Today, I’m excited to unveil a project I’ve been working on, inspired by my previous entry on misinformation. This endeavor is a curated YouTube and movie playlist designed to be a cronological journey through history.
But this isn’t just any history playlist; it stretches far beyond the inception of recorded human events. It encompasses the vast expanse of human knowledge, from the dawn of time to contemporary cosmology, weaving together threads of science, astronomy, geology, and more.
It’s what some might call “Big History” (a reference coined from the YouTube Channel Crash Course) – a cinematic of our very existence.
Why Am I Making This Cronological Video Time Line of History?
So, why embark on such a monumental undertaking?
Firstly, I’m deeply passionate about history – the stories, the mysteries, the lessons it holds. But beyond personal interest, there’s a quest for knowledge. I want to navigate the labyrinth of human understanding, distinguishing between the solid bedrock of fact and the shifting sands of fiction.
As I delved into this project, I realised the power of visual learning. For me, there’s something uniquely captivating about seeing history unfold on screen, bringing ancient civilizations and groundbreaking discoveries to vivid life.
Moreover, I noticed a gap in the online sphere. While there were scattered resources, they often felt limited, confined to niche corners of Reddit forums. I wanted to create something more comprehensive, a playlist accessible to anyone.
So, join me on this cinematic voyage through time and space.
Cronology of the History of Existence – YouTube Playlist
Please note on this embedded playlist there are “only” 200 videos. The complete playlist has 676 videos…
You can find that here.
Cronology of the History of Existence – Movies, Documenties & Series List
| Entry | Year |
|---|---|
| Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014) | – |
| Walking with Monsters (2005) | ~530 million years ago |
| Walking with Dinosaurs (1999) | ~100 million years ago |
| Walking with Prehistoric Beasts (2001) | ~60 million years ago |
| 300 Million Years (2015– ) | – |
| Planet Earth II (2016) | – |
| Missing Link (1988) | ~1 million years ago |
| Quest for Fire (1981) | ~80,000 years ago |
| Great Human Odyssey | 80,000 |
| Mankind the Story of All of Us (2012) | ~70,000 years ago |
| Andrew Marrs History of The World | – |
| The Incredible Human Journey (2009– ) | ~50,000 years ago |
| 10,000 BC (2008) | – |
| The Pyramid Code | 2630 B.C. |
| The Prince of Egypt (1998) | ~1270 B.C. |
| Troy (2004) | ~1250 B.C. |
| Alexander (2004) | ~330 B.C. |
| Spartacus (1960) | ~71 B.C. |
| Cleopatra (1963) | ~40 B.C. |
| I, Claudius (1976) | ~the year 0 |
| The Passion of the Christ (2004) | the year 30 |
| Gladiator (2000) | ~the year 180 |
| Red Cliff (2008) | ~the year 220 |
| Red Cliff II (2009) | ~the year 220 |
| Rome (2005–2007) | ~the year 390 |
| Agora (2009) | ~ the year 391 |
| Muhammad: The Messenger of God (2015) | ~the year 570 |
| Vikings (2013–2020) | ~starts in the year 793 |
| The Last Kingdom (2015–2022) | ~the year 876 |
| The 13th Warrior (1999) | ~the year 922 |
| Macbeth (I) (2015) | ~the year 1040 |
| Kingdom of Heaven (2005) | ~the year 1150 |
| Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan (2007) | ~the year 1200 |
| Marco Polo (2014–2016) | ~the year 1295 |
| Andrei Rublev (1966) | ~the year 1400 |
| Warrior Women | 1412 |
| Black Death (2010) | ~the year 1348 |
| Braveheart (1995) | ~the year 1300 |
| Henry V (1989) | ~the year 1415 |
| The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) | ~the year 1431 |
| Mystery Files: Leonardo da Vinci | 1452 |
| Conquest 1453 (2012) | ~the year 1453 |
| Apocalypto (2006) | ~the year 1502 |
| Da Vinci’s Demons (2013–2015) | ~the year 1500 |
| Wolf Hall (2015) | ~the year 1527 |
| Secrets of Henry VIII’s Palace: Hampton Court | 1529 |
| Secrets: Golden Raft of El Dorado | 1531 |
| Elizabeth (1998) | ~the year 1558 |
| Shakespeare in Love (1998) | ~the year 1593 |
| Seven Samurai (1954) | ~the year 1586 |
| The Admiral: Roaring Currents (2014) | ~the year 1597 |
| Nova Zembla (2011) | ~the year 1598 |
| Samurai Headhunters | 1600 |
| Pocahontas (I) (1995) | 1607, Jamestown. |
| Witch Hunt: A Century of Murder | 1645 |
| The New World (2005) | ~the year 1650 |
