All language subtitles for Wild Europe Episode 3 Taming the Wild

Europe... for 2 million years
ice has swept the continent.

Not just once, but many times...

then, some 20,000 years ago, the
bitter climate begins to ease it's grip.

The continent is transformed...
into the greenest on earth.

And now a new force of change
is gathering momentum.

This force will have
relentless impact...

...on europe's wildlife...

...it's margins and inland forests...
...and across the face of the land.

This is the story of the struggle
between man and nature...

and the taming of the wild...

ten thousand years ago europe
is a land of virgin forest.

Just a few millennia earlier
this was a treeless tundra...

roamed by herds of mammoth
and reindeer.

Now europe's milder,

more pleasant seasons attract waves
of new immigrants.

With the woods so impenetrable,

the easiest access is along
the newly formed waterways.

These early
hunter-gatherers follow

the sweeping meanders of the danube,
rhine and rhone...

...drawn by the abundance of fish,
plants and waterfowl.

This is a totally new world, entirely
different from the recent past...

the thick under-storey is no place for
migrating herds of large animals.

Big game is rare.

But there are many
other opportunities...

by creating forest clearings...

early hunters find simple
ways to lure their prey...

man is not the only hunter.

People and predators have
long been rivals... enemies.

But they share an interest -
finding food.

And as the lives of animals
and people begin to merge,

a new approach is born...

...the taming of the wild.

As hunter-gatherers roam the lush
green heart of europe,

a radically new way of life now dawns
on the south-eastern fringes...

one that will transform almost
the entire continent.

Europe's first farmers.

Around eight thousand years ago,
they set to work,

exploiting the fertile landscape
of the eastern mediterranean.

These newcomers have
island-hopped from the near east,

lured by the gentle climate
and rich soils.

They have brought with them
some unique goods... key plants,

tools and animals used for
generations back in mesopotamia...

the cradle of civilization.

Even in the stone age, europe's
farmers have enormous impact:

They soon replace hundreds
of wild plant species

with just a handful
of their own...

emmer wheat, barley,
rye and olives.

If hunter-gatherers had
never become farmers,

the woodlands might have
remained unscathed...

but now the seeds
of change have been sown.

With enough food available
all year round...

and with plenty of surplus...
people can begin to settle.

The forest canopies
that once covered

crete and malta now give way
to fields and pastures.

Agriculture flourishes
at the expense of the wild.

In the eastern grasslands,

the early settlers exploit another
revolutionary resource...

wild animals that can be
easily tamed.

From the middle east
came goats and sheep...

brought in by the
immigrant farmers.

Soon these animals would spread
across the entire continent,

and ultimately contribute
to it's deforestation.

From the shores of the mediterranean,
agriculture is now on the move...

mnajdra - one of many sun
temples on the island

of malta - erected by europe's
farmers more than 7,000 years ago.

These are the
world's oldest standing buildings...

calendars of stone,

marking the times of sowing
and harvesting...

shrines of a civilisation in
perfect synchrony with nature.

Like the rising sun,

this new way of life creeps it's
way across the continent...

in just two thousand years
it reaches the atlantic.

At carnac in france,
these standing stones are

a testament to a once-thriving
farming community.

Elaborate monuments like
these are symbols

of the massive changes
to the european landscape,

of settlement and ownership.

Of the thousands
of megalithic sites,

this is one of the youngest...

and the most imposing
of them all...

stonehenge... an enormous feat
of engineering constructed

with mathematical precision.

Over a hundred generations lived
to it's rhythms.

Four thousand years ago,

europe's primeval forests are
assaulted by another demand...

more aggressive
than ever before...

and in remote areas
so far untouched.

Metal-making.

The smelting of copper
and bronze soon spreads

from the balkans and cyprus
across much of europe.

But as early as 2,000 bc,

the flourishing metal
industry on cyprus collapses.

It fails not because
of the shortage of ore,

but the lack of timber.

Metal means wealth and power.

Metal deposit's, scattered
across the continent,

become the key incentive
for conquest.

And out of these struggles emerges
europe's mightiest super-power.

600 bc... the roman empire
is on the march.

It's aim is not just conquest...
but the civilization of wild europe.

"Conquer with sword and spade"
is the mission statement

of the roman army, making it the
biggest road-building enterprise ever.

"All roads lead to rome",
the saying goes.

