Transcription
[Music] World War II breaks out in 1939. But if there is something that historians substantially agree on, it is that the deep causes of the conflict are to be traced back to the end of World War I and the punitive peace imposed on the Germans at the end of the Great War. In fact, Germany is identified as the main culprit of the conflict, and very harsh conditions are imposed on it for peace, which aim to humiliate it and render it harmless for the years to come. The great powers gathered at Versailles decide to: 1. deprive Germany of all its colonies, 2. impose a strict restriction on the numbers of its army, 3. obtain war reparations, which will later be calculated at 132 billion gold marks, 4. create a demilitarized zone in the Rhineland, that is, a region on the border with France, and finally, 5. take a series of German territories and distribute them to neighboring nations. The most substantial changes in this regard are those to the east, where Germany cedes Alsace and Lorraine to France, and those to the west, where the so-called Polish Corridor is created, that is, a strip of territory granted to Poland, which has the effect of dividing German possessions in two. These conditions will end up generating in Germany a feeling of humiliation and a desire for revenge, combined with economic and institutional fragility. In practice, a whole series of conditions that will later favor Hitler's rise to power in the name of the revenge of the German people. But be careful, if all this is true, it is equally true that in history there are no predetermined destinies, no necessary horizons of events. If, in fact, we look at the 1920s, nothing tells us that Hitler's rise to power will be necessary. In 1923, in fact, Germany experiences its most acute crisis, but in the following years it begins to initiate a process of stabilization. In 1924, with the Dawes Plan, a program of American loans is created. In 1925, with the Locarno Treaties, Germany recognizes the new border with France and Belgium and practically renounces claiming territories lost in the war. What seems, therefore, to be a season of stability, of Germany's reintegration into international diplomacy. And where is Hitler during these years? He is in prison. In '23, in fact, his party was the protagonist of an attempted coup d'état, and he is convicted of high treason. In prison, the regime of life is not particularly harsh, and Hitler therefore finds the time to write a book, "Mein Kampf." In this volume, he puts down in writing his ideas for relaunching German supremacy and the Aryan race. His program is essentially based on three points: 1. tear up the Treaty of Versailles, 2. eliminate those elements that infect the Aryan spirit, that is, Jews and communists, 3. initiate an expansion to the east at the expense of Slavic populations to create the so-called "Lebensraum" (living space). Today we know that Hitler's intentions were very serious, but when the book is published, it seems only the ravings of an extremist in prison. Then, however, things change suddenly. In 1929, the Wall Street stock market crashes. The Great Depression begins in the United States. American investments in Germany are withdrawn, and the German economy collapses. Germany plunges into a new acute crisis, and Hitler's words, this time, find fertile ground. In four years, the Nazi party goes from 2% of votes in '28 to over 30% in '32. In January '33, Hitler becomes Chancellor for the first time. In March, he has already assumed full powers. History has now changed. As soon as he came to power, Hitler proves extraordinarily consistent with his intentions. In '33, he withdraws Germany from the League of Nations, sending an explicit signal of non-recognition of international diplomacy. In the same year, moreover, another power also abandons the international organization: Japan. We will return to this. For now, let's return to Germany. In '34, Hitler attempts the annexation of Austria for the first time with a coup. What is surprising from a distance is that Benito Mussolini opposes this plan. To avert the possibility of German annexation, he deploys his troops to the border with Austria. The peculiar aspect is that Mussolini represents a model for Hitler, a source of inspiration. The fascist dictator is, in fact, doing in Italy what the Nazi dictator would like to build in Germany: a totalitarian state. However, at this stage, Mussolini is still far from the idea of an alliance with the German leader and is rather focused on building an international profile linked to proximity with France and the United Kingdom. The unfolding of this proximity is even more evident the following year, when the three powers organize the Stresa Conference. The conference is convened to respond to Hitler, who in January '35 reintroduces compulsory military service in Germany, the first step towards reconstituting a powerful army. Italy, the United Kingdom, and France present a united front at Stresa to condemn the German violation of the Treaty of Versailles. However, this common purpose lasts only a few months. In October '35, Mussolini launches a colonial campaign in Ethiopia, which will conclude the following year with the conquest of the African country. The aggression is, however, condemned by France and England, as Ethiopia is part of the League of Nations, and therefore the League of Nations imposes a series of sanctions against Italy. These sanctions