World War II did not become a truly global conflict until after two of the Axis aggressors, Adolf Hitler of Germany and Hideki Tojo of Japan, picked momentous fights with the Soviet Union and the United States. Hitler's troops invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, turning on a nation that had been their ally, and Tojo's navy attacked the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The conflict went around the circumference of the world from that point. Follow along as Victor Davis Hanson revisits the ego-driven, strategically flawed thinking that inspired these two decisions. He recaps the most important battles of 1941 and 1942, explaining how they emboldened the Axis powers but also strengthened the resolve of the new Allies -- the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union.