But the opposite is true...
all roads spread from rome.

As if capturing a wild animal,

the empire casts a network
of roads across the continent,

from italy to britain,
and from turkey to spain.

"Via est vita",
says the roman proverb:

The road is life.

The constant flow of livestock,
goods,

and ideas between the eternal city
and the most distant corners

of the empire would shape
europe's societies,

landscapes and wildlife for
thousands of years to come.

Cattle and grain pour
in toward the capital.

Mediterranean animals and plants spread
in the opposite direction...

in what is one of the warmest periods
in europe's more recent history.

Roman culture travels on mule back.

The mule is a hybrid
of donkey and horse,

non-existent in wild nature.

It is mass-bred by the romans as an
all-terrain, all-purpose carrier.

Endless caravans transport olive oil,
cheese, wine and weapons.

And raw metals.

Tin is perhaps the only reason
why rome conquered some

of the colder and less inviting
corners of the continent.

The tin mines of cornwall,
prized throughout antiquity,

would be worked until modern times.

500 years of systematic
clearing has pushed

rome's wildwood
frontiers far north.

Only beyond the rhine and danube...
true wilderness still exists.

But even in these remote woodlands
wildlife is no longer safe.

There's a price on the head
of big animals...

and catching them
is big business.

Roman trade reaches out to the
remotest fringes of the continent,

to regions as far north
as scotland and siberia.

Tens of thousands of bears,
wolves,

and lions are taken to supply
a gigantic entertainment industry.

By the first century ad,
in europe's forests,

the brown bear is almost extinct.

In the huge amphitheatres
of major cities and in

rome's coliseum, the populace screams
for fresh blood each afternoon.

Even small garrison towns
have their circus games,

often in a makeshift arena.

Day after day, across the empire,

thousands of wild creatures
are slaughtered.

Then, abruptly, the glory that
is rome comes to an end:

A brutal change of climate
hastens it's downfall.

Failing crops force northern
tribes to flee their homelands.

Wildlife reclaims the
fields and pastures.

It seems as if a new
ice age is arriving.

For the first time in centuries,
the frontier rivers freeze over,

and invaders can cross the frozen
danube and the rhine on foot.

The greatest empire
on the european continent

has imposed order for nearly
a thousand years,

but it's power crumbles within
decades - and with it...

it's palaces,
it's cities and it's roads.

Yet rome's legacy remains
inscribed on the landscape -

in some places, like hadrian's

wall in northern england,
it's plain to see.

Within the borders
of the roman empire,

some corners had remained
totally unexploited,

written off as sterile badlands.

This is not north africa...
but spain, sun-parched and thirsty.

Towering over the desert
are the snowy peaks

of the country's highest mountain range
the sierra nevada.

These mountains hold the key to the
region's potential wealth...

meltwater.

In the right hands,
this treasure will pay dividends.

After the fall of rome, waves of
invaders have come and gone.

The ones to stay are an army
of canal builders -

berber and arab tribes from the
northern rim of the sahara.

For thousands of years,
they had tapped the snows of

morocco's mountains...
bringing the desert to life.

The moors, as they came to be called,
are expert

at harnessing the flow of water.

From the eighth century on,
they bring their expertise to spain.

They construct dams,
reservoirs and aqueducts...

and intricate networks of canals - tens

of thousands of kilometres of conduit's,
large and small.

To irrigate,
they must first level the ground.

Centuries after their arrival,

every hillside within reach
of a canal is terraced.

In seven hundred years,
the moors turn

europe's driest land into orchards.

New fruit's they cultivate are
reminders of the african heritage

they have stamped
on spain's landscape.

Working miracles with water,

the moors create some
of europe's finest gardens.

The alhambra, the seat
of granada's muslim kings,

is a celebration of their
favourite element...

...a fantasy of fountains and fragrances,
of marble and alabaster.

Throughout the middle ages,
the societies

that succeed the romans have left
their varied imprints on the land.

But the land, in turn, is reflected
in the people's culture.

Nowhere is this more apparent than
on the far side of the continent.

Scandinavia- europe's arctic fringe:
Cold fogs, dark winters.

No fertile soil for farmers.
But the seas are alive.

Here, the gulf stream meets cold
nutrient-rich waters...

feeding a wealth of plankton
and vast shoals of fish.

