Episode 2

Overview

THE CHINA OF THE MANCHU EMPERORS and the signing of the treaties which gave Britain Hong Kong. Why do the Chinese regard these treaties as unequal? SCOTLAND AND THE GREAT WITCH HUNT OF THE 17TH CENTURY: A thousand women were strangled or burnt. Was this persecution a political act by James VI which got out of hand? Why was it directed at women? The recently discovered diary of a Lancashire weaver JOHN O'NEIL who, a century ago, recorded his experiences as an early trades union leader in the recession of the 1860s. New research on the founding father of the Irish Republic, EAMON DE VALERA. Was he as committed to a united Ireland as was always believed, or was he prepared to compromise?