Military Movers

The challenge: Move millions of soldiers and tons of cargo halfway around the world and into the thick of action. How? Use the big...

EP 45: Police Guns

...

EP 46: Terror Tech: Defending the Highrise

...

EP 47: Bullets

From "safe" bullets that stop hijackers but leave aircraft unscathed to bullets that chain-saw through steel and "smart" bullets c...

EP 48: Aircraft Carrier

From the earliest experiments in WWI to the technological wonders that ruled the sea and sky of the Middle East, George C. Scott c...

EP 49: The Gunboats of Vietnam

It takes brave sailors to steer their gunboats into waters where larger ships cannot go. In this historic documentary, relive the ...

EP 50: Metal

They constitute the very essence of the modern world; the cadence of our progress sounds in the measured ring of the blacksmith’s ...

EP 51: Landmines

A major battlefield weapon since the American Civil War and the stuff of nightmares ever since, the civilian toll from landmines r...

EP 52: Space Shuttle Columbia

Combination rocket, spacecraft, and airplane, the space shuttle is the most complex vehicle ever built. Long before it ever flew, ...

EP 53: Overseas Highway

A spectacular roadway nearly 120 miles long, the Overseas Highway links mainland Florida with the Florida Keys, and contains 51 br...

EP 54: Terror Tech: Civilian

Witness the construction of a terrorist-proof safe room. Discover how your windows might someday act as biological weapons detecto...

EP 55: Machu Picchu

The engineering marvel Machu Picchu sits perched on a ridge in the Peruvian Andes. Originally built by the Incas, this magnificent...

EP 56: The PT Boats

Pound for pound, the small wooden Patrol Torpedo Boats of WWII were among the most powerful warships of all time. Daring PT vets r...

EP 57: The Battleships

General quarters! You’re going into battle aboard the century’s deadliest warships–the Dreadnought, Bismarck, Missouri, Yamato. Fo...

EP 58: Early Machine Guns

The story of the birth and development of rapid fire weapons from the 14th century until the end of WWI–where on one terrible day ...

EP 59: Smart Bombs

Precision-guided munitions, smart bombs were the media buzz of the first Gulf War and a major military and political driving force...

EP 60: Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

In the land of Mardi Gras, jambalaya, and zydeco, exists an engineering marvel called the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway that seems t...

EP 61: Inviting Disaster 1: Three Mile Island

They make our lives more comfortable, more rewarding, and more secure. They are the magical machines that have brought us to the e...

EP 62: The Luftwaffe

What if the Nazis had held out and the war in Europe lasted until 1946? We’ll review the remarkable aircraft that Germany had in d...

EP 63: Panzers

The story of a revolutionary breed of tank, a weapon whose speed and power would dominate European battlefields with a new kind of...

EP 64: U-Boats

They dominated the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to the eastern coast of the U.S. They struck against Allied shipping with near impun...

EP 65: Inviting Disaster 2: The Kursk

The amazing machines of human invention most often do our bidding with uncomplaining proficiency. But when they go wrong, they exa...

EP 66: FBI's Crime Lab

To spearhead its fight against crime and terrorism in the 21st century, the FBI is relying on its $150 million-plus building, the ...

EP 67: Inviting Disaster 3: Challenger and Columbia

No program better symbolizes human mastery of machines than does the space shuttle. But the breakups of EM Challenger /EM and EM C...

EP 68: Inviting Disaster 4, Building Failures

Based on the popular book, this episode explores historical building collapses–from ancient pyramids to the Cathedral at Beauvais ...

EP 69: Shipyards

Shipyards are waterside construction sites where the extraordinary takes shape and where some of the largest tools built by humans...

EP 70: Guns of the Sky

Hop into the cockpit for a daring century-long ride through the history of aircraft weaponry–from the very first handgun fired fro...

EP 71: Extreme Trucks

Hop into the cab for the ride of your life as we examine extreme trucks, including: a jet truck that can travel 300 mph; the Balti...