push Mussolini towards an rapprochement with Hitler, which leads in '36 to the signing of a pact of friendship, the famous Rome-Berlin Axis. The alliance is part of Hitler's strategy, who is accelerating his military expansion plans. In the same year, in fact, he again violates the Treaty of Versailles, organizes the remilitarization of the Rhineland, and also in '36, he signs an agreement with Japan, the Anti-Comintern Pact, to which Italy will also adhere in '37. Why Japan? Japan in the 1930s had a far-right, racist, and imperialist regime. What is beginning to emerge is the project of a division of Eurasia into spheres of influence held by far-right, rigidly anti-communist regimes. While this new framework of alliances unfolds, another decisive event takes place that strengthens the ongoing process: the Spanish Civil War. We must also open another parenthesis, because the conflict must be viewed in a broader context. The year, in fact, opens in Spain with the birth of a Popular Front government. What do we mean by Popular Front? We mean an alliance that brings together anti-fascist parties, including communists. This policy, in fact, is desired by Stalin in '35 in response to the growth of fascism and their move towards a continental alliance. A new republican government is thus established, but General Francisco Franco rallies nationalist and clerical forces and attempts a coup that leads the country into civil war. Germans and Italians rush to support Franco. Stalin, for his part, organizes the International Brigades to support the republican government. The Spanish Civil War thus becomes a first test of the alliance between Hitler and Mussolini in an anti-communist function, and also a test to experiment with new military strategies that will later become classic in World War II: bombings of the civilian population. The events that unfold from '38 onwards progressively lead Europe towards the new catastrophe at an ever-increasing pace. The watershed event is the German annexation of Austria in March '38. This time, unlike in '34, Hitler manages to get his hands on Austria with incredible ease. From this perspective, the policy of appeasement is decisive, a policy pursued by the British government led by the conservative Neville Chamberlain. Let's try to understand what is meant. The basic idea of this approach is that some of Hitler's claims can, all things considered, be considered legitimate, especially those based on the principle of nationality, provided that the demands remain contained. Chamberlain and his government are therefore willing to satisfy them to the extent that they can avert a new European conflict. Be careful, starting from December, not everyone agrees with this line. In fact, there is a fierce opponent, and his figure is now on the margins, but we will meet him again soon. After the show of strength in Austria, Hitler now targets Czechoslovakia, claiming possession of the Sudetenland region, that is, a border territory inhabited mainly by a German-speaking population. To avert the danger of war, a conference is organized in Munich in September '38. Mussolini, Hitler, Chamberlain, and the French Prime Minister Daladier participate, and it is established that the German claims are legitimate, and therefore the annexation of the Sudetenland to Germany is decided. The Munich Conference is hailed in much of Europe as a success for having averted the danger of a continental conflict, but the issue is more complex. The democratic powers, in fact, believe they have averted the danger of war and blocked Hitler's demands, paying only the price of Czechoslovakian sovereignty. But things are not exactly like that. The German dictator, in fact, becomes convinced that he is facing malleable opponents and therefore will not find obstacles to his future claims. A famous comment on this event will be made by Winston Churchill himself, who will say: "They could choose between dishonor and war. They chose dishonor, and they will have war." Churchill's prophecy takes shape very quickly. 1939 opens with the inevitable end of Czechoslovakian independence. In March, Hitler occupies Bohemia and Moravia and transforms them into a German protectorate. In Slovakia, a puppet government is formed, that is, a formally autonomous government but in reality subject to Hitler's interests. The Slovakian government is the first of a long list. In the same days, the last Spanish cities fall. The Civil War concludes with the victory of Francisco Franco. Spain will never enter Hitler's direct sphere of influence, but another government that refers to the fascist horizon enters the continental panorama. Meanwhile, with a theatrical move, Mussolini invades Albania, reminding Europe that Italy also has its expansionist plans ready in the drawer. In May, the Italo-German alliance takes another step forward. Mussolini and Hitler sign the Pact of Steel, which binds the two forces to give each other military support even in the event of an offensive war. At this point, Hitler targets another fundamental piece for his plan to create German living space: Poland. However, there are two potential problems. The first is that France is an ally of Poland. The second is that the Soviet Union is on the Polish borders and could react to the Nazi advance. Regarding the first issue, Hitler, with what happened at Munich behind him, does not care. As for the second issue, he prepares a surprise move that materializes