On June 6th 1944 Allied troops staged...
...the largest seaborne invasion the world has ever seen
D-Day helped liberate Europe from the Nazis...
...but it was also pivotal in creating a new world order
This was dominated at first by two superpowers...
...and ultimately by America and her allies
But this liberal Western order is now under threat
In 1941 after two years of fighting...
...German armies were still advancing
Having taken Paris in 1940...
...they invaded Russia and were pushing back the British in North Africa
Later in the Pacific the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour...
...and took Singapore from the British
The world was at war, and the Allies were losing
But from the middle of 1942 the tables started to turn...
...with wins by the Americans in the Pacific...
...the British in North Africa and the Russians on the eastern front
After a prolonged siege at Stalingrad...
...the Russians cut off and crushed the Germans in February 1943
Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union’s ruler...
...had long urged the other Allied leaders...
...Winston Churchill and Roosevelt...
...to open up another front against the Nazis in the west
But it wasn’t until November 1943 that they met for the first time...
...and laid plans to invade German-occupied France
The Germans knew the invasion would come...
...they just didn’t know precisely when or where it would take place
The Allies deceived the Germans into thinking...
...they were going to attack Calais...
...the closest point to England
They created dummy armies in south-east England...
...and disseminated false information to German intelligence
But they surprised the Germans by invading Normandy instead
On June 6th 1944...
...over 150,000 American, Canadian, French and British troops...
...landed on beaches codenamed: UTAH, OMAHA, GOLD, JUNO and SWORD
German forces were spread too thinly along the western coast of Europe...
...and could not contain the Allies
Paris was liberated by August...
...and the Allies pressed into Belgium and Holland...
...and eventually into Germany itself
As the Russians closed in on Berlin from the East...
...Hitler killed himself and Germany surrendered in May 1945...
...less than a year after D-Day
After the war Germany and Europe remained divided by the Iron Curtain
The Soviet Union controlled the east...
...and America and her allies the west
In 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, or NATO...
...was created to protect western Europe from the growing Soviet threat
With the backing of America...
...the precursor of the European Union was formed in 1951
For around 70 years NATO and the EU...
...have formed the pillars of Western security...
...supporting America as the dominant global force
Despite the comradeship on display...
...at anniversary celebrations for D-Day...
...NATO is fraying
It’s obsolete and a lot of countries aren’t paying us what they should be paying
President Donald Trump has suggested that...
...America may withdraw from NATO altogether
He’s also been critical of the European Union...
...and has supported Britain’s withdrawal from the EU
The Western order is also being challenged...
...by an aggressive Russia...
...and the rise of China
This should be a time for the old Allies to stand together
Instead 75 years after fighting and dying together...
...on the beaches of Normandy...
...they’re becoming more divided