EP 72: Guns of Infamy

...

EP 73: ET Tech

In 2003, with Mars closer to Earth than it had been in 60,000 years, scientists launched three life-seeking planetary landers. If ...

EP 74: Million Dollar Cars

There is very little that collectors, historians and auctioneers agree about, but they do agree that a few passionate visionaries ...

EP 75: The Technology of Lewis and Clark

Explore the technology and survival techniques used by the men of Lewis and Clark on their landmark journey to the Pacific. From t...

EP 76: B-52: Stratofortress

For nearly half a century, one bomber has dominated the skies. With a maximum speed of 650 m.p.h., a range of over 8,000 miles, an...

EP 77: Extreme Sports Gadgets

...

EP 78: Rolls Royce

The world’s most famous brand, Rolls Royce, is owned by the same company that makes Bentley, a luxury leader once known for its pr...

EP 79: Tailgating

At stadiums nationwide, thousands of football fans come together to show team spirit, eat incredible food, and join the community ...

EP 80: Wheel Estate

Land Yachts, Portable Palaces, Corrugated Condos–whatever the name, travel trailers and RVs have become an American icon–the 20th ...

EP 81: Sports Cars

Car aficionados rarely agree on what makes a true sports car, but they concede that in little over a hundred years, they went from...

EP 82: Technology of Kitty Hawk

Two brainy bicycle makers…a remote North Carolina moonscape…and an impossible dream. On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wrig...

EP 83: Egyptian Pyramids

Constructed as tombs for the ancient pharaohs, over 100 pyramids remain in Egypt. Built during a span of well over 1,000 years, th...

EP 84: The Berlin Wall

During the Cold War, the Berlin Wall stood as a forbidding barrier in an embattled world. Erected in August 1961, the Wall system ...

EP 85: Toys

All aboard the nostalgia express as we take a trip through the past to enjoy toys of our youth–the ones we can't forget and those ...

EP 86: Engineering Disasters 5

Examines some of the most notorious engineering failures of recent years and asks what went wrong and what we learned from them. W...

Overview

HISTORY’s longest-running series moves to H2. Modern Marvels celebrates the ingenuity, invention and imagination found in the world around us. From commonplace items like ink and coffee to architectural masterpieces and engineering disasters, the hit series goes beyond the basics to provide insight and history into things we wonder about and that impact our lives. This series tells fascinating stories of the doers, the dreamers and sometime-schemers that create everyday items, technological breakthroughs and manmade wonders. The hit series goes deep to explore the leading edge of human inspiration and ambition.

  • en
  • Documentary,

Episodes >>

Trans-Siberian Railroad

Episode 1

It’s the longest, most expensive and complicated railroad ever built. Ordered by...

Castles & Dungeons

Episode 2

Some of the most imposing structures ever built, medieval castles withstood both...

Ice Road Truckers

Episode 3

Based on the book Denison’s Ice Road by Edith Iglauer, the episode detailed the ...

Winter Warriors

Episode 4

Traces the story of the U.S. Army’s legendary 10th Mountain Division. They were ...

Booby Traps

Episode 5

All it takes to set off a booby trap is an unsuspecting victim lifting, moving, ...

The Alcan Highway

Episode 6

Today, vacationers travel from British Columbia north through the Yukon Pass on ...

Twin Towers of the East

Episode 7

Rising almost 1,500 feet high, the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia were named t...

The Mackinac Bridge

Episode 8

Until recently, the Mackinac Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the wor...

Bullet Trains

Episode 9

Traveling between 135 and 190 miles per hour with an astonishingly high safety r...

Non-Lethal Weapons

Episode 10

They stun, debilitate, immobilize–providing police and peacekeepers with options...

Space Stations

Episode 11

...

Army Corps of Engineers

Episode 12

Made up of soldiers and civilians, scientists and specialists in an enormous var...

