All language subtitles for Episode 1 - The Gathering Storm (WWII Documentary) - English (auto-generated)

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

September the 1st 1939 German troops

thrust deep into Poland to win a swift

and absolute victory

barely 20 years earlier their

forefathers had also been on the March

but back into their homeland as a

defeated army in November 1918 after

four years of World War one Germany's

emperor Kaiser Wilhelm ii had been

forced to abdicate

[Music]

his armies were being ground down by a

remorseless offensive by British French

and US troops his people faced

starvation

[Music]

but already a dangerous myth was tickled

the German generals and troops claimed

that they hadn't been defeated in battle

but betrayed by their own cowardly

politicians

even so at 11:00 in the morning on

November the 11th 1918 the 11th hour of

the 11th day of the 11th month World War

one came to me

the following month President Woodrow

Wilson of the United States arrived in

Europe promising to create a new world

order he persuaded the world's leaders

to sign up to a new league of nations

but the Treaty of Versailles they agreed

that from now on disputes between

countries would be resolved not by

fighting but by debate in the league

the peoples of Europe was set free

Germany's Ally the austro-hungarian

Empire was dismembered out of it new

nations were created Austria Poland

Hungary Czechoslovakia Yugoslavia Latvia

Lithuania and Estonia Germany itself was

greatly reduced in size but this process

contained a time bomb not everyone

celebrated the birth of countries like

Czechoslovakia

several of them contain substantial

German minorities one day the desire to

reunite the German people's would come

to haunt you

the war-torn German people also had one

final indignity inflicted on they were

forced to pay a massive 6.6 billion

pounds in reparations to France and

Britain something they could ill afford

and when he returned to America Wilson's

new world order immediately fell apart

the US Congress decided it could not

risk being sucked into another war in

Europe it refused to join his league and

the u.s. withdrew into isolationism

Germany was now a very different nation

it was still Europe's biggest country

but it's militaristic monarchy had gone

it had become a democracy but it's

government the so-called heimer republic

was soon struck by a series of

hammerman's

street battles erupted between extreme

right-wing nationalists and communists

trying to start a revolution

[Music]

then in 1923 the country was devastated

by hyperinflation which reached hundreds

of percent a month

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ordinary people's savings were wiped out

this was flat I'll ground for a new

breed of rabble-rousing right-wing

politicians mundum Adolf Hitler Hitler

had been born in Austria he had fought

bravely as a soldier in World War one

and been awarded the Iron Cross

I'm returning to Germany he settled in

Munich and his fiery oratory soon

enabled him to seize control of the

small National Socialist or Nazi Party

[Music]

in October 1923 Hitler and his henchmen

attempted an armed coup against the

Vimal government it failed and he was

sentenced to nine months in prison he

wrote a book mine Kampf my struggle in

which he blamed Germany's Hills on the

Jews and demanded that it rebuild its

strength and seek new territories in the

east on his release he set about

building the Nazis into a proper

disciplined political party from now on

he would use the democratic system to

achieve power but for the next five

years by marv Germany prospered support

for extremist parties left and right

dwindle then sudden Hitler's opportunity

arrived

in October 1929 the US stock market

crushed billions of dollars were lost

and an economic depression swept across

the world

unemployment in Germany's soared to over

6 million only extremist politician

seemed to offer a solution politicians

like Peter by 1931 his Nazis were a true

and a Smith and they had their own Brown

shirted thugs the SA storm troops

numbered almost three million

in the 1932 elections the Nazis became

the largest party in Germany's

Parliament the Reichstag

but Hitler refused to join a coalition

leading Parliament paralyzed to break

the Tom pass President Hindenburg made

him Chancellor in January in 1933

head of the government

within a month the Reichstag burned down

Hitler accused the Communists and

demanded emergency powers he then used

them to ban all other political parties

in August 1934 President Hindenburg died

Hitler declared himself president he was

now absolutely the Fuehrer of Germany at

first there was little sign the what was

to come next three years the Fuehrer

concentrated on rebuilding Germany's

economy

he spent millions on public works

including the 5,000 mile autobahn system

to soak up the unemployed

but in secret Hitler was also spending

lavishly on a huge rearmament program

[Music]

under the Versailles Treaty the German

army had been limited to a hundred

thousand men the country was forbidden

to have an Air Force tanks or submarines

this small army was traveling in size

then in 1935 Hitler came out into the

open he unveiled a brand new air force

the Luftwaffe it had two and a half

thousand planes far more than Britain or

France unemployment plunged and the

Nazis became enormously popular

now emboldened the Fuhrer made his first

expansionist move in 1935 he reoccupied

the Saarland district on the French

border after it voted to return from

League of Nations to German

a year later he sent German troops into

the Rhineland part of Germany which had

been demilitarized at Versailles

[Music]

