The World Wars (2014) s01e01 Episode Script
Trial By Fire
1 President: This summer marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.
And the beginning of a period that saw two of the deadliest conflicts in our history.
It's a chance to remember those who died.
For their brothers, for their country and for the freedom we enjoy today.
And its a chance to honor the courage and bravery of all those who stepped forward and answered the call to serve.
Men like my Grandfather who marched through France as a member of Patton's army.
Women like my Grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line while he was gone.
So as we listen to the stories of the leaders like Roosevelt and Churchill, let's also remember the citizens whose names will never appear on monuments or in textbooks.
Men and Women who stood firm in the face of evil and in the years since have taken their rightful place in history.
May their sacrifice never be forgotten.
[Intense orchestral music.]
[Gas hissing.]
[Gasping.]
[Coughs.]
[Crickets chirping.]
[Dramatic orchestral music.]
[Symphonic techno music.]
Narrator: Over a 30-year period, from 1914 to 1945 more than 100 million people will die in the bloodiest conflict the world has ever seen.
But it all began in the slums of Vienna.
[Thunder booming.]
At age 25, Adolf Hitler is a poor loner, an aspiring artist, struggling to survive.
Both his parents are dead [Thunder booming.]
Leaving Hitler truly alone in the world.
He was a lost soul.
He wanted to be an artist, but he couldn't get into the art school, and he ended up living in a flophouse.
Narrator: Left without any means of support, his only way to make money is selling paintings around town for next to nothing.
Hitler didn't have a plan B when he was rejected.
He just didn't know what to do.
So he started to drift.
He had very little money.
He was living in a hand-to-mouth existence.
He had no clear aim in life at all.
He was, in a sense, waiting for something to happen.
Narrator: Before long, a chance event 450 miles away will change everything.
June 28, 1914.
[Explosion.]
An assassin takes down the Archduke of Austria-Hungary.
The murder ignites a deadly conflict that quickly erupts into war.
From the tangle of alliances two sides emerge.
Britain, France, and Russia become known as the Allies, while Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire form the Central Powers.
Filled with a patriotic sense of urgency, men on both sides rush to join the fight.
For Hitler, it's the opportunity he's been waiting for.
He quickly rushes to enlist.
He tried out for the Austrian army.
He failed the physical.
He wasn't considered strong enough to carry a rifle.
Narrator: Rejected by his own country, Hitler turns to the German army who's accepting almost anyone as they worked to build the largest fighting force in the world.
[Bells tolling.]
Germany has finally given Hitler what he's always wanted: A place to belong.
I think that the decision to enter the military for most people is not a decision to serve.
It may be in a very general sense, but it's more often because something else is motivating you.
Zwei! Drei! Vier! Narrator: Throughout August of 1914, Hitler trains as a Private in the German army.
Well, the German army was considered to be the finest army in the world.
It was a massive force well equipped, well trained, and very well led, and Hitler was swept away.
Being part of the German army was something that Hitler deeply loved.
Narrator: The structure of training transforms Hitler into a devout German soldier.
Hitler joins 1 1/2 million Germans marching towards the French border and the unified Allied forces.
In the history of warfare, armies this large have never met in combat.
6,000 miles away, America has nothing to do with the war in Europe.
They're in their own war with Pancho Villa.
[Hooves rumbling.]
[Gunshots.]
The Mexican Revolutionary is carrying out violent attacks on U.
S.
citizens along the southwestern border.
But he goes too far.
[Gunshots ricocheting.]
Villa and his men seize an American mining train, brutally killing 16 innocent Americans, leaving the U.
S.
military no choice but to take action.
Nearly 5,000 American troops cross the Mexican border to take down Villa.
But fighting a guerrilla force with a traditional army is next to impossible.
[Gunshot.]
One army Captain is determined to find a different way.
His name is George S.
Patton.
Patton's ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War; they fought in the Civil War.
He grew up wanting to be a military hero.
He has a reputation for being smart, tough, and for being ruthless.
And he has another quality that's essential in military leadership.
He understands the power of technology, and he doesn't want to fight with cavalry and with horses.
He's looking for new technology that will change the nature of the battlefield.
So the car is fairly new.
If you strap a gun to a car, you've got a new instrument of warfare.
Narrator: What Patton doesn't know is that he's about to revolutionize warfare.
I think Patton knew only one direction, and that was forward.
He had a lot of charisma.
He was a very colorful leader.
I thought he was very egotistical, and that's fine as long as you translate that into good leadership.
But maybe a little bit over the top.
Narrator: Almost immediately, Patton is able to put his plan into action [Motor rumbling.]
And he launches a surprise raid on Pancho Villa's camp.
Faster! Got 'em on the run.
Go! Faster! Get down! [Gunfire.]
Let's go, let's go! Narrator: The bandits are no match for Patton and his mobile army, and by the end of the fight, three of villa's men have been killed, including his second-in-command.
The first use of motorized warfare by the United States army is a huge success, and for Patton, it's the first step in his rise to greatness.
Half a world away, two massive armies collide on the battlefield In the first major war with modern technology.
When you look at World War I, it's about machine guns, and, you know, all of these sorts of new killing mechanisms.
It's the beginning of the 20th century as a tech era.
This is not men on horseback anymore.
This is a motorized war.
Narrator: The advanced weaponry turns the conflict into a slaughter.
230 men are killed each hour one death every 15 seconds.
Really the machine gun probably did more than anything else.
They found if they dug even shallow trenches and used machine guns, a small number of troops could stop a large attacking force.
And then both sides started to dig trenches.
And so they were locked along this line, the Western front, which was this extraordinarily complex set of trenches that didn't move very much either way.
[Explosion.]
Narrator: The trenches cover 25,000 miles.
Laid end to end, they would circle the globe.
The area between the trenches is so deadly, it's known As no-man's-land.
Among the German soldiers stationed in the trenches along the Western front is Adolf Hitler.
But even after months on the front lines, Hitler's still seen as an outcast.
Hitler was regarded by the other troops as something of a loner, something of a rather peculiar eccentric person who kept to himself.
Narrator: But what Hitler lacks in popularity he makes up for in blind ambition.
Runner! Command wants this taken to the 3rd Battalion.
- Now! - Yes, sir.
Hitler's role as a messenger was actually considered perhaps the most dangerous task in trench warfare running from trench to trench, exposing himself to enemy fire.
The mortality rate for messengers was quite significant.
Pull back! [Grunts.]
[Gunfire.]
[Explosion.]
[High-pitched ringing.]
[Dramatic string music.]
The Germans are retreating, and Adolf Hitler has been injured, and he has this encounter with a Private Henry Tandey, a British Private.
[Music swells.]
Tandey has Adolf Hitler in his sights, and even though he's a trained soldier, he can't bring himself to pull the trigger.
If Tandey had pulled the trigger, Adolf Hitler would have died on the battlefields in World War I, and the whole course of human history would have been changed.
It's one of the great what-ifs in history.
Narrator: The World Wars have begun with Britain, France, and Russia squaring off against Germany and the Central Powers.
[Gunfire.]
Modern weaponry is causing mass devastation on the battlefields, and tens of thousands of soldiers are now living in overcrowded trenches.
Very soon after the war began, both sides realized, "we can entrench, and the other side can't move us out.
"They can move us backwards a little bit but only at horrendous cost.
" And the result of this, the war just bogged down in the muds of northern France.
Narrator: But in London, one man is convinced he can break the stalemate.
He comes up to the barman and says Narrator: Born into one of the wealthiest families in Britain, he's risen through the ranks at unusual speed To become the head of the British Navy.
His name is Winston Churchill.
Churchill had the most enormous self-confidence, and it's easy to see why that was the case.
He was the son of Lord Randolph Churchill, who was a brilliant politician.
And so Churchill, from a very young man, saw himself, almost by divine right, as playing a leading role in politics.
Narrator: Churchill forms a bold plan that he's certain will change the Allies' fortunes.
He even at that point considered himself a strategist, and he looked for ways to break the stalemate in Western Europe rather than just to get more armies and more artillery, and it actually was fairly thoughtful.
What if we could send a fleet to the south into the Black Sea? Resupply the Russians? Well, yes, exactly.
There's no way.
Well, yes, there is.
Through Gallipoli.
Gallipoli? No.
This is our way in.
With all due respect, we are here to provide information this is what we are doing.
A lot of people Churchill worked with thought he was a man of contradictions, a Maverick, a loose cannon.
He was known as someone to watch.
His friends would say someone to watch because he's very talented, and his enemies would say someone to watch because he was dangerous.
Narrator: The Gallipoli peninsula is heavily guarded by the Central Powers.
Churchill's plan is to blast through the narrow strait, Pushing through to Russia and allowing the Allies to launch an overwhelming attack from the east, opening up a second front against Germany.
If it's successful, the Allies will be able to turn the tide of the war and crush the Central Powers.
More than 100 warships set sail for what will be the largest amphibious invasion the world has ever seen.
[Pensive orchestral music.]
People often ask me, "what's the most difficult decision you've ever made?" It's always the decision of sending men into battle, and the worst part of it all is the night that the battle begins, because you know you've just launched something, and you know that within a few hours you will start getting calls from the battlefield, from your commanders out in the field, that will tell you how many young men have died.
[Telephone rings.]
Yes? They're halfway up the straits.
They should have broken through by now.
They'll make it.
Four ships sunk.
Another burning.
Losses were to be expected.
The fleet is requesting permission to turn back.
They are to press on at all costs.
This is war.
Gallipoli I don't think could ever have worked.
The troops who stormed ashore were met by a hail of machine gun fire and artillery, and the casualties were appalling.
Narrator: The invasion is a devastating failure.
56,000 Allied troops are killed and nearly 200,000 are reported injured or missing.
