In episodes 7 and 8, we see how World War II descends into one of the darkest chapters in human history while the Allies prepare to strike back for the first time on a new front. As Hitler’s power spreads across Europe, Nazi hatred turns persecution into policy, pushing Jewish families from discrimination and public humiliation into ghettos, deportations, mass murder, and the horror that will become known as the Holocaust. The war is no longer only a struggle for territory, armies, and empires; it becomes a confrontation with an ideology built on cruelty, fear, and the destruction of an entire people. The story then shifts to North Africa, where the Western Allies must prove they can fight Germany on land. In Operation Torch, inexperienced American troops and their untested commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower, join British forces in a dangerous gamble against the battle-hardened Afrika Korps and the legendary Erwin Rommel. Across deserts, ports, and unforgiving battlefields, the campaign becomes a harsh lesson in modern war, exposing Allied weaknesses while opening the road toward Europe. These two episodes combine moral catastrophe and military turning point, showing both the depths of Nazi evil and the first difficult steps toward its defeat.
During 1959-1961 both the Americans and Soviets are planning manned space flight, and we see both sides preparing to do so with the development of the Vostok programme (Russia) and Project Mercury (USA). After difficulties and failures on both sides, the Soviets succeed in putting Yuri Gagarin into space first, with the Americans putting Alan Shepard up shortly afterwards.
The story then shifts to North Africa, where the Western Allies must prove they can fight Germany on land. In Operation Torch, inexperienced American troops and their untested commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower, join British forces in a dangerous gamble against the battle-hardened Afrika Korps and the legendary Erwin Rommel. Across deserts, ports, and unforgiving battlefields, the campaign becomes a harsh lesson in modern war, exposing Allied weaknesses while opening the road toward Europe. These two episodes combine moral catastrophe and military turning point, showing both the depths of Nazi evil and the first difficult steps toward its defeat.