World War II: Total War

The end of the Second World War brought destruction and liberation, relief mixed with grief. Explore the aftermath of total war.

Total War was not the cause of the Holocaust but it did provide a means for its execution. This episode will explore what role total war played in this genocide.

In the Second World War civilians became defenders against and targets of aerial warfare on a scale never before seen. We trace the escalation of strategic bombing campaigns which incinerated great cities in an attempt end the war.

The Second World War shattered the boundaries between battlefield and home-front in much of the world. As nation after nation fell to advancing armies, their people and their resources were subsumed into the total war efforts of occupying forces.

Total War demands resources: economic, agricultural and industrial. It draws upon the labour and the morale of entire populations to meet its needs.

The Second World War was the closest the world has come to a complete total war. But it was in the interwar years that nations honed the methods of destruction which were unleashed on a much wider scale in the Second World War.