| Harakiri (1962) | ~the year 1670 |
| The Admiral (2015) | ~the year 1675 |
| The Crucible (1996) | 1692-93, Salem Witch Trials |
| The Last of the Mohicans (1992) | ~the year 1757 |
| The Mission (1986) | ~the year 1758 |
| Barry Lyndon (1975) | ~the year 1760 |
| 1776 (1972) | 1776, American Revolution |
| The Crossing (2000 TV Movie) | 1776, American Revolutionary War |
| TURN: Washington’s Spies (2014–2017) | 1776-1783, American Revolutionary War |
| John Adams (2008) | ~the year 1780 |
| Pride & Prejudice (2005) | ~the year 1785 |
| Amadeus (1984) | ~the year 1788 |
| Ken Burns: The West | 1803 |
| Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) | ~the year 1805 |
| Napoléon (2002) | ~the year 1816 |
| The Revenant (I) (2015) | ~the year 1820 |
| The Young Victoria (2009) | ~the year 1838 |
| 12 Years a Slave (2013) | ~the year 1841 |
| North & South: Book 1, North & South (1985) | 1842-1861, Mexican-American War, Start of US Civil War |
| Les Misérables (2012) | ~the year 1850 |
| Ken Burns: The Civil War | 1861 |
| North & South: Book 2, Love & War (1986) | 1861-1865, Civil War |
| Gone with the Wind (1939) | 1861-1863, Civil War era |
| Free State of Jones (2016) | 1862-1865, Civil War |
| Dances with Wolves (1990) | ~the year 1863 |
| Glory (1989) | ~the year 1863 |
| Gangs of New York (2002) | 1863, Draft Riots, Civil War era |
| Gettysburg (1993) | 1863, Civil War |
| Cold Mountain (2003) | ~the year 1864 |
| The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) | ~the year 1864 |
| Lincoln (2012) | ~the year 1865 |
| The Warlords (2007) | ~the year 1869 |
| The Last Samurai (2003) | ~the year 1877 |
| At Eternity’s Gate (2018) | ~the year 1885 |
| Hostiles (2017) | 1892, American Indian Wars |
| Gandhi (1982) | ~the year 1893 |
| H.H. Holmes: America’s First Serial Killer | 1893 |
| Titanic’s Final Mystery | 1912 |
| They Shall Not Grow Old (II) (2018) | ~the year 1914 |
| Gallipoli | 1915 |
| Paths of Glory (1957) | ~the year 1916 |
| War Horse (2011) | ~the year 1916 |
| Lawrence of Arabia (1962) | ~the year 1917 |
| The Lost Battalion (2001 TV Movie) | 1918, World War I |
| Ken Burns: Prohibition | ~the year 1920 |
| The Aviator (2004) | ~the year 1925 |
| Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) | ~the year 1931 |
| Mirror (1975) | ~the year 1935 |
| Chaplin (1992) | ~the year 1936 |
| Atonement (2007) | ~the year 1935 |
| Seven Years in Tibet (1997) | ~the year 1938 |
| Ken Burns: The War | 1939 |
| The World at War (1973–1974) | ~the year 1939 (-1945) |
| The Pianist (2002) | ~the year 1939 |
| Darkest Hour (2017) | ~the year 1940 |
| Dunkirk (2017) | ~the year 1940 |
| Pearl Harbor (2001) | ~the year 1941 |
| Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) | 1941, World War II |
| Das Boot (1981) | ~the year 1942 |
| Empire of the Sun (1987) | ~the year 1942 |
| The Pacific (2010) | ~the year 1942 |
| Midway (2019) | 1942, World War II |
| Enemy at the Gates (2001) | ~the year 1942 |
| Life Is Beautiful (1997) | ~the year 1943 |
| Unbroken (I) (2014) | 1943-1945, World War II |
| The Great Escape (1963) | ~the year 1943 |
| Son of Saul (2015) | ~the year 1944 |
| Hacksaw Ridge (2016) | ~the year 1944 |
| The Resistance Banker (2018) | ~the year 1944 |
| The Imitation Game (2014) | ~the year 1944 |
| Band of Brothers (2001) | ~the year 1944 |
| Saving Private Ryan (1998) | ~the year 1944 |
| Schindler’s List (1993) | ~the year 1945 |
| Fury (2014) | 1945, World War II |
| Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) | ~the year 1945 |
| Black Book (2006) | ~the year 1945 |
| Downfall (2004) | ~the year 1945 |
| Kon-Tiki (2012) | ~the year 1947 |
| The Last Emperor (1987) | ~the year 1950 |
| Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004) | ~the year 1950 |
| The Crown (2016–2023) | ~the year 1950 |
| Forrest Gump (1994) | 50s-80s, Cold War era |
| The Death of Stalin (2017) | ~the year 1953 |
| The Battle of Algiers (1966) | ~the year 1954 |
| The Founder (2016) | ~the year 1954 |
| Che: Part One (2008) | ~the year 1956 |
| Cold War (2018) | ~the year 1956 |
| The Vietnam War (2017) | ~the year 1956 |
| Bridge of Spies (2015) | ~the year 1957 |
| La Dolce Vita (1960) | ~the year 1959 |
| Thirteen Days (2000) | ~the year 1962 |
| Malcolm X (1992) | ~the year 1960 |
| Hidden Figures (2016) | ~the year 1961 |
