World War II From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "WWII" redirects here.

For other uses, see WWII (disambiguation). For Winston Ch urchill's history, see The Second World War (book series). World War II Infobox collage for WWII.PNG 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 Front winter 1943 1944, US naval force in the Lingayen Gulf, Wilhe lm Keitel signing the German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the Battl e of Stalingrad Date 1 September 1939 2 September 1945 (6 years, 1 day) Location Europe, Pacific, Atlantic, South-East Asia, China, Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa, briefly North and South America Result Allied victory Collapse of the Third Reich Fall of Japanese and Italian Empires Creation of the United Nations Emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as superpowers Beginning of the Cold War (more...). Belligerents Allies Soviet Union[a] United States United Kingdom China[b] France[c] Poland Canada Australia India Yugoslavia Greece Netherlands Belgium South Africa New Zealand Norway Czechoslovakia[d] Ethiopia[e] Brazil Denmark[f] Luxembourg Cuba Mexico Philippines Mongolia Iran [g] Axis Germany Japan[h] Italy[i] Hungary Romania Bulgaria Co-belligerents: Finland Thailand Iraq Client and puppet states:

Croatia Slovakia Albania Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere puppets Manchukuo China-Nanjing Mengjiang Philippines Burma Azad Hind Commanders and leaders Allied leaders Soviet Union Joseph Stalin United States Franklin D. Roosevelt United Kingdom Winston Churchill Republic of China (1912 1949) Chiang Kai-shek Axis leaders Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler Empire of Japan Hirohito Kingdom of Italy Benito Mussolini Casualties and losses Military dead: Over 16,000,000 Civilian dead: Over 45,000,000 Total dead: Over 61,000,000 (1937 45) ...further details Military dead: Over 8,000,000 Civilian dead: Over 4,000,000 Total dead: Over 12,000,000 (1937 45) ...further details [show] v t e Campaigns of World 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 v t e World War II (WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war . It is generally considered to have lasted from 1939 to 1945, although some con flicts in Asia that are commonly viewed as becoming part of the world war had be gun earlier than 1939. It involved the vast majority of the world's nations includ ing all of the great powers eventually forming two opposing military alliances: th e Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly i nvolved more than 100 million people, from more than 30 different countries. In a state of "total war", the major participants threw their entire economic, indu strial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, erasing the distincti on between civilian and military resources. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the first use of nuclear weapons in combat, it resul ted in an estimated 50 million to 85 million fatalities. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history.[1] The Empire of Japan aimed to dominate East Asia and was already at war with the Republic of China in 1937,[2] but the world war is generally said to have begun on 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Germany and subsequent declar ations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom. From late 1939 to ear

ly 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany formed the Axis alliance with Italy, conquering or subduing much of continental Europe. Following the Mo lotov Ribbentrop Pact, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territ ories between themselves of their European neighbours, including Poland, Finland and the Baltic states. The United Kingdom and the other members of the British Commonwealth were the only major Allied forces continuing the fight against the Axis, with battles taking place in North and East Africa as well as the long-run ning Battle of the Atlantic. In June 1941, the European Axis launched an invasio n of the Soviet Union, giving a start to the largest land theatre of war in hist ory, which tied down the major part of the Axis' military forces for the rest of the war. In December 1941, Japan joined the Axis, attacked the United States an d European territories in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the W estern Pacific. The Axis advance was stopped in 1942. Japan lost a critical battle at Midway, ne ar Hawaii, and never regained its earlier momentum. Germany was defeated in Nort h Africa and, decisively, at Stalingrad in Russia. In 1943, with a series of Ger man defeats in Eastern Europe, the Allied invasion of Italy which brought about that nation's surrender, and American victories in the Pacific, the Axis lost th e initiative and undertook strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial l osses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese bega n suffering major reverses in mainland Asia in Burma and South Central China whi lst the United States defeated the Japanese Navy and captured key Western Pacifi c islands. The war in Europe ended with an invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and th e Soviet Union culminating in the capture of Berlin by Soviet and Polish troops and the subsequent German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945. Following the P otsdam Declaration by the Allies on 26 July 1945, the United States dropped atom ic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 August and 9 Augu st respectively. With an invasion of the Japanese archipelago (known as Operatio n Downfall) imminent, and the Soviet Union having declared war on Japan by invad ing Manchuria, Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945, ending the war in Asia and c ementing the total victory of the Allies over the Axis. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world. The United Nations (UN) was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The great powers that were the victors of the war the U nited States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, and France became the p ermanent members of the United Nations Security Council.[3] The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European gr eat powers started to decline, while the decolonisation of Asia and Africa began . Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recove ry. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to stabili se postwar relations and cooperate more effectively in the Cold War.[4] Contents [hide] 1 Chronology 2 Background 3 Pre-war events 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 40) 4.2 Western Europe (1940 41) 4.3 Mediterranean (1940 41) 4.4 Axis attack on the USSR (1941) 4.5 War breaks out in the Pacific (1941) 4.6 Axis advance stalls (1942 43)

