The Rise of the Nazi Party

Hitler unveils his plans for Germany's future in Europe, much to the horror of some of his generals, who believe his timetable is reckless and unrealistic. Austria, the Sudetenland, and the rest of Czechoslovakia are his first targets, followed by Poland and the Soviet Union. By 1941, he has accomplished most of his goals, and it looks like the war is essentially over.

After invading Russia in June 1941, Hitler makes his biggest error of the war in the wake of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The Nazis suffer a series of reverses at Stalingrad, in North Africa and Italy, and in the round-the-clock bombing of their cities by U.S. and British air forces. No amount of Goebbels's propaganda can convince Germans they are still winning.

The Nazis groom the nation for the worst genocide in human history. Blaming the Jews for everything from Germany's surrender in World War I to its postwar economic woes, Hitler takes a series of steps to deny them their rights as citizens and then their rights as human beings.