WWII: The Complete History

The European legacy of the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations after World War I plays into the start of the Second World War

Hitler systematically overthrows the Versailles Treaty, then targets weaker Poland and Czechoslovakia, while public mood swings from appeasement to opposition.

During the five weeks, 'the phony war,' following the overthrow of Poland, Britain and France prepare to use the tactics of World War I, and a new prime minister emerges.

In May 1940, Winston Churchill becomes Britain's prime minister, and the war in Europe intensifies; France's fall to Hitler's army rattles the British people.

Winston Churchill declares the Battle of Britain begun, and the war escalates around the globe, drawing Japan and Italy to the Axis, and the United States to the Allied side.

As 1941 opens, disasters unfold, North Africa becomes a huge battleground, and Hitler stages a three-pronged attack on the Soviet Union, not reckoning on the severity of the Russian winter.

Hitler's Operation Barbarossa falters in the harsh Russian winter, then Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in the Pacific brings the United States into the war with a single stroke.

Fighting in the Pacific is savage, Hitler's forces turn to Stalingrad, and the Mediterranean island of Malta is under siege

The war reaches its turning point in North Africa as Montgomery begins to defeat Rommel, and the Allies turn from defensive to offensive action.

The tank battle at Kursk; the Italians depose Mussolini; Nazi forces must go on the defensive; the Allies plan an invasion of Western Europe -- D-Day.

In the spring of 1944, Allied forces launch a great amphibious assault against the Nazis, beginning the invasion on the beaches of Normandy.

Allied soldiers entering the territory of the Third Reich discover the horrors of the concentration camps and lay siege to Berlin.

After V-E Day, the focus is on the Pacific, and President Truman decides to deploy the atomic bombs that destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending the war.