[Applause]

at the time many felt that Hitler was

only claiming back what was rightfully

Germany's neither Britain nor France

objected

when Berlin hosted the 1936 Olympic

Games the Nazis were seen by many as

firm but fair

the government's which was restoring the

nation's pride and which didn't threaten

anyway of course there were signs the

1935 Nuremberg Laws for bad Jews to

marry true Aryan Germans and deprived

them of their citizenship

when the first threats came to world

peace they didn't come from Hitler at

all but from somewhere else entirely

[Music]

Japan at the start of the 20th century

was already a military power

it had defeated Russia in a war in 1905

and he'd had fought alongside the Allies

in World War one after the war Japan was

an acknowledged world path and it signed

up to the League of Nations but

politically it was a mess of

contradictions nominally a democracy the

feudal tradition was still strong

most Japanese revered their Emperor as a

living God and regarded him as their

true leader

and the country faced major economic

problems its population was exploded

and it had no natural resources to fuel

its rapidly expanding industries its

leaders needed solutions when they saw

them in Chinese Manchuria Manchuria was

a land of rich grain fields with plenty

of coal and minerals it was a perfect

target Japanese troops were already

stationed

other possible targets were the colonies

ruled by the European powers Burma

Malaya and Hong Kong controlled by

Britain Indochina ruled by France and

the Dutch East Indies but at this stage

Japan had to be cautious they didn't

want to rouse the other great power in

the Pacific the United States for all

its anti imperialist slogans the u.s.

actually ran an unofficial empire in the

Pacific the Philippines Guam and several

islands were under its direct rule it

undoubtedly had the strength to take on

Japan but since the end of World War one

it had had other distractions

[Music]

this was America's jazzy

[Applause]

throughout the nineteen twenties a

nation concentrated on exploiting its

vast resources it was an economic boom

that seemed without end

fortunes were made both in industry and

the stock markets America seemed lost to

the increasing pursuit of pleasure

[Music]

with distractions like these Japan's

growing pains in the Pacific seemed very

far away

America had slashed its army after World

War one and agreed a naval reduction

treaty with Britain France and Japan

this in effect handed naval superiority

in the Pacific to the Japanese and then

came the Great Depression

as the economic devastation spread a

quarter of the population lost their

jobs tens of thousands were made

homeless living in shanty towns whereas

before it had been distracted by

pleasure now America was distracted by

pain it was time for Japan to make her

in 1931 without informing their own

elected government the Japanese forces

in Manchuria seized the Capitol mukha

and then over and the rest of the turret

[Music]

a puppet state Manchu quote was

proclaimed under a puppet rule Henry

Paul Yi the last emperor of China who

had been deposed in 1911 was dragged out

of retirement at its headquarters in

Geneva the League of Nations now faced

its first great testament Japan was

universally condemned but her response

was blunt the Japanese then just walked

out and the league suddenly realized

there was nothing he could do about

Manchuria

Japan was declared an international

pariah but it didn't care its leaders

had turned their eyes to further

conquests in China these were easy

pickings China was in a state of chaos

the government of Generalissimo Chiang

kai-shek was locked in conflict with the

Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong

there was civil war

in 1936 as a precursor to invasion the

Japanese signed a pact with Hitler the

aim was to guard against any attack by

Soviet Russia were it to move on child

then in July in 1937 the Japanese

provoked an incident with Chinese troops

and in vain

at first the Chinese were taken by

surprise but they soon fought back

fierce the Communists evening joining

the Kuomintang in a united front

the Japanese responded with amphibious

landings by the end of 1937 they had

overrun much of northern China and the

coast the Japanese fought this war with

exceptional brutality bombing cities

indiscriminate

Westerners living in the commercial

center the port of Shanghai were now

evacuated the city was then besieged for

three months

[Music]