Almost no ground is gained And the supply route to Russia remains closed off.
I think Churchill's credibility after Gallipoli was certainly called into question.
Warfare is not a science.
The one thing you do know when you commit to warfare is, it's gonna be horrible.
Narrator: The public is outraged by the carnage.
Someone will have to take the blame.
It's over.
The plan was sound.
Excuse me? The plan was sound.
All we needed to do was keep pushing forward.
I'm afraid your services as First Lord of the Admiralty are no longer required.
I'll expect your letter of resignation in the morning.
When Churchill was let go, he thought his career was over, finished.
And that wasn't melodrama on his part, and he could be melodramatic.
It appeared that it would be finished.
It's hard to imagine Churchill being humbled by something like Gallipoli, but he was chastened.
He thought, "never again.
"The next time, if there's a next time" and it didn't look like there would be "I'll do it right.
" Narrator: Defeated and humiliated, Churchill's career is all but ruined.
He's offered a desk job which he turns down.
He knows if he's ever going to redeem himself, he needs a new path.
So Churchill does the unthinkable.
He enlists in the British army And heads straight for the front lines.
While Winston Churchill looks for redemption, Germany looks to capitalize on its victory at Gallipoli, devising a plan to eliminate the Russian threat once and for all.
The Germans load a secret weapon onto a heavily guarded train headed for Russia.
[Dramatic orchestral music.]
It's a weapon that promises to destroy their enemies from the inside out.
[Whistle blowing.]
That weapon is Vladimir Lenin.
Lenin is the leader of Russia's Communist Revolutionaries hell-bent on toppling the Russian Czar.
For the past ten years, he's been in exile in Switzerland until Germany sends him home on a train along with over $10 million to fund his revolution.
The Germans decided that they would take this enormous gamble and bring Lenin back to Russia to bring about a revolution to get Russia out the war.
That's about as radical a step as you can take.
Narrator: When Lenin gets to Moscow, he's greeted by an old friend.
Six times he's been exiled to Siberia, and six times he's escaped.
His name is Joseph Stalin.
Comrade.
Comrade.
Let me show you to your new place.
Narrator: Reunited, the two play right into Germany's plan as they begin to plot an armed rebellion.
Over the next few months, Lenin and Stalin recruit a massive workers' militia.
Using the $10 million from the German government, they quietly amass a stockpile of weapons Until they are ready to make their move.
I've arranged to take the train stations and the telephone communications.
And the palace guard? Many of our sources say they are sympathetic to our cause.
Our timing has to be perfect.
Narrator: The Communists storm the Winter Palace, toppling the Russian Czar.
The Soviet union is born.
This is just the beginning, comrade.
Narrator: Just days later, Lenin signs a decree that takes Russia out of the war.
The German plan works, bringing them one step closer to victory.
Narrator: Europe is at war, and in a bold move, the Central Powers have ended the fighting on the eastern front, sending exiled revolutionary Vladimir Lenin back to Russia where he seized control of the country and took the Russian army out of the fight.
Germany can turn its attention to the other Allies, and one of the countries now forced to fend off a new wave of German soldiers is Italy.
Italy joined the fight in 1915 and now must face the full might of the German army for the first time.
Tens of thousands of troops are rushed to defend the Italian border in the alps.
Among them is a sharpshooter named Benito Mussolini.
Before the war, Mussolini is an antiwar activist.
He's a journalist.
He's pretty much a pacifist.
[Gunshot.]
Narrator: The time spent defending Italy's border makes Mussolini hungry to return Italy to greatness.
[Gunshot.]
Mussolini becomes a very different person than he was before the war.
His whole attitude toward his nation and his role in it changes.
He develops this hyper sense of nationalism, this real pride in his country.
Narrator: The horrors of war have transformed Mussolini into a ruthless killing machine.
A trait he'll take back with him to Rome.
[Gunshot.]
600 miles to the north in Belgium, the British army digs in [Gunfire.]
Since the beginning of the war, nearly 400,000 British soldiers have been killed just to be replaced by new arrivals.
Among the new recruits is a man battling back from the biggest failure of his life Winston Churchill.
Churchill took responsibility for everything he ever did in his life.
He never passed the buck.
He was humbled, humiliated by Gallipoli, and he had to do something, and he put himself in harm's way and volunteered to go to the trenches.
It was a very dangerous thing to do.
[Explosion.]
- Move! - Go! [Explosions, gunfire.]
Sir, 2nd Platoon lost this main trench.
Get me the Mortar from the West Reserve now.
You get the hell scared out of you first of all.
The first time I got shot at, um, was, "hey, this isn't a game.
This is for real.
This guy really missed me, and he killed somebody else.
But tomorrow he'll try to kill me.
" [Gunshot.]
As we say in the military, that opens your nostrils.
Narrator: With British casualties escalating, Churchill is quickly promoted and discovers he has what it takes to lead men into battle.
For a man of Churchill's ambition, it's the first step towards redemption.
In his heart, what Churchill always wanted to be was the great warrior, the great hero.
Here he was commanding a mere 800 men, whereas he dreamed of directing the battle destinies of millions.
Narrator: The fight seems unending Mail! Narrator: Until Germany unleashes a secret weapon.
Incoming! [Explosion, gas hissing.]
Gas! Move! Move! Out of the way! Go! [All coughing.]
Go, go, go, go! [All coughing.]
The fight between the Central and Allied powers has become the bloodiest war in human history.
By 1917, nearly 7 million British, French, and German soldiers have been killed.
- Gas! - Go.
[All coughing.]
It was a war of attrition.
You had to kill as many of the enemy as you could so you could possibly advance.
Chemical warfare just enabled that in a very horrific way.
For a way to alter the course of the war.
So they look to the one country that could finally tip the scales in their favor.
Until now, President Woodrow Wilson has kept America out of the war.
Wilson recognized that the American people did not want to get involved in a war, particularly if it's a war far away involving people and for causes that we had nothing to do with.
Frankly, the American people did not see themselves at immediate risk.
Narrator: But with hostilities escalating, a peaceful solution seems less and less likely, and Wilson's advisors urge him to begin preparing military forces.
Among them is the 35-year-old Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Mr.
President, I recommend an immediate allocation of more funds to our naval resources if we want to maintain military preparedness.
Wilson found himself being drawn closer and closer to war.
In the spring of 1915, the British liner the lusitania was sunk, and on board were over a hundred Americans.
Now, this was a big deal.
Until this time, it had been a European war.
But now in this European war, Americans were getting killed.
Narrator: American resentment grows against Germany, and on February 26, 1917, it to finally reaches a boiling point.
Mr.
President, I think you should look at this right away.
Narrator: The United States intercepts a secret telegram from Germany intended for the Mexican government containing a shocking proposal.
The Germans are offering to fund a Mexican invasion of the United States that would allow the country to reclaim the border states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
The German ploy was, preoccupy America with a war with Mexico, and therefore you keep them out of Europe.
Well, this incensed a lot of Americans, and rightfully so.
Narrator: The U.
S.
government releases the contents of the secret message, and almost instantly, anti-German protests erupt all across America.
The Zimmermann telegram was one of the stupidest things the German government ever did.
Texas didn't care about the war in Europe.
Now all of a sudden, the Germans are trying to return Texas to Mexico? Enough with Germany.
They need to be taught a lesson.
Narrator: President Wilson signs the declaration of war in April of 1917.
Germany's plan to keep America out of Europe completely backfires.
The Americans may finally be ready for war, but their military isn't.
The U.
S.
has a standing army of only 100,000 men while the German army has 4 1/2 million.
The United States hurries to build its military, and those few with fighting experience are rushed to France.
George S.
Patton has been presented with a huge challenge To command a Battalion of American men using the latest form of military innovation The tank.
Some American Generals were really resisting the tank because they didn't want to get rid of the horse cavalry.
George Patton understood the power of the new technology of mobile and armed warfare, and he invested a lot in that.
Narrator: The tank is already being used on the Western front but with little success.
It runs out of gas too quickly, gets stuck in the mud too easily, and its sheer size makes it difficult to incorporate in military maneuvers.
But where others see an insurmountable challenge, Patton sees a chance to prove that his tanks can break the stalemate.
I think innovation comes between the ears.
It's not about the gizmo.
It's about how you think about using technology and so forth.
You have to give credit to the people like Patton that experienced World War I, that had been thinking about how to employ new things.
Narrator: Patton knows the stakes are high.
[Explosion.]
But with his Battalion of tanks, he's determined to win the war [Explosion.]
Or die trying.
Narrator: The global war rages in Europe [Gunfire.]
As the Allies fight to hold their ground against Germany and the Central Powers in the sprawling system of trenches.
Things are ugly in World War I.
Europe was staggered, exhausted, many cities in rubble.
Starvation and disease were widespread.
You know, the Red Cross couldn't even keep up with what was going on.
If you were the Allies in Europe, you needed the reinforcements The new energy, the new blood.
To aid in the fight, the Allies recruit a new country to their side.
Following their long-awaited entry into the war, America is ready to make its presence felt.
Their first major offensive is an attack on the Western front hoping to force the Central Powers out of their trenches and drive them out of France.
They're armed with a secret weapon of their own: A Battalion of lightweight tanks under the command of Colonel George S.
Patton.
In a column.
We're gonna go down the main road.
Don't let anyone know we're coming.
- We move at dawn.
- Yes, sir! Patton is testing his new strategy.
He's leading this new form of weaponry, the tank.
So it's an important battle for him to prove that tanks are valuable on the battlefield and also to establish himself as an important military leader.
Narrator: For Patton, everything in his career has led up to this moment.
George Patton had grown up to be a soldier.
It was his identity.
And so in the first World War, he is in his element.
[Engines roaring.]
[Distant explosions.]
