Uploaded February 2011 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
The Cuban Revolution was a successful armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement that overthrew the U.S.-backed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959.
Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtʃe geˈβaɾa];[5] June 14,[1] 1928 -- October 9, 1967), commonly known as El Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist. A major figure of the Cuban Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia within popular culture.
The Cuban Revolution was a successful armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement that overthrew the U.S.-backed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959.
Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtʃe geˈβaɾa];[5] June 14,[1] 1928 -- October 9, 1967), commonly known as El Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist. A major figure of the Cuban Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia within popular culture.
![Ernesto Che Guevara Documentary (part 6 of 6)
Ernesto Che Guevara (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtʃe geˈβaɾa];[5] June 14,[1] 1928 October 9, 1967), commonly known as El Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist. A major figure of the Cuban Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia within popular culture.[6] Ernesto Che Guevara Documentary (part 6 of 6)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PwtlXBWtENI/mqdefault.jpg)

![French Revolution 6/9
The French Revolution (French: Révolution française; 1789 99) was a period of radical social and political upheaval in French and European history. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years. French society underwent an epic transformation as feudal, aristocratic and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from liberal political groups and the masses on the streets. Old ideas about hierarchy and tradition succumbed to new Enlightenment principles of citizenship and inalienable rights.
The French Revolution began in 1789 with the convocation of the Estates-General in May. The first year of the Revolution witnessed members of the Third Estate proclaiming the Tennis Court Oath in June, the assault on the Bastille in July, the passage of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in August, and an epic march on Versailles that forced the royal court back to Paris in October. The next few years were dominated by tensions between various liberal assemblies and a conservative monarchy intent on thwarting major reforms. A republic was proclaimed in September 1792 and King Louis XVI was executed the next year. External threats also played a dominant role in the development of the Revolution. The French Revolutionary Wars started in 1792 and ultimately featured spectacular French victories that facilitated the conquest of the Italian peninsula, the Low Countries and most territories west of the Rhine—achievements that had defied previous French governments for centuries. Internally, popular sentiments radicalized the Revolution significantly, culminating in the Reign of Terror from 1793 until 1794 during which between 16,000 and 40,000 people were killed.[1] After the fall of Robespierre and the Jacobins, the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795 and held power until 1799, when it was replaced by the Consulate under Napoleon Bonaparte.
The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution. The growth of republics and liberal democracies, the spread of secularism, the development of modern ideologies and the invention of total war[2] all mark their birth during the Revolution. Subsequent events that can be traced to the Revolution include the Napoleonic Wars, two separate restorations of the monarchy and two additional revolutions as modern France took shape. In the following century, France would be governed at one point or another as a republic, constitutional monarchy and two different empires (the First and Second). French Revolution 6/9](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/R52DKKZXR2k/mqdefault.jpg)
![Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart The Magic Flute Queen of the Night Aria
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (German: [ˈvɔlfɡaŋ amaˈdeus ˈmoːtsaʁt], English see fn.),[1] baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart[2] (27 January 1756 5 December 1791), was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.
Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of Mozarts death. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons.
Mozart learned voraciously from others, and developed a brilliance and maturity of style that encompassed the light and graceful along with the dark and passionate. His influence on subsequent Western art music is profound. Beethoven wrote his own early compositions in the shadow of Mozart, of whom Joseph Haydn wrote that posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years.[3] Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart The Magic Flute Queen of the Night Aria](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RPUdN3xdpEA/mqdefault.jpg)

![Ludwig van Beethoven BBC Documentary (Part 15 of 18)
Ludwig van Beethoven[1] (17 December 1770 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. The crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.
Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, Beethoven moved to Vienna in his early 20s, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. His hearing began to deteriorate in the late 1790s, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf. Ludwig van Beethoven BBC Documentary (Part 15 of 18)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SZofSQgE1xw/mqdefault.jpg)
![Amadeus Mozart - dies irae
Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) is a famous thirteenth century Latin hymn thought to be written by Thomas of Celano.[1] It is a medieval Latin poem characterized by its accentual stress and its rhymed lines. The metre is trochaic. The poem describes the day of judgment, the last trumpet summoning souls before the throne of God, where the saved will be delivered and the unsaved cast into eternal flames.
The hymn is best known from its use as a sequence in the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass. It was removed from the ordinary form of the Roman Rite mass in the liturgical reform of 1969 1970, but was retained as a hymn of the Divine Office. It can also still be heard when the 1962 form of the Mass is used. An English version of it is found in various missals used in the Anglican Communion. Amadeus Mozart - dies irae](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SzNEE27g5Xo/mqdefault.jpg)

![Ludwig van Beethoven BBC Documentary (Part 2 of 18)
Ludwig van Beethoven[1] (17 December 1770 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. The crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.
Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, Beethoven moved to Vienna in his early 20s, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. His hearing began to deteriorate in the late 1790s, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf. Ludwig van Beethoven BBC Documentary (Part 2 of 18)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TaNO63_Nn5w/mqdefault.jpg)
![Ludwig van Beethoven BBC Documentary (Part 9 of 18)
Ludwig van Beethoven[1] (17 December 1770 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. The crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.
Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, Beethoven moved to Vienna in his early 20s, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. His hearing began to deteriorate in the late 1790s, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf. Ludwig van Beethoven BBC Documentary (Part 9 of 18)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Tc7BFEMdKNg/mqdefault.jpg)
![Ludwig van Beethoven Für Elise Bagatelle no. 25 in A minor
Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor (WoO 59 and Bia 515) for solo piano, commonly known as Für Elise (English: For Elise), is one of Ludwig van Beethovens most popular compositions.[1][2][3] It is usually classified as a bagatelle, but it is also sometimes referred to as an Albumblatt. Ludwig van Beethoven Für Elise Bagatelle no. 25 in A minor](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TigUGfx3odY/mqdefault.jpg)