World War II With Tom Hanks | HISTORY
World War II stands as the most devastating and defining conflict in modern history. “World War II with Tom Hanks” reexamines the war for a new century, tracing its full arc—from the rise of Hitler to the atomic bombs that reshaped the world order. Visit this page each week to discover the deeper history behind each episode.
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World War II with Tom Hanks
Preview: Pearl Harbor
See what’s to come in new episodes of World War II with Tom Hanks, premiering Mon., June 1 at 8/7c and streaming the next day.
EPISODE 5: The War at Sea
After terrorizing trans-Atlantic ships in World War I, German U-boats grew even more fearsome in World War II.
Get the facts behind a secret meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill that produced a cornerstone of the post-war world order.
The Battle of Midway was an epic WWII clash between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy that played out six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy’s decisive victory in the air-sea battle (June 3-6, 1942) dashed Japan’s hopes of neutralizing the United States as a naval power and effectively turned the tide of World War II in the Pacific.
The mighty clash between Japanese and U.S. naval forces in June 1942 ended in a stunning—and surprising—Allied victory.
EPISODE 4: Pearl Harbor
Watch Now: World War II with Tom Hanks
New episodes premiere Mondays at 8/7c and stream the next day.
The Rape of Nanjing, or the Nanjing Massacre, was the 1937 sacking of Nanjing by invading Japanese forces during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
The surprise Japanese assault inflicted heavy losses but failed to strike a decisive blow.
On December 7, 1941, a surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor shocked America. These are the stories of veterans who were there.
EPISODE 3: Barbarossa
Even as millions of Nazi troops massed on his border, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin remained convinced that Adolf Hitler wouldn’t betray him.
Explore eight facts about the brutal and often overlooked Russian front of World War II.
From planning to logistics to weather, how Hitler's Nazi forces fumbled the largest invasion of World War II.
EPISODE 2: Blitz
Where is Dunkirk? Dunkirk is located in the north of France, on the shores of the North Sea near the Belgian-French border. The Strait of Dover, where the distance between England and France is just 21 miles across the English Channel, is located to the...
America's largest industry shifted from making cars to bombers, tanks and more—at unparalleled speed.
As Hitler bombed London, its citizens set up makeshift beds in rail cars, on escalators and even in tunnels to get a night's sleep.
EPISODE 1: The Beginning
The Nazis and Soviets were mortal enemies. Why did they sign a nonaggression pact—and why didn't it last?
The Nazi offensive began with a bang—many of them—and led to a global conflict that would span six years.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact signed in 1939 by former enemies Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union shortly before World War II broke out.
The Big Picture
All changed the course of the war. Some changed the course of the world.
Genocide and atomic weapons only tell part of the story.
From the Battle of the Atlantic to the Battle of Okinawa, see a timeline of World War II's battles.
World leaders. Generals. Industrialists. Strategists. Spies. See who had an outsized impact on the fate of the world.