Narrator: The night before the planned invasion, Patton can't sleep.
Tanks are still unproven in warfare, and Patton knows he can't leave anything to chance.
[Explosion, flare hissing.]
He slips out of the trenches totally unprotected, deep into the heart of no-man's-land.
He's scouting a route to ensure his machines won't get stuck in the mud.
I think when you look at someone like George Patton, he used intelligence well but I think the best thing he did was, he turned intelligence into action, very quickly.
George Patton's tendency was for action.
Because he was aggressive, for him it worked very, very well.
Narrator: On September 12, 1918, Patton and his forces sweep onto the battlefield from every angle [Explosions, gunfire.]
And the Germans hit back with everything they've got.
But all of Patton's intelligence is paying off And his Tank Brigade begins to break down the German line.
Soldier! - Get on the left flank now! - Yes, sir.
General, Charlie Company's advancing.
- Take position on the Ridge.
- Yes, sir.
Keep moving! Keep moving! Lieutenant George S.
Patton, 1st Tank Brigade.
Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur, 42nd Infantry.
General, sir, they need you at the front.
All right, boys! Let's move up! Patton and MacArthur.
Here they are in Saint-Mihiel, and they meet on the battlefield for the first time in the midst of artillery shells all around them.
You have these two men who are going to play such an important role in shaping the future of the 20th century, and they have no idea what history has in store for them.
Narrator: MacArthur is from a long line of military men.
His father was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in the American Civil War.
No less is expected of his son.
Douglas MacArthur would lead attacks walking out into no-man's-land with a swagger.
He was embodied with not only tremendous ability but also tremendous self-confidence.
Watch the right flank! From an early age, he was different.
He was special.
I don't want to say "anointed".
But he may have thought he was.
Narrator: The two West Point graduates will be allies and rivals for decades.
I don't think there's any question that a leader who has experienced war and what it means to be in battle.
If you're a military commander, that experience is invaluable.
How you try to ensure that in the midst of all of that chaos and the killing that's going on, that you keep your eye on the mission that has to be accomplished, that's not easy to do.
[explosions, gunfire.]
Narrator: The two men lead the Allies to victory as the German line crumbles.
And for the first time, the Central Powers are on the run.
Just 240 miles away, years of trench warfare have transformed Adolf Hitler from a directionless loner to a hardened soldier.
[Gas hissing, indistinct shouting.]
Hitler has escaped death twice [Shouting indistinctly.]
Narrator: And it's left him a changed man.
[Coughing.]
[Gasping.]
[Gunshot.]
Hitler didn't feel at this time during the First World War that he was a man of destiny at all.
[Gunshot.]
What he did feel was a sense of belonging and a sense of commitment, and that, I think, made him braver than he might otherwise have been.
He felt he was fighting in a really important cause, the cause of Germany.
[Gunshot.]
Narrator: Hitler's ideology takes root on the front lines.
He begins to believe in Germany's superiority over the Allies and is now certain he can withstand anything the Allied forces throw his way.
Gas! [Intense percussive music.]
Narrator: The gas attacks are endless.
To Hitler, they've become almost routine.
But this time it's different.
The Allies hit the Germans with a deadly new form of chemical warfare: Mustard gas.
It lingers in the trenches for days.
And attacks both the respiratory system and the skin.
Mustard gas affects the central nervous system.
It creates mustard-colored blisters on the skin.
It blinds people.
It strips away the mucous membranes.
It's incredibly painful and debilitating, and since it had no odor, by the time you realized that you had inhaled it, and it was on your skin, it was too late.
[Coughing.]
[Coughing.]
Narrator: After three years of bloody war, the stalemate in Europe has been broken.
The United States has joined the fighting Giving Allied armies a needed boost Fire! Pull back! Narrator: And driving the Germans back to their original defensive line in northern France.
But the German army remains powerful, meaning the Allies have to act fast.
[Explosions.]
Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur is seeking every tactical advantage.
Military leaders are human beings that are remarkably different in personality and background.
Every so often, someone crosses the constellation of military leaders a little bit like a shooting star, and Douglas MacArthur did that.
Narrator: MacArthur learns of a surveillance photograph of German trenches along the Western front [Camera shutter clicking.]
That reveals an undetected gap in the German line.
Where others see an unbreakable defense, MacArthur knows he can exploit that weakness.
Intelligence is essential, and the more you can get, the better.
But at the end of the day, it's your instinct as a senior person.
The reason we're wearing stars or have these elevated positions is, we have demonstrated over the years our ability to have an instinct that works.
Narrator: MacArthur is determined to break through the line and surround the Germans in their trenches Supported by George S.
Patton and his Battalion of tanks.
In the fall of 1918 Come on! Come on! Narrator: The Allies launch an all-out attack in what will come to be known Fire! Narrator: As the 100 days offensive.
Boosted by MacArthur's men.
And Patton's tanks Get a move move! Move! Narrator: The Allied armies become the most dominant fighting force the war has ever seen.
Press forward! Both of 'em had big egos, but there's no doubt that both of them were brilliant on the battlefield.
Go on, keep advancing! MacArthur was an extraordinarily talented and effective military leader.
Fire! Patton, for what he was asked to do, which was trying to break out of the trenches, there was probably nobody better.
Move! Move! On, come on! Move! [Gunfire.]
Incoming! [Explosion.]
Move! Move! Move! [Gunfire.]
Narrator: The Allies relentlessly attack the German line from every direction.
[Gunshot.]
[Gunshot.]
[Explosions, gunfire.]
Move! Move! Move! Move! Come on! Come on! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! [Dramatic orchestral music.]
Narrator: After months of fighting, the Allies finally break through [Gunshot.]
Putting the mighty German army on the run.
[Gunshot.]
[Indistinct shouting.]
[Grunting.]
Narrator: Finally, with no other option, tens of thousands of German soldiers Do it now! Narrator: Lay down their guns Hands up! Narrator: And surrender.
You look at the great leaders.
These were men who understood the most important resource they had available to them to fight a war not the weapons, not the planes, not the tanks.
It's the soldiers who get it done, and leadership is all about inspiring your soldiers to achieve a decisive win.
Narrator: After four years of continuous fighting and 37 million casualties, the two sides agree to a cease fire.
When the world is shaking and rearranging itself as it does after a great events, like the end of a war.
There are a whole range of different emotions.
The first is exhilaration, a very personal feeling, exhilaration at being part of an event that is changing the world, and there's never much time to look back.
There's always a lot to look forward to.
Narrator: While most of the world celebrates the end of the fighting, some deep in the heart of Germany refuse to accept defeat.
Hitler was wounded in the gas attack at the very end of the war, and he was then hospitalized, temporarily blinded.
That our people will be losing the war against the Western armies While he was in hospital, he was then told that Germany had lost the First World War, and that's a crucial turning point in Hitler's life.
In Hitler's worldview, it was always, um, dead or alive, win or total defeat.
For him, surrender was something un-German.
You are a coward, somehow, if you surrender.
[Tense music.]
Hitler took the surrender personally A personal destructive blow to himself.
He also took it as a mission, a mission in life to avenge and rectify the surrender.
Narrator: After four long and bloody years and 37 million casualties, the United States and the Allies have finally claimed victory, forcing Germany to surrender.
But while the fighting has stopped, the pressure is now on the Allied leaders to come to an agreement preventing war from ever breaking out again.
As negotiations to secure the peace get underway in France, massive crowds greet the world leaders [Cheers and applause.]
Including United States President Woodrow Wilson.
Woodrow Wilson was the first President of the United States to spend anywhere near six months outside this country, and he felt that for him to send anyone else to negotiate the peace, it would not have been as well done.
Wilson said, "Whatever happens with the settlement of this war, "if it goes well, give me credit.
If it doesn't, blame me.
" Narrator: The leaders gather at the Palace of Versailles.
But one country not invited to the table is Germany.
Gentlemen, please, please sit down.
If we can start by considering the points before we discuss any of the individual ideas The main thing that Woodrow Wilson wanted to accomplish at Versailles was defanging Germany, not allowing them to develop a huge war machine again.
This was what the victors all wanted to see happen.
Narrator: But as negotiations get underway, Wilson quickly realizes that each country has come to the table with their own agenda.
There were these national leaders who had different views of what they wanted out of the Paris peace conference.
They had led their countries through this brutal, bloody, long war, and Wilson waltzes in with the Americans just at the end.
So they had to listen to him, and Wilson could be kind of persuasive but not that persuasive.
Narrator: As negotiations drag on for months, the talks fall apart, and one Allied nation feels completely cut out of the negotiations.
Japan entered the war in 1914, contributing thousands of troops and millions of dollars to the war effort.
They come to Versailles with one goal: To be treated equally.
But Allied leaders completely ignore Japan throughout the proceedings, and for Japan, it's the ultimate insult.
The Japanese, who'd been on the winning side, get this slap at the peace conference.
So the Japanese became alienated from the United States and from the Western powers, and it was a fairly straight line from there to the belief that, "if we're gonna get any respect, it's going to be by fighting are way to respect.
Narrator: The attention shifts from Wilson's plan for a lasting peace to a plan focused on punishing Germany, forcing them to pay for the devastation they've caused.
The reparations that were demanded of Germany were astronomical.
It was a matter of, "we're gonna squeeze as much out of Germany as we can.
" Well, there were some on the American side who said, "we are making the next war inevitable.
" Wilson worked against that.
Wilson wanted a somewhat more reasonable peace, and he wanted the Germans to feel that they had a stake in the continuation of the Versailles system.
The problem with the treaty as it was finalized was, Germany had no stake in that system.
It had every interest in overturning the system.
Narrator: Despite Wilson's best efforts, he is unable to convince the other Allies to buy into his plan for peace.