it suffered widespread damage the

Japanese forces showing no pity or

concern for the native population

but it was after the capture of Nanking

then Chinese capital on December the

17th 1937 that the Japanese forces

really around over three hundred

thousand civilians are estimated to have

been massacred during a six week orgy of

rape and indiscriminate killer

the Japanese even attacked British and

US warships which had been sent to

protect their shipping and trade the

worst incident came on December the 12th

1937 the American gunboat Pinay was sunk

by Japanese bombers 50 crewmen died

despite this the Western powers refused

to interview

so the League of Nations could do

nothing in the United States President

Roosevelt wanted to impose a naval

blockade of Japan it has become clear

that acts and policies of nations in

other parts of the world have

far-reaching effects on us but the

British would have none of it

fearing that it might provoke a war so

all Roosevelt could offer was a 25

million dollar loan to Chiang kai-shek

to buy ours even though the Communists

were now fighting alongside the

Kuomintang the Soviet Union did little

to help either it's only involvement was

a series of crashes along its own border

with Manchu

but China itself received now instead it

had to fight on alone

joining 1938 the Japanese over ran

Canton and pushed the Chinese forces

deeper into the west of the country all

the rhetoric of the League of Nations

all those promises to stop international

aggression I had come to know by now the

Western powers were facing aggression

closer to home so it's very freely today

it is easy to laugh at Benito Mussolini

the fascist dictator of Italy all that

posturing seems faintly ridiculous now

but it didn't seem that way in 1922

[Music]

back then Italy had seemed to be on the

edge of anarchy

the country was riven by strikes and

land seizures the democratic government

just as in germany seemed powerless in

the face of such unrest so Benito

Mussolini the war veteran and a

journalist decided to take a stab he

organized a right-wing nationalist about

the fascists with the country paralyzed

from a general strike in August 1922

Mussolini ordered his followers to march

on world

fearing a civil war Italy's King Victor

Emmanuel asked him to form a government

[Applause]

Quattro grantee for 1030 I'm sorry

Mussolini swiftly stamped out any

political opposition and assumed

dictatorial PPR by 1928 his position

seemed secure Parliament was appointed

rather than elected and all power was

firmly in the hands of the fascist Grand

Council

like Hitler Mussolini's first acts made

him immensely popular massive programs

of Public Works provided employment and

transformed Italy's infrastructure

corruption was routed out and the Mafia

more or less eliminated

Italy's armed forces were built up

including an advanced modern air force

in the Mediterranean Mussolini launched

a powerful Navy bigger than the combined

might of the British and French

Mediterranean fleet

when the Great Depression came easily

seen to weather it better than most

[Applause]

Mussolini became a source of worldwide

inspiration political leaders not least

Adolf Hitler in Germany saw the fascist

system as a role model strong and

purposeful in contrast to the weakness

of the democracies in Britain and France

but Mussolini wanted more than adulation

he wanted to recreate the Roman Empire

and he already had a target in mind for

his first Imperial Landgraf

his target was Abbess in today's

Ethiopia Italy already had colonies on

its borders in Eritrea and Italian

Somalia

in December 1934 Italian forces provoked

a clash with Abyssinian troops at an

oasis in the auger den region well

inside Abyssinian town

[Music]

mussolini then sent reinforcements to

Eritrea and Italian Somaliland demanding

the Abyssinia pay reparations

the emperor of Abyssinia haile selassie

appealed in person to the League of

Nations he called on it to live up to

its ideals here was a small nation under

threat from another member of the league

this was the supreme test but the league

did nothing britain's Foreign Minister

Antony Eden at least tried to broker a

peace deal but Mussolini would have none

of it

in early october 1935 the italian army

invaded from Eritrea and Italian Somalia

[Music]

the primitive Abyssinian forces stood

little chance against a modern army

equipped with artillery attacks

[Music]

the Italian Air Force had total command

of the air and harried the Abyssinians

on occasions dropping gas bombs even

though gas had been outlawed at

Versailles as a crime against humanity

after six months Abyssinia was

completely overlooked the emperor haile

selassie

fled into exile in britain from its

headquarters in switzerland the League

of Nations wrung its hands it did impose

economic sanctions but they had little

effect

Mussolini's aggression had revealed two

things the League of Nations that great

hope for peace was impotent and both

Europe's supposed major powers the

democracies Britain and France no longer

had the stomach

[Music]

