World War 2: The Complete History

- Season 1

(2009)

Events leading to the war.

Years 1938-39. The Munich Agreement of appeasement over Czechoslovakia. The partition and defeat of Poland. Sea vulnerability of ships to bombers. Britain and France ensconced at the Maginot line.

Examines the period known as "The Phony War".

Leadership change from Chamberlain to Churchill. Military strategy differences between WW1 and WW2. De Gaulle leads the French resistance.

Examines the Battle of Britain.

Events on the North African front, and of the Eastern Mediterranean front, including Greece, Crete, Malta, and the Balkans.

Events of 1941: Operation Barbarossa; The Battle for Tobruk; The Atlantic Charter; The Atlantic shipping sea trench warfare; Japanese aggression leading to the attack on Pearl Harbour.

1942: War in the Pacific: Doolittle Raid; Battle of Coral Sea. Strategic night bombing in Europe. Arctic convoy attacks. Siege of Malta. Rommel retakes Tobruk and Allies push to Suez. June German attacks in Russia. Battle of Midway.

1942-43 N. African Theatre: Battles for El Alamein. Pacific Theatre: Battle of Guadalcanal; Burma. European Theatre: Dieppe Raid; Resistance Movements. Eastern Front: Battle for Stalingrad; Siege of Leningrad begins. Casablanca Conference.

1943. Africa Campaign: Kasserine Pass; Tunisia. Pacific Theatre: Chindits @ India Burma border; Allied Island Hopping. Western Front: Strategic bombing: Hamburg; Berlin. Italian Campaign: Battle of Monte Cassino. Tehran Conference.

The Allies mount the D-Day landings. Paris liberated. Success in the battle for Italy. A second amphibious landing in Provence. The Russians attack on the Germans in the East. The Americans invade many Pacific Islands.

Surrender by Germany and Italy. Death of Mussolini and Hitler. USA beats back Japan island by island. Iwo Jima and Okinawa show that Japanese will fight to last man.

Celebrations in UK and USA. Politics of peace take over. Trust between allies starts to break down. Japan surrender after atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Start of cold war. Marshall plan for Europe and Berlin air drop.