NARRATED BY ROBERT POWELL
In 1919 the German war machine was shattered and broken, laid waste by the extreme conditions of the Treaty of Versailles. Just 20 years later Nazi Germany had the most powerful armed forces in the world.
This turnaround in fortunes was due to the mesmeric influence of one man, Adolf Hitler, a man who boasted that he would create a new Germany, one that would live for a thousand years. In fact it lasted for barely twelve.
The Story of the Third Reich explores the momentous events of these years. From Hitler’s rise to power in the early thirties, these programmes tell of his determination to build a massive army, an all-conquering air force and a navy that could threaten any other in the world. It tells of how, Hitler’s Reich annexed great swathes of Europe while the world ignored the threat, and of course, it tells of the cataclysmic campaigns from the skies over Britain to the icy wastes of the North Atlantic and from the frozen steps of Russia to the blood-drenched beaches of Normandy, the crucial battles are examined in detail.
And all this is illustrated by rare original archive film together with expert analysis and newly-shot exclusive colour material of many of the battlefields as they are today.
