0:00:02 > 0:00:07*
0:00:41 > 0:00:45In the mountains of southern Bavaria,
0:00:45 > 0:00:47on the slopes of the Obersalzburg,
0:00:47 > 0:00:52Adolf Hitler built his retreat - the Berghof.
0:00:56 > 0:01:01Here, he would relax by watching feature films.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05And he liked one film in particular.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24TRANSLATION FROM GERMAN:
0:01:39 > 0:01:44- These buttons represent troops, understand?- Yes, sir.- Good.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49- The buttons are thickest near the north-west frontier.- Yes. Always.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53We have 300 million to protect.
0:02:08 > 0:02:15To Hitler, the British rule of India was perfect proof of the superiority of the Aryan race.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18HE ISSUES ORDERS
0:02:25 > 0:02:29- Later, in 1941, he said... - "Let's learn from the English,
0:02:29 > 0:02:33"who, with 250,000 men in all,
0:02:33 > 0:02:36"including 50,000 soldiers,
0:02:36 > 0:02:39"governed 400 million Indians.
0:02:39 > 0:02:45"What India is for England, the territories of Russia will be for us."
0:02:45 > 0:02:47You keep me covered, I can make it.
0:02:56 > 0:03:03Yet, in 1939, Hitler ended up at war with the country he most admired - Great Britain -
0:03:03 > 0:03:07and allied to the country he most wanted to colonise - Russia.
0:03:07 > 0:03:14How did he end up fighting what was, from his point of view, the wrong war?
0:03:19 > 0:03:24MEN SING IN GERMAN
0:03:35 > 0:03:41On 30th January 1933, the same day Hitler became Chancellor,
0:03:41 > 0:03:45the Nazis paraded by torch light in Berlin.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56After the years of unemployment, inflation and political uncertainty,
0:03:56 > 0:04:02Hitler promised Germany would be reborn and national pride restored.
0:04:02 > 0:04:09Germany would be a world power once again, her foreign policy decided in a new way.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12By the desires of one man.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16And every true German, especially the Nazi storm troopers,
0:04:16 > 0:04:21now had to be obedient to the will of their Fuhrer.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25HITLER ADDRESSES MEN, THEY RESPOND
0:05:16 > 0:05:21ROUSING SINGING
0:05:44 > 0:05:52Under Hitler, the German armed forces would have all the guns, tanks and planes they needed.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55And more besides.
0:06:33 > 0:06:38These armaments were paid for by a series of sophisticated loans
0:06:38 > 0:06:40which mortgaged Germany's future.
0:06:40 > 0:06:46The plan was masterminded by Reich Minister of Economics, Hjalmar Schacht.
0:07:05 > 0:07:10Hitler wasn't interested in how Schacht worked the economic miracle.
0:07:10 > 0:07:15He simply told Schacht to get on with the job any way he liked.
0:07:15 > 0:07:23- He later said...- "I have never had a conference with Schacht to find out what means were at our disposal.
0:07:23 > 0:07:29"I restricted myself to, 'This is what I require. This is what I must have.' "
0:07:34 > 0:07:40Hitler was obsessed with the idea of the survival of the fittest,
0:07:40 > 0:07:46and Goebbels' propaganda films reflected this obsession.
0:07:46 > 0:07:52Hitler believed humans were animals. The strongest animal would win.
0:07:52 > 0:07:57If his subordinates were strong enough, they'd succeed without him.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Just as it was with animals,
0:08:25 > 0:08:30so it was with great men, and even whole countries.
0:08:30 > 0:08:38Hitler believed the entire world was locked in a permanent struggle in which the stronger must prevail.
0:08:38 > 0:08:44This was the theory he developed in Mein Kampf, which he wrote in 1924.
0:08:44 > 0:08:50He also wrote that the Germans were a nation who needed to expand.
0:08:50 > 0:08:57Like the British, they needed colonies, and he was clear where they should find them.
0:08:57 > 0:09:04"We're putting an end to the German march towards the south and west of Europe, turning our eyes to the east.
0:09:04 > 0:09:11"When we speak of a new land in Europe, we must bear in mind Russia and the border states subject to her.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16"Destiny itself seems to wish to point the way for us here."
