Fatal Shot
Can an assassination change the course of history? Find out what led to the world's most significant assassinations and what impact they had on society.
Can one assassination change the world? Some argue that it changes nothing. But history shows that it often triggers a political turning point, leading to countless more deaths and deeply damaging social change. In the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, the number of assassinations has increased considerably. On average, every two years a world leader is killed by an assassin. Attacks on political leaders such as the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered worldwide conflicts and wars. Even peace activists such as Mahatma Ghandi or Martin Luther King are not safe from assassination. Sometimes people have to die because they know too much, like the former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko. The assassins do not always act of their own free will, sometimes they are brainwashed. We take a look at the way assassins think. From religious zealots to to political extremist, the series explores backgrounds, uncovers myths, re-visits crime scenes, and reconstructs the sequence of events up to the moment when the assassin strikes.
Episodes
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From one Death, many
The assassinations of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana, and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin have something key in common: these political assassinations triggered war, genocide and the deaths of countless others. When politically motivated assassins kill, the outcome is often the same: From One Death Many.
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Disrupters of Peace
Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Junior, and John F. Kennedy were proponents of peace and progressive ideals. Who, then, were the assassins driven to annihilate their dreams? We examine the lives of these assassins, the events that propelled them to take their fatal shot, and the legacy that those who were killed left behind.
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Clandestine Killers
Information is power but it can also be dangerous. People are killed if they know too much. From Mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, to former Russian secret service agents Alexander Litvinenko and Sergei Skripal, or Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, Clandestine Killers exposes the secretive world of assassins and the extraordinary methods they use to silence the outspoken.
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Brainwashed Assassins
Minds can be manipulated and triggered to kill. Brainwashing is achieved in many ways, but its target is always a susceptible mind. From suicide squads to murderous cult members, or deluded misfits hellbent on fame, Brainwashed Assassins explores how the mind can be manipulated, transforming ordinary individuals into lethal assassins.
Facts
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Original TitleTödlicher Beschuss
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Year2020
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Length4 × 52’ (ENG, GER)
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ResolutionHD
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RightsGerman-speaking rights only.
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Produced by