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[ Man Narrating] U.S. Marines
hunker down in their foxholes.
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A Japanese soldier takes aim.
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Both sides stare down the barrel...
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and prepare to kill...
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or be killed.
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- [ Gunshot]
- [ Gunshots ]
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A ritual as old as humankind.
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- With a secret' link-
- [ Gunshot ]
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To the science of the planet...
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and one of the most
sophisticated machines on Earth.
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Connections that are only revealed...
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through big history.
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We think of history as a timeline...
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a series of events stretching
a few thousand years into the past.
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It's time to think bigger.
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Instead of a line,
imagine a web of infinite connections...
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interacting over billions of years...
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linked together to create
everything we've ever known-
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our universe, our planet...
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and us.
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When we consider our most epic moments
though the lens of science...
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we unleash
a revolutionary new idea-
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the movement of atoms
steered the movements of men...
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civilizations, galaxies.
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History as we know it
is about to get big.
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[ Gunshot]
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- [Narrator] The Second World War.
- [ Gunshot]
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Americans and Japanese
fight and die...
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- for control of a vital island.
- [ Gunshot ]
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Their bodies are no match for bullets...
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traveling at speeds of
2,800 feet per second.
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Traditional history
counts the casualties...
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and tells us which strategy
wins the day.
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[ Gunshots ]
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But big history connects
every battle ever waged by mankind...
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into a single story.
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Big history reveals the link
between our biology...
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and how we fight.
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We are now in the Stone Age.
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For fragile humans...
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It's easy to die...
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but much harder to kill.
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[ Grunts I
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Look at the natural world.
How do you kill something?
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Almost always you kill something
by getting up close and personal.
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You do it with your claws.
You do it with your teeth.
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Now look at your claws.
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Look at your teeth.
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Do you really want to get up close
and personal and try to kill something...
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with these pathetic teeth,
these pathetic claws?
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I don't think so.
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[ Narrator] To survive, humans must figure
out how to inflict damage from a distance.
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We create tools to extend our reach.
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Tools that we can use to slice...
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smash...
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and attack.
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Some early weapons
just as simple as a spear...
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a long spear puts you at a distance...
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from your enemy
or something that you're hunting.
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It's the ability to reach out and touch
someone or something...
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without putting yourself at harm's way.
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[ Narrator] Humans everywhere
use materials from nature-
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wood, stone and metals-
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to create weapons
that are powered by muscle...
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until one ancient civilization
stumbles on a new energy source.
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Big history connects
the birth of weapons...
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to the chemistry that revolutionizes them.
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[Whinnies ]
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[ Narrator]
In Imperial China...
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an alchemist mixes elements...
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looking for the secret to eternal life.
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He combines sulfur and carbon...
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with a mysterious compound
called saltpeter...
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and accidentally creates
a killer formula-
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gunpowder.
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We all know it's power.
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But big history zooms in
to reveal its source.
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Saltpeter is made up of potassium,
oxygen and nitrogen.
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Elements that can break apart
with the right amount of energy.
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Exposed to a flame...
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the sulfur and carbon ignite...
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adding the energy boost...
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that tears the atoms in saltpeter apart...
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releasing nitrogen and oxygen gas
that expand so rapidly...
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it launches a deadly
200-mile-an-hour shock wave-
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[ Explosion ]
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That will change the world.
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Traditional history
would end the story there.
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But big history digs deeper...
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and brings in science...
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to explain why
of all the places on Earth...
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gunpowder is born in China.
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Saltpeter, the ingredient
that gives gunpowder its kick...
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is relatively rare.
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But China is sitting on a mother lode.
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Other places around the world
simply didn't have access...
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to large deposits of this mineral.
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[ Narrator] Most saltpeter,
also known as potassium nitrate...
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can be traced back
to a very special source.
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[ Kean ] Potassium nitrate is formed
naturally through a couple processes.
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Most of them, actually,
involve animal poop.
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There is bat poop in caves that
reacts with limestone on the walls...
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and mixes with water.
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When the water evaporates,
you're left with nitrate compounds...
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that you can then pick up
and use in gunpowder.
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[ Narrator] The same process
can happen out in the open...