After six months of intense negotiations, the Allies finally have a treaty.
But the final agreement is far from the fair and equitable plan Wilson had originally hoped for.
The losers, Germany principally, they were there.
They didn't get to speak.
They weren't asked to contribute.
They were basically they had a gun put at their heads figuratively almost literally and said, "you're gonna sign on the dotted line.
" It was very much a Victor's peace.
The victors dictated the terms of the peace.
They made out like bandits.
Narrator: Europe is finally at peace.
But while most of the world celebrates, Germany is ordered to pay the Allies over 80 Billion dollars.
The modern equivalent of nearly 1/2 a trillion dollars, a debt they won't pay off until 2010.
As a result, the government quickly goes bankrupt, leaving millions of Germans impoverished.
The economic devastation completely transforms the country and its people.
Germany immediately is struggling with a question of survival.
For ordinary Germans, the war did not end in November 1918.
For ordinary Germans the battle for survival, the daily struggle for food, the effort to find shoes and clothing stretched on into the 1920s.
Narrator: As the anger and starvation spread, tensions rise throughout the country.
[Indistinct shouting.]
Germany is in a state of near Civil War.
The left and the right are fighting with each other in the streets.
Paramilitary groups clash.
Germany is a country divided against itself.
When World War I came to an end, this is not a treaty.
This is an armistice that'll probably last 20 years Meaning we have not really defeated the German spirit.
We have not really solved this problem.
Narrator: With the fighting stopped, the treaty for peace is signed at Versailles.
[Cheers and applause.]
And for the first time in over four years, Europe is at peace.
While celebrations erupt around the world, Germany is in a state of unrest, and many are convinced that the peace won't hold.
Among them is Winston Churchill.
Having just returned to England from the front lines, he sets out to reestablish his political career, narrowly winning reelection to his old seat in parliament.
There were a lot of doubts about Churchill.
He seemed erratic in his judgments.
His decision in respect to the Gallipoli campaign had disastrous consequences.
But it was in war that he proved his leadership credentials, and that's what transformed him.
Narrator: Churchill returns to government convinced the German threat hasn't gone away.
[Whistle blowing intermittently.]
After leading his troops to victory in France, Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur is given one of the most prestigious positions in the armed forces - Will you be late again? - No, sir! Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point.
Where he immediately gets to work preparing American soldiers for combat in case the peace fails.
240 miles away at his tank academy in Camp Meade, Maryland, Colonel George S.
Patton Ready! Narrator: Is also training the next generation of American soldiers.
Aim! Narrator: And like MacArthur, he's betting the cease-fire won't last.
[Gunshots.]
- Fire! - [Gunshots.]
Fire! - Fire! - [Gunshots.]
[Bells tolling.]
Narrator: In Italy, one man sees the end of fighting as an opportunity.
Benito Mussolini returns to his job as a newspaper journalist.
But the country he fought to protect is now in disarray.
The Italians came out of the war on the winning side but failed to gain the territory they had expected to gain, and there's a sense of outrage about this amongst Italian nationalists, a sense almost that Italy has lost the war despite being on the winning side.
Narrator: Mussolini uses his newspaper to convey his view of a new Italy, that under a strong leader the country can regain the glory of the Roman empire.
He believes he can be that leader The man who returns Italy to greatness.
He soon brings his anti-government views to a new medium radio.
We have actually been at war since we lifted the flag of our revolution which was then defended by a handful of men against the masonic, democratic, capitalistic world.
Mussolini was a man of strong words.
He liked the idea of overthrowing existing institutions.
He favored the use of violence to do this.
Narrator: To make his vision a reality, Mussolini forms a band of disgruntled former soldiers called the Blackshirts who terrorize his political opponents and begin preparing for an armed revolution.
In a matter of months, Mussolini has launched a movement that is about to change the fate of Italy.
Lance Corporal Adolf Hitler.
Sir.
Sit down.
- So you're looking for work.
- Yes, sir.
I am ready for duty.
I understand.
Unfortunately, I have nothing.
Nothing? There is no work.
The war is over.
There has to be something.
After all I've done, after all I've given There is a new political group in town: The German Workers' party.
We need to find out more about them and what their intentions are.
- Yes, sir.
- Try to not stand out.
The Versailles Treaty caused the economic conditions which gave rise to extremism.
You find in history that when an economy is terrible, it gives rise to all kinds of different extremist organizations.
Narrator: Hitler is assigned to infiltrate the German Workers' party, one of many anti-government organizations that have formed in the wake of the treaty.
[Door creaks.]
For months, he attends secret meetings held at undisclosed locations throughout the country.
They signed away our army.
The Versailles Treaty is not my treaty.
It was as if nothing had happened, as if we are forgotten.
Narrator: But Hitler soon realizes they are radical nationalists intensely loyal to the fatherland, and many of them harbor extremist views of German superiority.
Views that are no different from his own.
There was never really an effort to deal with all the damage that had occurred during World War I.
The failure to do that I think is what ultimately produced the seeds for Hitler and Nazism.
Germany as a whole is dead.
It has nothing left in its heart.
There are riots on the streets.
There is no Germany left to fight for.
Germany must break apart.
It is only through this that we can survive.
No Germany? Yes, there's nothing left to fight for.
"There's nothing left to fight for" are the famous last words of every turncoat in the history of warfare.
The weak among us turn to such excuses and abandon our pride and hope when it is only unity that separates the victors from the defeated.
Clearly you have stopped fighting.
But we are still fighting Germany's great war, our war, for what we deserve: A united Germany, a strong, proud Germany.
Germany is a sleeping giant, and once we rid our nation of the spineless frauds among us and alongside the criminals of Versailles, we will once again know greatness.
[Applause.]
Narrator: After four years of war, a tenuous peace holds.
[Birds cawing.]
But anger and resentment are spreading and shots are about to be fired again.
[Applause.]
Adolf Hitler leaves the German army to fully devote himself to the anti-government Workers Party.
Our Germany is dead, and you have conspired Narrator: His popularity and fiery rhetoric make him stand out in the group.
You have bled her with your corruption.
Narrator: And he's promoted to the head of propaganda.
We will call ourselves the National Socialist Party! [Cheers and applause.]
Narrator: Under Hitler's leadership, membership in the National Socialist Party quickly expands as Hitler experiences his first taste of real power.
There are many reports from fairly early on about Hitler's charisma as a speaker, and he gradually came to realize that he was indeed a powerful speaker far more powerful than anyone else around and began to use that as an asset.
Narrator: To cast all Germany under his spell, Hitler needs an image that will burn into the minds of millions.
Nowadays we'd call it a logo of course.
It was designed personally by Hitler, and it may be that he put some of his artistic impulses into this.
The essential part of it ultimately went back to India, but it was taken up as a symbol of racism and anti-semitism combined with the red background for socialism and the red, white, and black colors for the old Kaiser Reich.
Narrator: While Hitler is still in the early stages of his revolution, Benito Mussolini has already amassed an army of followers and is ready to take Italy by force.
For seven days in October of 1922 in a massive show of his popularity.
Mussolini leads a march of 30,000 Blackshirts into Rome.
With the people behind him, Mussolini and the Blackshirts storm the Royal Palace, forcing the King of Italy to hand over control of the government.
Mussolini came to power in Italy in 1922.
His successful march on Rome was eased by the process of expanding ego and adulation by the people around Mussolini and then eventually most of the public opinion in the country.
This is a dangerous process.
Narrator: In just months, Mussolini has been transformed from newspaper journalist to the most powerful man in Italy.
600 miles to the north, Adolf Hitler is watching everything Mussolini has done, and he wants that same ultimate power for himself.
So he amasses an army of his own.
Hitler does seem early to have been very impressed by Mussolini and indeed by the march on Rome.
His rise to power was modeled on what the Italian Fascists had done in Italy.
On November 8, 1923, Hitler leads the Nazis into a Munich beer hall where top government officials are meeting.
[Indistinct chatter.]
[Gunshots.]
Germany is dead, and you have conspired to kill her! You have crushed her with your incompetence.
You have bled her with your corruption.
[Gun cocking.]
You have profaned her by consorting with degenerate peoples.
No more! The revolution has begun! Join us now as we give birth to a new Germany! You watch him, and you think of how Adolf Hitler was able to do that, to get other people to follow him.
I think it was partly because he could persuade people that that was a good thing to do and partly because people were intimidated by him.
Narrator: After storming the beer hall, Hitler leads the Nazis into the streets to take the city by force.
But unlike in Italy, the German police are prepared.
Halt! Ready! [Guns cocking.]
Aim! Join us! The National Socialist Party has taken over the government! [Gunshot.]
[Gunfire.]
[Dramatic music.]
Narrator: Unlike Mussolini, Hitler's attempt to seize power is a failure, and he's arrested and charged with treason.
He spends his time in prison plotting his next move.
[Speaking indistinctly.]
[Typewriter clicking.]
[Typewriter dings.]
Narrator: To gain followers and to spread his message, Hitler creates a manifesto The heart of which is a radical plan for world domination.
What we must fight for is to safeguard the existence And the reproduction of our race and our people.
Narrator: Coming up on The World Wars The fighting may have stopped, but the war isn't over.
[Camera shutter clicking.]
Out of a great global depression a new generation of leader emerges.
We must reverse the Treaty of Versailles.
Let these chains be burst asunder.
[Applause.]
Narrator: While some are desperate to maintain the peace None of these people, General, want me putting money towards the next war.
Narrator: Others rise from the ashes, looking to re-ignite a great global war.
Hitler is far more dangerous than anything we've ever faced before! Bomb every city, every town, every village.
We will annihilate them.
Narrator: And as the fighting breaks out again It's not a request! It's a damned order.
Narrator: The fate of mankind hangs in the balance.
