Journey back to 885, when a small army in Paris repelled the Vikings, who had ravaged everything in their path while travelling up the Seine.

Examine how the strategy of encirclement devised by Hannibal left 50,000 Romans dead on the battlefield of Apulia on August 2, 216 BC.

Journey back to 480 BC, when King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans successfully blocked Xerxes' two-million-strong Persian army at Thermopylae.

Rome never recovered after Arminius' tactics in the Teutoburg Forest. Many of the associated riddles are answered, but some remain unresolved.

Battle of Hastings: In 1066, William of Normandy decided to go to England to claim the crown of England - which ignited a war of succession on an exceptional scale.

Battle of Marathon: In 490 BC, Persian King Darius the Great sent an expeditionary force to Greece - but the Greeks awaited them there, repelling the invaders in a single battle.

Battle of Agincourt: In 1415, the finest French chivalry met at Azincourt. Exhausted and outnumbered, the army of King Henry V of England was easy prey - but it all went wrong.

Battle of Gergovia: In 52 BC, after eight years of warfare in Gaul, Julius Caesar and his legions laid siege to Gergovia - but he faced a coalition of all the Gallic tribes.

The Catalaunian Plains: Attila, king of the Huns, faces strongman of the Roman Empire, Generalissimo Aetius. But their terrible battle ends in a bloodbath, with no clear victory.

Battle of Sekigahara: The Battle of Sekigahara saw Tokugawa Ieyasu emerge victorious over his rival Ishida Mitsunari, uniting the country under the Tokugawa shogunate.