Showing results by author "Liam Dale" in All Categories

As the New Year dawned and the people of Britain faced the introduction of rationing, all eyes turned northwards to Scandinavia, where Adolf Hitler was preparing for full-scale invasion. U-Boat attacks increased and at Scapa Flow a German Air Raid claimed the first British casualties.

When Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of the wartime coalition government in May 1940, he pledged his “blood, toil, tears, and sweat”, and within days of his appointment, he was called upon to honor his promise.

From their success in North Africa the Allies were ready to return to occupied Europe, first landing on Sicily before moving north onto mainland Italy under the command of Montgomery, known fondly by his men as Monty. But as the Italians surrendered, the Germans occupied Rome, making the battle for Italy a long, hard slog, while the plans for the invasion of Northern France steadily took shape.

Even when there seemed little hope of making an impact against the Germans, the fight for freedom continued. The Polish Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto rose up against their oppressors and although facing the horrors of the Nazi Concentration Camps, German army units were needed to deal with the situation. The French Resistance was also formed, and with the Dambuster Raids attacking the Industrial Ruhr, the Allied progress although still slow, was at least sure.

It was time for the American Navy to get back on course after Pearl Harbour, and in the four-day Battle for the Coral Sea, they claimed victory over the Japanese, before defeating them again in the decisive Battle of Midway. Elsewhere the Luftwaffe went back to targeting more British cities in the Baedeker Raids.

While Hitler faced frustrations on all fronts and the Japanese were kept at bay by the Americans, despite heavy US casualties, the Allied leaders faced a new challenge. Although Churchill and Roosevelt had always been comfortable working together, the Russian leader Joseph Stalin had in the past been regarded more as a foe than a friend. With the invasion of France imminent, plans made at the Teheran Conference were a minefield of diplomatic negotiations.

While the Russians moved towards Germany from the East, and the Western allies attacked from the opposite direction, the Japanese continued their battle in the Pacific, fighting American Marines to the death on the island of Iwo Jima. As the endgame came into sight, there were desperate measures taken by both sides, and the casualties kept on rising.

It fell to the Russians to enter Berlin first, and as Hitler took his own life in his bunker, the war in Europe finally came to an end. Winston Churchill led the people of Britain in the VE Day celebrations, but the fighting continued in the Pacific. Sadly, President Roosevelt died in April, just weeks before VE Day, and the task of finishing the task in hand passed to the new American President, Harry S. Truman.

Ask a random sample of people to name the History Makers of World War II and you can pretty much predict their answers. First on the list will be Adolf Hitler, who made history for all the wrong reasons, then next it could well be Sir Winston Churchill with his characteristic V for victory sign and large cigar.

As Hitler and the Germans focused on Russia, the situation in the Pacific developed to epic proportions when the Japanese air force attacked the American Naval Fleet, stationed at Pearl Harbour on the 7th of December. This immediately brought the USA into the fray, and back in the European Theatre of War, Hitler now had a great deal more than Russia to worry about.

After so many years of German supremacy, as 1942 drew to a close, the Allies were really beginning to make headway. The British made a crucial breakthrough in North Africa, and the Americans pushed the Japanese out of Burma and New Guinea, while in Russia the Germans found themselves surrounded, as the winter snow set in over Stalingrad.

With mainland Europe under Hitler’s control, the German Fuhrer turned his attention to Operation Sealion, and the Battle of Britain, expecting an easy victory. However he’d underestimated the enormity of the task and the spirit of a nation inspired by Winston Churchill.

The early years of World War II saw Nazi Germany dominate Europe, but by the end of 1941, as Adolf Hitler continued to build his Empire, events in the Pacific took on their own momentum as Imperial Japan and America became locked in battle after the bombing of the US Naval Fleet at Pearl Harbor.

In precisely the same way that Mary Shelley is little recognized for Frankenstein, the novel she created when she was a mere 18-years old, the author of Dracula, Bram Stoker is a similarly overlooked figure in the world of literature.

"It is a far, far better thing that I do now, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known." Dicken's ending to "A Tale of Two Cities" resonates for all listeners of this master author and in this journal, you can follow in the footsteps of his life and works. Visit the locations that inspired his great classics and appreciate the contribution that Dickens not only made to literary history, but social matter as well.

Because powerful things, always come in threes. You can never settle on an argument when there are two - there’s something magical about the Power of Three! We three amigos started debating at uni together and when we left we took the debate with us. Now we’re inviting you to have a listen and join in! Every episode, one of us take on a topic that we feel is a important part of our lives.

Do you want to learn more about Charlie Chaplin, but don’t have time to listen to huge, long biographies? Then let The History Journals take you on an hourly history tour of his life. Charlie Chaplin’s legacy lives on forever in the films that have been left behind, bringing the gift of laughter to viewers of every generation, past, present, and future.

Let The History Journals take you on an hourly history tour of each year of the war with The World War II History Journals series which includes one book per year from 1939 to 1945. All around the world as the new year of 1943 began, the effects of a global war were really taking a firm hold. Hardship and deprivation were now simply a way of life, but for the Jews and other ethnic and social groups targeted by Adolf Hitler’s racial hygiene program, they were literally fighting for survival.

Do you want to learn more about the great author Catherine Cookson , but don’t have time to read huge, long biographies? Then let The History Journals take you on an hourly history tour of his life. Mention the name of Catherine Cookson and images of a bygone era will immediately spring to mind. This truly remarkable author created a literary landscape based on her childhood experiences in the North East of England.

Do you want to learn more about World War II, but don’t have time to read huge, long books? Then let The History Journals take you on an hourly history tour of each year of the war with The World War II History Journals series which includes one book per year from 1939 to 1945. 1944 was a year that began full of promise for the Allies as the war was beginning to slip from the grasp of Adolf Hitler and the Axis powers, and many believed that by the end of the year, peace might well be restored throughout Europe.