in August: the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. This pact, signed by the German and Soviet foreign ministers, provides for: 1. a non-aggression pact between the two countries, 2. a partition of Poland. The sudden alliance between the two forces might be surprising, but the ideological difference is not overcome; it is only put aside, awaiting an inevitable future clash. What might be even more surprising is the Soviet attitude, given that Stalin has been more active since '35 in trying to curb the growth of far-right extremism. But his position must be considered in light of the ongoing developments. His appeals to France and the United Kingdom to present a united front against Hitler have all fallen on deaf ears. At this point, Stalin understands that the two democracies will not lift a finger to save the USSR from a possible Nazi attack. Indeed, they might even look favorably on such an eventuality. At this point, it is better to prepare and put as many kilometers as possible between the Soviet border and Moscow. The Soviet problem resolved, on September 1, 1939, Hitler launches the invasion of Poland, and the war begins. [Music] On September 1, Hitler launches the invasion of Poland. On the 3rd, France and the United Kingdom declare war on Germany. The new conflict, destined to prove global, has thus broken out. In practice, the Anglo-French declaration has no impact on Poland's fate. The eastern part of Poland is soon occupied by Nazi troops, who demonstrate for the first time a new war tactic: the blitzkrieg. This strategy consists of the massive use of aircraft and armored vehicles for deep advances, consistently anticipating the subsequent arrival of infantry. The purpose is explicit: to penetrate enemy territory and break its resistance quickly, primarily on a psychological level, obtaining immediate surrender to avoid the risk of trench warfare, using as few resources as possible. While Germany occupies the western part and begins the enslavement of its population, on September 17, the Soviet Union, as foreseen by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, begins the invasion of the eastern part of the country. Within a few weeks, Poland disappears from the political map of Europe. [Music] From this moment on, what has been called the "drôle de guerre" begins, the phony war. France, the United Kingdom, and Germany are at war with each other, but they do not fight. London and Paris fear exposing themselves to an attack on Berlin, and at the same time, they hope to still find an agreement. Behind their hope lies the illusion of security. France had built the Maginot Line in the 1930s, a system of fortifications on the Franco-German border. The United Kingdom, on the other hand, can still count on its naval superiority. London and Paris thus seem to be outside German targets. The months following the invasion of Poland are therefore those of a frozen war, in which the two fronts try to prepare as much as possible for a frontal clash. In this phony war, Italy's position is also noteworthy. At the outbreak of hostilities, Mussolini declares non-belligerence, an ambiguous formula that, on the one hand, in accordance with the Pact of Steel, declares political closeness to Germany, and on the other hand, in practice, avoids committing Italian troops to the conflict that has just broken out. [Music] While the phony war between London, Paris, and Berlin continues, the USSR also prepares in its own way. After the invasion of Poland, Stalin launches an attack on Finland in November, again with the aim of extending Soviet borders and thus creating a wider security cordon. However, Finnish resistance is much more tenacious than predicted, and only in March 1940 does the so-called Winter War conclude with a partial capitulation of Helsinki, forced to cede part of its eastern territories. Moscow thus manages to strengthen its positions on the Baltic, after already in June 1939 it had incorporated Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into its possessions. [Music] While this strange quiet persists between Berlin, London, and Paris, the Germans break the deadlock with a surprise move in April 1940, attacking Norway and Denmark. The Anglo-French support intervention is late and is soon withdrawn. Copenhagen and Oslo are thus subjected to German occupation, which extends its sphere of control over Scandinavia, from which to draw fundamental resources and materials for the continuation of military operations. [Music] The German attack on the Scandinavian countries is merely a prelude to a new rapid unfolding of events. Let's go to May 10, 1940, a central date in the history of World War II. On that day, the leadership of the British government passes into the hands of Winston Churchill. The developments of the war make Chamberlain's position untenable, as he had been the champion of appeasement towards Hitler in previous years. A clear change of line. A few days after taking office, Churchill will deliver a famous speech in which he will say to his fellow citizens: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat." The same date, May 10, will also go down in history because it is the day Hitler breaks all hesitation and launches the attack on France. The basic idea is the same as in World War I: attack France by passing through Belgium to reach Paris as quickly as possible and bring about the immediate collapse of French resistance. In