0:09:16 > 0:09:20In the years immediately after he became Chancellor,
0:09:20 > 0:09:25Hitler repeatedly stated what he saw as Germany's central problem.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28Germany simply wasn't big enough.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50ROAR OF APPROVAL
0:10:10 > 0:10:15Deutschland, Sieg Heil! CROWD RESPONDS
0:10:17 > 0:10:21Hitler did openly announce one foreign policy goal.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24He wanted, as he saw it,
0:10:24 > 0:10:31to right the wrong of the Treaty of Versailles, by which Germany had lost territory at the end of WWI,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35and was restricted to an army of 100,000.
0:10:35 > 0:10:43At that time, the young people were enthusiastic and believed in Hitler.
0:10:43 > 0:10:50It was a wonderful task to overcome the consequences of WWI, especially the Treaty of Versailles.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55So we were in a high mood.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07To help overcome Versailles, the Germans looked to the English.
0:11:07 > 0:11:13England and Englishmen were admired by the German ruling classes.
0:11:13 > 0:11:19They embraced what they took to be the ideals of the English gentleman.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22Country estates and fox hunting.
0:11:31 > 0:11:39I always hoped that England - I'm talking to you as an Englishman...
0:11:39 > 0:11:47England would see what Germany was planning, was building up too much, and would agree to share Europe,
0:11:47 > 0:11:49or whatever the politics.
0:11:53 > 0:11:59Whilst the English may not have wanted to share Europe with the Germans,
0:11:59 > 0:12:07they and the rest of Britain felt some form of accommodation should be reached with their former enemy.
0:12:07 > 0:12:14The general view in Britain was that the French had imposed,
0:12:14 > 0:12:21and we had obviously been connected with it, imposed too harsh a settlement on Germany in 1918,
0:12:21 > 0:12:23and that this should be rectified.
0:12:23 > 0:12:30And, to that extent, there was a slight feeling of "we ought to have done better".
0:12:30 > 0:12:38If you call that a sentiment of guilt, all right. I'm not sure we felt it as guilt, quite.
0:12:38 > 0:12:45The first fruits of Hitler's attempt to woo the British came in June 1935,
0:12:45 > 0:12:49when Germany and Britain signed a naval agreement,
0:12:49 > 0:12:56allowing Germany to rebuild her fleet beyond the level permitted by the Treaty of Versailles.
0:12:56 > 0:13:03Hitler said the day the agreement was signed was the happiest of his life.
0:13:05 > 0:13:13And Hitler sought to capitalise on the agreement, by sending the Nazi who had negotiated the deal,
0:13:13 > 0:13:19Joachim von Ribbentrop, to London, as German ambassador, in the summer of 1936.
0:13:19 > 0:13:29The task was 100% to find a German-British alliance,
0:13:29 > 0:13:35because he had arranged before, quite well, the naval agreement
0:13:35 > 0:13:43and that should be crowned by a German-English entente. Agreement.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46And he, at the beginning, he worked on this.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50Ribbentrop was not a success in Britain.
0:13:50 > 0:13:58Not only did the British not want a wide-ranging treaty of alliance with Nazi Germany,
0:13:58 > 0:14:05Ribbentrop committed a series of faux pas, like giving a Nazi salute to King George VI.
0:14:05 > 0:14:11No, Ribbentrop was regarded as not a gentleman. That kind of thing.
0:14:11 > 0:14:18And he wanted to be considered a gentleman. He was VON Ribbentrop. He wasn't just one of the rough Nazis.
0:14:18 > 0:14:26I don't think that that went down at all well, even in circles which felt we must get on with the Germans.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29I think his mission was disastrous.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34GERMAN SPEAKER: Sometimes he shouted,
0:14:34 > 0:14:36sometimes he was furious.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40He threw pencils at the secretaries...
0:14:40 > 0:14:47So, privately, he behaved very simply and stupidly, and very pompous.
0:14:47 > 0:14:55And the British don't like this, pompous people. And he was very outspoken and very loud-voiced.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58Goebbels said of Ribbentrop...
0:14:58 > 0:15:04"He bought his name, he married his money and he swindled his way into office."