This far north, life on land depends
directly on life in the sea.

Ever since the gulf stream
freed the fjords from

ice age glaciers, settlers have come
to these coasts to harvest the ocean.

But as communities grew,
many were forced to move on...

...and discover distant, greener shores.

These northern tribes have
become fearless navigators

and enterprising traders.

Their ships, known as "knorrs",
are built for heavy loads.

Drying cod as they go, the vikings
can undertake extended voyages,

from the baltic to the
black sea and from the north sea

to the mediterranean.

They even reach america.

In scandinavia,
timber is still plentiful.

The vikings ship it south
where even the woodlands

that rome has left
standing are becoming patchy.

Europe's ancient trees
had come crashing down

to clear land for farms, to build
ships or houses, and for fuel.

Now, around the year one thousand,

the wildwoods suffer
a fresh onslaught.

Once again it is rome
that wields the axe.

The roman church takes up
where the empire has left off.

It founds scores of monasteries,

and their purpose
is not purely spiritual.

Many are given vast tracts
of wooded land to clear.

The monks' mission is
to also tame the wild.

Especially cistercian monasteries,

like tintern abbey,
use advanced farming techniques.

Their libraries are databases
of botany and horticulture.

Religious rulings alter
europe's landscapes.

Most abbeys are soon
surrounded by fish farms.

Although monks must fast
for up to 150 days a year,

they merely abstain
from meat - but not fish.

Across the continent,
monastic fishponds create thousands

of fresh havens for wildlife.

Yet some species suffer.

Beavers and pond turtles
live in water,

so the church declares
them to be fish -

fit for consumption during fasts.

They soon disappear.

An abbey's civilizing
mission bears fruit

when the wildwood clearing
of it's first foundation

becomes the site of a new town.

By the 14th century,
one in eight people

in central europe
lives within town walls.

The streets of europe's
growing towns are paved

with opportunity -
and not just for humans.

Rats crowd into
the new urban centres,

drawn by the wealth
of food and refuse.

Their presence foreshadows
a lethal threat to civilisation.

In the late thirteen-forties,

an epidemic flares across
the continent like wildfire,

leaping from door to door
and town to town.

In just 3 years, half the
inhabitants of europe are dead.

Rats arriving on ships
from asia carry fleas

with a killer bacteria...

and the fleabites pass
the plague on to humans.

Old and young, rich and poor,
great and small succumb.

Many believe this to be the
apocalypse, the end of the world.

It will take europe's
human population 250 years

to recover to it's former levels.

For europe's wildlife this
is a long breathing space.

After the tide of terror recedes,
few people are left

to plant or harvest the fields.

Herds of livestock run wild.

...and europe's big predators,

shoved to the edge of extinction
for centuries, return for a heyday.

When humans flourish, wolves,

bears and lynx are the
first to suffer.

Over the centuries,
only plagues or extended

wars have given them
a chance to recover.

Throughout the middle ages,
the higher

alpine forests have been
cleared for grazing,

forcing the tree line down.

But now, this constant attack
is put on hold.

Europe's temperate climate means that,

left alone, most of the
continent's regions would revert

to their natural state:
Unbroken forest.

After the black death,
the wild can now regenerate.

For the first time in
thousands of years,

animals enjoy increasing freedom.

As fields and pastures lie
uncultivated year after year,

europe's woodlands soon
widen their territory,

filling up the farmland in an
endless sea of trees.

But the truce does not last.

Late in the 16th century, the forests
face the biggest assault ever.

It is the era of
europe's great navies,

of overseas exploration and of
momentous wars for sea power.

Tall ships need tall trees -
mature wood in many shapes and species.

Ten thousand trunks are toppled

to construct the biggest vessels
yet built, huge galleons.

Europe's prime timber
is sent afloat to do battle.

July 1588. the greatest
invasion fleet to date,

the spanish armada,
meets it's opponent:

The english navy.

Outnumbered, the english set
fire ships adrift among

the enemy anchored off calais.

The armada boasts 120 vessels,

including 30 galleons -
powerful but difficult to manoeuvre.

Panic and flames force the floating
fortresses out into the north sea.

As they round
scotland and ireland a violent

atlantic storm batters the spanish
fleet, shattering many ships.

Near the coast of ireland,

spain's finest forests sink
to the sea floor.

Although the armada has
not changed the course of history,

some of it's wreckage will.