the First World War, this project failed. In 1940, however, it succeeds. Let's see why. The first novelty is that the attack is launched on a wider front. Hitler violates not only Belgian neutrality but also that of Holland and Luxembourg. The second novelty is that German troops manage to infiltrate by surprise between the French ones, passing through the Ardennes forest. Let's try to understand better. Along the Franco-German front, the French are covered by the Maginot Line, so the bulk of the army is deployed on the Belgian border. These troops also receive support from British contingents landed in Belgium. However, the Germans manage to pass through the only undefended point in southern Belgium, namely the Ardennes forest, considered by the French to be impassable for German tanks. In just three days, German troops cross the Ardennes and thus manage, with a pincer maneuver, to divide the French army and take the troops deployed in Belgium from behind. These are trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk, and only with a powerful rescue operation in the last days of May are hundreds of thousands of men managed to be saved and re-embarked towards the British coast. Although the operation manages to save most of the English army, several French contingents still fail to hinder the Nazi troops, who at this point see the road to Paris opening before them. At this point, with France practically already on its knees, on June 10, Italy also enters the war. Mussolini is convinced that the conflict is already over and aims to participate in the final skirmishes to gain territorial advantages. In front of a Piazza Venezia crowded with people, he delivers a speech that ends with the famous statement, later dramatically contradicted by history: "Vincere e vinceremo" (To win, and we will win). In the following days, the Italian army begins to engage enemy troops in southern France, but despite the French difficulties, they fail to advance into enemy territory. In any case, France's fate is sealed. On June 14, Nazi troops enter Paris. On June 22, the French sign the armistice with Germany. On June 24, the armistice with Italy is also signed. The armistice with Italy involves the cession of a small strip of territory on the border between the two countries. The one with Germany is much more significant. France is, in fact, divided into two: the north is under direct occupation by Nazi troops, and in the south, the so-called Vichy regime is established, which will also head the French colonies. Vichy establishes a collaborationist government entrusted to Marshal Pétain, who will distinguish himself by his ideological closeness to the authoritarian system of fascism. With the division of the country and the birth of a puppet government, France seems to surrender to the enemy, but this is not the case for all French people. From London, General Charles de Gaulle calls for the continuation of the war, and the French contingents that have been saved in Great Britain will continue to fight. De Gaulle's appeal will later be taken up by many French citizens who will organize and give life to the armed resistance. [Music] With France defeated, Hitler aims to close the game by invading Great Britain. In reality, the dictator's initial intentions provided for some form of agreement with the English to avoid conflict, but during the invasion of France, the British will to resist becomes evident. Churchill once again becomes its spokesperson, and on June 4, he delivers another famous speech in which he states: "We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be." In his speech, Churchill also makes an explicit appeal for support from the United States. It is already clear to the Prime Minister that American aid will become central to countering Hitler. We will, of course, have to return to the role of the United States very soon. For now, let's focus on the European continent. In July, the Battle of Britain begins, a gigantic battle that sees the two air forces, the German Luftwaffe and the British RAF, facing each other. In Hitler's intentions, in fact, the elimination of the British air force is essential to prepare for a sea invasion. Furthermore, the air campaign could prove decisive in breaking the morale of the population by subjecting English cities to constant bombing. The battle takes on epic proportions. English pilots, despite their numerical inferiority, manage to resist German superiority thanks to a more rapid development of defense technologies like radar. The British population, despite massive bombings that will lead to the devastation of cities like Coventry, manages to resist psychologically. The royal family becomes a tangible sign of English resistance in this context, with its choice to remain in London, a city subjected day after day to German raids. The air operation will continue for months, but by autumn, the result is evident: the English have resisted. The war continues. English resistance allows the conflict to continue, but the prospects, in any case, seem to favor the other front. Despite the German inability to neutralize the British air force, the direction the conflict is taking is one of cornering the English and opening new possibilities for expansion for the Germans and their allies. Precisely in this context, on September 27, 1940, Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact. With this agreement, the three powers, already united by the