0:15:04 > 0:15:11Count Ciano, the Italian foreign minister, revealed that Mussolini had remarked,
0:15:11 > 0:15:17"You only have to look at his head to see that he has a small brain."
0:15:17 > 0:15:22Ribbentrop was loathed by almost all the other leading Nazis.
0:15:22 > 0:15:27They thought him a humourless upstart. Yet Hitler supported him.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31Hitler said, when Ribbentrop wasn't present,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34"With Ribbentrop, it is so easy.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38"He's always radical.
0:15:38 > 0:15:43"Meanwhile, all the other people I have, they come here,
0:15:43 > 0:15:48"they have problems, they are afraid, they think we should take care,
0:15:48 > 0:15:53"and then I have to blow them up to get strong.
0:15:53 > 0:15:59"Ribbentrop was blowing the whole day, and I had to do nothing.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03"I had to break, give breaks there. Much better."
0:16:03 > 0:16:08Ribbentrop had a great insight into how to deal with Hitler.
0:16:08 > 0:16:15He knew Hitler always smiled kindly on the person who came to him with a radical solution to any problem.
0:16:15 > 0:16:21It didn't matter if Hitler didn't adopt the suggestion.
0:16:21 > 0:16:28This was an insight another much more intelligent member of Hitler's regime didn't have.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32Schacht told Hitler the German economy was overheating,
0:16:32 > 0:16:38and armament production should be scaled down to stop hyperinflation.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06Instead, Hitler was furious with his economics minister.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Schacht was sidelined.
0:17:09 > 0:17:17The economy was now put in the hands of a man who, though ignorant of economic theory,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20was certainly a proven radical.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23Herman Goering.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26HORNS PLAY
0:17:37 > 0:17:41CHEERING
0:17:46 > 0:17:50He was a... You would say, "a jolly good fellow."
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Jolly good fellow! Loved to show off.
0:17:53 > 0:17:59And loved rings and diamonds and...had funny hobbies.
0:17:59 > 0:18:06Loved paintings and loved to live in luxury, in Karinhall,
0:18:06 > 0:18:13which was near Berlin, in the Schorfheide, where he built some kind of castle for hunting purposes.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17That was more than a castle. Just wonderful!
0:18:17 > 0:18:21And upstairs, in the attic,
0:18:21 > 0:18:26he had an electric train built. Various trains running round.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31He played there like a child. Loved to play there.
0:18:31 > 0:18:39So therefore, besides being a true, dependable vassal, to Hitler,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42he was a big child.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29What did Hitler want his new army for?
0:19:29 > 0:19:37At first, it seemed the answer might be just to overturn the worst consequences of Versailles.
0:19:37 > 0:19:44In 1936, Hitler moved his troops into the demilitarised portion of Germany - the Rhineland.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49There was little international protest.
0:19:49 > 0:19:56Then, at a secret meeting in November 1937, he told his generals Germany must expand to survive,
0:19:56 > 0:20:02and announced that Germany's problem could be solved only by the use of force.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06Austria and Czechoslovakia were named as the first targets.
0:20:06 > 0:20:14The leading generals were not enthusiastic. They offered sober objections to Hitler's ideas.
0:20:14 > 0:20:22Within 3 months, the war minister and commander of the army were removed after personal scandals.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26Hitler took the opportunity to appoint the most radical Nazi
0:20:26 > 0:20:31as commander in chief of the German armed forces. Himself.
0:20:36 > 0:20:42It was in the mountains above Berchtezgaden in southern Bavaria
0:20:42 > 0:20:48that Hitler liked to dream of Germany's forthcoming greatness.
0:20:48 > 0:20:55He later said that his greatest ideas came to him in these mountains.
0:20:55 > 0:21:02In the afternoon, he would go on walks between the great peaks of the Obersalzburg.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09In the early evening, he would return to the Berghof -
0:21:09 > 0:21:15a house run for him by Herbert Dohring - a member of Hitler's own personal guard.
0:21:50 > 0:21:57At the Berghof, Hitler indulged himself by planning great cities he'd build in his new Germany.
