The invasions of Poland, the Winter War, the sinking of the Graf Spee, the "phony war" and Norwegian Campaign, and the elevation of Winston Churchill to Prime Minister.
The rise of the Japanese Empire, the Sino-Japanese War, the Soviet-Japanese border conflicts, Pearl Harbor, and the early Japanese successes in the Battle of Malaya and Battle of Singapore.
The opposition to the United States' entry into the war, Lend Lease, U-boat attacks on Atlantic convoys and American responses, mobilization of America after Pearl Harbor, loss of the Philippines, Doolittle Raid, Midway and Guadalcanal.
The desert war, starting with Italy's invasion of Egypt and the attacks and counterattacks between Germany and Italy and the Commonwealth forces, the Axis defeat at El Alamein.
The difficulties of the Italian Campaign beginning with Operation Torch in North Africa and the invasion of Sicily. Salerno, Anzio, Cassino, and the capture of Rome.
Changes in German society as the fortunes of war are reversed. Censorship and popular entertainment, German industry, recruitment of female, foreign and slave labor, Allied bombing, German dissent, and the mobilization of the Volkssturm.
Operation Dragoon, the liberation of Paris, the Allied occupation of France, and the failure of Operation Market Garden. The Warsaw Uprising, the battle of the Bulge, and the crossing of the Rhine. The Romanian coup and the Soviet advance.
Japanese society during wartime. How life transformed as the country suffered defeats, including the Doolittle raid, Midway, the death of Isoroku Yamamoto, the Battle of Saipan, Okinawa, and the relentless bombing of Japanese cities.
The island hopping strategy of Admiral Nimitz and General MacArthur leads from one costly, battle after another. The Japanese fight fanatically as the war gets ever closer to home, but Americans finally use their newest weapon, the A-bomb.
The atomic bomb, the ascendancy of President Harry Truman, growing splits among the Allies with Joseph Stalin, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, leading to the surrender of Japan.
As wretched survivours suffer deprivations amongst the ruins, half of Germany and eastern Europe trade one socialist tyranny for another as the Soviets take power. Japan is occupied by the U. S., but the colonial empires disintegrate.
For many the Second World War was the most significant experience of their lives. These are heartbreaking first hand remembrances from a vast array of survivors from both sides of the war.
