When German troops attacked Poland on the first of September 1939, only very few contemporaries suspected that the world would descend into war in the next 2194 days. At least 60 million people lost their lives in this conflict. They all paid the price for the National Socialist dictatorship's delusion of world domination. The documentary takes a minutely detailed look back at the time between the German invasion of Poland and Japan's surrender six years later, which ended the world war in the Pacific region as well. Extensive archive material has been scanned in HD quality to give the viewer a particularly realistic impression of the time. Renowned historians supplement the material and draw a picture of the world in war and its protagonists - political leaders as well as ordinary soldiers.