[Gunfire.]
It is time to end America's threat once and for all.
And the beginning of a period that saw two of the deadliest conflicts in our history.
It's a chance to remember those who died.
For their brothers, for their country and for the freedom we enjoy today.
And its a chance to honor the courage and bravery of all those who stepped forward and answered the call to serve.
Men like my Grandfather who marched through France as a member of Patton's army.
Women like my Grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line while he was gone.
So as we listen to the stories of the leaders like Roosevelt and Churchill, let's also remember the citizens whose names will never appear on monuments or in textbooks.
Men and Women who stood firm in the face of evil and in the years since have taken their rightful place in history.
May their sacrifice never be forgotten.
[Intense orchestral music.]
[Gas hissing.]
[Gasping.]
[Coughs.]
[Crickets chirping.]
[Dramatic orchestral music.]
[Symphonic techno music.]
Narrator: Over a 30-year period, from 1914 to 1945 more than 100 million people will die in the bloodiest conflict the world has ever seen.
But it all began in the slums of Vienna.
[Thunder booming.]
At age 25, Adolf Hitler is a poor loner, an aspiring artist, struggling to survive.
Both his parents are dead [Thunder booming.]
Leaving Hitler truly alone in the world.
He was a lost soul.
He wanted to be an artist, but he couldn't get into the art school, and he ended up living in a flophouse.
Narrator: Left without any means of support, his only way to make money is selling paintings around town for next to nothing.
Hitler didn't have a plan B when he was rejected.
He just didn't know what to do.
So he started to drift.
He had very little money.
He was living in a hand-to-mouth existence.
He had no clear aim in life at all.
He was, in a sense, waiting for something to happen.
Narrator: Before long, a chance event 450 miles away will change everything.
June 28, 1914.
[Explosion.]
An assassin takes down the Archduke of Austria-Hungary.
The murder ignites a deadly conflict that quickly erupts into war.
From the tangle of alliances two sides emerge.
Britain, France, and Russia become known as the Allies, while Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire form the Central Powers.
Filled with a patriotic sense of urgency, men on both sides rush to join the fight.
For Hitler, it's the opportunity he's been waiting for.
He quickly rushes to enlist.
He tried out for the Austrian army.
He failed the physical.
He wasn't considered strong enough to carry a rifle.
Narrator: Rejected by his own country, Hitler turns to the German army who's accepting almost anyone as they worked to build the largest fighting force in the world.
[Bells tolling.]
Germany has finally given Hitler what he's always wanted: A place to belong.
I think that the decision to enter the military for most people is not a decision to serve.
It may be in a very general sense, but it's more often because something else is motivating you.
Zwei! Drei! Vier! Narrator: Throughout August of 1914, Hitler trains as a Private in the German army.
Well, the German army was considered to be the finest army in the world.
It was a massive force well equipped, well trained, and very well led, and Hitler was swept away.
Being part of the German army was something that Hitler deeply loved.
Narrator: The structure of training transforms Hitler into a devout German soldier.
Hitler joins 1 1/2 million Germans marching towards the French border and the unified Allied forces.
In the history of warfare, armies this large have never met in combat.
6,000 miles away, America has nothing to do with the war in Europe.
They're in their own war with Pancho Villa.
[Hooves rumbling.]
[Gunshots.]
The Mexican Revolutionary is carrying out violent attacks on U.
S.
citizens along the southwestern border.
But he goes too far.
[Gunshots ricocheting.]
Villa and his men seize an American mining train, brutally killing 16 innocent Americans, leaving the U.
S.
military no choice but to take action.
Nearly 5,000 American troops cross the Mexican border to take down Villa.
But fighting a guerrilla force with a traditional army is next to impossible.
[Gunshot.]
One army Captain is determined to find a different way.
His name is George S.
Patton.
Patton's ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War; they fought in the Civil War.
He grew up wanting to be a military hero.
He has a reputation for being smart, tough, and for being ruthless.
And he has another quality that's essential in military leadership.
He understands the power of technology, and he doesn't want to fight with cavalry and with horses.
He's looking for new technology that will change the nature of the battlefield.
So the car is fairly new.
If you strap a gun to a car, you've got a new instrument of warfare.
Narrator: What Patton doesn't know is that he's about to revolutionize warfare.
I think Patton knew only one direction, and that was forward.
He had a lot of charisma.
He was a very colorful leader.
I thought he was very egotistical, and that's fine as long as you translate that into good leadership.
But maybe a little bit over the top.
Narrator: Almost immediately, Patton is able to put his plan into action [Motor rumbling.]
And he launches a surprise raid on Pancho Villa's camp.
Faster! Got 'em on the run.
Go! Faster! Get down! [Gunfire.]
Let's go, let's go! Narrator: The bandits are no match for Patton and his mobile army, and by the end of the fight, three of villa's men have been killed, including his second-in-command.
The first use of motorized warfare by the United States army is a huge success, and for Patton, it's the first step in his rise to greatness.
Half a world away, two massive armies collide on the battlefield In the first major war with modern technology.
When you look at World War I, it's about machine guns, and, you know, all of these sorts of new killing mechanisms.
It's the beginning of the 20th century as a tech era.
This is not men on horseback anymore.
This is a motorized war.
Narrator: The advanced weaponry turns the conflict into a slaughter.
230 men are killed each hour one death every 15 seconds.
Really the machine gun probably did more than anything else.
They found if they dug even shallow trenches and used machine guns, a small number of troops could stop a large attacking force.
And then both sides started to dig trenches.
And so they were locked along this line, the Western front, which was this extraordinarily complex set of trenches that didn't move very much either way.
[Explosion.]
Narrator: The trenches cover 25,000 miles.
Laid end to end, they would circle the globe.
The area between the trenches is so deadly, it's known As no-man's-land.
Among the German soldiers stationed in the trenches along the Western front is Adolf Hitler.
But even after months on the front lines, Hitler's still seen as an outcast.
Hitler was regarded by the other troops as something of a loner, something of a rather peculiar eccentric person who kept to himself.
Narrator: But what Hitler lacks in popularity he makes up for in blind ambition.
Runner! Command wants this taken to the 3rd Battalion.
- Now! - Yes, sir.
Hitler's role as a messenger was actually considered perhaps the most dangerous task in trench warfare running from trench to trench, exposing himself to enemy fire.
The mortality rate for messengers was quite significant.
Pull back! [Grunts.]
[Gunfire.]
[Explosion.]
[High-pitched ringing.]
[Dramatic string music.]
The Germans are retreating, and Adolf Hitler has been injured, and he has this encounter with a Private Henry Tandey, a British Private.
[Music swells.]
Tandey has Adolf Hitler in his sights, and even though he's a trained soldier, he can't bring himself to pull the trigger.
If Tandey had pulled the trigger, Adolf Hitler would have died on the battlefields in World War I, and the whole course of human history would have been changed.
It's one of the great what-ifs in history.
Narrator: The World Wars have begun with Britain, France, and Russia squaring off against Germany and the Central Powers.
[Gunfire.]
Modern weaponry is causing mass devastation on the battlefields, and tens of thousands of soldiers are now living in overcrowded trenches.
Very soon after the war began, both sides realized, "we can entrench, and the other side can't move us out.
"They can move us backwards a little bit but only at horrendous cost.
" And the result of this, the war just bogged down in the muds of northern France.
Narrator: But in London, one man is convinced he can break the stalemate.
He comes up to the barman and says Narrator: Born into one of the wealthiest families in Britain, he's risen through the ranks at unusual speed To become the head of the British Navy.
His name is Winston Churchill.
Churchill had the most enormous self-confidence, and it's easy to see why that was the case.
He was the son of Lord Randolph Churchill, who was a brilliant politician.
And so Churchill, from a very young man, saw himself, almost by divine right, as playing a leading role in politics.
Narrator: Churchill forms a bold plan that he's certain will change the Allies' fortunes.
He even at that point considered himself a strategist, and he looked for ways to break the stalemate in Western Europe rather than just to get more armies and more artillery, and it actually was fairly thoughtful.
What if we could send a fleet to the south into the Black Sea? Resupply the Russians? Well, yes, exactly.
There's no way.
Well, yes, there is.
Through Gallipoli.
Gallipoli? No.
This is our way in.
With all due respect, we are here to provide information this is what we are doing.
A lot of people Churchill worked with thought he was a man of contradictions, a Maverick, a loose cannon.
He was known as someone to watch.
His friends would say someone to watch because he's very talented, and his enemies would say someone to watch because he was dangerous.
Narrator: The Gallipoli peninsula is heavily guarded by the Central Powers.
Churchill's plan is to blast through the narrow strait, Pushing through to Russia and allowing the Allies to launch an overwhelming attack from the east, opening up a second front against Germany.
If it's successful, the Allies will be able to turn the tide of the war and crush the Central Powers.
More than 100 warships set sail for what will be the largest amphibious invasion the world has ever seen.
[Pensive orchestral music.]
People often ask me, "what's the most difficult decision you've ever made?" It's always the decision of sending men into battle, and the worst part of it all is the night that the battle begins, because you know you've just launched something, and you know that within a few hours you will start getting calls from the battlefield, from your commanders out in the field, that will tell you how many young men have died.
[Telephone rings.]
Yes? They're halfway up the straits.
They should have broken through by now.
They'll make it.
Four ships sunk.
Another burning.
Losses were to be expected.
The fleet is requesting permission to turn back.
They are to press on at all costs.
This is war.
Gallipoli I don't think could ever have worked.
The troops who stormed ashore were met by a hail of machine gun fire and artillery, and the casualties were appalling.
Narrator: The invasion is a devastating failure.
56,000 Allied troops are killed and nearly 200,000 are reported injured or missing.
Almost no ground is gained And the supply route to Russia remains closed off.
