WW2 Relevance

|   23 September 2011

What it is to be an American

The main street, Lawrence, Kansas. I was in Lawrence, Kansas this week, giving a lecture at the University of Kansas at the invitation of one of my former tutors from Oxford who is now Professor of History there. And it got me to thinking about American National Identity, especially – and you’ll not be surprised […]

1 Comment

WW2 Relevance

|   18 September 2011

Arbeit Macht Frei

Arbeit Macht Frei inscribed on the main gate of Dachau concentration camp ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ (‘work makes you free’) must be one of the most infamous phrases in the world. But, I thought, as I filmed at the site of Dachau concentration camp this week, the origin of this phrase is often misunderstood. The words […]

Comments Off on Arbeit Macht Frei

WW2 Controversies

|   7 September 2011

Why fight in Italy?

Florence – liberated in the summer of 1944 We’ve just added to the site for subscribers a video about the war in Italy. I’ve always felt strongly about this campaign because my father-in-law fought in it. And the more I learn about this history the harder I find it to justify the sacrifice made by […]

1 Comment

WW2 Reviews

|   2 September 2011

Ian Kershaw and ‘The End’

A quite astonishing book Many years ago, when I was on a BBC film directors course, the instructor came in to the cutting room to view the short historical documentary I had just made. He watched it once and then listed at least half a dozen things that were wrong with it – quite something […]

2 Comments

WW2 Competitions

|   1 September 2011

Summer Competition result

The winner receives all these books (plus ‘Their Darkest Hour’) Congratulations to Andy Dixon of Cheshire who was the first WW2History.com subscriber chosen at random from all those who gave the correct answer to the summer competition. The question posed was this: What was the name of the Japanese Admiral who was the architect of […]

Comments Off on Summer Competition result

WW2 Relevance

|   27 August 2011

The Somme and Auschwitz

Graveyard on the Somme This week I was flying in a helicopter over Germany and France filming material for my next TV series, which will transmit in Autumn 2012. And I was most affected by a place I have been many times before – the battlefield of the Somme. (And before you ask the relevance […]

2 Comments

WW2 Relevance

|   10 August 2011

Where riots once led

The Metropolitan riot police. I’ve just returned from South East Asia to news of these terrible riots across England. They’re unlike anything I can remember in this country in my lifetime. So many people we know have been affected. A friend of my daughter’s, for instance, woke up to find that thugs had burned her […]

1 Comment

WW2 Anniversary

|   27 July 2011

70th anniversary of a dark day in history

The gate to the main camp at Auschwitz, through which the sick prisoners marched. Exactly 70 years ago tomorrow, on 28 July 1941, an event of great tragedy and great significance took place. The very first Auschwitz prisoners were selected to be gassed. But in a piece of history which symbolizes the complex history of […]

2 Comments

WW2 Relevance

|   20 July 2011

Courageous Italians

Monument to the Italian soldiers massacred by the Germans on Kefalonia. The Italian army is not remembered as the bravest collection of soldiers in WW2. The attitude of many people towards them is summed up by a ‘joke’ a former member of the SS Das Reich division told me.  “Heard about the new Italian tank?’ […]

Comments Off on Courageous Italians

WW2 Relevance

|   9 July 2011

Secrets of Japanese history

Why did the Japanese behave as they did in WW2? I’ve been thinking a lot about Japan lately. In part it has been a purely selfish interest – the book I wrote some years ago on the Japanese in World War II, called ‘Horror in the East’ has at last been published in paperback. But […]

Comments Off on Secrets of Japanese history
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »