All episodes

The Second World War was the closest the world has come to a complete total war. But it was in the interwar years that nations honed the methods of destruction which were unleashed on a much wider scale in the Second World War. We look to wars in Manchuria, China, Abyssinia and Spain to see how each served as a 'terrible precedent,' revealing elements of total war that soon engulfed the globe.

Total War demands resources - economic, agricultural and industrial. When it became clear that strategies of appeasement would not prevent another war, nations across the globe mobilized.

WWII shattered the boundaries between battlefield and homefront in much of the world. We examine the impact of occupation and the stories of those who fought to resist their occupiers.

In WWII, civilians became defenders against and targets of aerial warfare on a scale that had never before been seen.

WWII was not the cause of the Holocaust, but it did provide a means for its execution. Episode #5 explores what role total war played in this genocide.

The end of WWII was met with destruction and liberation, relief mixed with grief. In its wake, tens of millions were dead and millions more displaced.