Black Hawk: Night Stalker

Episode 13

For over 20 years, the Black Hawk has been the U.S. Army’s front-line utility he...

Japanese Guns of WWII

Episode 14

As Japan bombed its way into the Pacific during WWII, Imperial soldiers carried ...

Titanic Tech

Episode 15

Welcome aboard the luxury liner Titanic, the world’s largest ship and pride of t...

Coal Mines

Episode 16

Coal–the fuel responsible for more than half the electricity used daily. We unea...

Secrets of the Acropolis

Episode 17

With a thrilling combination of dramatic reconstructions and 3-D animation, we s...

Machine Guns

Episode 18

...

Ball Turret Gunners

Episode 19

In war, certain missions demand the most and constitute much of the legends of b...

U.S. Guns of World War II

Episode 20

...

MiG 15

Episode 21

After World War I, Russia began building its most prolific aircraft, the MiG lin...

T-34: Russian Victory

Episode 22

Born out of a desperate need to defend the Motherland, Stalin enlisted the ideas...

Tank Crews

Episode 23

During WWII, American tank crews duked it out with Nazi Panzers in a high-explos...

Harley-Davidson

Episode 24

From humble beginnings in the Davidson family garage to one of the world's most ...

Torture Devices

Episode 25

For more than 3,000 years, emperors and generals, dictators and police, criminal...

Cosmodrome

Episode 26

The story of Russia’s “Crown Jewels”, the finest rocket engines in the world, bu...

Exterminator

Episode 27

In a raging war for control of Earth, occupying forces buzz and skitter, with so...

Million Dollar Guns

Episode 28

They are the treasures of a select few. Each holds a story of human triumph…epic...

High Voltage

Episode 29

Look closely at those tall metal towers that span the country and you might see ...

4x4

Episode 30

In this full immersion journey through the world of maximum off-roading, learn w...

Dangerous Cargo

Episode 31

Toxic traffic is everywhere! An average of 800,000 shipments of hazardous materi...

Gunslingers

Episode 32

...

More Engineering Disasters

Episode 33

...

Engineering Disasters 4

Episode 34

Engineering disasters can result in personal tragedy, national humiliation, and ...

Nature Tech: Tsunamis

Episode 35

Among the most mysterious disasters, tsunamis–Japanese for “harbor waves”–claime...

Logging Tech

Episode 36

When Paul Bunyan cried "Timber!", he never foresaw today's cutting-edge, controv...

Breaking the Sound Barrier

Episode 37

For decades, the sound barrier loomed as an impenetrable wall against manned fli...

Car Crashes

Episode 38

In the mid-1960s, the US lost an average of 55,000 people yearly to car crashes....

Sandhogs

Episode 39

Sandhogs work hundreds of feet down, where it is dark, damp, and dangerous, chal...

Convertibles

Episode 40

now-playing-animation

Loading Docks

Episode 41

Each day ships, trains, trucks, and planes haul supplies that keep store shelves...

Terror Tech: Military

Episode 42

The chance of enemy confrontation by sea, tank, or air battle is small, but terr...

Nature Tech: Tornadoes

Episode 43

How does technology grasp nature’s most violent, chaotic storm? For half a centu...

Military Movers

Episode 44

The challenge: Move millions of soldiers and tons of cargo halfway around the wo...

Police Guns

Episode 45

...

Terror Tech: Defending the Highrise

Episode 46

...

Bullets

Episode 47

From "safe" bullets that stop hijackers but leave aircraft unscathed to bullets ...

Aircraft Carrier

Episode 48

From the earliest experiments in WWI to the technological wonders that ruled the...

The Gunboats of Vietnam

Episode 49

It takes brave sailors to steer their gunboats into waters where larger ships ca...

Metal

Episode 50

They constitute the very essence of the modern world; the cadence of our progres...

Landmines

Episode 51

A major battlefield weapon since the American Civil War and the stuff of nightma...

