All language subtitles for Big.History.S01E02.Horse.Power.Revolution.720p.BluRay.DD5.1.x264-NTb.EN HOH

- [ Man Narrating ]
Midnight. April 18, 1775.
- [ Horse Whinnies ]

A lone rider carries an urgent message
that Will change the World.

His name is Paul Revere...

and this moment is revolutionary...

but not in the way
you've been told before.

We think of history as a time line-

a series of events stretching
a few thousand years into the past.

It's time to think bigger.

Instead of a line...

imagine a Web of infinite connections
interacting over billions of years...

linked together to create
everything we've ever known-

our universe, our planet...

and us.

When We consider our most epic moments
through the lens of science...

We unleash a revolutionary new idea:

The movement of atoms
steer the movements of men...

civilizations, galaxies.

History as we know it is about to get big.

- [ No Audible Dialogue ]
- Paul Revere's Warning
that the British are coming...

has become an American legend.

But While traditional history tells us
that his midnight ride...

is a key moment
in the American Revolution...

big history reveals connections to events
that shape all mankind...

from the clothes We Wear
to the rise and fall of empires...

to the revolution of language...

and it's the horse that links them all.

Big history connects back
6,000 years before Paul Revere...

to the grasslands of Central Asia.

These early nomads
are speaking an ancient language...

known as "Proto-Indo-European."

Their Words Will eventually spread
and evolve...

branching off from one common root...

into French, Italian...

Spanish...

Greek...

Russian...

Hindi...

German...

and English...

giving us the languages spoken
by nearly half the World.

Why does the spread of language
begin here?

[ Whinnying ]

Because these are the first people on earth
to ride horses...

and that creates a highway for their Words.

We wouldn't be having this conversation-
at least not in English-

if it was not for the role of the horse
in spreading language, culture and humans.

[ Narrator] Big history shows us
the hidden power of the horse...

as the messenger
that gave Paul Revere his words...

and the fastest Way to spread an idea...

Whether it's a Warning or a language...

or an innovation.

Big history links back 2, 000 years...

to ancient Rome.

Roman citizens traditionally Wear tunics...

but it's hard to ride a horse
in clothes like this.

As the Romans move north
to conquer the barbarians...

they notice their enemies
Wear something different into battle-

pants.

Pants are Warmer...

and a lot more comfortable
to Wear on horseback.

The Roman cavalry makes the switch...

and soon, so do Warriors...

- and men everywhere.
- [ Clamoring ]

Horses are a key reason Paul Revere-

and you, and millions of people
around the World-

Wear pants.

So while traditional history follows Paul
Revere into the American Revolution...

big history links his story
to a series of epic transformations...

all set in motion by a
revolutionary animal.

[ Whinnying ]

From the moment the first rider
jumps on the back of a horse...

nearly 6, 000 years ago...

both creatures are transformed.

[ Man ]
The human looks after the horse.

They clean it. They groom it.

They put shoes on it.
They help it breed.

And in return,
the horse gives us muscle power.

He gives us a victory in war.

On the scale of big history
it's hard to think of any other mammal...

that's had such an impact
on human history...

as the horse.

[ Narrator]
Of all of the animals on earth...

Why did the horse
become man's most important ally?

There are an estimated
6. 6 million species of land animals...

but millions of those-
like insects-

are too small to be useful...

and others are too
difficult to domesticate.

Carnivores, for example,
are too expensive to feed.

Some, like the elephant,
take too long to reach full size.

Others, like the zebra, are too ornery.

To be useful for hauling and riding...

an animal needs to Weigh
at least a hundred pounds...

so that eliminates
almost everything else...

leaving us with little more...

than a dozen large,
plant-eating land mammals...

and among them, only the horse
has the right combination...

of strength, temperament...

and above all, speed.

Each leg is like a giant spring...

that can propel a 1,200-pound animal...

at speeds six times faster
than the average human.

Once you domesticate an animal
that has more ability than yourself...

you've changed the entire game.

[ Whinnies ]

King Philip gives his 12-year-old son
a black stallion.

- [ Whinnies ]
- The horse seems untamable...

but the child breaks him.

Within a decade, the boy Will ride
this same horse into history.

The boy's name? Alexander.

For 6, 000 years, horses Will
be the primary vehicle of conquest.

They make massive empires possible.

At the height of his power...

Alexander the Great
commands an empire...

that stretches two million square miles.

Horses help Rome expand from Britain...

to North Africa...

and the Persian Empire to grow
as large as three million square miles.

These empires are big...

but what secret force
keeps them from getting even bigger?

[ Narrator] Big history is a new way
of looking at the World.

It reveals how the horse's unique design
made it man 's best friend.

Sparking revolutions in how we speak...

What We Wear...

and making massive empires possible.

But why didn't these
enormous ancient empires...

grow even bigger?

The evidence suggests a surprising theory-

that ancient empires have a size limit
determined by the horse.

If the outer edges of an empire are more
than 14 days ' ride from the capital...

it becomes a struggle to maintain control.

Speed of communications
is essential for an empire.

You have to be able
to get messages to the frontier...

and get messages back
within a reasonable space of time.

If you can't do that,
your empire is unwieldy.

You can't respond to attacks.
You can't respond to crises.

The Mongol Empire expands
Well beyond this limit...

to an unprecedented size
of 13 million square miles.

The Mongols control so much land...

it could take more than a year
for messages or troops...

to travel to the outer
edges of the empire.

