The World at War Key Episode Guides

The World at War Key Episode Guides - Questions for students to answer from the video

The World at War Episode 1 - “A New Germany (1933–1939)”
The rebirth of Germany and growth in power of the Nazi Party leading up to the outbreak of war.

The World at War Episode 5 Barbarossa (June – December 1941)
Germany begins Operation Barbarossa, the massive invasion of Soviet Union. Despite several quick victories, the invasion ultimately stalls after a failed assault on Moscow during Russia’s harsh winter. Interviewees include General Walter Warlimont, Albert Speer, Paul Schmidt (interpreter), Grigori Tokaty, W. Averell Harriman and Sir John Russell.

The World at War Episode 6 – Banzai! Japan (1931–1942)
The rise of the Japanese Empire, the Sino-Japanese War, the Soviet-Japanese border conflicts, Pearl Harbor and the early Japanese successes in the fall of Malaya and Singapore. Interviewees include Kōichi Kido, Minoru Genda, and J. G. Smyth.

The World at War Episode 9 Stalingrad (June 1942 – February 1943)
The mid-war German situation in Southern Russia resulting in the Battle of Stalingrad, and its ultimate German catastrophe.

The World at War Episode 20 – Genocide (1941-45)
Begins with the founding of the S.S. and follows the development of Nazi racial theory. It ends with the implementation of the Final Solution. Interviewees include Karl Wolff, Wilhelm Höttl, Rudolf Vrba, Primo Levi, Richard Böck, and Anthony Eden.

The World at War Episode 23 - Pacific (February 1942 – July 1945)
The successive and increasingly bloody land battles on tiny islands in the expansive Pacific, aimed towards the Japanese heartland. Following the bombing of Darwin, the over-extended Japanese are progressively turned back at Kokoda, Tarawa, Peleliu, the Philippines, Iwo Jima and finally Okinawa.

The World at War Episode 24 – The Bomb
The development of the atomic bomb, the ascendency of President Harry Truman, emerging splits in the Allies with Joseph Stalin, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, ultimately leading to the surrender of Japan.

The World at War Episode 25 –
“Reckoning (April 1945)”
The situation in post-war Europe including the allied occupation of Germany, demobilisation, the Nuremberg Trials and the genesis of the Cold War. The episode concludes with summations about the ultimate costs and consequences of the war. Interviewees include Charles Bohlen, Stephen Ambrose, Lord Avon, Lord Mountbatten of Burma, Hartley Shawcross, Noble Frankland and Alger Hiss.