Space Shuttle Columbia

Episode 52

Combination rocket, spacecraft, and airplane, the space shuttle is the most comp...

Overseas Highway

Episode 53

A spectacular roadway nearly 120 miles long, the Overseas Highway links mainland...

Terror Tech: Civilian

Episode 54

Witness the construction of a terrorist-proof safe room. Discover how your windo...

Machu Picchu

Episode 55

The engineering marvel Machu Picchu sits perched on a ridge in the Peruvian Ande...

The PT Boats

Episode 56

Pound for pound, the small wooden Patrol Torpedo Boats of WWII were among the mo...

The Battleships

Episode 57

General quarters! You’re going into battle aboard the century’s deadliest warshi...

Early Machine Guns

Episode 58

The story of the birth and development of rapid fire weapons from the 14th centu...

Smart Bombs

Episode 59

Precision-guided munitions, smart bombs were the media buzz of the first Gulf Wa...

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

Episode 60

In the land of Mardi Gras, jambalaya, and zydeco, exists an engineering marvel c...

Inviting Disaster 1: Three Mile Island

Episode 61

They make our lives more comfortable, more rewarding, and more secure. They are ...

The Luftwaffe

Episode 62

What if the Nazis had held out and the war in Europe lasted until 1946? We’ll re...

Panzers

Episode 63

The story of a revolutionary breed of tank, a weapon whose speed and power would...

U-Boats

Episode 64

They dominated the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to the eastern coast of the U.S. T...

Inviting Disaster 2: The Kursk

Episode 65

The amazing machines of human invention most often do our bidding with uncomplai...

FBI's Crime Lab

Episode 66

To spearhead its fight against crime and terrorism in the 21st century, the FBI ...

Inviting Disaster 3: Challenger and Columbia

Episode 67

No program better symbolizes human mastery of machines than does the space shutt...

Inviting Disaster 4, Building Failures

Episode 68

Based on the popular book, this episode explores historical building collapses–f...

Shipyards

Episode 69

Shipyards are waterside construction sites where the extraordinary takes shape a...

Guns of the Sky

Episode 70

Hop into the cockpit for a daring century-long ride through the history of aircr...

Extreme Trucks

Episode 71

Hop into the cab for the ride of your life as we examine extreme trucks, includi...

Guns of Infamy

Episode 72

...

ET Tech

Episode 73

In 2003, with Mars closer to Earth than it had been in 60,000 years, scientists ...

Million Dollar Cars

Episode 74

There is very little that collectors, historians and auctioneers agree about, bu...

The Technology of Lewis and Clark

Episode 75

Explore the technology and survival techniques used by the men of Lewis and Clar...

B-52: Stratofortress

Episode 76

For nearly half a century, one bomber has dominated the skies. With a maximum sp...

Extreme Sports Gadgets

Episode 77

...

Rolls Royce

Episode 78

The world’s most famous brand, Rolls Royce, is owned by the same company that ma...

Tailgating

Episode 79

At stadiums nationwide, thousands of football fans come together to show team sp...

Wheel Estate

Episode 80

Land Yachts, Portable Palaces, Corrugated Condos–whatever the name, travel trail...

Sports Cars

Episode 81

Car aficionados rarely agree on what makes a true sports car, but they concede t...

Technology of Kitty Hawk

Episode 82

Two brainy bicycle makers…a remote North Carolina moonscape…and an impossible dr...

Egyptian Pyramids

Episode 83

Constructed as tombs for the ancient pharaohs, over 100 pyramids remain in Egypt...

The Berlin Wall

Episode 84

During the Cold War, the Berlin Wall stood as a forbidding barrier in an embattl...

Toys

Episode 85

All aboard the nostalgia express as we take a trip through the past to enjoy toy...

Engineering Disasters 5

Episode 86

Examines some of the most notorious engineering failures of recent years and ask...