Shows how the ruined European infrastructure, peoples, economies, governments and self-regard, and the treaties from World War I, made World War II inevitable. Italy and Germany especially, feeling betrayed and aggrieved, each create Fascist dictatorships that begin military expansions to regain glory and power. Mussolini first crushes hapless Ethiopia in Africa. Hitler and Mussolini ally themselves as the Axis Powers, intervening in Spain's Civil War. Hitler now marches relentlessly outward upon the whole European geography. He erupts into a lightning force, striking and betraying nation after nation that we follow on animated maps. Only Britain continues to resist, pleading for U.S. help, which arrives in full force only after Pearl Harbor, making this a true world war. Maps, period footage and a strong script trace the costly reversal of Axis gains, and the Allies' steady push of Hitler back to his end in a Berlin bunker.

Originally released by New Dimension Media, 2010. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on April 16, 2021.