Anti-Comintern Pact, begin to envision the future partition of Eurasia into zones of influence and the establishment of what is defined as a new order. On the other hand, while German forces advance in Europe, the situation in Asia also seems to favor Japan. Since 1937, the Nipponic country has been at war with China, with the aim of invading the former empire by exploiting its internal political divisions. However, the collapse or difficulty of the European powers also opens another path: the occupation of Southeast Asian colonies, towards which the Japanese want to present themselves as liberators, exploiting the propaganda slogan "Asia for the Asians." [Music] The Italian military turning point with the launch of the so-called "parallel war" must also be placed within the framework of the Tripartite Pact's division. With this term, we mean the expansionist strategy developed by Mussolini in the autumn of 1940. While the German advance seems unstoppable in Central, Eastern, and Northern Europe, Mussolini plans to create an entirely Italian line of expansion, a war to be fought as allies of the Germans, but also, precisely, in parallel with Hitler, pursuing exclusively Italian objectives. In Mussolini's view, the idea is to create Italian hegemony in the Mediterranean by occupying key positions on the northern shore through the occupation of the Balkans and on the southern shore with expansion in North Africa. Following this strategy, in September, the Italian army in North Africa launches an offensive towards the Suez Canal, attempting to dislodge the British contingent defending it. On October 28, Mussolini then declares war on Greece. In this case too, the slogan adopted by Mussolini, "We will break Greece's back," will end up taking on grotesque proportions, as we will see. To support both operations, an attack on the English Navy stationed in the Mediterranean is launched. However, the Italian offensive soon proves disastrous. In North Africa, the Italian advance is quickly halted by a British counteroffensive against Italian positions both in the Horn of Africa colonies and in Libya. In Greece, a similar counteroffensive occurs, with the Italians going from attempting to invade the Greek country to having to defend positions in Albania. In the Mediterranean, naval clashes all result in favor of the English. The failure of Italian military operations pushes Hitler to intervene to aid his ally. The German intervention proves powerful on all three fronts, and from this moment on, Mussolini must accept his subordination to Hitler. As a result of the German interventions, in the Balkans during the spring of '41, the arrival of German troops leads to the rapid conquest of Greece. Military operations are then extended to Yugoslavia, which is also quickly occupied. Faced with the advance of the Axis forces, Bulgaria is then forced to join the Tripartite alliance to avoid the same fate as the other two countries. With Bulgaria's alliance, the entire Southeast Europe enters the sphere of influence of the Tripartite Pact, considering that by the end of '40, Hungary and Romania had already been pushed to make the same choice. In North Africa, German troops arrive in May '41, after the British have definitively occupied the Italian colonies in the Horn of Africa, namely Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia. The German intervention, led by General Rommel, manages to halt the British offensive in Libya, and from this moment on, the long battle for control of North Africa begins. In the Mediterranean, finally, German support results in a series of successes against the English Navy, which, particularly in the second half of '41, is repeatedly hit hard. [Music] While German troops are called to support their Italian ally in the spring of '41, Hitler finalizes his most ambitious plan: the invasion of the Soviet Union. The plan, known as Operation Barbarossa, begins on June 22, 1941. The colossal operation involves almost 4 million soldiers, more than 3,000 tanks, and almost as many aircraft. Italy will participate in the plan with its own contingent, which, however, incredibly ill-equipped, will be effectively sent to its doom by Mussolini. Operation Barbarossa initiates the creation of an enormous war front that runs along the entire western Soviet border, for a total of 1,600 kilometers. The main directions of this offensive are two: north, through the Baltic republics, with the objective of Leningrad and Moscow; south, through Ukraine, to reach the areas of oil reserves in the direction of the Caspian Sea. The German attack catches Stalin by surprise, who still felt reassured by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and was rather more concerned about a possible Japanese offensive from the east. The German blow in the first weeks is thus very rapid and leads to the occupation of vast territories of western Soviet Union. However rapid, the advance is forced to halt at the gates of the large cities with the arrival of the winter of '41. This fact will be decisive. The offensive allows Hitler to incorporate vast territories and enormous resources, but it fails to quickly neutralize the Soviet Union. This will allow Stalin to reorganize his forces and prepare for resistance, inciting the population to a patriotic war against the German invaders. [Music] At this point, we must shift our attention to what is happening in Washington. The German advance on one hand, and