Engineering an Empire

This documentary about empires produced by the History Channel consists of 14 episodes. Here is a brief overview: Seven episodes cover ancient empires around or near the Mediterranean Sea:

** Egypt

** Greece

** The Age of Alexander the Great

** Persia

** Carthage

** Rome

** The Byzantine Empire

One episode covers an ancient empire in Asia:

** China

Two episodes cover ancient empires in America:

** The Aztecs

** The Maya

Three episodes cover empires in more recent times:

** Britain

** France

** Russia

One episode - "Da Vinci's World" - does not cover an empire at all, but describes the beginning of the Renaissance in Italy.

Each episode (except two) runs for about 45 minutes. The exceptions - ancient Egypt and ancient Rome - are double features which both run for about 90 minutes.

The title Engineering an Empire is important. This is not traditional history where the main question is "What happened?" and where you often end up with a list of events which are not really connected in any way. Here the central question is how and why an empire came to be established, how it was organised and why it eventually fell apart.

The English word "engineering" has more than one meaning. It can cover art, architecture, building and construction; and it does. There is a lot of information about this aspect, and it is very well presented. But the word also has a broader meaning: how to create and manage something; in this case: how to make an empire work in an age with no radio and television, no computers and e-mail, and no mobile phones.

The American actor Peter Weller, who is also a professional historian, is the host of the program. He pops up from time to time, usually in the beginning and at the end of an episode, and he adds a personal touch to the program. When I see him, I have to share his dedication and enthusiasm, his desire to learn and understand how and why this particular empire developed just the way it did.

The documentary consists of four elements, which go together very well:

 

(1) Some parts of each episode are filmed on location, so we get to see what these places look like today

(2) With the help of computer technology we get to see what many buildings and monuments looked like when they were new

(3) Several situations are reconstructed with modern actors, and with the help of computer technology a few actors are sometimes made to like a whole army

(4) We get to meet the modern experts which are interviewed for each empire and hear them make their case

Engineering an Empire is an impressive work, and the History Channel deserves to be congratulated for producing this historical account and for making it available to the public. But this does not mean that the project is above criticism. I have to mention a few points which bother me:

(1) As already mentioned, the episode called "Da Vinci's World" is not about an empire, so it does not really belong here. There are some interesting details about the construction of the cathedral in Florence (whose Italian name is Firenze), but this does not change the fact that the episode is misplaced.

Maybe this episode is included in the series because Peter Weller lived and studied in Florence for a while (in 2001), as he himself explains at the end of the episode, and because he wants us to catch a few glimpses of the fascinating foreign city where he wrote his thesis.

(2) Ancient Greece consisted of a many independent city states which were often at war with each other. They only came together in the face of an external threat, such as Persia, and even then they were not quite sure if they could trust each other. The ancient Greeks founded an important and interesting civilisation, but they never built an empire, in any sense of the word, so this episode does not belong here.

(3) The episode about France - "Napoleon: Steel Monster" - covers only Napoleon's empire which fell apart when he was defeated at Waterloo in 1815. What about the empire which France built and maintained after Napoleon's defeat? This empire lasted much longer than Napoleon's, but it is simply ignored.

(4) The empire built and maintained by Japan between the restoration in 1868 and the end of World War Two in 1945 is not included here, although it had a huge effect not only on Asia but on the whole world.

(5) The U.S. Empire is not included, either. Maybe the producers agree with those observers who say that the U.S. does not and never did have an empire.

(6) What constitutes an empire? How is this word defined? This simple but in fact quite difficult and important question is not raised and therefore not answered.

A few years ago the British journalist Andrew Taylor tried to write a book about the same topic: The Rise and Fall of the Great Empires. Although it covers a few more empires than this documentary - for instance the trading empires of Portugal and Spain - this book is a total disappointment, as I have explained in my review which you can find on Amazon UK.

Engineering an Empire is a work of collaboration, with many scholars contributing to the product. This is in my opinion the only way a grand and ambitious project as this one can succeed. With Peter Weller as a host the many episodes come together to form a whole which is both informative and instructive.

This program is a good example of how to present the history of art and architecture in a documentary film.

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Engineering an Empire,

The History Channel, 2010,

Fourteen episodes, total running time: 12 hours

 

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