4.7 Allies gain momentum (1943 44) 4.8 Allies close in (1944) 4.9 Axis collapse, Allied victory (1944 45) 5 Aftermath 6 Impact 6.1 Casualties and war crimes 6.2 Concentration camps and slave work 6.3 Occupation 6.4 Home fronts and production 6.5 Advances in technology and warfare 7 See also 8 Notes 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 th e 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 Sin o-Japanese War on 7 July 1937.[5] Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japa nese 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 d ates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia o n 3 October 1935.[6] The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of the Second World War as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the Mongolia, Soviet Union from May to September 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), rath er than the formal surrender of Japan (2 September 1945); in some European histo ries, 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] Background Main article: Causes of World War II World War I had radically altered the political map, with the defeat of the Cent ral Powers including Austria-Hungary, Germany and the Ottoman Empire and the 1917 Bo lshevik seizure of power in Russia. Meanwhile, existing victorious Allies such a s France, Belgium, Italy, Greece and Romania gained territories, while new state s were created out of the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the Russian and Ottoma n Empires. Despite the pacifist movement in the aftermath of the war,[10] the losses still caused irredentist and revanchist nationalism to become important in a number of European states. Irredentism and revanchism were strong in Germany because of t he significant territorial, colonial, and financial losses incurred by the Treat y of Versailles. Under the treaty, Germany lost around 13 percent of its home te rritory and all of its overseas colonies, while German annexation of other state s was prohibited, reparations were imposed, and limits were placed on the size a nd capability of the country's armed forces.[11] Meanwhile, the Russian Civil Wa r had led to the creation of the Soviet Union.[12] The German Empire was dissolved in the German Revolution of 1918 1919, and a democ ratic government, later known as the Weimar Republic, was created. The interwar period saw strife between supporters of the new republic and hardline opponents on both the right and left. Although Italy as an Entente ally made some territor ial gains, Italian nationalists were angered that the promises made by Britain a nd France to secure Italian entrance into the war were not fulfilled with the pe ace settlement. From 1922 to 1925, the Fascist movement led by Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy with a nationalist, totalitarian, and class collaborationi

st agenda that abolished representative democracy, repressed socialist, left-win g and liberal forces, and pursued an aggressive foreign policy aimed at forceful ly forging Italy as a world power, promising the creation of a "New Roman Empire ".[13] In Germany, the Weimar Republic's legitimacy was challenged by right-wing elemen ts such the Freikorps and the Nazi party, resulting in events such as the Kapp P utsch and the Beer Hall Putsch. With the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, domestic support for Nazism and its leader Adolf Hitler rose and, in 1933, he wa s appointed Chancellor of Germany. In the aftermath of the Reichstag fire, Hitle r created a totalitarian single-party state led by the Nazis.[14] The Kuomintang (KMT) party in China launched a unification campaign against regi onal warlords and nominally unified China in the mid-1920s, but was soon embroil ed in a civil war against its former Chinese communist allies.[15] In 1931, an i ncreasingly militaristic Japanese Empire, which had long sought influence in Chi na[16] as the first step of what its government saw as the country's right to ru le Asia, used the Mukden Incident as a pretext to launch an invasion of Manchuri a and establish the puppet state of Manchukuo.[17] Too weak to resist Japan, China appealed to the League of Nations for help. Japa n withdrew from the League of Nations after being condemned for its incursion in to Manchuria. The two nations then fought several battles, in Shanghai, Rehe and Hebei, until the Tanggu Truce was signed in 1933. Thereafter, Chinese volunteer forces continued the resistance to Japanese aggression in Manchuria, and Chahar and Suiyuan.[18] Adolf Hitler at a German National Socialist political rally in Weimar, October 1 930 Adolf Hitler, after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government i n 1923, eventually became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933. He abolished democr acy, espousing a radical, racially motivated revision of the world order, and so on began a massive rearmament campaign.[19] It was at this time that multiple po litical scientists began to predict that a second Great War might take place.[20 ] Meanwhile, France, to secure its alliance, allowed Italy a free hand in Ethiop ia, which Italy desired as a colonial possession. The situation was aggravated i n early 1935 when the Territory of the Saar Basin was legally reunited with Germ any and Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, accelerated his rearmament p rogramme and introduced conscription.[21] Hoping to contain Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy formed the Stres a Front; however, in June 1935, the United Kingdom made an independent naval agr eement with Germany, easing prior restrictions. The Soviet Union, concerned due to Germany's goals of capturing vast areas of eastern Europe, wrote a treaty of mutual assistance with France. Before taking effect though, the Franco-Soviet pa ct was required to go through the bureaucracy of the League of Nations, which re ndered it essentially toothless.[22] The United States, concerned with events in Europe and Asia, passed the Neutrality Act in August.[23] In October, Italy inv aded Ethiopia, and Germany was the only major European nation to support the inv asion. Italy subsequently dropped its objections to Germany's goal of absorbing Austria.[24] Hitler defied the Versailles and Locarno treaties by remilitarising the Rhinelan d in March 1936. He received little response from other European powers.[25] Whe n the Spanish Civil War broke out in July, Hitler and Mussolini supported the fa scist and authoritarian Nationalist forces in their civil war against the Soviet -supported Spanish Republic. Both sides used the conflict to test new weapons an d methods of warfare,[26] with the Nationalists winning the war in early 1939. I n October 1936, Germany and Italy formed the Rome-Berlin Axis. A month later, Ge rmany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, which Italy would join in the fo llowing year. In China, after the Xi'an Incident the Kuomintang and communist fo rces agreed on a ceasefire in order to present a united front to oppose Japan.[2 7] Pre-war events

Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935) Main article: Second Italo-Abyssinian War Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the Second Italo-Abyss inian War The Second Italo Abyssinian War was a brief colonial war that began in October 193 5 and ended in May 1936. The war was fought between the armed forces of the King dom of Italy (Regno d'Italia) and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire (also known as Abyssinia). The war resulted in the military occupation of Ethiopia an d its annexation into the newly created colony of Italian East Africa (Africa Or ientale Italiana, or AOI); in addition, it exposed the weakness of the League of Nations as a force to preserve peace. Both Italy and Ethiopia were member natio ns, but the League did nothing when the former clearly violated the Leagu