Japanese threats on the other, are viewed with particular concern at the White House. Although in the American country, after the experience of the Great War, a strong sentiment of hostility remains towards any military intervention. By the end of '40, Roosevelt is re-elected for the fourth time with the commitment not to bring America back into war. Nevertheless, his commitment to curb the advance of the Tripartite Pact becomes substantial. Throughout '41, in January, the President delivers a famous speech in which he states that the United States must become the global guarantor of the Four Freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. What is thus foreshadowed is a new American international protagonist, imbued with the already Wilsonian idea that to guarantee peace, democracy and freedom must progress. In March, a law is passed, the Lend-Lease Act, which allows the president to lend weapons in the name of national security. This allows Roosevelt to begin to materially support the British war effort, and then the Soviet one. In April and July, the United States occupy Greenland and Iceland, respectively, with the aim of discouraging German initiatives towards North America. In August, Roosevelt and Churchill meet in Canada, Newfoundland, and sign a document, the Atlantic Charter, which envisions the creation of a post-war world order alternative to that of the Tripartite Pact. The Atlantic Charter, in fact, draws on Wilson's 14 points from World War I, referring to values such as economic cooperation, freedom of the seas, and self-determination of peoples. The crucial aspect of this American diplomatic offensive is in contrast to Japanese ambitions. The White House, in fact, is very concerned about possible Japanese offensives towards the Soviet Union, already in difficulty due to the German attack, or towards Southeast Asia, which would give the Nipponic country control of the Pacific routes. Repeatedly, the American administration tries to obtain assurances from Tokyo, which however do not arrive. At this point, in July '41, it is decided to impose a trade embargo on Japan to cut off the country's access to essential resources to continue its war projects. At this point, the Nipponic government finds itself at a crossroads. The knot is untied in December. On December 7, with a surprise attack, the American fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii is sunk. The next day, the United States declares war on Japan. [Music] At the beginning of 1942, the German advance is blocked on the Soviet front, and the United States has entered the war. Nevertheless, the situation appears firmly in the hands of the Tripartite forces. In Southeast Asia, Japanese forces occupy one after another European and American colonies, presenting themselves as liberators of the Asian populations. The entire continental Europe, on the other hand, is in Nazi-fascist hands. The control is so extensive that between '41 and '42, the Germans devise the Final Solution, that is, the project for the integral extermination of the Jewish populations, to be carried out through the creation of extermination camps. The Final Solution, in turn, is only part of a larger project, namely that of creating a new order based on a strict racial hierarchy. The populations that pay the price for this dystopia are those like the Slavic population, reduced to conditions of brutal servitude, or the Roma population, also subjected to a plan of substantial extermination. While the new order takes shape, the war, however, reaches a crucial turning point. If, on the one hand, the expansion of the Tripartite Pact seems unstoppable, on the other hand, an alliance is being formed that brings together a bloc led by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, which can count on a quantity of resources capable of overwhelming those of the enemy. [Music] In the spring of '42, military operations resume in full swing on three fronts: the Pacific, North Africa, and the Soviet front. On all three fronts, decisive battles are fought that change the course of the war. On the Pacific front, in June '42, the Japanese advance towards Hawaii is halted at the Battle of Midway. From this moment on, the Japanese offensive is stopped, and the American counteroffensive begins. After months of fighting, in February '43, US troops conquer the island of Guadalcanal, the easternmost of the islands that Japan controls in the Pacific. From this moment on, the gradual Japanese retreat towards their starting positions begins. In the same months in which Guadalcanal is fought, another decisive battle takes place on the Soviet front with the siege of Stalingrad, a crucial point for the offensive in southern Russia. In this case too, in February '43, Soviet troops manage to gain the upper hand and annihilate the enemy. From this moment on, the gradual Nazi retreat begins in the face of the Soviet resurgence. Finally, the turning point in North Africa. In October '42, a battle begins a few dozen kilometers from Alexandria, Egypt: the Battle of El Alamein. In November, Nazi-fascist troops are defeated, forced to retreat, and finally caught between two fires with an Allied landing in Algeria and Morocco. [Music] In May '43, the Allies achieve the definitive expulsion of Germans and Italians from North Africa. At this point, the first assault on the so-called Fortress Europe is organized to create a western front capable of relieving