World War II

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Several terms redirect here. For other uses, see WWII (disambiguation), The Second
World War (disambiguation), and World War II (disambiguation).

World War II
 From top to bottom, left to right:

● German Stuka dive bombers on the Eastern

Front, 1943
● British Matilda II tanks during the North
African campaign, 1941
● U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki in Japan,
1945
● Soviet troops at the Battle of Stalingrad, 1943
● Soviet soldier raising a flag over the
Reichstag after the Battle of Berlin, 1945
● U.S. warships in Lingayen Gulf in the
Philippines, 1945

D 1 September
a 1939 – 2
t September
e [a]
1945

(6 years, 1 day)

L Major theaters:
o
c ● Europe
a ● Pacific
t ● Atlantic
i ● Indian
o Ocean
n ● South-E
ast Asia
● China
● Japan
● Middle
East
 ● Mediterr
anean
● North
Africa
● Horn of
Africa
● Central
Africa
● Australia
● Caribbe
an
● North
and
South
America

R ​ Allied
e victory
s (see
u also
l aftermat
t h of
World
War II)

Participants

Allies Axis

Commanders and leaders

Main Allied leaders: Main Axis leaders:

​ Joseph ​ Adolf Hitler

Stalin
​ Hirohito
​ Franklin D. ​ Benito
Roosevelt Mussolini
​ Winston
Churchill
​ Chiang
Kai-shek

Casualties and losses

​ Military dead: ​ Military dead:

​ Over 16,000,000 ​ Over 8,000,000
​ Civilian dead: ​ Civilian dead:
​ Over 45,000,000 ​ Over 4,000,000
​ Total dead: ​ Total dead:
​ Over 61,000,000 ​ Over
​ (1937–1945) 12,000,000
​ ...further details ​ (1937–1945)
​ ...further details

show

● V
● T
● E

Campaigns of World War II

World War II

Navigation

​ Campaigns
​ Countries
​ Equipment
​ Timeline
​ Outline
​ Lists
 ​ Historiography
​ Category
​ Bibliography
​

● V
● T
● E

[b]
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945)
was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly
all of the world's countries—including all the great powers—participated, with many
investing all available economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities in pursuit of
total war, blurring the distinction between military and civilian resources. Tanks and
aircraft played major roles, with the latter enabling the strategic bombing of
population centres and delivery of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war.
World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, resulting in 70 to 85 million
fatalities, more than half of which were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including
the Holocaust of European Jews, and by massacres, starvation, and disease.
Following the Allied powers' victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were
occupied, and war crimes tribunals were conducted against German and Japanese
leaders.

The causes of World War II included unresolved tensions in the aftermath of World
War I and the rises of fascism in Europe and militarism in Japan, and it was
preceded by events including the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Spanish Civil
War, outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and German annexations of
Austria and the Sudetenland. World War II is generally considered to have begun on
1 September 1939, when Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland. The
United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany on 3 September. Under their
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Germany and the Soviet Union had partitioned Poland
and marked out "spheres of influence" across Eastern Europe; in 1940, the Soviets
annexed the Baltic states and parts of Finland and Romania. After the fall of France
in June 1940, the war continued primarily between Germany and the British Empire,
with campaigns in North and East Africa and the Balkans, the aerial Battle of Britain
and the Blitz of the UK, and the naval Battle of the Atlantic. By mid-1941, through a
series of campaigns and treaties, Germany occupied or controlled much of
continental Europe and had formed the Axis alliance with Italy, Japan, and other
countries. In June 1941, Germany led the European Axis in an invasion of the Soviet
Union, opening the Eastern Front.
Japan aimed to dominate East Asia and the Asia-Pacific, and by 1937 was at war
with the Republic of China. In December 1941, Japan attacked American and British
territories in Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific, including an attack on Pearl
Harbor, which resulted in the United States and the United Kingdom declaring war
against Japan. The European Axis powers declared war on the US in solidarity.
Japan soon conquered much of the western Pacific, but its advances were halted in
1942 after its defeat in the naval Battle of Midway; Germany and Italy were defeated
in North Africa and at Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. Key setbacks in
1943—including German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily
and the Italian mainland, and Allied offensives in the Pacific—cost the Axis powers
their initiative and forced them into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the
Western Allies invaded German-occupied France at Normandy, while the Soviet
Union regained its territorial losses and pushed Germany and its allies westward. In
1944 and 1945, Japan suffered reversals in mainland Asia, while the Allies crippled
the Japanese Navy and captured key western Pacific islands. The war in Europe
concluded with the liberation of German-occupied territories; the invasion of
Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the fall of Berlin
to Soviet troops; Hitler's suicide; and the German unconditional surrender on 8 May
1945. Following the refusal of Japan to surrender on the terms of the Potsdam
Declaration, the US dropped the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima on 6 August and
Nagasaki on 9 August. Faced with imminent invasion of the Japanese archipelago,
the possibility of more atomic bombings, and the Soviet declaration of war against
Japan and its invasion of Manchuria, Japan announced its unconditional surrender
on 15 August and signed a surrender document on 2 September 1945, marking the
end of the conflict.