both Britain and France had been

shattered by World War one and their

economies have never really recovered

both had witness waves of strikes and

unrest both had suffered mass

unemployment even before the Great

Depression

[Music]

both also face the cost of controlling

empires now swollen by taking on

Germany's former colonies and the middle

eastern territories once run by the

Turkish Ottoman and

and above all both had been traumatized

by the horrific casualties of World War

one a succession of British leaders

Lloyd George Ramsay MacDonald and above

all Stanley Baldwin all resolved to keep

Britain out of future conflicts despite

horrific casualties on the Western Front

Britain had ended World War one with a

large and very effective conscript army

this was immediately run down to a small

professional force designed to police

its sprawling him and when the Great

Depression struck any ideas of

modernizing the army were abandoned it

meant that Britain went into the run-up

to war economically and militarily weak

French losses during World War one had

been even worse than the British

ever mistrustful of the Germans a large

constructs army was maintained but

throughout the 1920s Frances birth rate

had declined it became clear that there

would be a manpower shortage by the mid

to late 1930s

France realized it could never compete

with Germany on the size of its army

alone

the solution was to adopt an entirely

defensive mentality the Maginot Line a

series of fortifications was begun in

1930 along the frontier with Germany and

ran as far as the Belgian border

there it Fioretti CLE linked up with

fortifications planned by the Belgians

this new French military approach and

that France was only capable of waging a

defensive war it just did not have the

ability to launch an attack on Italy

even if the British had had the troops

to help

and of course both countries knew that

their navies in the Mediterranean were

outnumbered by Mussolini's new fleet

so when Italy conquered Abyssinia it

made sense for both powers to do nothing

it just seemed too remote too much

someone else's problem by now they both

had to deal with all the traumas of the

Great Depression that seemed so much

more pressing and above all they were

now faced with a military threat far

closer to home

[Music]

a resurgent and rearming German

and Germany's power and that of Italy

too was soon about to be demonstrated in

supporting the rise of another dictator

in Spain

[Applause]

in 1936 civil war erupted in Spain it

was exceptionally vicious setting family

against family communists against

fascist believers against atheists

in 1931 the left-wing government had

come to power determined to get rid of

the centuries-old Spanish monarchy the

king was forced into exile and a

republic was declared

in February 1936 the parties of the left

combined in a Popular Front to take on

the forces of the right in a general

election the Popular Front won Mara

even though it's reform program was

modest a wave of strikes and land ceases

led the right to fear that a communist

takeover was inevitable

[Music]

within the Spanish army long a bastion

of conservative and Catholic thinking

senior officers began to consider the

possibility of a coup

among them was General Francisco Franco

the former chief of staff who had been

effectively exiled to command Spain's

forces in the Canary Islands on July the

17th 1936 the units of the army fighting

guerrillas in Spain's colony in Morocco

mutiny

the next day Franco flew to join them

proclaiming a new nationalist movement

which would save Spain from communism

Mainland garrisons now join this revolt

the Popular Front responded by calling

for volunteers to defend the Republic

battle lines have been drawn

at first Franco faced problems he and

his army were in North Africa and he had

to get across the Straits of Gibraltar

back to Spain so he turned to the one

person he thought might help

Adolphe Hitler within a month transport

aircraft from Hitler's new Luftwaffe had

begun an airlift taking Franco's

battle-hardened veterans over to

southern Spain

[Music]

at this stage the Republic still seemed

to have the advantage the pro Franco

military uprisings in Madrid and

Barcelona were quickly crushed leaving

it in control of most of the east of the

country

Franco's nationalists were confined

largely to the northwest and part of the

south

but the nationalist situation was

transformed when Hitler and Mussolini

started to pour in troops and weapons

the German dictator sees the opportunity

to test his new equipment and expanding

Armed Forces

the first Panzer tanks were sent along

with some 12,000 troops and the

Luftwaffe deployed its Condor Legion but

it's ultra-modern new bombers and

fighters

[Music]

mussolini sent a so-called volunteer

corps the 50,000 men and more than 700

in vain did the republicans appeal to

Britain France and the Soviet Union for

help the London and Paris was scared of

setting off a European rule they

declared a policy of non-intervention

cynically both Germany and Italy signed

up to this but when it became obvious

that they were still sending arms to the

Nationalists Joseph Stalin the Soviet

leader announced that he would help the

Republic

Stalin's worry was the rise of fascism

in Germany Hitler had made it abundantly

clear that he believed communism to be

nots isms ultimate enemy

[Music]