But Within a century,
rebellions divide the Mongol Empire...

into four smaller territories...

each between
two and five million square miles.

Not coincidentally, about the size
of the Roman Empire at its height.

On the other side of the World,
the empires of the Americas...

are tiny in comparison.

At its largest, the Inca Empire...

is only a fraction of the size
of What Rome once Was.

To the north, the Aztecs claim
just 77, 000 square miles.

[ Chattering ]

Why are these New World empires dwarfed
by those in the Old World?

One important reason:

The New World doesn't have any horses.

In fact, the Inca rely on runners,
called "chasquis"...

to deliver messages and goods.

On a horse you can get
from point "A" to point "B"...

and they're a hundred miles apart,
relatively easily.

That's not a huge deal.

People running-
that's a very, very big deal.

[ Whinnying ]

Why did one side of the World have horses
While the other didn't?

You might think it's because horses
couldn't get to the Americas...

until Europeans
brought them here on boats...

but fossil evidence reveals a twist:

Horses Were born in the Americas.

[ Whinny Echoing ]

Horses are ours.
They've been ours from the dawn of time.

Big history connects back 50 million years.

As the Earth cools...

damp forests become grasslands.

The ancestors of modern horses
move out of the trees...

and onto the plains.

They adapt to their new environment...

and evolve long legs
and muscular bodies...

that allow them to outrun predators...

giving them the speed
that Will one day be so critical...

to human history.

So What happens
to these American horses?

They cross paths
With the first Americans...

Who come across the Bering Land Bridge
during the last ice age...

and see the horse, not as transportation,
but as lunch.

They likely hunted the horse
to near extinction.

But some horses make a lucky break...

by crossing the same land bridge
that brought people in...

eventually putting them in the right place
at the right time...

for humans in Central Asia to tame them.

The horse had a really,
really good plan of "get out."

If it wasn't for that,
where would we be today?

But the civilizations of the Americas...

Won't have the benefit
of this critical animal ally.

When horses finally return
to the Americas...

With the Spanish
in the 15th and 16th centuries...

generals like Hernán Cortés...

clash With the horseless cultures
of the New World...

and Win decisively.

In the first conflicts between
native people and the Spaniards...

the Spaniards are able to use the horses
to have surprise frontal assaults...

that would never occur
if the native people had had horses.

When native people see these horses,
they have three reactions-

"Holy cow. What is that?"

"Whoa1 Look at all the things it can do"
..

"I want one."

And they go from reaction one
to reaction three in, like, five minutes.

Within 200 years...

Spanish horses transform
Native American life...

throughout the Americas.

[ Man ] Once they got the horse
and adopted horse culture...

then they became mounted warriors
and also mounted hunters...

who now ranged far and wide
across the Great Plains.

[ Narrator] And, just like the Mongols
and the Romans before them...

these native tribes, like the Comanche...

quickly expand their empires
on the backs of horses.

[ McGrath ]
In fact, the Spanish had a name for it.

They called it Comancheria...

an area about 600 miles
from south to north...

and about 400 miles
from east to west...

and absolutely dominated that area.

So the horse entirely changed...

not only the culture
of the American Indians...

but the history of the West.

Where does the horse
get its horsepower?

The secret lies in the cosmos.

[ Narrator] Big history
changes the Way We see the World.

It reveals
that the strength and speed of horses...

connects to the size
of our ancient empires...

Which allows for the spread of ideas...

and carries us beyond human limits.

[ Blusters ]

But how has horsepower
dominated human history?

By giving us the power
to harness energy from space.

All the energy We get from eating food
can be traced back to one source:

the sun.

Humans can't directly absorb
the sun's energy...

but plants can...

Which means grassy plains like this
are massive energy reserves.

But eating all this grass
isn't an option for humans...

since it's mostly cellulose,
a substance We can't digest.

To get energy from Wild grass...

We can Wait for other animals to eat it...

and then eat them.

But there's a problem.

By the time the energy
gets up the food chain to us...

most of it is gone.

Plants like grass Waste 90%
of the sun's energy they take in.

Animals that eat grass lose another 90 %.

By the time We get around
to eating a steak...

another 90 % is lost.

I can't eat grass because
of the sort of organism I am.

So look at all that energy
sitting in the grass, and it's frustrating.

I can't get at it.
So what do I do, if I'm really clever?

I domesticate an animal
that can get at the grass.

So as humans begin
riding grass-eating horses...

We move a step closer
to the energy source...

and get a major power boost.

Learning to domesticate the horse
was a sort of energy revolution.

A horse can deliver
about eight or nine times the wattage...

of a human being.

So if, instead of carrying
goods yourself...

you can have horses carry them...

then, you know,
that is an energy bonanza.

For thousands of years,
the horse Will be our engine.

We will eventually find new ways
to harness the power of the sun...

by burning coal and oil for energy.

But even then, We still use the language
of the horse to describe it.

[ Whistle Blowing ]

The train is the iron horse.

The car is first called
"the horseless carriage."

And most of all when we measure
a machine's might...

We still refer back to the power
of our most revolutionary animal ally.

The horse gives humans access
to so much more energy...

it's no surprise we use
the term "horsepower" today.

But the story of the horse
is just the beginning.

There's a much bigger puzzle
hidden in big history.

Each episode unlocks a clue-

megastructures...

caffeine...

and ice...

hold the key.

Watch them all, and you 'Il see
this grand mystery revealed.

The big history of time, of space...

the big history... of us.