The Triumph of the West
The Triumph of the West was a thirteen part BBC television series, with an accompanying book, written and presented by John Roberts, historian and Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and first broadcast in 1985. The series was subtitled A View of History by John Roberts.
The series focuses on the origins and evolution of Western civilization, and the transformative challenges and influence it has exerted on the rest of the world. The thirteen one-hour episodes examined the socio-economic, political, and cultural movements that helped shape world history. The programmes painted a broad canvas but avoided simplistic solutions, encouraging viewers to think and form their own conclusions.
Episodes
- Episode 1 – Dangerous Gifts: the benefits and costs of Western influence
- Episode 2 – A New Direction: Influences from Ancient Graeco-Roman and Judeo-Christian Culture
- Episode 3 – The Heart of the West: The Middle Ages and Orbis Christiani
- Episode 4 – The World's Debate: Islam and Christianity
- Episode 5 – East of Europe: Byzantium and Russia
- Episode 6 – The Age of Exploration
- Episode 7 – New Worlds
- Episode 8 – Age of Light
- Episode 9 – Monuments to Progress: The Long Nineteenth Century
- Episode 10 – India: The Ironies of Empire
- Episode 11 – The East is Red: China in the Twentieth Century
- Episode 12 – The Decline of the West
- Episode 13 – Capitulations: Third World countries learn the price of dependency on the West