In terms of studying weapons and tactics the tanks – or 'panzers'- are particularly prominent, each side racing to develop improved types, as are the 'blitzkrieg' tactics of German armies.

- The Holocaust

There are people around the world who try to deny the Holocaust, Nazi Germany's attempt (with considerable assistance from other nations) to kill every single Jew. Let me be clear: there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the Holocaust occurred and that it killed six million people. However, the figure of six million is sometimes misleading: Nazi executions at concentration and death camps, as well as elsewhere, actually killed twelve million people of all races and creeds.

- Appeasement

The governments of Europe were slow to tackle Nazi aggression, with the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain believing he had negotiated 'Peace in Our Time' with a man whose ideology demanded war.

Key Debates

- Who Did We Really Win?

The Allied West went to war in 1939 to free Poland from Nazi tyranny, but when the war closed in 1945 Poland was under Soviet tyranny. Debate still rages about the consequences of removing the Nazis but leaving the Soviets in Eastern Europe. Did World War Two only really end once democracy had replaced Soviet rule?

- Were Allied Carpet Bombings War Crimes?

As the war raged Allied air crews bombed Germany, not just to destroy armies and production, but to leave such terror in German hearts that there would be no World War Three caused by them. Today some historians and politicians look back and call these actions war crimes.

- Who Won the War?

The question of who did the most to won the war, although pathetic, is still raised every day in chats across the world as national pride rears an ugly head. No single nation was the sole cause of victory, and perhaps the best you can say is Soviet manpower, American supplies and British (Empire) bombing won the day.

- Could the Nazis have won?

LECTURE 8

PART 2. EUROPEAN COUNTRIES BEFORE AND AFTER THE WW 2. EUROPE AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR

It is time for Switzerland, Sweden, Portugal and Spain to acknowledge that there were no truly neutral countries on the European continent during World War II. It is now time for those four nations to acknowledge that they were part of the Nazis' New Order and that they bear some responsibility for the tragic history of the Thirties and Forties.

Neutrality, when practiced by nations, is not always neutral. It does not preclude involvement in international affairs, or even partisanship. According to international law, there are varying kinds of neutrality. For example, Switzerland adopted "differentiated" neutrality in 1920, a decision which indicated a willingness to employ economic sanctions to communicate disapprobation of another nation; in 1938 the Swiss embraced "integral,"or supposedly unconditional, neutrality.

Despite the apparent precision of these legal terms, neutrality for Switzerland during World War II, as well as for the other continental European countries that claimed neutral status during that period -- Portugal, Sweden, Spain, and the Vatican -- can best be summed up by the phrase, self-interested noncombatant. These nations shared the common objectives of preserving relative independence in foreign policy and resisting encroachment into domestic affairs. But the costs were high: Switzerland, Sweden, Portugal and Spain, at certain points, deserved the unpleasant label -- to borrow the title from Donald Waters' book on Switzerland -- "Hitler's Secret Ally." From a late-twentieth century perspective, these nations can be seen to have occupied a gray area on the continuum between black complicity with the Third Reich and white resistance to the Nazi regime. What is striking about this in relation to Switzerland is not only that it puts that country on a par with fascist Spain, but that it challenges a pervasive myth the Swiss have about their wartime virtue and innocence. Indeed, the Swiss are tainted not just by their collaboration with the Reich, but by their postwar failure to confront a problematic past. To comprehend the magnitude of this "taint," it is necessary both to understand Switzerland's degree of involvement in Nazi crimes, and to place that involvement in the context of the wartime behavior of the other three "neutrals."