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with birds instead of bats.
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But either way, it takes the right
kind of climate to finish the job.
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A climate that can be found
in the caves and deserts...
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of southern and western China.
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In China, you can find natural deposits
of saltpeter just on the ground.
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It's basically due to the weather,
the climate in the area.
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You need the rainy seasons
to break things down to promote decay.
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You need the dry season
to get the water out...
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and leave the nice solid crystals
of nitrate that you can use in gunpowder.
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[ Narrator] Gunpowder is the spark
that ignites the world.
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It spreads along the Silk Road...
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across Asia to Europe...
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and crosses the Atlantic
to the New World.
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[ Kean ]
All of this history through warfare...
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would not really have been possible
without animal poop.
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[Narrator] To traditional history,
it's a perpetual arms race.
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But to big history,
it's a simple chemical reaction...
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that connects back...
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to our need to strike prey
from a distance.
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Whether stone-age spears...
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or modern bullets...
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to war is human.
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Because our greatest secret weapon...
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is hidden in our bones.
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[ Narrator]
Big history has shown...
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that' our need to project power
from a distance...
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connects to some explosive chemistry...
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and kick starts a global arms race.
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But big history uncovers...
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that this perpetual arms race started...
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in us.
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Using an explosion
to launch a projectile...
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is just a more powerful way
to do something...
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that the human body
was built to do itself.
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To find out how our bodies became
projectile throwing machines...
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Big history links back
seven million years...
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to mankind's giant leap.
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Grasslands have appeared
throughout the world.
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Our primate ancestors
come down from the trees.
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But on all fours, they're vulnerable.
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They can't see above the grass.
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By standing up,
their hands are free to use tools.
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And since they no longer
need to swing from trees...
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their anatomy begins to change.
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An ape's shoulders angle upward to
help propel them from branch to branch.
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But in humans,
the shoulders shift down and out...
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increasing our range of motion.
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And we develop something else-
an uniquely flexible wrist.
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Think of how a major-league pitcher throws.
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Watch the extension.
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The leg is way out, the whole twist,
the snap of the wrist at the end.
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He's delivering a payload
directly on target...
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with that millions of years
of evolution to that one moment.
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The big history of the throw,
as it were.
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[ Narrator] The human arm
is a biomechanical marvel.
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Engineered for storing up
and releasing elastic energy.
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Giving us the power
to aim and throw projectiles...
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with an accuracy that sets us apart.
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A chimp could not throw
a hand grenade...
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anywhere as far, anywhere
as accurately as a human...
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because we are built for it.
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[ Explosion ]
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One of the interesting things
about projectile weapons is...
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first off, they're uniquely human.
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But they also make possible
scales of conflict...
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that we don't see
among other organisms.
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We can cause death at a distance...
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in ways that no other species can.
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[Yelling 1
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[ Narrator] And as we design
better projectile weapons...
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first to improve our throwing ability...
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then to replace it...
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we begin to conquer each other...
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and the world.
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Big history connects forward...
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to an epic battle...
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and what seems to be
the perfect weapon.
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The Hundred Years War.
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A century of struggle
for control of France.
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At the Battle of Crécy...
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the French outnumbered England 2-to-1.
188
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But the English have a secret weapon-
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the longbow.
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Capable of firing 15 arrows a minute...
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at targets up to 400 yards away.
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The longbow
is the machine gun of its day.
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England is outnumbered
but not out armed.
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The French lose 10 times more men.
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Their army is decimated...
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by superior firepower.
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Traditional history tells us that
the longbow revoiutionizes warfare.
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Big history reveals how...
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by connecting the secret
of the longbow to the anatomy of a tree.
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Big history is very good at making
connections between the natural world...
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evolution and the natural world...
202
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and the ways humans
use these entities provided by nature...
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in new and very creative ways.
204
00:15:31,599 --> 00:15:34,602
One excellent example of that
is the yew tree.
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[ Narrator]
The yew is an ancient species...
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known to live as long as 5,000 years.
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Yew has been used as a weapon
for a long, long time.
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They have found a yew spear in England...
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that's been dated to 400,000 years ago.