0:21:57 > 0:22:05Herbert Dohring constantly folded and unfolded huge building plans so his master could dream his dreams.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09Sometimes, it seemed Hitler did little else.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13INTERVIEWER:
0:22:35 > 0:22:40When not dreaming of future German cities or of German expansion,
0:22:40 > 0:22:45Hitler would lose himself in fantasy by watching feature films.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48At the Berghof, always two a night.
0:22:48 > 0:22:55He preferred escapist entertainment, and Goebbels always made sure there was plenty on hand.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS
0:23:32 > 0:23:35ROMANTIC MUSIC PLAYS
0:23:48 > 0:23:52At the Berghof, in the spring of 1938,
0:23:52 > 0:23:59Hitler saw an opportunity to take the first step in achieving one of his most cherished dreams -
0:23:59 > 0:24:04to bring other German-speaking people under his rule.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08He capitalised on political instability in neighbouring Austria,
0:24:08 > 0:24:12a country which had already come hugely under Nazi influence.
0:24:12 > 0:24:21After checking that no foreign power would interfere, he ordered German troops to cross the border.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24LOUD CHEERING
0:24:29 > 0:24:35The majority of Austrians welcomed the Germans into their country.
0:24:35 > 0:24:43The Austrians, too, had suffered as their empire was dismantled in the settlement at the end of WW1.
0:24:43 > 0:24:50Now, united with Germany, they were a power once again.
0:24:50 > 0:24:55CRIES OF "SIEG HEIL!"
0:25:00 > 0:25:05It had been the nicest days of my life when we entered in Austria.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09I entered with Hitler in the sixth car.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12I had tears in my eyes.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17All my dreams of reuniting Austria with Germany...
0:25:17 > 0:25:21Don't forget, Austria was ruling Germany during 600 years.
0:25:21 > 0:25:26And so, for me, after the defeat of the year '18 and Versailles,
0:25:26 > 0:25:30for us it was a dream.
0:25:38 > 0:25:47I suppose a lot of people in England would say, "They ARE Germans, after all. That's what they really want."
0:25:47 > 0:25:51But it was, after all, a pretty nasty sort of takeover.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54CROWD ROARS
0:25:54 > 0:25:58CRIES OF "SIEG HEIL!"
0:26:07 > 0:26:11CHILDREN CHANT "SIEG HEIL!"
0:26:35 > 0:26:38CROWD ROARS
0:26:38 > 0:26:42I think we cried.
0:26:42 > 0:26:49Tears were running down our cheeks. With the neighbours it was the same.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53And when Hitler came to me,
0:26:53 > 0:26:57I nearly forgot to give him the hand.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01I just looked at him and I saw good eyes.
0:27:01 > 0:27:06And in my heart, I promised him,
0:27:06 > 0:27:09"I always will be faithful to you."
0:27:09 > 0:27:12I kept my promise.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16All my free time, besides school,
0:27:16 > 0:27:21I gave to the work, because he had called us.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25"You all..." he had said that to us.
0:27:25 > 0:27:31"You all shall help me build up my empire
0:27:31 > 0:27:38"to be a good empire, with happy people
0:27:38 > 0:27:42"who are thinking and promising
0:27:42 > 0:27:45"to be good people."
0:27:45 > 0:27:49But this was not going to be "a GOOD empire".
0:27:49 > 0:27:56Heinrich Himmler, commander of the SS, was one of the first German Nazis into Austria.
0:27:56 > 0:28:02Like Hitler, Himmler thought himself a radical and a visionary.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06This former Bavarian chicken farmer
0:28:06 > 0:28:11made Wewelsburg castle the spiritual home of the SS -
0:28:11 > 0:28:17the elite group which had emerged from Hitler's own personal bodyguard.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21MEN SING IN GERMAN
0:28:34 > 0:28:41Himmler believed these were the superior beings who would crush Germany's enemies.
0:28:51 > 0:28:56Himmler fantasised that the leaders of the SS would meet in this room,
0:28:56 > 0:28:59like the Knights of the Round Table,
0:28:59 > 0:29:04subordinate only to their own "King Arthur" - Adolf Hitler.