I think Churchill's credibility after Gallipoli was certainly called into question.
Warfare is not a science.
The one thing you do know when you commit to warfare is, it's gonna be horrible.
Narrator: The public is outraged by the carnage.
Someone will have to take the blame.
It's over.
The plan was sound.
Excuse me? The plan was sound.
All we needed to do was keep pushing forward.
I'm afraid your services as First Lord of the Admiralty are no longer required.
I'll expect your letter of resignation in the morning.
When Churchill was let go, he thought his career was over, finished.
And that wasn't melodrama on his part, and he could be melodramatic.
It appeared that it would be finished.
It's hard to imagine Churchill being humbled by something like Gallipoli, but he was chastened.
He thought, "never again.
"The next time, if there's a next time" and it didn't look like there would be "I'll do it right.
" Narrator: Defeated and humiliated, Churchill's career is all but ruined.
He's offered a desk job which he turns down.
He knows if he's ever going to redeem himself, he needs a new path.
So Churchill does the unthinkable.
He enlists in the British army And heads straight for the front lines.
While Winston Churchill looks for redemption, Germany looks to capitalize on its victory at Gallipoli, devising a plan to eliminate the Russian threat once and for all.
The Germans load a secret weapon onto a heavily guarded train headed for Russia.
[Dramatic orchestral music.]
It's a weapon that promises to destroy their enemies from the inside out.
[Whistle blowing.]
That weapon is Vladimir Lenin.
Lenin is the leader of Russia's Communist Revolutionaries hell-bent on toppling the Russian Czar.
For the past ten years, he's been in exile in Switzerland until Germany sends him home on a train along with over $10 million to fund his revolution.
The Germans decided that they would take this enormous gamble and bring Lenin back to Russia to bring about a revolution to get Russia out the war.
That's about as radical a step as you can take.
Narrator: When Lenin gets to Moscow, he's greeted by an old friend.
Six times he's been exiled to Siberia, and six times he's escaped.
His name is Joseph Stalin.
Comrade.
Comrade.
Let me show you to your new place.
Narrator: Reunited, the two play right into Germany's plan as they begin to plot an armed rebellion.
Over the next few months, Lenin and Stalin recruit a massive workers' militia.
Using the $10 million from the German government, they quietly amass a stockpile of weapons Until they are ready to make their move.
I've arranged to take the train stations and the telephone communications.
And the palace guard? Many of our sources say they are sympathetic to our cause.
Our timing has to be perfect.
Narrator: The Communists storm the Winter Palace, toppling the Russian Czar.
The Soviet union is born.
This is just the beginning, comrade.
Narrator: Just days later, Lenin signs a decree that takes Russia out of the war.
The German plan works, bringing them one step closer to victory.
Narrator: Europe is at war, and in a bold move, the Central Powers have ended the fighting on the eastern front, sending exiled revolutionary Vladimir Lenin back to Russia where he seized control of the country and took the Russian army out of the fight.
Germany can turn its attention to the other Allies, and one of the countries now forced to fend off a new wave of German soldiers is Italy.
Italy joined the fight in 1915 and now must face the full might of the German army for the first time.
Tens of thousands of troops are rushed to defend the Italian border in the alps.
Among them is a sharpshooter named Benito Mussolini.
Before the war, Mussolini is an antiwar activist.
He's a journalist.
He's pretty much a pacifist.
[Gunshot.]
Narrator: The time spent defending Italy's border makes Mussolini hungry to return Italy to greatness.
[Gunshot.]
Mussolini becomes a very different person than he was before the war.
His whole attitude toward his nation and his role in it changes.
He develops this hyper sense of nationalism, this real pride in his country.
Narrator: The horrors of war have transformed Mussolini into a ruthless killing machine.
A trait he'll take back with him to Rome.
[Gunshot.]
600 miles to the north in Belgium, the British army digs in [Gunfire.]
Since the beginning of the war, nearly 400,000 British soldiers have been killed just to be replaced by new arrivals.
Among the new recruits is a man battling back from the biggest failure of his life Winston Churchill.
Churchill took responsibility for everything he ever did in his life.
He never passed the buck.
He was humbled, humiliated by Gallipoli, and he had to do something, and he put himself in harm's way and volunteered to go to the trenches.
It was a very dangerous thing to do.
[Explosion.]
- Move! - Go! [Explosions, gunfire.]
Sir, 2nd Platoon lost this main trench.
Get me the Mortar from the West Reserve now.
You get the hell scared out of you first of all.
The first time I got shot at, um, was, "hey, this isn't a game.
This is for real.
This guy really missed me, and he killed somebody else.
But tomorrow he'll try to kill me.
" [Gunshot.]
As we say in the military, that opens your nostrils.
Narrator: With British casualties escalating, Churchill is quickly promoted and discovers he has what it takes to lead men into battle.
For a man of Churchill's ambition, it's the first step towards redemption.
In his heart, what Churchill always wanted to be was the great warrior, the great hero.
Here he was commanding a mere 800 men, whereas he dreamed of directing the battle destinies of millions.
Narrator: The fight seems unending Mail! Narrator: Until Germany unleashes a secret weapon.
Incoming! [Explosion, gas hissing.]
Gas! Move! Move! Out of the way! Go! [All coughing.]
Go, go, go, go! [All coughing.]
The fight between the Central and Allied powers has become the bloodiest war in human history.
By 1917, nearly 7 million British, French, and German soldiers have been killed.
- Gas! - Go.
[All coughing.]
It was a war of attrition.
You had to kill as many of the enemy as you could so you could possibly advance.
Chemical warfare just enabled that in a very horrific way.
For a way to alter the course of the war.
So they look to the one country that could finally tip the scales in their favor.
Until now, President Woodrow Wilson has kept America out of the war.
Wilson recognized that the American people did not want to get involved in a war, particularly if it's a war far away involving people and for causes that we had nothing to do with.
Frankly, the American people did not see themselves at immediate risk.
Narrator: But with hostilities escalating, a peaceful solution seems less and less likely, and Wilson's advisors urge him to begin preparing military forces.
Among them is the 35-year-old Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Mr.
President, I recommend an immediate allocation of more funds to our naval resources if we want to maintain military preparedness.
Wilson found himself being drawn closer and closer to war.
In the spring of 1915, the British liner the lusitania was sunk, and on board were over a hundred Americans.
Now, this was a big deal.
Until this time, it had been a European war.
But now in this European war, Americans were getting killed.
Narrator: American resentment grows against Germany, and on February 26, 1917, it to finally reaches a boiling point.
Mr.
President, I think you should look at this right away.
Narrator: The United States intercepts a secret telegram from Germany intended for the Mexican government containing a shocking proposal.
The Germans are offering to fund a Mexican invasion of the United States that would allow the country to reclaim the border states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
The German ploy was, preoccupy America with a war with Mexico, and therefore you keep them out of Europe.
Well, this incensed a lot of Americans, and rightfully so.
Narrator: The U.
S.
government releases the contents of the secret message, and almost instantly, anti-German protests erupt all across America.
The Zimmermann telegram was one of the stupidest things the German government ever did.
Texas didn't care about the war in Europe.
Now all of a sudden, the Germans are trying to return Texas to Mexico? Enough with Germany.
They need to be taught a lesson.
Narrator: President Wilson signs the declaration of war in April of 1917.
Germany's plan to keep America out of Europe completely backfires.
The Americans may finally be ready for war, but their military isn't.
The U.
S.
has a standing army of only 100,000 men while the German army has 4 1/2 million.
The United States hurries to build its military, and those few with fighting experience are rushed to France.
George S.
Patton has been presented with a huge challenge To command a Battalion of American men using the latest form of military innovation The tank.
Some American Generals were really resisting the tank because they didn't want to get rid of the horse cavalry.
George Patton understood the power of the new technology of mobile and armed warfare, and he invested a lot in that.
Narrator: The tank is already being used on the Western front but with little success.
It runs out of gas too quickly, gets stuck in the mud too easily, and its sheer size makes it difficult to incorporate in military maneuvers.
But where others see an insurmountable challenge, Patton sees a chance to prove that his tanks can break the stalemate.
I think innovation comes between the ears.
It's not about the gizmo.
It's about how you think about using technology and so forth.
You have to give credit to the people like Patton that experienced World War I, that had been thinking about how to employ new things.
Narrator: Patton knows the stakes are high.
[Explosion.]
But with his Battalion of tanks, he's determined to win the war [Explosion.]
Or die trying.
Narrator: The global war rages in Europe [Gunfire.]
As the Allies fight to hold their ground against Germany and the Central Powers in the sprawling system of trenches.
Things are ugly in World War I.
Europe was staggered, exhausted, many cities in rubble.
Starvation and disease were widespread.
You know, the Red Cross couldn't even keep up with what was going on.
If you were the Allies in Europe, you needed the reinforcements The new energy, the new blood.
To aid in the fight, the Allies recruit a new country to their side.
Following their long-awaited entry into the war, America is ready to make its presence felt.
Their first major offensive is an attack on the Western front hoping to force the Central Powers out of their trenches and drive them out of France.
They're armed with a secret weapon of their own: A Battalion of lightweight tanks under the command of Colonel George S.
Patton.
In a column.
We're gonna go down the main road.
Don't let anyone know we're coming.
- We move at dawn.
- Yes, sir! Patton is testing his new strategy.
He's leading this new form of weaponry, the tank.
So it's an important battle for him to prove that tanks are valuable on the battlefield and also to establish himself as an important military leader.
Narrator: For Patton, everything in his career has led up to this moment.
George Patton had grown up to be a soldier.
It was his identity.
And so in the first World War, he is in his element.
[Engines roaring.]
[Distant explosions.]
Narrator: The night before the planned invasion, Patton can't sleep.
