Prologue. Every man a soldier ; Fomenting world war -- Pt. I. The war in the West 1940-1943. The triumph of blitzkrieg ; Air battle: the Battle of Britain ; War supply and the Battle of the Atlantic -- Pt. II. The war in the East 1941-1943. Hitler's strategic dilemma ; Securing the eastern springboard ; Airborne battle: Crete ; Barbarossa ; War production ; Crimean summer, Stalingrad winter -- Pt. III. The war in the Pacific 1941-1943. Tojo's strategic dilemma ; From Pearl Harbor to Midway ; Carrier battle: Midway ; Occupation and repression ; The war for the islands -- Pt. IV. The war in the West 1943-1945. Churchill's strategic dilemma ; Three wars in Africa ; Italy and the Balkans ; Overlord ; Tank battle: Falaise ; Strategic bombing ; The Ardennes and the Rhine -- Pt. V. The war in the East 1943-1945. Stalin's strategic dilemma ; Kursk and the recapture of western Russia ; Resistance and espionage ; The Vistula and the Danube ; City battle: the siege of Berlin -- Pt. VI. The war in the Pacific 1943-1945. Roosevelt's strategic dilemma ; Japan's defeat in the south ; Amphibious battle: Okinawa ; Super-weapons and the defeat of Japan ; The legacy of the Second World War.