World War 2 in Europe ended with the surrender of Nazi Germany to the Western Allies on 7 May 1945 and to the Soviet Union on 8 May 1945. In the last year of the war, 1945, about 2.6 million military personnel died in Europe. The number of civilian casualties were also considerable. After the Allied breakout from Normandy in August 1944 there seemed to have been a chance to end the war in Europe before Christmas – that often heard refrain in World War I and World War II, although after the war this one isn’t brought to mind as much as it should be. Was there any truth to that rumour about World War II in Europe ending in 1944? I’m going to explore that in this series of programmes.

Tag words: World War 2; Nazi Germany; Normandy; Lieutenant-General JCH Lee; General Eisenhower; General Montgomery; Field Marshall Montgomery; General Omar N Bradley; General George S Patton Jr; 21st Army Group; 12th Army Group; 3rd US Army; Shellburst; Anvil; General Marshall; D-Day; Nigel Hamilton; Monty – The Battles of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery; Operation Cobra; Carlo d’Este; Overlord; US Army; Flavius Renatus Vegetius; De Re Militari; Scipio; golden bridge; Argentan; Falaise Gap; Hitler; Mortain; Seventh Army; Fifth Panzer Army; Carlo d’Este; Eisenhower: Decision in Normandy; 12th SS Panzer Division; Martin Blumenson; Breakout and Pursuit;

Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all inhabitants thereof – what was it that made the West great and enriched the entire world as a consequence? It was freedom. Out of the failed attempt by the mighty Persian Empire, to conquer the impoverished farming land of Greece, the Greeks gave the world a lasting gift. The abstract idea of freedom – which a successful Persian invasion of Greece would have crushed.

A quarter million of Xerxes' troops perished in his vain attempt to take away this mysterious abstract thing called freedom which was enjoyed uniquely in all of the world by this tiny Balkan country of less than 130,000 square kilometres.

Tag words: Persian Empire; Xerxes; Persians; Achaemenid; Persian Wars; God; Hebrews; Pharoah; Herodotus; The Histories; Victor Davis Hanson; Carnage and Culture; Freedom; hoplite; landowners; Demaratus; Divine Salamis; the rise of the West; Aeschylus; Hellenic civilization; Themistocles; Eurybiades; Athenians; free citizens; Marathon; Battle of Plataea; free men; Athens; Thermopylae; Spartans; Georg Hegel; democracy; Aristotle; Plato; Alexander the Great; Abraham Lincoln; Gettysburg Address; decisive battles of the Western world;

What was the secret ingredient that made the Greeks so formidable a foe that the greatest empire in the world failed to come even close to defeating them?

Tag words: Herodotus; The Histories; Battle of Plataea; Greeks; Pausanias; Xerxes; Mardonius; Sparta; Leonidas; Thermopylae; Vassily Grossman; A Writer at War; Great Patriotic War; Krasnaya Zvezda; Red Star; John Gould; Richard Cohen; Making History; Victor Davis Hanson; Carnage and Culture; Persians; Marathon; Battle of Salamis; Artemisium; Cyrus the Younger;

All the Spartans acknowledged that he was the most courageous Spartan who fought at the Battle of Plataea, but he was unanimously disqualified by them from receiving any honours. Why?

Tag words: Spartans; Battle of Plataea; Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Persians; Greek phalanx; Plutarch; Herodotus; The Histories; Lacedaemonians; Pausanias; Mardonius; Athenians; Tegeans; JFC Fuller; Decisive Battles of the Western World; Boeotians; Richard Nelson; Armies of the Greek and Persian Wars; Artabazus; Aeschylus;

The Persian pursuit of the retreating Spartans looked as if it might be very promising. It was the main weight of the Persian army that was brought to bear against the Spartans. It looked likely to break them with their overwhelming missile fire. Well that was until Mardonius made his big mistake.

Tag words: Persians; Spartans; Herodotus; The Histories; The Battle of Plataea; Pausanias; Lacedaemonians; Mardonius; JFC Fuller; Decisive Battles of the Western World; Richard Nelson; Armies of the Greek and Persian Wars;

From what was happening on the Greek side it was apparent to Mardonius that the legendary Spartans weren’t the fearless battlefield warriors that everyone believed. In the face of the Persians they were quire cowardly – knowing what I’m about to tell you, you are bound to agree. Right?

Tag words: Mardonius; Spartans; Persians; Battle of Plataea; JFC Fuller; Decisive Battles of the Western World; Herodotus; The Histories; Artabazus; Asopus River; Alexander of Macedon; Pausanias; Boeotians; Peloponnesian Wars; Athenians;

One of the important figures in the Persian Army had found himself in a life threatening situation. Cunningly he had cut part of his foot off with a knife. Saved his life, and was now standing beside Mardonius influencing the course of the battle for the Persians. What was his name?

Tag words: Persians; Mardonius; Boetians; Athenians; Spartans; Lacedaemonians; Masistius; JFC Fuller; Decisive Battles of the Western World; Richard Nelson; Armies of the Greek and Persian Wars; Tegeans; Pausanius; Herodotus; The Histories; Plataea; Medes;

True or false: the ancients had some knowledge of treating pleurisy and collapsed lungs using syringes and bladders?

Tag words: Pleurisy; collapsed lungs; breastplates; Roman commander Lucullus; Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Alexander the Great; Spartans; dog tags; hoplites; Herodotus; antibiotics; James Jones; The Thin Red Line; Battle of Cannae; hemorrhaging; edema;

The ground ran red with blood. At the Battle of Pydna, in 168 BC, how much blood was spilled on  the battlefield?

 15,000 litres?

30,000 litres?

45,000 litres?

Tag words: Battle of Pydna; Leo Tolstoy; War and Peace; Napoleon; Xerxes; Ten Thousand; Theban Sacred Band; Battle of Leuktra; Thermopylae; Plataea;

One great general was reported as coming off the field of battle "covered with the blood" of his enemies, "carried away by the pleasure"…. ; the commander had nearly become "blood drunk" from the killing Who was the general?

Tag words: Phalanx; panic flight; Socrates; Clive James; Keith Douglas; Anthony Kellett; Combat Motivation: The Behaviour of Soldiers in Battle; Victor Davis Hanson; Battle of Leuktra; king Kleombrotos; Epameinondas; Xenophon; S. L. A. Marshall; Men Against Fire; Battle of Cannae; Hannibal;