Tanks are still unproven in warfare, and Patton knows he can't leave anything to chance.
[Explosion, flare hissing.]
He slips out of the trenches totally unprotected, deep into the heart of no-man's-land.
He's scouting a route to ensure his machines won't get stuck in the mud.
I think when you look at someone like George Patton, he used intelligence well but I think the best thing he did was, he turned intelligence into action, very quickly.
George Patton's tendency was for action.
Because he was aggressive, for him it worked very, very well.
Narrator: On September 12, 1918, Patton and his forces sweep onto the battlefield from every angle [Explosions, gunfire.]
And the Germans hit back with everything they've got.
But all of Patton's intelligence is paying off And his Tank Brigade begins to break down the German line.
Soldier! - Get on the left flank now! - Yes, sir.
General, Charlie Company's advancing.
- Take position on the Ridge.
- Yes, sir.
Keep moving! Keep moving! Lieutenant George S.
Patton, 1st Tank Brigade.
Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur, 42nd Infantry.
General, sir, they need you at the front.
All right, boys! Let's move up! Patton and MacArthur.
Here they are in Saint-Mihiel, and they meet on the battlefield for the first time in the midst of artillery shells all around them.
You have these two men who are going to play such an important role in shaping the future of the 20th century, and they have no idea what history has in store for them.
Narrator: MacArthur is from a long line of military men.
His father was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in the American Civil War.
No less is expected of his son.
Douglas MacArthur would lead attacks walking out into no-man's-land with a swagger.
He was embodied with not only tremendous ability but also tremendous self-confidence.
Watch the right flank! From an early age, he was different.
He was special.
I don't want to say "anointed".
But he may have thought he was.
Narrator: The two West Point graduates will be allies and rivals for decades.
I don't think there's any question that a leader who has experienced war and what it means to be in battle.
If you're a military commander, that experience is invaluable.
How you try to ensure that in the midst of all of that chaos and the killing that's going on, that you keep your eye on the mission that has to be accomplished, that's not easy to do.
[explosions, gunfire.]
Narrator: The two men lead the Allies to victory as the German line crumbles.
And for the first time, the Central Powers are on the run.
Just 240 miles away, years of trench warfare have transformed Adolf Hitler from a directionless loner to a hardened soldier.
[Gas hissing, indistinct shouting.]
Hitler has escaped death twice [Shouting indistinctly.]
Narrator: And it's left him a changed man.
[Coughing.]
[Gasping.]
[Gunshot.]
Hitler didn't feel at this time during the First World War that he was a man of destiny at all.
[Gunshot.]
What he did feel was a sense of belonging and a sense of commitment, and that, I think, made him braver than he might otherwise have been.
He felt he was fighting in a really important cause, the cause of Germany.
[Gunshot.]
Narrator: Hitler's ideology takes root on the front lines.
He begins to believe in Germany's superiority over the Allies and is now certain he can withstand anything the Allied forces throw his way.
Gas! [Intense percussive music.]
Narrator: The gas attacks are endless.
To Hitler, they've become almost routine.
But this time it's different.
The Allies hit the Germans with a deadly new form of chemical warfare: Mustard gas.
It lingers in the trenches for days.
And attacks both the respiratory system and the skin.
Mustard gas affects the central nervous system.
It creates mustard-colored blisters on the skin.
It blinds people.
It strips away the mucous membranes.
It's incredibly painful and debilitating, and since it had no odor, by the time you realized that you had inhaled it, and it was on your skin, it was too late.
[Coughing.]
[Coughing.]
Narrator: After three years of bloody war, the stalemate in Europe has been broken.
The United States has joined the fighting Giving Allied armies a needed boost Fire! Pull back! Narrator: And driving the Germans back to their original defensive line in northern France.
But the German army remains powerful, meaning the Allies have to act fast.
[Explosions.]
Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur is seeking every tactical advantage.
Military leaders are human beings that are remarkably different in personality and background.
Every so often, someone crosses the constellation of military leaders a little bit like a shooting star, and Douglas MacArthur did that.
Narrator: MacArthur learns of a surveillance photograph of German trenches along the Western front [Camera shutter clicking.]
That reveals an undetected gap in the German line.
Where others see an unbreakable defense, MacArthur knows he can exploit that weakness.
Intelligence is essential, and the more you can get, the better.
But at the end of the day, it's your instinct as a senior person.
The reason we're wearing stars or have these elevated positions is, we have demonstrated over the years our ability to have an instinct that works.
Narrator: MacArthur is determined to break through the line and surround the Germans in their trenches Supported by George S.
Patton and his Battalion of tanks.
In the fall of 1918 Come on! Come on! Narrator: The Allies launch an all-out attack in what will come to be known Fire! Narrator: As the 100 days offensive.
Boosted by MacArthur's men.
And Patton's tanks Get a move move! Move! Narrator: The Allied armies become the most dominant fighting force the war has ever seen.
Press forward! Both of 'em had big egos, but there's no doubt that both of them were brilliant on the battlefield.
Go on, keep advancing! MacArthur was an extraordinarily talented and effective military leader.
Fire! Patton, for what he was asked to do, which was trying to break out of the trenches, there was probably nobody better.
Move! Move! On, come on! Move! [Gunfire.]
Incoming! [Explosion.]
Move! Move! Move! [Gunfire.]
Narrator: The Allies relentlessly attack the German line from every direction.
[Gunshot.]
[Gunshot.]
[Explosions, gunfire.]
Move! Move! Move! Move! Come on! Come on! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! [Dramatic orchestral music.]
Narrator: After months of fighting, the Allies finally break through [Gunshot.]
Putting the mighty German army on the run.
[Gunshot.]
[Indistinct shouting.]
[Grunting.]
Narrator: Finally, with no other option, tens of thousands of German soldiers Do it now! Narrator: Lay down their guns Hands up! Narrator: And surrender.
You look at the great leaders.
These were men who understood the most important resource they had available to them to fight a war not the weapons, not the planes, not the tanks.
It's the soldiers who get it done, and leadership is all about inspiring your soldiers to achieve a decisive win.
Narrator: After four years of continuous fighting and 37 million casualties, the two sides agree to a cease fire.
When the world is shaking and rearranging itself as it does after a great events, like the end of a war.
There are a whole range of different emotions.
The first is exhilaration, a very personal feeling, exhilaration at being part of an event that is changing the world, and there's never much time to look back.
There's always a lot to look forward to.
Narrator: While most of the world celebrates the end of the fighting, some deep in the heart of Germany refuse to accept defeat.
Hitler was wounded in the gas attack at the very end of the war, and he was then hospitalized, temporarily blinded.
That our people will be losing the war against the Western armies While he was in hospital, he was then told that Germany had lost the First World War, and that's a crucial turning point in Hitler's life.
In Hitler's worldview, it was always, um, dead or alive, win or total defeat.
For him, surrender was something un-German.
You are a coward, somehow, if you surrender.
[Tense music.]
Hitler took the surrender personally A personal destructive blow to himself.
He also took it as a mission, a mission in life to avenge and rectify the surrender.
Narrator: After four long and bloody years and 37 million casualties, the United States and the Allies have finally claimed victory, forcing Germany to surrender.
But while the fighting has stopped, the pressure is now on the Allied leaders to come to an agreement preventing war from ever breaking out again.
As negotiations to secure the peace get underway in France, massive crowds greet the world leaders [Cheers and applause.]
Including United States President Woodrow Wilson.
Woodrow Wilson was the first President of the United States to spend anywhere near six months outside this country, and he felt that for him to send anyone else to negotiate the peace, it would not have been as well done.
Wilson said, "Whatever happens with the settlement of this war, "if it goes well, give me credit.
If it doesn't, blame me.
" Narrator: The leaders gather at the Palace of Versailles.
But one country not invited to the table is Germany.
Gentlemen, please, please sit down.
If we can start by considering the points before we discuss any of the individual ideas The main thing that Woodrow Wilson wanted to accomplish at Versailles was defanging Germany, not allowing them to develop a huge war machine again.
This was what the victors all wanted to see happen.
Narrator: But as negotiations get underway, Wilson quickly realizes that each country has come to the table with their own agenda.
There were these national leaders who had different views of what they wanted out of the Paris peace conference.
They had led their countries through this brutal, bloody, long war, and Wilson waltzes in with the Americans just at the end.
So they had to listen to him, and Wilson could be kind of persuasive but not that persuasive.
Narrator: As negotiations drag on for months, the talks fall apart, and one Allied nation feels completely cut out of the negotiations.
Japan entered the war in 1914, contributing thousands of troops and millions of dollars to the war effort.
They come to Versailles with one goal: To be treated equally.
But Allied leaders completely ignore Japan throughout the proceedings, and for Japan, it's the ultimate insult.
The Japanese, who'd been on the winning side, get this slap at the peace conference.
So the Japanese became alienated from the United States and from the Western powers, and it was a fairly straight line from there to the belief that, "if we're gonna get any respect, it's going to be by fighting are way to respect.
Narrator: The attention shifts from Wilson's plan for a lasting peace to a plan focused on punishing Germany, forcing them to pay for the devastation they've caused.
The reparations that were demanded of Germany were astronomical.
It was a matter of, "we're gonna squeeze as much out of Germany as we can.
" Well, there were some on the American side who said, "we are making the next war inevitable.
" Wilson worked against that.
Wilson wanted a somewhat more reasonable peace, and he wanted the Germans to feel that they had a stake in the continuation of the Versailles system.
The problem with the treaty as it was finalized was, Germany had no stake in that system.
It had every interest in overturning the system.
Narrator: Despite Wilson's best efforts, he is unable to convince the other Allies to buy into his plan for peace.
After six months of intense negotiations, the Allies finally have a treaty.
