War hero Gilles de Rais was tried and executed in 1440 for murdering over 100 children; at the 1440 Black Dinner, the young Douglas brothers were invited to dine with the king, then seized and killed.

Albert Speer presents himself as an architect with style and decency, but his career leads deep into the centre of a murderous regime.

Martin Bormann operates in the shadows - inconspicuous, ambitious and unscrupulous, he becomes the man who pulls the strings behind Hitler's power.

Eva Braun stands in the dictator's shadow - she is invisible to the public, irreplaceable in the inner circle, and loyal to the bitter end.

The war turns in favour of the Allies; Montgomery turns the tables on the Afrika Corps at El Alamein, the Japanese are defeated at Guadalcanal, and the Germans are defeated at Stalingrad.

The Allied leaders meet for their first conference to discuss the coordination of their efforts, a Japanese division is destroyed at sea, and the Red Army begins its advance towards Berlin.