High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Rise and Decline of the Third Reich or more commonly Third Reich is a grand strategy wargame covering the European theater of World War II designed by John Prados, and released in 1974 by Avalon Hill. Huge in scope, players take on the roles of all the major national powers (Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States) and can simulate the entire war effort from 1939 until the end (often isn't until 1946).