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[ Narrator] Because the tree
grows slowly, its wood is unique.
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The outer layer is elastic.
It bends without breaking.
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The inner layer is dense and strong.
It can withstand intense pressure.
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Yew wood a perfect combination
of strength and flexibility...
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Makes the longbow so deadly...
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that it's almost unstoppable.
216
00:16:30,032 --> 00:16:33,160
But there's a superior weapon on the way.
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And it's so lethal,
that warfare will never be the same.
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00:16:44,296 --> 00:16:48,467
[ Narrator] Big history reveals that
the mechanics of the human arm...
219
00:16:53,263 --> 00:16:55,224
launch an arms race...
220
00:16:59,395 --> 00:17:03,524
and that the planet provides the tools
to perfect our weapons.
221
00:17:11,949 --> 00:17:17,329
In the Middle Ages, the longbow
is a weapon of mass destruction.
222
00:17:25,462 --> 00:17:29,758
But longbows are made from ancient trees
that grow so slowly...
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they're impossible to replace.
224
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And so are the archers.
225
00:17:35,222 --> 00:17:38,976
It takes up to 10 years of training
to become an expert.
226
00:17:42,187 --> 00:17:46,316
The longbow may be lethal,
but these drawbacks make it vulnerable.
227
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Big history reveals how
the deadliest weapon of its day...
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falls to a microscopic invader.
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00:18:02,291 --> 00:18:05,085
[ Bird Cawing ]
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00:18:05,169 --> 00:18:07,921
[ Narrator]
We call it the Black Death.
231
00:18:11,341 --> 00:18:15,929
The plague wipes out
up to 50% of Europe's population.
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00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:22,603
With fewer men to train as archers...
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00:18:22,686 --> 00:18:27,357
the kings of Europe will need
a new way to fight their wars.
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00:18:29,943 --> 00:18:35,991
It's the right place and the right time
for an ancient Chinese invention...
235
00:18:37,534 --> 00:18:40,537
to finally sweep the western world.
236
00:18:51,381 --> 00:18:54,927
- Guns are powerful-
- [ Gunshot ]
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Easy to build...
238
00:18:57,304 --> 00:18:59,389
and easy to master.
239
00:19:00,724 --> 00:19:02,226
[ Screams ]
240
00:19:05,437 --> 00:19:08,065
[ Markley ] You can train a peasant
to use it really quickly.
241
00:19:08,148 --> 00:19:09,191
[ Gunshot]
242
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You don't need a lifetime
to use a musket.
243
00:19:11,860 --> 00:19:15,155
You get the peasants out of the fields,
you give them a bit of training...
244
00:19:15,239 --> 00:19:18,075
you put them in the fields
with a few pikemen, ready to go.
245
00:19:20,202 --> 00:19:22,746
[ Narrator]
The gun replaces the longbow...
246
00:19:25,999 --> 00:19:29,044
and introduces a new kind of warfare-
247
00:19:29,127 --> 00:19:32,297
- Fire!
- Where the masses can fight...
248
00:19:32,381 --> 00:19:34,883
and even turn against the elites...
249
00:19:35,759 --> 00:19:38,512
opening a new era of human history.
250
00:19:49,898 --> 00:19:55,696
The big history perspective uncovers
how mankind's epic history of war...
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connects back
to a small change in our biology...
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that turned human beings
into throwing machines.
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[ Yells ]
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We've gone from throwing rocks,
throwing spears...
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using bows and arrows,
using catapults...
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and then applying gunpowder technology...
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to hurl our projectiles so much further.
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[ Narrator]
Our mastery of chemistry...
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perfected the art of projecting power
from a distance.
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It certainly changed everything.
It removed humans another few steps back...
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from the original face-to-face conflict.
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[ Narrator] From stone...
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to spear...
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to arrow...
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to musket...
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to the cannon...
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the drone...
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and beyond.
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But the story of weapons
is just the beginning.
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There's a much bigger puzzle
hidden in big history.
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Each episode unlocks a clue.
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Everyday things, like silver...
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mountains...
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and cell phones hold the key.
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Watch them all and you'll see
this grand mystery revealed.
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The big history of time, of space.
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The big history of us.
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