World War II

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"WWII" redirects here. For other uses, see WWII (disambiguation). For Winston Churchill's history, see The Second World War (book series).

World War II

Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the Battle of Wanjialing, Australian 25-pounder guns during the First Battle of El Alamein, German Stuka dive bombers on the Eastern Frontwinter 19431944, US naval force in the Lingayen Gulf,Wilhelm Keitel signing the German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad

Date Location

Result

1 September 1939 2 September 1945(6 years, 1 day) Europe, Pacific, Atlantic, South-East Asia,China, Middle East, Mediterranean andAfrica, briefly North America Allied victory

Dissolution of the Third Reich Creation of the United Nations

Emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as superpowers

Beginning of the Cold War. (more...)

Belligerents
Axis Germany Japan (at war 193745) United States (194145) British Empire China (at war 193745) France[nb 2] Poland Canada Australia New Zealand South Africa Yugoslavia (194145) Greece (194045) Norway (194045) Netherlands (194045) Belgium (194045) Czechoslovakia Brazil (194245)
...and others

Allies Soviet Union (194145)[nb

Italy (194043) Hungary (194045) Romania (194144) Bulgaria (194144)

Co-belligerents Finland (194144) Thailand (194245) Iraq (1941)

Client and puppet states Manchukuo Italian Social Republic (194345) Croatia (194145) Slovakia
...and others

Client and puppet states Philippines (194145) Mongolia (194145)

Commanders and leaders

Joseph Stalin Franklin D. Roosevelt Winston Churchill Chiang Kai-shek

Adolf Hitler Hirohito Benito Mussolini

Casualties and losses

Military dead: Over 8,000,000 Civilian dead: Over 4,000,000 Total dead: Over 12,000,000 (193745)
...further details

[show]

Campaigns ofWorld War II

World War II
Alphabetical indices

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Navigation

Campaigns

Countries

Equipment

Lists

Outline Timeline

Portal

Category

World War II, or the Second World War (often abbreviated as WWII or WW2), was a global war that was under way by 1939 and ended in 1945. It involved a vast majority of the world's nationsincluding all of the great powerseventually forming two opposingmilitary alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million people serving in militaryunits. In a state of "total war", the major participants placed their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by significant events involving the mass death of civilians, including the Holocaust and the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare, it resulted in 50 million to over 70 million fatalities. These deaths make World War II by far the deadliest conflict in all of human history.[1] Although the Empire of Japan was already at war with the Republic of China in 1937,[2] the world war is generally said to have begun on 1 September 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Germany, and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and most of the countries of the British Empire and Commonwealth. Germany set out to establish a large empire in Europe. From late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or subdued much of continental Europe; amid Nazi-Soviet agreements, the nominally neutral Soviet Union fully or partially invaded, occupied and annexed territories of its six European neighbours, including Poland. The United Kingdom and its Commonwealth remained the only major force continuing the fight against the Axis, with battles taking place in North Africa as well as the long-running Battle of the Atlantic. In June 1941, the European Axis launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, giving a start to the largest land theatre of war in history, which tied down the major part of the Axis' military forces. In December 1941, the Empire of Japan, which aimed to dominate East Asia and Indochina, joined the

Axis, attacked the United Statesand European territories in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the West Pacific. The Axis advance was stopped in 1942, after Japan lost a series of naval battles and European Axis troops were defeated in North Africaand, decisively, at Stalingrad. In 1943, with a series of German defeats in Eastern Europe, the Allied invasion of Fascist Italy, and American victories in the Pacific, the Axis lost the initiative and undertook strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Alliesinvaded France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. The war in Europe ended with the capture of Berlin by Soviet and Polish troops and the subsequent German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945. During 1944 and 1945 the United States defeated the Japanese Navy and captured key West Pacific islands, dropping atomic bombs on the country as the invasion of the Japanese archipelago became imminent. The war in Asia ended on 15 August 1945 when the Empire of Japan agreed to surrender. The total victory of the Allies over the Axis in 1945 ended the conflict. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world. The United Nations (UN) was established to foster international cooperation and prevent future conflicts. The great powers that were the victors of the war the United States, Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, and Francebecame the permanent membersof the United Nations Security Council.[3] The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for theCold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers started to decline, while thedecolonisation of Asia and Africa began. Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to stabilise postwar relations.
Contents
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1 Chronology 2 Background 3 Pre-war events

o o o o o

3.1 Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935) 3.2 Spanish Civil War (1936-39) 3.3 Japanese invasion of China (1937) 3.4 Japanese invasion of the Soviet Union and Mongolia (1938) 3.5 European occupations and agreements

4 Course of the war

4.1 War breaks out in Europe (1939)

o o o o o o

4.2 Axis advances 4.3 War becomes global (1941) 4.4 Axis advance stalls (1942) 4.5 Allies gain momentum (1943) 4.6 Allies close in (1944) 4.7 Axis collapse, Allied victory (1945)

5 Aftermath 6 Impact

o o o o o

6.1 Casualties and war crimes 6.2 Concentration camps and slave work 6.3 Home fronts and production 6.4 Occupation 6.5 Advances in technology and warfare

7 See also 8 Footnotes 9 Citations 10 References 11 External links

Chronology
See also: Timeline of World War II The start of the war is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland; Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. Other dates for the beginning of war include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937.[4][5] Others follow British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and the two wars merged in 1941. This article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935.[6] British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of the Second World War as the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in August 1939.[7] The exact date of the war's end is also not universally agreed upon. It has been suggested that the war ended at the armistice of 14 August 1945 (V-J Day), rather than the formal surrender of Japan (2 September 1945); in some European histories, it ended on V-E Day (8 May 1945). However, the Treaty of Peace with Japan was not signed until 1951,[8] and that with Germany not until 1990.[9]