Since the early hours September first 1939, when the guns of the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Polish military base of Westerplatte in the former free city of Danzig (Gdansk) and triggered the Second World War, over seventy years have gone by.

The outcome of the conflict - which claimed the lives of over 55 million people and involved most of the nations of the Earth – left the world divided into two armed camps: one, dominated by the USSR and its Communist bloc; the other, led by an America determined to halt the spread of Communism. We know this stand-off better as The Cold War.

For an objective historical judgement on the greatest conflict the human race has ever experienced, it is vital to know the men who led it. Today, thanks to decades of work by countless historians and the innumerable files declassified by governments worldwide, we now have the opportunity to judge those leaders effectively and impartially.

Some of these leaders were unsure whether they were fighting one war or several wars. Others were convinced the conflict was global. What is certain is that the Second World War was a Total War, which saw frequent political errors in the most political war of all time.

Pacific Media have assembled a group of expert historians, researchers and analysts from King’s College, one of mainland Europe’s most prestigious educational institutions, to create the documentary series History’s Verdict. From an up-to-the-minute viewpoint, and packed with fresh historical discoveries, their scripts deliver fair and wise verdicts on World War 2’s most powerful figures.

The series consists of 13 self-contained episodes each lasting 60 minutes:

Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt, Hirohito, Himmler, Montgomery, Patton, De Gaulle, MacArthur, Rommel, Eisenhower.

Paul MacNally