November 11th 1918 a famous day in history, the end of World War one. World War one the war to end all wars, a famous quote by then US President Woodrow Wilson, so right he should have been after the suffering and heartache endured by all nations involved, the awful conditions in the trenches and the horrific loss of life on all sides. An estimated total of over 65 million troops were deployed by all nations culminating in over 8 million confirmed killed, 21 million wounded and nearly 8 million missing or prisoners of war.



When finally the war did end the scars suffered by the surviving veterans mental & physical must have felt like a never ending nightmare for them and their families which sadly for some veterans a nightmare which they would not recover, and the War to end all wars, an unfortunate misquote.

Twenty one years later the world would be pushed once again to the brink of destruction with the start of World War Two, without doubt the most destructive conflict ever known to man dwarfing the figures of casualties in World War One by an unimaginable amount, It is estimated that World War Two cost the lives of between 50 to 70 million souls, military and civilian, while injuries were estimated to be in the region of 20 million people.

Not only did the war cost the lives of so many, the physical damage to the towns, cities and villages making them unrecognisable to the people who returned after the conclusion of the war, the cost of rebuilding the infrastructure of countries, bringing economies of once great nations to their knees, a high cost to pay for freedom.

Freedom a word which the majority of us in the world can take for granted, though the outcome of World War Two is now a part of written history and only alive in the memories of veterans & civilians still among us. Could you imagine what life would be like today if the outcome of the conflict was different and the Nazis had triumphed ?. With thanks to the ordinary men & women who sacrificed their freedom and many ultimately their lives so we may live in times without oppression, thankfully we will never have to know.

World War 2 History takes you on a journey through these times and reveals the story of the brave men & women who fought for freedom endured hardness, suffered in concentration & POW camps, lived under occupation of an invading nation, but with courage and determination ultimately triumphed allowing us the opportunity to live in relative peace which we enjoy today. We shall read of the battles and campaigns the disasters, the victories in the air, land and sea, but to truly understand how the war begun we shall read of the events leading up to the 1st of September 1939.