AllMovie

As an Emmy-winning adaptation of General Dwight D. Eisenhower's bestseller Crusade in Europe, the series World War II: When the World Went to War explores some of the pivotal events which characterized the conflict that shook the world from 1939-1945, as the shadow of fascism loomed over the European continent. Subtitled "D-Day, Victory and the Story of Adolf Hitler," this fourth volume in the series contains three installments. The first, "D-Day in the Normandy," discusses the famous titular invasion of Europe by the Allies, beginning with the most ambitious and successful naval landing in history. The second, "The Allies Are Victorious in Central Europe, The Atomic Bomb in Japan, The End of World War II," travels to the final days of World War II - when the defeat of the Nazis and imperialist Japan is tempered by the sadness of Franklin D. Roosevelt's death, the knowledge that 30 million people or more have perished in the conflict, and the fact that many more challenges lie ahead. The third installment, "Adolf Hitler's Story, From World War I to his Death in Berlin," chronologically explores the life and rise to power of the 20th Century's most notorious and evil despot, who swept up an entire nation with his perverse and twisted ideology.