Second World War

Exiled in London in June 1940, with France on the brink of defeat, Charles de Gaulle broadcast a speech that was to create an enduring bond between him and his country, writes Jonathan Fenby.

Russell Tarr sees similarities but also important contrasts in the foreign policies of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy

Mark Bryant profiles the brilliant wartime cartoonist who chronicled the actions of Italy’s Fascist leader.

The German army’s training, discipline and Blitzkrieg tactics – directed by the supremely confident Führer – swept away Polish resistance in 1939. It took the shell-shocked Allies another three years to catch up, writes Andrew Roberts.

Richard Overy examines recent analyses of how Europe became embroiled in major conflict just two decades after the trauma of the Great War and we look at events and broadcasts commemorating September 1939. 

On the eve of the Second World War, the navies of Italy, France and Britain plotted for supremacy in the Mediterranean. Their actions resulted in the fracturing of the sea’s age-old unity, with consequences that persist to this day. Simon Ball explains how the ‘Middle Sea’ became the Middle East.

Robert Pearce recommends a first-hand account of the Third Reich.

Roger Moorhouse takes issue with the secular sainthood bestowed on Claus von Stauffenberg.

Clive Pearson assesses the Soviet dictator’s war record.

The head of Japan's Second World War government was executed on Dec 23rd, 1948