| Green Book (2018) | ~the year 1962 |
| JFK (1991) | ~the year 1963 |
| Selma (2014) | ~the year 1965 |
| Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) | ~the year 1965 |
| Full Metal Jacket (1987) | ~the year 1967 |
| The Beatles Anthology (1995–1996) | ~the year 1968 |
| City of God (2002) | ~the year 1968 |
| Apollo 11 (I) (2019) | ~the year 1969 |
| First Man (2018) | ~the year 1969 |
| Apollo 13 (I) (1995) | ~the year 1970 |
| All the President’s Men (1976) | ~the year 1972 |
| The Last King of Scotland (2006) | ~the year 1972 |
| Bloody Sunday (2002) | ~the year 1972 |
| Man on Wire (2008) | ~the year 1974 |
| The Killing Fields (1984) | ~the year 1975 |
| Last Days in Vietnam | 1975 |
| Argo (2012) | 1979-1980, Iranian Hostage Crisis, Cold War era |
| Narcos (2015–2017) | ~the year 1980 |
| The Lives of Others (2006) | ~the year 1984 |
| The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) | ~the year 1985 |
| Chernobyl (2019) | ~the year 1986 |
| Straight Outta Compton (2015) | ~the year 1987 |
| Senna (2010) | ~the year 1988 |
| The Central Park Five (2012) | ~the year 1989 |
| Jarhead (2005) | ~the year 1990 |
| Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) | ~the year 1990 |
| Michael Jackson Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour (1992 TV Special) | ~the year 1992 |
| Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015) | ~the year 1993 |
| Black Hawk Down (2001) | 1993, Somalian Civil War |
| No Man’s Land (I) (2001) | ~the year 1993 |
| Beasts of No Nation (2015) | ~the year 1998 |
| Hotel Rwanda (2004) | ~the year 1994 |
| Invictus (2009) | ~the year 1995 |
| American Sniper (2014) | 1998-2014, Iraq War |
| Spotlight (I) (2015) | ~the year 2001 |
| The Breadwinner (2017) | ~the year 2001 |
| Vice (I) (2018) | ~the year 2001 |
| World Trade Center (2006) | ~the year 2001 |
| The Hurt Locker (2008) | ~the year 2004 |
| Lone Survivor (2013) | ~the year 2005 |
| The Social Network (2010) | ~the year 2004 |
| An Inconvenient Truth (2006) | ~the year 2006 |
| Snowden (2016) | ~the year 2006 |
| Inside Job (2010) | ~the year 2008 |
| The Big Short (2015) | ~the year 2008 |
| Restrepo (2010) | ~the year 2007 |
| Zero Dark Thirty (2012) | ~the year 2009 |
| The Impossible (2012) | ~the year 2009 |
| The Story of God with Morgan Freeman (2016–2019) | – |
| Human Planet (2011) | – |
| Samsara (I) (2011) | – |
| Virunga (2014) | ~the year 2012 |
| Icarus (2017) | ~the year 2012 |
| The Dawn Wall (2017) | ~the year 2015 |
| Free Solo (2018) | ~the year 2016 |
| AlphaGo (2017) | ~the year 2016 |
| Mosul (II) (2019) | ~the year 2017 |
| The Carters: Apeshit (2018 Music Video) | ~the year 2018 |
| Black Mirror (2011– ) | ~the year 2045 |
| Interstellar (2014) | ~the year 2070 |
Is This A Definitive List?
While this playlist represents a comprehensive journey through history and human understanding, it’s essential to acknowledge its fluid nature. No list, no matter how meticulously curated, can claim to encompass every facet of our collective past or present.
As I continue to immerse myself in the content, I fully intend to expand and refine this compilation. If there are gaps in the chronology or unanswered questions lingering in the narrative, I’ll diligently seek out additional resources to fill those voids.
In essence, this isn’t about achieving a static, definitive collection; it’s about embracing the journey of discovery, perpetually seeking to enrich our understanding of the world and our place within it.
Final Thoughts
In crafting this chronicle of human history and knowledge, I’ve come to appreciate the sheer magnitude of our collective story. From the primordial soup to the stars, from ancient civilizations to cutting-edge science, each chapter is a testament to our inexhaustible curiosity and boundless ingenuity.
Through this endeavor, I’ve deepened my appreciation for the complexities of our world and the interconnectedness of all things.
As I invite others to embark on this journey with me, I’m reminded of the transformative power of education and exploration. By delving into “history”, we not only gain insights into our past but also glean invaluable lessons for the present and future.
So, let us continue to explore, to question, and to learn. There are always new horizons to discover, new stories to unearth, and new wonders to behold.
