The Day When... Season 1

On 28th May 1940, while the Wehrmacht crushed the allied armies in France, British officials were preparing to deal with Hitler. They even suggested a mediation from Mussolini. A lone voice in the war cabinet, Churchill, finally convinced his collaborators to fight. Without him, the English government would have dealt with Germany very differently.

On 16th June 1940 in Bordeaux, the Under-Secretary of State for War decided to rebel openly against the policy adopted by the French legal government, which was preparing to ask for an armistice. The following day, he flew to England. This episode tells the story of how a provisional general in a subordinate role became De Gaulle, leader of Free France.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7th December 1941, Roosevelt put the United States in a state of war and decided to focus the main efforts not against Japan but against Germany. Elected to make peace, Roosevelt, almost alone, did everything to provoke the Japanese and launch America into war alongside her allies. Without him, Germany might well have won.

Hitler's downfall began on 22nd June 1941, when he launched the largest military offensive in history against the Soviet Union - Operation Barbarossa. By opening this eastern front, the Führer, blinded by power, signed his own death sentence. So why did Hitler open a second front after always saying he wouldn't? Why did he suddenly attack the Soviet Union and why did Stalin foresee the attack?

In February 1945, it was known that Nazi Germany had lost the war, but the real winner remained uncertain. In Yalta, Americans, British and the Soviets competed for the domination of Europe. Stalin was outnumbered by his western counterparts but, thanks to his political manoeuvres, he tipped the scales in his favour. This final episode tells how Stalin, despite the opposition of Churchill and Roosevelt, became the master of a large part of Europe.