But the final agreement is far from the fair and equitable plan Wilson had originally hoped for.
The losers, Germany principally, they were there.
They didn't get to speak.
They weren't asked to contribute.
They were basically they had a gun put at their heads figuratively almost literally and said, "you're gonna sign on the dotted line.
" It was very much a Victor's peace.
The victors dictated the terms of the peace.
They made out like bandits.
Narrator: Europe is finally at peace.
But while most of the world celebrates, Germany is ordered to pay the Allies over 80 Billion dollars.
The modern equivalent of nearly 1/2 a trillion dollars, a debt they won't pay off until 2010.
As a result, the government quickly goes bankrupt, leaving millions of Germans impoverished.
The economic devastation completely transforms the country and its people.
Germany immediately is struggling with a question of survival.
For ordinary Germans, the war did not end in November 1918.
For ordinary Germans the battle for survival, the daily struggle for food, the effort to find shoes and clothing stretched on into the 1920s.
Narrator: As the anger and starvation spread, tensions rise throughout the country.
[Indistinct shouting.]
Germany is in a state of near Civil War.
The left and the right are fighting with each other in the streets.
Paramilitary groups clash.
Germany is a country divided against itself.
When World War I came to an end, this is not a treaty.
This is an armistice that'll probably last 20 years Meaning we have not really defeated the German spirit.
We have not really solved this problem.
Narrator: With the fighting stopped, the treaty for peace is signed at Versailles.
[Cheers and applause.]
And for the first time in over four years, Europe is at peace.
While celebrations erupt around the world, Germany is in a state of unrest, and many are convinced that the peace won't hold.
Among them is Winston Churchill.
Having just returned to England from the front lines, he sets out to reestablish his political career, narrowly winning reelection to his old seat in parliament.
There were a lot of doubts about Churchill.
He seemed erratic in his judgments.
His decision in respect to the Gallipoli campaign had disastrous consequences.
But it was in war that he proved his leadership credentials, and that's what transformed him.
Narrator: Churchill returns to government convinced the German threat hasn't gone away.
[Whistle blowing intermittently.]
After leading his troops to victory in France, Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur is given one of the most prestigious positions in the armed forces - Will you be late again? - No, sir! Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point.
Where he immediately gets to work preparing American soldiers for combat in case the peace fails.
240 miles away at his tank academy in Camp Meade, Maryland, Colonel George S.
Patton Ready! Narrator: Is also training the next generation of American soldiers.
Aim! Narrator: And like MacArthur, he's betting the cease-fire won't last.
[Gunshots.]
- Fire! - [Gunshots.]
Fire! - Fire! - [Gunshots.]
[Bells tolling.]
Narrator: In Italy, one man sees the end of fighting as an opportunity.
Benito Mussolini returns to his job as a newspaper journalist.
But the country he fought to protect is now in disarray.
The Italians came out of the war on the winning side but failed to gain the territory they had expected to gain, and there's a sense of outrage about this amongst Italian nationalists, a sense almost that Italy has lost the war despite being on the winning side.
Narrator: Mussolini uses his newspaper to convey his view of a new Italy, that under a strong leader the country can regain the glory of the Roman empire.
He believes he can be that leader The man who returns Italy to greatness.
He soon brings his anti-government views to a new medium radio.
We have actually been at war since we lifted the flag of our revolution which was then defended by a handful of men against the masonic, democratic, capitalistic world.
Mussolini was a man of strong words.
He liked the idea of overthrowing existing institutions.
He favored the use of violence to do this.
Narrator: To make his vision a reality, Mussolini forms a band of disgruntled former soldiers called the Blackshirts who terrorize his political opponents and begin preparing for an armed revolution.
In a matter of months, Mussolini has launched a movement that is about to change the fate of Italy.
Lance Corporal Adolf Hitler.
Sir.
Sit down.
- So you're looking for work.
- Yes, sir.
I am ready for duty.
I understand.
Unfortunately, I have nothing.
Nothing? There is no work.
The war is over.
There has to be something.
After all I've done, after all I've given There is a new political group in town: The German Workers' party.
We need to find out more about them and what their intentions are.
- Yes, sir.
- Try to not stand out.
The Versailles Treaty caused the economic conditions which gave rise to extremism.
You find in history that when an economy is terrible, it gives rise to all kinds of different extremist organizations.
Narrator: Hitler is assigned to infiltrate the German Workers' party, one of many anti-government organizations that have formed in the wake of the treaty.
[Door creaks.]
For months, he attends secret meetings held at undisclosed locations throughout the country.
They signed away our army.
The Versailles Treaty is not my treaty.
It was as if nothing had happened, as if we are forgotten.
Narrator: But Hitler soon realizes they are radical nationalists intensely loyal to the fatherland, and many of them harbor extremist views of German superiority.
Views that are no different from his own.
There was never really an effort to deal with all the damage that had occurred during World War I.
The failure to do that I think is what ultimately produced the seeds for Hitler and Nazism.
Germany as a whole is dead.
It has nothing left in its heart.
There are riots on the streets.
There is no Germany left to fight for.
Germany must break apart.
It is only through this that we can survive.
No Germany? Yes, there's nothing left to fight for.
"There's nothing left to fight for" are the famous last words of every turncoat in the history of warfare.
The weak among us turn to such excuses and abandon our pride and hope when it is only unity that separates the victors from the defeated.
Clearly you have stopped fighting.
But we are still fighting Germany's great war, our war, for what we deserve: A united Germany, a strong, proud Germany.
Germany is a sleeping giant, and once we rid our nation of the spineless frauds among us and alongside the criminals of Versailles, we will once again know greatness.
[Applause.]
Narrator: After four years of war, a tenuous peace holds.
[Birds cawing.]
But anger and resentment are spreading and shots are about to be fired again.
[Applause.]
Adolf Hitler leaves the German army to fully devote himself to the anti-government Workers Party.
Our Germany is dead, and you have conspired Narrator: His popularity and fiery rhetoric make him stand out in the group.
You have bled her with your corruption.
Narrator: And he's promoted to the head of propaganda.
We will call ourselves the National Socialist Party! [Cheers and applause.]
Narrator: Under Hitler's leadership, membership in the National Socialist Party quickly expands as Hitler experiences his first taste of real power.
There are many reports from fairly early on about Hitler's charisma as a speaker, and he gradually came to realize that he was indeed a powerful speaker far more powerful than anyone else around and began to use that as an asset.
Narrator: To cast all Germany under his spell, Hitler needs an image that will burn into the minds of millions.
Nowadays we'd call it a logo of course.
It was designed personally by Hitler, and it may be that he put some of his artistic impulses into this.
The essential part of it ultimately went back to India, but it was taken up as a symbol of racism and anti-semitism combined with the red background for socialism and the red, white, and black colors for the old Kaiser Reich.
Narrator: While Hitler is still in the early stages of his revolution, Benito Mussolini has already amassed an army of followers and is ready to take Italy by force.
For seven days in October of 1922 in a massive show of his popularity.
Mussolini leads a march of 30,000 Blackshirts into Rome.
With the people behind him, Mussolini and the Blackshirts storm the Royal Palace, forcing the King of Italy to hand over control of the government.
Mussolini came to power in Italy in 1922.
His successful march on Rome was eased by the process of expanding ego and adulation by the people around Mussolini and then eventually most of the public opinion in the country.
This is a dangerous process.
Narrator: In just months, Mussolini has been transformed from newspaper journalist to the most powerful man in Italy.
600 miles to the north, Adolf Hitler is watching everything Mussolini has done, and he wants that same ultimate power for himself.
So he amasses an army of his own.
Hitler does seem early to have been very impressed by Mussolini and indeed by the march on Rome.
His rise to power was modeled on what the Italian Fascists had done in Italy.
On November 8, 1923, Hitler leads the Nazis into a Munich beer hall where top government officials are meeting.
[Indistinct chatter.]
[Gunshots.]
Germany is dead, and you have conspired to kill her! You have crushed her with your incompetence.
You have bled her with your corruption.
[Gun cocking.]
You have profaned her by consorting with degenerate peoples.
No more! The revolution has begun! Join us now as we give birth to a new Germany! You watch him, and you think of how Adolf Hitler was able to do that, to get other people to follow him.
I think it was partly because he could persuade people that that was a good thing to do and partly because people were intimidated by him.
Narrator: After storming the beer hall, Hitler leads the Nazis into the streets to take the city by force.
But unlike in Italy, the German police are prepared.
Halt! Ready! [Guns cocking.]
Aim! Join us! The National Socialist Party has taken over the government! [Gunshot.]
[Gunfire.]
[Dramatic music.]
Narrator: Unlike Mussolini, Hitler's attempt to seize power is a failure, and he's arrested and charged with treason.
He spends his time in prison plotting his next move.
[Speaking indistinctly.]
[Typewriter clicking.]
[Typewriter dings.]
Narrator: To gain followers and to spread his message, Hitler creates a manifesto The heart of which is a radical plan for world domination.
What we must fight for is to safeguard the existence And the reproduction of our race and our people.
Narrator: Coming up on The World Wars The fighting may have stopped, but the war isn't over.
[Camera shutter clicking.]
Out of a great global depression a new generation of leader emerges.
We must reverse the Treaty of Versailles.
Let these chains be burst asunder.
[Applause.]
Narrator: While some are desperate to maintain the peace None of these people, General, want me putting money towards the next war.
Narrator: Others rise from the ashes, looking to re-ignite a great global war.
Hitler is far more dangerous than anything we've ever faced before! Bomb every city, every town, every village.
We will annihilate them.
Narrator: And as the fighting breaks out again It's not a request! It's a damned order.
Narrator: The fate of mankind hangs in the balance.
[Gunfire.]
It is time to end America's threat once and for all.