Apocalypse: The Second World War

It's the unforgivable story of the two hundred thousands harkis, the Arabs who fought alongside the French in the bitter Algerian war, from 1954 to 1962. Why did they make that choice? Why were they slaughtered after Algeria's independence? Why were they abandonned by the French government? Some fifty to sixty thousands were saved and transferred in France, often at pitiful conditions. This is for the first time, the story of this tragedy, told in the brilliant style of the authors of "Apocalypse".

This new series tells the compelling story of the Vietnam War, from the country’s dynastic history, the impact of Christian missionaries & French colonialism, Japan’s invasion during WWII and the rise of Ho Chi Minh. How the USA’s fear of communism started a relentless sequence of events that caused American troops to go in under President Kennedy in 1961, escalating under Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 when the nation found itself entwined in a war fought nightly on TV engendering a huge anti-war movement. By 1973 Nixon had resigned and America was forced to withdraw from Saigon on April 30th 1975.

In June 1941, Hitler took his greatest gamble - launching an attack against the Soviet Union. Despite being the largest German operation of WWII, Operation Barbarossa was one of his biggest failures.

6 June 1944. A titanic fleet launched an assault on the beaches of Normandy. Objective: to liberate Europe from Hitler's yoke. Drawing on the lessons learned from the Dieppe raid in August 1942, the mission was a spectacular success.

La Case du Siècle is a French television program launched in 2010 and broadcast on France 5. Hosted by Fabrice d'Almeida, it airs documentaries every Sunday that aim to shed light on the history of the 20th century, both in France and around the world. Through these documentaries, viewers can deepen their knowledge of a specific subject or simply discover a particular era. *La Case du siècle* offers an in-depth look at the events that changed the course of history.

February 1916. World War I has been raging for two years and has killed over three million people, neither side gaining the upper hand. The Germans mobilize more artillery and men in Verdun than in any other offensive -- for three hundred days -- but the French hold out. Constructed from over five hundred hours of restored, colorized archival footage.

November 11, 1918. The world emerges from the most horrific conflict ever known. While leaders of the victorious countries design a new world order, traumatized societies struggle to find their footing. In the aftermath of war the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires fall apart, currencies fluctuate wildly, and vast numbers of refugees flee misery. Before long, age-old hatreds, fears, and resentments resurface and drive the world to the brink of a new apocalypse.

May 10th, 1940, Hitler takes on the West. Will he precipitate Europe into the Apocalypse?

The story of this fantastic period of history between 1945 and 1991, which was defined by the confrontation of two worlds and two systems. The capitalist West, dominated by the ever-powerful United States, is pitted against the Communist East, the Soviet Empire.

Summer 1943: Hitler engages in a decisive battle in Kursk to win the war in the East. This is without counting on the pugnacity of the Red Army and the Allied intervention in the West. Month after month, the noose tightens on the Nazi tyrant who refuses to admit defeat and precipitates his country in its fall.

Colorized historical footage in ascending order of World War 1. Not only the relatively known Flanders and France battles, but also the generally unknown Italian-Austrian, German-Polish-Russian, Japanese-German, Ottoman Empire- Allied and African German Colonies, and other unknown or forgotten fronts and battles.

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) was a mediocre who rose to power because of the blindness and ignorance of the Germans, who believed he was nothing more than an eccentric dreamer. But when the crisis of 1929 devastated the economy, the population, fearful of chaos and communism, voted for him. And no one defended democracy. As the dictatorship extended its relentless shadow, the leader claimed peace, but was preparing the Apocalypse.

The rise of Stalin, from his early beginning as a bankrobber to the cold-blooded leader of the Soviet Union.

For the first time, a film recounts the story of the long pursuit of Nazis in hiding from 1945 to the present day. Sixty years of investigations, set-backs trials and dramas, brought about principally by three extraordinary individuals—the Austrian Simon Wiesenthal, and the German-French couple, Beate and Serge Klarsfeld.

A film made of archives mostly unknown, on the last day of the Second World War in Europe and on the events which preceded it. This film also shows the growing tension between the Allies and the Soviets at the time: May 8, 1945 is also the first day of the Cold War.

A detailed account of one of the bloodiest battles of World War I. Between February and December 1916, the French and German armies relentlessly fought in the devastated camps around the village of Verdun.