Fall Out

In September 1945, the Second World War ended. Germany and Japan had surrendered unconditionally. There was jubilation around the world. The United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the globe's two dominant superpowers, having fought side by side against a common enemy. But with that enemy defeated, an American-Soviet rivalry appeared unavoidable. This episode of World War II with Tom Hanks traces how the wartime alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union disintegrated into the Cold War, following the key decisions, crises, and turning points that redrew the world map and introduced the threat of nuclear annihilation.

The Uneasy Peace and Competing Visions for Europe

The war had been catastrophic. Nearly 70 million people were killed, the majority civilians, including an estimated 27 million Soviets. Europe was destroyed, and Britain was bankrupt. The United States, physically untouched, emerged as the world's preeminent superpower. There was an initial hope for peaceful coexistence, embodied in the creation of the United Nations, Franklin Roosevelt's dream of an international body to prevent another 1939. The UN combined a General Assembly of equal states with a Security Council, essentially the wartime military alliance of the Soviets, British, French, Americans, and Chinese, meant to be the cornerstone of future peace.