Rise of the Nazis - Episode Guide

The first episode takes us into the corridors of power, where Germany's populist firebrand Adolf Hitler sees an opportunity to use the political turmoil of a hung parliament for his own ends. This sets off a chain of miscalculations by opponents, backroom deals and power grabs that will send Hitler from the fringes of politics into the heart of government.

It is 1933 and Adolf Hitler is the chancellor of Germany, but he does not have absolute power as there is still a democratic parliament, a head of state and the rule of law. Hitler calls a general election to increase Nazi representation, but a fire in the Reichstag building is blamed on communists - prompting thousands of arrests of left-wingers. Hitler then calls on President von Hindenburg to act and a decree is passed giving the Nazis emergency powers to ban free speech and the right to protest.

The final episode of the series - the final act in Hitler's rise to power - sees him take on opponents at the top of the government and within the heart of the Nazi regime.

Hitler has suspended democracy and is bringing all of Germany under Nazi control. But to gain absolute power and control of Germany's military, Hitler must be named successor to the ageing President Hindenburg before he dies.

At the peak of his power, Hitler now faces fellow ruthless dictator Stalin. He tries to deceive Stalin with a plan to invade Britain, all while preparing an attack on the Soviet Union.

The Nazis have lost in Moscow. Hitler and Stalin take charge of their armies - with no one to hold them back. In Stalin, Hitler has met his match - it's now a fight to the death.

Facing defeat on the Eastern Front, Hitler retreats. Deep rifts emerge; his inner circle vies for power.The resistance gets a student voice and an enemy within plots to kill Hitler

In the winter of 1944, Germany is losing the war on all fronts, but Hitler refuses to contemplate surrender. Instead, he calls leading military generals to a secret location and orders them to start preparing a massive surprise attack against the Western Allies as part of his policy of total war. It's an attack he believes will finally break them.

At the end of March 1945, with the German Army utterly depleted and Hitler's circle of trust rapidly shrinking, Hitler invites a group of Hitler Youth to the Reich Chancellery gardens to be congratulated. These are the people upon whom he now relies – children.

Nazi Germany is on the brink of collapse, and with Berlin under daily bombardment, Hitler has permanently retreated to his bunker, a series of 30 cramped rooms under the Reich Chancellery where night and day merge into one. As his life becomes increasingly bizarre, Hitler and Joseph Goebbels look for signs from German folklore that fate will intervene.

In April 1945, the Nazis organise one of the final acts of the Third Reich – a concert by the Berlin Philharmonic, including the last scene of the opera Die Gotterdammerung, which features a suicide at its centre. It's a clear sign that Hitler and many of his supporters are going to end it all.

Most of Germany is occupied by invading Allied forces. A two-million strong Soviet army is now just a mile from Hitler's hiding place.
With the Nazi regime disintegrating, most of Hitler's deputies are busy making plans to try to survive the end of the war. Only his most die-hard loyalists stay by his side.

At the end of the war, British troops are confronted with the true horrors of Nazi crimes when they discover Bergen Belsen concentration camp. Preparations begin for a trial at Nuremberg, but not all high-ranking Nazis have been captured. The job of tracking them down falls to Allied soldiers.

As the Cold War escalates, most Nazi hunting is abandoned. Suddenly, Nazis are able to return to normal life or find refuge overseas. Thousands begin new lives in South America.

In the 1960s and 70s, WW2 is a distant memory, but a few diehards are determined to hunt down thousands of Nazi war criminals, some of whom are living in plain sight.