0:29:04 > 0:29:09Here, they would plan how to rule over their own empire.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13Himmler said in 1938,
0:29:13 > 0:29:19"Germany's future is either agreater Germanic empire oranothing.
0:29:19 > 0:29:26"I believeif we in the SS aredoingour duty,the Fuhrerwill create this greater Germanicempire,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29"this greater Germanic Reich.
0:29:29 > 0:29:34"The biggest empire ever created by mankind on the face of theearth."
0:29:34 > 0:29:39In Austria, the first territory of this new, greater Germany,
0:29:39 > 0:29:43the SS andother Nazisrevealed how they intended torule.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47With intolerance and cruelty. Just as in Germany,
0:29:47 > 0:29:52the Nazis made the Jews their scapegoats.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55There was no protection from anywhere.
0:29:55 > 0:30:00Anybody could come up to you and do what they want.
0:30:00 > 0:30:06Austrian Jews were made to perform a variety of humiliating tasks,
0:30:06 > 0:30:08like scrubbing the streets clean.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12I once had to scrub the streets as well.
0:30:12 > 0:30:21Can't remember anything, except that I saw in the crowd a well-dressed young woman,
0:30:21 > 0:30:25and she was holding up a little girl, a blonde, lovely girl,
0:30:25 > 0:30:30you know, with these curls, and she was smiling.
0:30:30 > 0:30:39So that the girl could see better, a...maybe 22-year-old kicked an old Jew who fell down.
0:30:39 > 0:30:44They all laughed, and she laughed as well.
0:30:44 > 0:30:50Sort of, how happy. That was a wonderful...entertainment.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54The Austrian Jews were so persecuted that many simply fled,
0:30:54 > 0:31:00AFTER, of course, the SS had robbed them of most of their money.
0:31:02 > 0:31:0817-year-old Walter Kammerling was seen off at Vienna station by his parents.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11It's a nightmare situation.
0:31:11 > 0:31:16I remember leaving Austria. It was like in a haze.
0:31:16 > 0:31:24And it was only days after that it struck me, when I wanted to talk to my parents and, of course, couldn't.
0:31:24 > 0:31:26After the Nazi takeover of Austria,
0:31:26 > 0:31:32Adolf Hilter returned to Berlin to a tumultuous welcome.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36WILD CHEERING
0:31:40 > 0:31:45He was more popular now than he had ever been before.
0:31:45 > 0:31:50His new Reich contained over 80 million Germans.
0:31:50 > 0:31:56The humiliations of Versailles were almost forgotten. But not quite.
0:31:56 > 0:32:02In euphoric mood, Hitler turned his eyes towards Czechoslovakia.
0:32:02 > 0:32:09He focused his demands on the Sudeten Germans who lived in the border areas,
0:32:09 > 0:32:14proclaiming that they too, as Germans, should be under his rule.
0:32:14 > 0:32:20Not all German generals went along with Hitler's plans for expansion.
0:32:20 > 0:32:26Some, like General Beck, feared he was leading Germany into another world war.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30They secretly communicated their concerns to the British.
0:32:30 > 0:32:32From then on, of course,
0:32:32 > 0:32:38that group of generals, for they didn't represent ALL the generals,
0:32:38 > 0:32:42kept in touch with us, by underground means,
0:32:42 > 0:32:45and they used to come through me.
0:32:45 > 0:32:52It was a sort of thing of, "If you and the French stand up to Hitler, we'll do something about him."
0:32:52 > 0:32:59And we saying, "Hadn't you better start doing something about him, then perhaps we can help you?"
0:32:59 > 0:33:07As Hitler had success after success, the possibility of the group getting rid of him became less and less.
0:33:07 > 0:33:12With Germany threatening Czechoslovakia,
0:33:12 > 0:33:17the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, tried to prevent war.
0:33:17 > 0:33:21The crisis grew, as twice Chamberlain met Hitler,
0:33:21 > 0:33:26and, on each occasion, Hitler increased his demands.
0:33:26 > 0:33:34Finally, Chamberlain left for one last meeting, on 29th September 1938.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37When I was a little boy,
0:33:37 > 0:33:40I used to repeat,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43"If at first you don't succeed,
0:33:43 > 0:33:46"try, try, try again."
