A great general — but was he really the greatest?

General Monash, the only Jew to command an army in the First World War, has been described in Australia as an outsider who won the war. But how much of an outsider was Monash, and how much of the war did Australia win? And did Monash write his own story?

Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

Ataturk never said his famous words and Bert Facey wasn’t there for the landing. Gallipoli stripped bare.

One of the most famous and best-loved Australian accounts of the Gallipoli landing is a fabrication. The most quoted quote was never actually said. What else do we believe about Gallipoli that is untrue?

Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

Did young women really hand out white feathers to young men who didn’t enlist in the services during the First World War? It sounds like a myth, but there are lost limbs and lost lives to attest that the white feathers were real. A relative of a prominent Australian historian joined up when he received a white feather and returned from the front with only one leg.

Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

In January 1989, East German leader Erich Honecker declared that the Berlin Wall would still be standing in 50 or even 100 years. By November that same year the Wall was down and the Cold War was over. 1989 was a year that no-one saw coming. Head back to 1989 and learn about the luck that led to the collapse of the Soviet empire.

How did a committed communist become an accidentally revolutionary Soviet leader? Take a closer look at the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev and discover how his approach to economic and political reform opened up a Pandora's box of free speech and criticism. Find out how Gorbachev earned himself a seat at the negotiating table with the West and learn why he was no longer willing to hold on to empire by force

The Cold War is often referred to as the 'War of Words'. Meet the people who tore down the Iron Curtain from within the Soviet Union through protest and dissent. Hear the stories of a Romanian radio repairman and his buried typewriter and the Polish scientist who swam for freedom.

The most familiar story of the Cold War is that of the superpower rivalry between the US and the USSR—two armed camps, teetering on the precipice of nuclear war. Find out how the standoff played out, whether America really won the Cold War and why personalities matter in politics.

Could breakthroughs in DNA technology and forensic genealogy identify Adelaide's Somerton Man? And is it time to finally dig him up?

Derek Abbott has spent decades trying to identify the man found dead on Somerton Beach. If his theory is correct, he's married to the unknown man's great granddaughter. But to prove it, he needs the Somerton Man's DNA.