Ancient Assassins

Historians and military experts discuss the background, weapons and motives behind the tactics pioneered by Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for the fictional character of Dracula.

It's 327 BC when Alexander the Great confronts a rebel warlord in an impregnable mountain stronghold. He dispatches 300 warriors to scale the sheer rock face at night, undetected. It's a brutal test of skill and raw courage.

In 12th-century Japan, a female samurai humiliates all the others. Tomoe Gozen defeated the finest swordsmen, battled tyranny and was a battlefield innovator, with weapons, training and tactics still mimicked by the Green Berets.

They are the amphibious Roman unit tasked with the impossible. Called Batavians, they led the invasion of ancient Britain in AD 43. This desperate mission deep in enemy territory could hand the emperor an unlikely victory.

King Edward I invades Scotland, and only one man stands in his way. William Wallace takes on the most advanced fighting force in Europe, going from outlaw to general and transforming a handful of guerrillas into a rebel army.

King Alfred of Wessex is the only ruler left to resist total Viking domination of ninth-century England. He faces overwhelming odds in one of the most dramatic and decisive battles in English history.

In 1644, Ng Mui escapes Manchu invaders attacking Beijing. Taking refuge in a Shaolin monastery, she learns their Kung Fu, and over time develops Wing Tsun, a new form of the martial art that is still taught today.

In 1527, the Reformation has turned Europe into a powder keg. The Swiss Guards are all that stand between Pope Clement VII and mutinous soldiers from the King of Spain's army who seek revenge against Papal excesses.

Sir John Hawkwood was a medieval English knight who fought for decades as a mercenary in Italy. A pioneer of psychological warfare and guerilla tactics, he threw out the rule book and won battles using his wits.

In 371 BC, the Spartan army, ancient Greece's military superpower, confronts the 300 warriors of the Sacred Band of Thebes. The Spartans have total confidence in victory, but the Thebans have planned a devastating surprise.