In ireland gathering seaweed
to fertilise the thin,

impoverished soils had long been
a way to better crops

in the few wind-protected valleys
where wheat grows well.

But what washes ashore
in the surf that summer

of 1588 will revolutionise
ireland's and ultimately

europe's staple crops forever.

To the locals, a shipwreck near the
coast is a stroke of good fortune.

This time, they scarcely know
just how lucky they are.

Potatoes first made
the journey from the

new world to spain decades
earlier with columbus.

They prove ideal rations
for the spanish navy.

To the rest of europe,
they are virtually unknown.

Irish farmers soon discover
that this foreign

plant from the slopes of the
andes is well suited to the short days,

cold nights and poor soils
of their island -

better than anything
they have planted before.

Soon, potatoes prosper
where cereal crops failed.

The fate of the irish rapidly
becomes linked to a single plant.

Inside two centuries,
fields and crops multiply tenfold.

So does the population,
to more than eight million.

But then, in the winter of 1845,
disaster strikes.

A stowaway from america, a fungus,
rots the food stores in farm cellars...

the following year,
it ravages fields and farms.

Within a few months,
millions lose their livelihood.

Advancing a hundred times faster
than any other potato disease,

it infests the whole country and
sweeps on into mainland europe.

This is the worst famine
in europe's history.

In ireland, the body count rises,
eventually reaching a million.

One and a half million impoverished
survivors desert their stricken farms.

Their mass exodus signals a shift

to a new era that
has already begun in england...

...one that will alter the face
of europe more radically

and rapidly than ever before.

This new economy
is no longer based on crops,

but on minerals and technology.

This is the mechanical age:
A steam-driven revolution,

accelerating at an
unprecedented speed.

Machines now dictate
the rhythm of life,

the movements of the body,
the rate of productivity.

Factories claw in crowds of
labourers from rural districts

to new industrial centres
around the coalfields.

New means of transportation
link far-flung places.

Canals run from coast to coast.

Coal fuels the revolution.

By the mid-eighteen-hundreds,

fifty million tons go up
in smoke each year,

choking and blackening
england's towns.

In the most striking change
to the landscape,

sprawling cities swallow up
green farmland.

The industrial revolution
begins in england,

but soon, in the second half
of the 19th century,

palls of smoke hang
over continental europe.

Here, at first,
the industrial revolution is fuelled

by wood -
especially around the alps,

where the remaining forests
are plundered wholesale.

Rivers become conveyor belts.

Hundreds of thousands
of foresters supply

the iron industry with raw
material for charcoal.

But so all consuming are the
furnaces, that, in the long run,

only the vast deposit's of coal
can satisfy their hunger.

For industries to reach
beyond europe's borders,

they need efficient transportation:
Giant steel ships -

and an expanding rail network.

Britain exports railways
all over europe,

linking port and mine to factory,
city-to-city, nation to nation.

For the first time people can
cover long distances with ease.

Now inhabitants of smog-ridden
towns can escape to the countryside.

Suddenly, some are made aware of
what is missing in their lives.

Clean air. Wide open spaces.

Blue skies.

And, perhaps their
greatest discovery...

...the silence
of true wilderness.

Ever since humans set foot
on this continent,

the alpine peaks have been
feared and avoided.

Up here,
there was little to be gained.

But now, mountain climbers,
painters and poets,

botanists and geologists,
even ambitious photographers,

are crowding to these peaks.

These sons and daughters of the
industrial revolution discover

treasures that money cannot buy.

The most spectacular of these
is the vast mountain

wilderness in the very centre
of a tamed continent.

They descend
with a powerful new message:

Wild europe,
in all it's varied glory,

is worth protecting
for it's own sake.

At the dawn of the 20th century,
this message comes just in time.

As modern cities sprawl
populations surge,

manmade landscapes abound
and ever-new inventions

add to the human impact on land,
climate and wildlife.

Europe's journey through time
begins to take a new direction.

From consumption to co-existence
with wild nature.

Europe's cities are turning
into new wildlife havens

and natural landscapes
it's protected sanctuaries.

Civilisation and nature are more
and more entwined.

In europe wildlife is everywhere,
on farmland,

in planted forest and wildwoods,

on city fringes and in the
continent's remotest corners.

Now, in the new millennium it's
in human hands to keep europe wild.