The World War: 1914-1945

Operation Barbarossa's endgame does not come to fruition; with the world distracted, Japan launch their attack on Pearl Harbor, forcing American isolationists to join the war in earnest.

After a snub in Munich, the Soviets make a pact with the Germans; with the invasion of Poland, the pretence of peace is gone as France and the UK declare war on Germany.

Hitler's invasion of the Rhineland was a gamble that paid off as his push west remained unchecked; while the leaders of Europe attempt 'peace', Kristallnacht signalled the horrors yet to come to many.

Hitler and Stalin begin to shape the course of history. President Roosevelt attempts to raise his country out of the Depression, and the world teeters on the brink of yet another World War.

Stalin rises as the leader of the Bolsheviks, and in Munich, the German Workers Party takes a new name: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter, or 'Nazi' as it would come to be called.

During WWI, men had to endure combat and extreme conditions; civilians dealt with food shortages and raids. The insidiousness of ethnic cleansing raised its head, and a young Adolf Hitler took note.

In 1914, Archduke François-Ferdinand, of the House of Habsburg, was assassinated by a Slavic nationalist. The game of alliances makes war inevitable.