Freedom Academy Lecture #5 The End of the Axis (March - August 1945)

As the Allies gained the upper hand toward the end of World War II, they could not simply defeat Germany, Italy and Japan. They had to humiliate them in order to fulfill their promises of eradicating fascism and deterring its proponents from ever again waging worldwide war. But the Allies wanted to achieve that goal without shedding any more of their own people's blood than necessary. The uneasy alliance with Soviet leader Josef Stalin also posed new challenges. Watch as historian Victor Davis Hanson analyzes the impact of the deadly Battle of the Bulge, the horrific siege of Berlin and the relentless U.S. bombing of Japan, including the first use of atomic weapons.