Stalin saw the Spanish conflict as a way

of keeping Germany and Italy occupied

while building up the Soviet Union's

military strength about 700 military

advisers were sent along with tanks and

fighter aircraft it was something but no

match for the support Franco had

received

in fact the largest source of outside

help for the Republic didn't come from a

country at all but from volunteers the

International Brigades about 30,000

left-wing Americans British French and

Germans signed up to fight in Spain with

their new fascist support the

Nationalists were able to open two

fronts one advancing towards Barcelona

from the north the other led by Franco

pushing up towards Madrid from the south

[Music]

by the end of 1936 Madrid was enveloped

on three sides and virtually under siege

the fighting was intense and often

accompanied by appalling atrocities

against civilians the Republicans hunted

down and murdered Roman Catholic priests

the Nationalists slaughtered anyone

accused of being communists

German and Italian airpower was used

indiscriminately against civilian

targets

Madrid was heavily bombed

but the worst incident came in April

1937 when the basque town of Janica was

virtually obliterated with 6000 civilian

deaths the area controlled by the

Republic was steadily ground up its

forces fought with great gallantry but

under trained and under equipped

amateurs were no match for the

professional soldiers led by Franco or

for the combined modern weaponry of

Italy of Germany

[Music]

as the war dragged on the fighting

around Madrid became a symbol of the

left's determination not to be crushed

by a fascist dictatorship but behind the

scenes the Republican alliance was

falling apart the Communists and

socialists wanted to concentrate on

winning a military victory

[Music]

but the more idealistic anarchists and

syndicalists saw the war as an

opportunity for a mass revolution by the

workers these disagreements burst out

into the open in May 1937 fighting broke

out in Barcelona between the anarchists

and communists it was a fatal weakness

of the Republic by the end of 1938 the

Nationalists had penned their enemy into

a small enclaves lot and another

stretching eastward from Madrid to the

coast

Madrid continued to hold out but the

International Brigades will withdraw

more and more nations began to recognize

Franco's government as his forces closed

in for the final assault on Madrid

at the end of March 1939 his defenders

exhausted after nearly three years of

fighting the Capitol finally surrendered

[Music]

a month later Franco formally declared

hostilities at an end

[Music]

the scars of Spain's Civil War took

years to heal and in some ways they

never have and internationally

Franco's victory over the Republic

proved a disaster Hitler and Mussolini

were confirmed in their belief that the

democracies of Britain and France were

impotent to resist any real pressure

while Stalin despaired their willingness

to confront fascism Hitler in particular

saw his way open to begin the aggressive

policies outlined in mind even before

the Spanish Civil War ended his armies

were on the March

from the moment he became Chancellor of

Germany on January 30th 1933 Hitler had

begun to put his long term ambitions

into action

[Applause]

On February the 3rd he told his top

commanders but his ultimate aim was to

conquer territory in the east and

ruthlessly german isaac they were

instructed to prepare for a massive

expansion

[Music]

although Germany had been forbidden

tanks a secret treaty with the Soviet

Union in 1923 had allowed the

development of tank designs and

experimentation with new mobile armored

tanks

energetic young German officers like

Heinz Guderian

read the theories of British thinkers

like basil little Hart and Colonel John

fuller

they even watched exercises being

carried out by the British during the

1920s on souls we play it was from these

that they came up with the idea of fast

moving units combining tanks artillery

and infantry that could thrust fast and

deep into enemy territory

Hitler adopted their ideas with

enthusiasm the new army is to have three

Panzer divisions

similarly the new air force the

Luftwaffe under former World War one

fighter ace Herman Goering had had a

framework to build on

[Music]

throughout the years in which it's Air

Force was officially banned Germany had

kept up its design skills by building

civilian machines and gliding and flying

clubs provided a reserve of potential

[Music]