World War II changed the political alignment and social structure of the world, and it
set the foundation of international relations for the rest of the 20th century and into
the 21st century. The United Nations was established to foster international
cooperation and prevent conflicts, with the victorious great powers—China, France,
the Soviet Union, the UK, and the US—becoming the permanent members of its
security council. The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival
superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War. In the wake of European
devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of
Africa and Asia. Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards
economic recovery and expansion.

Start and end dates

See also: List of timelines of World War II
Timelines of World War
II

Chronological

Prelude

● (in Asia
● in Europe)

● 1939
● 1940
● 1941
● 1942
●
1943
● 1944
● 1945 onwards

By topic

​ Diplomacy
​ Declarations of war
​ Battles
​ Operations

By theatre

​ Battle of Europe air operations

​ Eastern Front
​ Manhattan Project
​ United Kingdom home front
​ Surrender of the Axis armies

● V
● T
● E
 [1][2]
World War II began in Europe on 1 September 1939 with the German invasion of
Poland and the United Kingdom and France's declaration of war on Germany two
days later on 3 September 1939. Dates for the beginning of the Pacific War include
[3][4]
the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or the earlier
[5][6]
Japanese invasion of Manchuria, on 19 September 1931. Others follow the
British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who stated that the Sino-Japanese War and war in
Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously, and the two wars became World
[7]
War II in 1941. Other theorised starting dates for World War II include the Italian
[8]
invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor
views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between
Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September
[9]
1939. Others view the Spanish Civil War as the start or prelude to World War
[10][11]
II.

The exact date of the war's end also is not universally agreed upon. It was generally
accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 15 August 1945 (V-J
Day), rather than with the formal surrender of Japan on 2 September 1945, which
officially ended the war in Asia. A peace treaty between Japan and the Allies was
[12]
signed in 1951. A 1990 treaty regarding Germany's future allowed the
reunification of East and West Germany to take place and resolved most post–World
[13]
War II issues. No formal peace treaty between Japan and the Soviet Union was
[14]
ever signed, although the state of war between the two countries was terminated
by the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956, which also restored full diplomatic
[15]
relations between them.

History
Background

Main article: Causes of World War II

Aftermath of World War I

 The League of Nations assembly, held in Geneva, Switzerland (1930).

World War I had radically altered the political European map with the defeat of the
Central Powers—including Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman
Empire—and the 1917 Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia, which led to the
founding of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the victorious Allies of World War I, such
as France, Belgium, Italy, Romania, and Greece, gained territory, and new
nation-states were created out of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman,
[16]
and Russian Empires.

To prevent a future world war, the League of Nations was established in 1920 by the
Paris Peace Conference. The organisation's primary goals were to prevent armed
conflict through collective security, military, and naval disarmament, as well as
[17]
settling international disputes through peaceful negotiations and arbitration.

[18]
Despite strong pacifist sentiment after World War I, irredentist and revanchist
nationalism had emerged in several European states. These sentiments were
especially marked in Germany because of the significant territorial, colonial, and
financial losses imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. Under the treaty, Germany lost
around 13 percent of its home territory and all its overseas possessions, while
German annexation of other states was prohibited, reparations were imposed, and
[19]
limits were placed on the size and capability of the country's armed forces.

Germany

The German Empire was dissolved in the German Revolution of 1918–1919, and a
democratic 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 political right and left. Italy, as an Entente ally, had made
some post-war territorial gains; however, Italian nationalists were angered that the
promises made by the United Kingdom and France to secure Italian entrance into
the war were not fulfilled in the peace settlement. From 1922 to 1925, the Fascist
movement led by Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy with a nationalist,
totalitarian, and class collaborationist agenda that abolished representative
democracy, repressed socialist, left-wing, and liberal forces, and pursued an
aggressive expansionist foreign policy aimed at making Italy a world power,
[20]
promising the creation of a "New Roman Empire".

Adolf Hitler at a German Nazi political rally in Nuremberg, August 1933

Adolf Hitler, after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government in

1923, eventually became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933 when Paul von
Hindenburg and the Reichstag appointed him. Following Hindenburg's death in 1934,
Hitler proclaimed himself Führer of Germany and abolished democracy, espousing a
radical, racially motivated revision of the world order, and soon began a massive
[21]
rearmament campaign. France, seeking to secure its alliance with Italy, allowed
Italy a free hand in Ethiopia, which Italy desired as a colonial possession. The
situation was aggravated in early 1935 when the Territory of the Saar Basin was
legally reunited with Germany, and Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles,
[22]
accelerated his rearmament programme, and introduced conscription.