0:33:46 > 0:33:49That's what I'm doing.
0:33:50 > 0:33:56When I come back, I hope I may be able to say,
0:33:56 > 0:33:59as Hotspur says in Henry IV,
0:33:59 > 0:34:03"Out of this nettle, danger,
0:34:03 > 0:34:06"we pluck this flower, safety."
0:34:06 > 0:34:09CROWD CHEERS
0:34:20 > 0:34:27Chamberlain sat alongside Ribbentrop, now promoted to German Foreign Minister,
0:34:27 > 0:34:32as the motorcade made its way to the conference hall in Munich.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43Finally, an agreement was reached,
0:34:43 > 0:34:48brokered by Mussolini and Goering.
0:34:48 > 0:34:55Hitler could have the Sudetenland, as long as he promised this was his final territorial demand.
0:34:55 > 0:35:00Chamberlain, naturally, knew public opinion in Britain.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03That's not the Foreign Office's job.
0:35:03 > 0:35:09He knew public opinion in the Dominions, which mattered a good deal,
0:35:09 > 0:35:16and felt, and I think quite rightly, really, that public opinion would not understand
0:35:16 > 0:35:21getting involved as an ally of France, so to speak,
0:35:21 > 0:35:23in a war with Germany, in Europe,
0:35:23 > 0:35:28to prevent Germans being attached to other Germans.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31But Hitler was still disgruntled.
0:35:31 > 0:35:37Shortly after the agreement was signed, he said he'd been tricked.
0:35:37 > 0:35:44I heard that, say, the day after the Munich conference
0:35:44 > 0:35:51by some people who had been in the same hotel with Hitler or with his surrounding people...
0:35:51 > 0:35:59and Ribbentrop, and so on, and they said that Hitler had the idea that he had failed to get his war.
0:35:59 > 0:36:03That he had taken...
0:36:10 > 0:36:17One German soldier took a home movie camera with him, as he entered the Sudetenland,
0:36:17 > 0:36:25and filmed scenes reminiscent of the victorious German entry into Austria, just six months previously.
0:36:31 > 0:36:40The German army officers were ecstatic too, as they controlled the Czech border defences -
0:36:40 > 0:36:48the barbed wire, pillboxes and minefields with which the Czechs had sought to defend their country.
0:36:48 > 0:36:54The rest of Czechoslovakia now lay naked in front of the German army...
0:36:54 > 0:36:58and their commander in chief, Adolf Hitler.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02BAND PLAYS
0:37:02 > 0:37:09Hitler asked the ageing President Hacha of Czechoslovakia to Berlin, in March 1939, for talks.
0:37:09 > 0:37:14Hitler humiliated Hacha by keeping him waiting.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17He was busy that evening...
0:37:17 > 0:37:22watching one of Goebbels' latest romantic comedies,
0:37:22 > 0:37:25called A Hopeless Case.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51Papa!
0:38:25 > 0:38:30Hitler eventually saw Hacha at 1.15 in the morning.
0:38:30 > 0:38:37He announced that in a few hours' time, German troops would invade his country.
0:38:37 > 0:38:44At 4am, the distraught Hacha signed over the Czech people into Hitler's "care".
0:38:44 > 0:38:49As dawn broke, Hitler held a celebration in his office.
0:38:49 > 0:38:56There was a sort of private party, a sort of victory party, with champagne. Hitler had mineral water.
0:38:56 > 0:39:02It was amazing to see how he behaved when he was among his friends,
0:39:02 > 0:39:06and hadn't to behave like the statesman for the public.
0:39:06 > 0:39:12So he was sitting...first of all, like this, everything here open.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16Hair's like this. Drinking his mineral water.
0:39:16 > 0:39:21And then the interesting thing... talking like this, the whole time...
0:39:21 > 0:39:29In the meantime, he dictated to two secretaries one proclamation to the German people, one to the Czechs,
0:39:29 > 0:39:36and a letter to Benito Mussolini to be transmitted by the Prince of Hesse the next morning.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41So he did all that at the same time, and I was a youngster of 24,
0:39:41 > 0:39:43so that's how a genius looks at home.