Hitler revealed the existence of the

Luftwaffe in March 1935

he then announced that the army was to

be increased to three hundred thousand

men and conscription was reintroduced

Britain and France protested feebly of

this flagrant breach of the Versailles

Treaty

but soon they reluctantly and slowly

began to real until this point Hitler

had been modest in his goals he had only

taken back what was his

the Rhineland and solid but now he had a

grander target in mind his homeland

Austria in 1934 Austrian Nazis had

attempted to see his power and unify the

country with German

Austrians after all spoke German even if

they had never been part of a German

state in February 1938 another Nazi plot

was discovered Austrian Chancellor Kurt

von Schuschnigg protested to Hitler

Hitler responded by demanding that

Austria stop mistreating the Austrian

Nazis and unite with German Schuschnigg

promptly called a referendum so that the

Austrians could vote on whether to

remain independent

[Music]

but on March the 12th 1938 the eve of

the referendum Hitler fearing that it

might produce the wrong result sent in

his troops complete surprise and an

enthusiastic welcome by Nazi

sympathizers made it a bloodless

invasion

within hours Hitler announced Austria's

incorporation into the Third Reich the

sovereign nation had for the first time

been subsumed into a greater journey

once again the Western democracies

failed to react

in the summer of 1938 he turned on his

next prey Czechoslovakia a substantial

German minority lived in the northwest

of the country an area known as the

Sudetenland the Sudeten Germans had been

part of the old Austrian Empire but had

been cut off when Czechoslovakia was

created in 1919 this was the time bomb

that had started ticking at the signing

of the Treaty of Versailles HIPAA

encouraged sedately German demands for

autonomy and then threatened the Czech

government with force if it refused to

agree undaunted the Czech government

ordered general mobilisation and

prepared to resist the Czechoslovak army

was large and well-equipped with

formidable fortifications on its

frontier with Germany Hitler backed off

[Music]

but then at the beginning of September

concerned at war might be imminent

the British Prime Minister Neville

Chamberlain decided to act as a

peacemaker

he flew to meet Hitler twice the Nazi

dictator assured him that if he could

have the Sudetenland he would make no

further territorial demands in Europe

in Munich on September the 29th 1938

with Mussolini acting as mediator France

and Britain signed an agreement giving

the Sudetenland to Germany in return for

a formal declaration by Hitler that he

had no more territorial ambitions

Chamberlin flew back to Britain waving

the piece of paper which he claimed

guarantees peace in our time and so

October the first German troops occupied

the Sudetenland and seized the Czech

frontier fortifications Hitler now began

sizing up his next target again the

nominal cause was a German minority

marooned as a result of the Versailles

Treaty Hitler demanded the return of the

port of dancing to German control so

that East Prussia could be linked up

with the rest of Germany the poles

refused and Hitler hesitated he was not

quite ready for all-out war and he had

unfinished business with Czechoslovakia

[Applause]

in March 1939 the eastern part of the

country Slovakia which was ethnically

different to the Czech lands appealed to

Hitler for help in achieving greater

independence

[Music]

Hitler's summoned the Czechoslovak Prime

Minister Emil Hacha to Berlin and

browbeat him into putting his country

under German protection

[Music]

german troops now marched into the rest

of Czechoslovakia unopposed most of the

country was annexed into the right

Slovakia was declared the protectors for

the first time Hitler had seized non

german-speaking territory but again it

was only a feeble protest from Britain

and France

at the end of March he again repeated

his demand of Poland give up dancing

this time France and Britain declared

unequivocally that they would declare

war if he attacked Pope but by now

Hitler cared little whether they did or

not he was sure that they would be weak

and indecisive applauds

[Applause]

in Russia Stalin had also become

increasingly concerned by Hitler's

aggression in April Stalin proposed an

alliance with Britain and France but

negotiations made little progress and

finally Stalin despaired deciding that

there was another solution to the German

threat

on August the 23rd the Soviet Union and

the Third Reich who everyone had

believed were sworn enemies announced a

non-aggression pact

the agreement secretly specified that

Poland would be split between the two

countries and Stalin would have a free

hand to take over Estonia Latvia and

Lithuania

now free from any Russian threat Hitler

ordered his armed forces to prepare for

an immediate invasion

on the evening of August the 31st the

german wehrmacht prepared for the

assault its Fuhrer had made the decision

which would plunge the world into war

[Music]