The World at War is a TV mini-series starring Laurence Olivier, Anthony Eden, and Averell Harriman. A groundbreaking 26-part documentary series narrated by the actor Laurence Olivier about the deadliest conflict in history, World…
Release Date: September 1973
10. Reckoning: 1945… and After
Air Date: 1 May 1974Season 1, Episode 25
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.
9. The Bomb: February-September 1945
Air Date: 24 Apr. 1974Season 1, Episode 24
Following the events from the death of US President Roosevelt through to the dropping of the two bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that prompted Japan’s surrender.
8. France Falls: May-June 1940
Air Date: 14 Nov. 1973Season 1, Episode 3
As their forces invade Northern Europe German strategists capitalize time and again on French preconceptions confounding French defenses.
7. Pincers: August 1944-March 1945
Air Date: 20 Mar. 1974Season 1, Episode 19
As the Allies debate how to prosecute the the invasion of Germany, Hitler settles the question with a massive counter attack in the Ardenne. Failure of the attack leaves German defenses of the Western Front in shambles. Meanwhile, Russian forces are also closing in but Stalin orders a pause so the SS can crush the Polish resistance.
6. Pacific: February 1942-July 1945
Air Date: 17 Apr. 1974Season 1, Episode 23
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.
5. Morning: June-August 1944
Air Date: 27 Feb. 1974Season 1, Episode 17
Four years after France fell the Allies invade Normandy. Caught by surprise the German defenses are quickly overcome. Heading inland the Allies win major victories against fierce resistance.
4. Banzai! Japan 1931-1942
Air Date: 5 Dec. 1973Season 1, Episode 6
Following Japan’s conquest of eastern Asia the Allies finally respond with sanctions. They prove so threatening to Japan that it prepares to conquer Southeast Asia to secure the resources it needs. But first the threat from the British and American Pacific fleets must be eliminated.
3. Occupation: Holland – 1940-1944
Air Date: 13 Mar. 1974Season 1, Episode 18
The Dutch are shocked when the Germans bomb Rotterdam and invade their neutral country. But Germany follows with insidious conciliatory gestures that ease tensions. Germany gradually exploits the populace with conscriptions, forced labor and deportation of Jewish citizens. Finally anticipating liberation as the Allies move westward, Dutch suffering intensifies. As the German propagandists had claimed, liberation brought devastation, not from warfare but from a brutal German embargo and intensified deportations.
2. Nemesis: Germany – February-May 1945
Air Date: 3 Apr. 1974Season 1, Episode 21
The closing weeks of the European war bring retribution for Germany in the form of carpet bombing cities like Dresden, the collapse of the Whermacht, atrocities by Soviet forces, and finally the fall of Berlin and suicide of Hitler.
1. Genocide: 1941-1945
Air Date: 27 Mar. 1974Season 1, Episode 20
The history of the Nazi persecution of the Jews, showing events leading to the “Final Solution”. Footage and Interviews with SS officers and Jewish survivors from various countries describe how the extermination camps operated and what existence was like there.