LEADERS OF WWII: THE EARLY YEARS

Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle. Three men who played crucial roles during World War II. But what do we really know about their stories twenty years earlier, in the midst of the First World War?

Were they brave soldiers, cowards, or reckless risk-takers? What battles did they fight, what feats did they accomplish, and what failures did they endure?

Legend would later cast Hitler as a hero of the Great War, though in reality he was just a lowly soldier. From the very start of the conflict, de Gaulle emerged as a passionate young lieutenant, willing to risk his life and those of his men. As First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill suffered a crushing defeat in the East, that made him doubt his political future.

Through the testimonies of historians and military experts, and using reconstructions, 3D images and archives, this film traces the decisive military fates of these three men during the Great War – a conflict that shaped them into the powerful figures they would later become.