Bringing History to Life

In 1933, Adolf Hitler seizes power in Germany, where he has seduced the population with golden promises of a restoration of the Great German Empire. He allies himself with Mussolini's fascist Italy, Stalin's communist Soviet Union and the military dictatorship in Japan, which has the same dreams of grandeur as Germany. In this series, you get a thorough review of World War II - from the birth of fascism through the war's many dramas to the aftermath, where the victors deal with the war's worst criminals.

Hitler led the world to war

Course is set for war • » Adolf Hitler takes power in 1933 with dreams of building The Third Reich from the ashes of a new world war.

A DICTATOR IN DISGUISE • After World War I, Germany is humiliated and impoverished. Hunger, violence and poverty characterise everyday life, and while the population struggles to build a peaceful republic, Adolf Hitler begins his march to power. His vision is to restore the Greater German Reich. A few years ahead, another world war awaits.

THE WAY OUT OF THE CRISIS • Western nations were hit hard by the economic downturn after the Wall Street Crash in 1929. The Soviet Union wasn’t affected, but suffered famine instead. Across all countries, the state took a firm grip on the economy, and the armaments industry grew.

HITLER’S BLACK GUARD • From its beginnings in 1925, the SS was the Nazi movement’s elite corps. Its members underwent relentless training and Nazi indoctrination, which taught the recruits to blindly follow Adolf Hitler. The SS could get away with anything – they could even get away with systematic mass murder.

NAZIS’ FIRST MASS KILLINGS • In 1934, Adolf Hitler feels so threatened by rivals in the Nazi party that he orders more than 80 murders. During two bloody days, the Führer’s personal SS unit assassinates many of Hitler’s old ‘brownshirt’ comrades, along with more than a dozen high-ranking military and political opponents.

ANTISEMITISM BECOMES LAW • At the annual rally in Nuremberg in 1935, the Nazi party celebrates its success in enshrining its racial ideology in law. Passed unanimously by the Reichstag, the new Nuremberg Laws exclude Germany’s Jews from society and instigate a form of state-sponsored persecution the likes of which has not been seen since the Middle Ages.

THE WRITING WAS ON THE WALL • German women must keep their blood pure; tuberculosis quietly spreads in the lungs of healthy Americans; and good communist children spend their holidays at school. These were some of the messages on campaign posters in the 1930s when government notices were pasted on walls and fences around the world.

HITLER’S EASIEST VICTORY • Not a single shot is fired when Hitler’s troops march into Austria. In each city, brass bands and happy school children wait for the German soldiers. The persecution of Jews, however, begins immediately.

NAZI THUGS TARGET JEWS IN RIOTS • A Jewish boy shoots a German diplomat. Senior Nazis seize the chance to claim the murder is the result of a Jewish conspiracy. On 9th November, thousands of Jewish businesses are targeted by violent thugs and die-hard Nazis in an orgy of destruction, rape and murder.

GERMANY TAKES THE LEAD IN PRE-WAR ARMS RACE • After World War I, Germany was prohibited from rearming. But that didn’t concern Adolf Hitler in the slightest. The Nazi leader had barely gained power in 1933 before he began to mobilise factories, and very quickly began rolling out state-of-the-art weapons. Six years later, Germany had developed the world’s strongest war machine.

GERMAN TROOPS ATTACK POLAND • Adolf Hitler is playing a high-stake game when he attacks Poland. The country must be subjugated quickly to prevent Western European powers – principally Britain and France – from interfering. But the campaign does not go entirely...