0:39:43 > 0:39:52German troops assembling to cross into the Czech Republic that day were about to take a momentous step.
0:39:52 > 0:40:00This boundary post marks the old border between the Sudetenland and the rest of Czechoslovakia.
0:40:00 > 0:40:09Crossing this, Hitler showed his claim that he wanted only to unite German-speaking people was a sham.
0:40:09 > 0:40:15The country these German troops now entered had never been German,
0:40:15 > 0:40:20and had no German-speaking majority within it. This was an invasion.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21BAND PLAYS SLOW MARCH
0:41:22 > 0:41:28Gone were the cheering faces of Austria and the Sudetenland.
0:41:28 > 0:41:36This time, the German military parade was watched by a silent crowd.
0:41:43 > 0:41:51Hitler visited Prague and its castle - the old residence of the Czech kings -
0:41:51 > 0:41:58less than 24 hours after he had first made his demands to President Hacha.
0:41:58 > 0:42:04Looking over Prague, Hitler was full of joy.
0:42:04 > 0:42:09But not all Nazi supporters were as pleased as their Fuhrer.
0:42:14 > 0:42:19That changed the whole history, because from that moment on,
0:42:19 > 0:42:27it was clear that Hitler was an imperialist and wanted to conquer whatever he wanted to conquer
0:42:27 > 0:42:34and it had nothing more to do with the self-determination of the German people in Sudeten.
0:42:34 > 0:42:39This was really terrible, what he did then.
0:42:39 > 0:42:45SIR FRANK ROBERTS: And, of course, this came as a great shock to Chamberlain.
0:42:45 > 0:42:50He thought at least Hitler would consult him before doing anything.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53It opened Chamberlain's eyes.
0:42:53 > 0:42:59It was rather like Saul on the road to Damascus, in some ways.
0:42:59 > 0:43:06The British knew Hitler's next demand would be for the return of former German territory in Poland.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10This time, Chamberlain pledged to resist.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14If an attempt were made
0:43:14 > 0:43:18to change the situation by force...
0:43:19 > 0:43:23..in such a way as to threaten Polish independence...
0:43:26 > 0:43:32..why, then, that would inevitably start a general conflagration,
0:43:32 > 0:43:36in which this country would be involved.
0:43:36 > 0:43:42Hitler demanded the return of Danzig to Germany -
0:43:42 > 0:43:49a city in the so-called Polish corridor of land, between East Prussia and the rest of Germany.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52As the crisis intensified,
0:43:52 > 0:43:55Hitler retreated to the Berghof.
0:44:33 > 0:44:39Hitler's dream of a grand alliance with Britain lay in ruins.
0:44:39 > 0:44:46In its place, he faced war with Britain and France, if he did what he wanted and invaded Poland.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50He needed a radical solution to his problems.
0:44:50 > 0:44:57'Von Ribbentrop leaving for Moscow, ushers in a new, incomprehensible chapter in German diplomacy.
0:44:57 > 0:45:02'What has happened to the principles of Mein Kampf?
0:45:02 > 0:45:08'What can Russia have in common with Germany to throw over the peace front?'
0:45:08 > 0:45:15Since spring 1939, on the back of trade negotiations with the Soviet Union,
0:45:15 > 0:45:22the Nazis had been making tentative moves towards an alliance between the two countries.
0:45:22 > 0:45:29On 23rd August 1939, Ribbentrop signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union,
0:45:29 > 0:45:34which protected Hitler from having to fight a war on two fronts.
0:45:34 > 0:45:42A secret part of the pact guaranteed Stalin a share in the spoils, once Hitler invaded Poland.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46Hitler was now allied to his ideological enemy.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49As this was being signed in Moscow,
0:45:49 > 0:45:55Hitler stood on the terrace of the Berghof and stared at the sky.
0:46:27 > 0:46:33A Hungarian woman in Hitler's entourage looked at the sky, then turned to speak to her Fuhrer.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08On the 1st of September 1939,
0:47:08 > 0:47:10Germany invaded Poland.
0:47:12 > 0:47:17On the 3rd of September, Britain and France declared war.
0:48:07 > 0:48:11Subtitles by Valerie Maguire BBC Scotland, 1997