Second World War

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

Tony Chafer examines the paradoxes and complexities that underlie belated recognition of the contribution of African soldiers to the liberation of France in 1944.

Robert Pearce investigates the career of the Third Reich’s ‘evil genius’.

Steve Morewood investigates Anthony Eden’s frenetic diplomatic efforts to forge a Balkan front to save Greece from Nazi Germany and the controversies that resulted from his failed mission.

The agreement permitting Germany’s annexation of the Sudetenland was signed on 29 September 1938.