the pressure on the Soviets in the east. The enemy's weak point is identified in Italy, a country now on the verge of military and economic collapse, where consensus towards the fascist regime is now at an all-time low. On July 10, 1943, Allied troops land in Sicily. The landing is accompanied by a series of bombings on cities in the rest of Italy, with the aim of further destabilizing the regime. Among the various bombings, the most symbolic is that of the San Lorenzo district in Rome on July 19, which also ends the illusion of the city's inviolability under papal protection. In this climate, on the night between July 24 and 25, a conspiracy is organized that puts an end to Mussolini's regime. The protagonists are a series of hierarchs who, gathered in the Grand Council of Fascism, demand the removal of the Duce from the command of the army. On July 25, King Victor Emmanuel III has Mussolini arrested and places his loyalist, Marshal Pietro Badoglio, at the head of the government. Badoglio reassures the Nazi allies of his will to continue the war effort, but in the meantime, negotiations are initiated with the Allies for a surrender. The secret negotiations are prolonged due to excessive Italian demands, and this allows the Nazis to gain time and position several troops on the peninsula. When the armistice is announced on September 8, 1943, for a large part of Italy, the hardest part of the war begins. The Allied advance is, in fact, halted on the so-called Gustav Line, a defensive front created by the Nazis between Lazio and Abruzzo. The peninsula is thus divided into two: in the north, we have the presence of Nazi troops, and a puppet government, the Republic of Salò, is created, still led by Mussolini, who has meanwhile been freed from his imprisonment by a Nazi raid. The main occupation of the so-called "repubblichini," i.e., members of the army of the Republic of Salò, will be the roundups, i.e., operations to strike at the partisan resistance bands that are organizing after September 8. In southern Italy, on the other hand, Allied troops are present, and the Kingdom of Italy remains standing, which after a series of negotiations obtains the status of co-belligerent. [Music] In November '43, the Big Three, namely Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin, meet for the first time at the Tehran Conference and decide to open a new front in Europe. After months of preparation, on June 6, D-Day is launched, i.e., the landing in Normandy, in northern France. The Allied landing, the most important military operation in history, seems capable of being decisive in ending the war. Within a few months, France is liberated. Meanwhile, military operations also resume in Italy, and the advance northward resumes. Meanwhile, from the east, Soviet troops push the Germans ever further back, and another front is created in Yugoslavia, where the liberation army led by Marshal Tito begins to inflict increasingly severe blows on the occupying enemy. Nevertheless, when winter arrives in '44 and operations slow down, the war is still not won. The Allied advance, however powerful, is slow and fails to be conclusive. In Italy, for example, a second front is recreated, dividing the peninsula, this time between Liguria and Emilia-Romagna, the so-called Gothic Line. At the same time, Hitler orders resistance to the death and mobilizes all possible resources to counter the enemy advance. Hitler's resistance can also be explained by the fact that the Führer harbors two hopes within himself to reverse the fortunes of war: on the one hand, the launch of new weapons, and on the other, the idea that sooner or later an alliance between the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom will break. Both hopes will, however, prove vain. The new weapons prepared by the Germans will indeed be used; they are guided missiles, but their impact will be insignificant. At the same time, the alliance between Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill remains firm for the entire duration of the war and will only begin to crumble once the conflict is over and with new protagonists. [Music] In January '45, the Germans attempt a counteroffensive to halt the Allies, fighting in the Ardennes forest. After the German onslaught, the Allies resume their offensives on all fronts, and Nazi troops spread throughout Europe, closing in around Berlin. Between April and May, the war in Europe ends. On April 27, Mussolini flees towards Switzerland, is intercepted by a partisan band, and executed during the night. On April 30, Hitler commits suicide in his bunker in Berlin. On May 7, the Germans surrender, and the armistice comes into effect between the 8th and 9th of May. The European chapter is closed, but the Pacific chapter remains open, given the desperate resistance of the Japanese, now directly engaged on their own territory but determined to fight to the last drop of blood. At this point, the new American president, Harry Truman, who succeeded Roosevelt after his death on April 12, makes the decision to use the nuclear weapon against Japan, the fruit of a project initiated by the Americans in 1942: the Manhattan Project. On August 6, 1945, the first nuclear bomb is dropped on the city of Hiroshima. On August 9, a second is dropped on Nagasaki. On September 2, the Japanese declare the capitulation of their armed forces. The conflict, at least the one fought by large armies, is finally over. [Music]