World War Two was the biggest war ever fought – lasting close to six years in Europe, 80 million people were killed in the conflict.
The most important dates are really about context, and these would be different depending which country you’re from. However, a number of dates are clearly pivotal moments over the course of the entire war, and we’ve collected five from each of the European and Eastern theatres to put into a graphic.
The date for the start of the war is 1-3 September 1939 – when Germany invaded Poland and then France and Britain declared war on Germany.
Keiko Ogura was just eight years old on August 6 1945 when her home city of Hiroshima was destroyed by the US in the first atomic bomb attack in history. Those who survived the a-bombs are known as hibakusha, and Keiko - as a storyteller for the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation - is among the most prominent. In this incredible episode, James is joined by Keiko herself to learn her riveting story of survival against all odds.
Warning: The events recounted in this episode may be distressing to some listeners
"Their finest hour", "we shall fight on the beaches", "never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few". These words of Winston Churchill are synonymous with our idea of the British war effort during the darkest days of WWII. Richard Toye joined me on the podcast to take a closer look at these speeches. How many civilians would have actually heard Churchill's brilliant rhetoric, and what did they think of them?
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