European treaties

The United Kingdom, France and Italy formed the Stresa Front in April 1935 in order
to contain Germany, a key step towards military globalisation; however, that June,
the United Kingdom made an independent naval agreement with Germany, easing
prior restrictions. The Soviet Union, concerned by Germany's goals of capturing vast
areas of Eastern Europe, drafted a treaty of mutual assistance with France. Before
taking effect, though, the Franco-Soviet pact was required to go through the
[23]
bureaucracy of the League of Nations, which rendered it essentially toothless.
The United States, concerned with events in Europe and Asia, passed the Neutrality
[24]
Act in August of the same year.

Hitler defied the Versailles and Locarno Treaties by remilitarising the Rhineland in
[25]
March 1936, encountering little opposition due to the policy of appeasement. In
October 1936, Germany and Italy formed the Rome–Berlin Axis. A month later,
Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, which Italy joined the following
[26]
year.

Asia

The Kuomintang (KMT) party in China launched a unification campaign against

regional warlords and nominally unified China in the mid-1920s, but was soon
[27]
embroiled in a civil war against its former Chinese Communist Party allies and
new regional warlords. In 1931, an increasingly militaristic Empire of Japan, which
[28]
had long sought influence in China as the first step of what its government saw as
the country's right to rule Asia, staged the Mukden incident as a pretext to invade
[29]
Manchuria and establish the puppet state of Manchukuo.

China appealed to the League of Nations to stop the Japanese invasion of

Manchuria. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations after being condemned for
its incursion into 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
[30]
Manchuria, and Chahar and Suiyuan. After the 1936 Xi'an Incident, the
Kuomintang and communist forces agreed on a ceasefire to present a united front to
[31]
oppose Japan.

Pre-war events

Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935)

Main article: Second Italo-Ethiopian War

 Benito Mussolini inspecting troops during the Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935

The Second Italo-Ethiopian War was a brief colonial war that began in October 1935
and ended in May 1936. The war began with the invasion of the Ethiopian Empire
(also known as Abyssinia) by the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy (Regno
[32]
d'Italia), which was launched from Italian Somaliland and Eritrea. The war
resulted in the military occupation of Ethiopia and its annexation into the newly
created colony of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale 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 nations, but the League did little when the former
[33]
clearly violated Article X of the League's Covenant. The United Kingdom and
France supported imposing sanctions on Italy for the invasion, but the sanctions
[34]
were not fully enforced and failed to end the Italian invasion. Italy subsequently
[35]
dropped its objections to Germany's goal of absorbing Austria.

Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)

Main article: Spanish Civil War

When civil war broke out in Spain, Hitler and Mussolini lent military support to the
Nationalist rebels, led by General Francisco Franco. Italy supported the Nationalists
to a greater extent than the Nazis: Mussolini sent more than 70,000 ground troops,
[36]
6,000 aviation personnel, and 720 aircraft to Spain. The Soviet Union supported
the existing government of the Spanish Republic. More than 30,000 foreign
volunteers, known as the International Brigades, also fought against the Nationalists.
Both Germany and the Soviet Union used this proxy war as an opportunity to test in
combat their most advanced weapons and tactics. The Nationalists won the civil war
in April 1939; Franco, now dictator, remained officially neutral during World War II but
[37]
generally favoured the Axis. His greatest collaboration with Germany was the
[38]
sending of volunteers to fight on the Eastern Front.

Japanese invasion of China (1937)

Main article: Second Sino-Japanese War

Imperial Japanese Army soldiers during the Battle of Shanghai, 1937

In July 1937, Japan captured the former Chinese imperial capital of Peking after
instigating the Marco Polo Bridge incident, which culminated in the Japanese
[39]
campaign to invade all of China. The Soviets quickly signed a non-aggression
pact with China to lend materiel support, effectively ending China's prior cooperation
with Germany. From September to November, the Japanese attacked Taiyuan,
[40]
engaged the Kuomintang Army around Xinkou, and fought Communist forces in
[41][42]
Pingxingguan. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to
defend Shanghai, but after three months of fighting, Shanghai fell. The Japanese
continued to push Chinese forces back, capturing the capital Nanking in December
1937. After the fall of Nanking, tens or hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians
[43][44]
and disarmed combatants were murdered by the Japanese.

In March 1938, Nationalist Chinese forces won their first major victory at
[45]
Taierzhuang, but then the city of Xuzhou was taken by the Japanese in May. In
June 1938, Chinese forces stalled the Japanese advance by flooding the Yellow
River; this manoeuvre bought time for the Chinese to prepare their defences at
[46]
Wuhan, but the city was taken by October. Japanese military victories did not
bring about the collapse of Chinese resistance that Japan had hoped to achieve;
instead, the Chinese government relocated inland to Chongqing and continued the
[47][48]
war.

Soviet–Japanese border conflicts

Main article: Soviet–Japanese border conflicts

In the mid-to-late 1930s, Japanese forces in Manchukuo had sporadic border

clashes with the Soviet Union and Mongolia. The Japanese doctrine of
Hokushin-ron, which emphasised Japan's expansion northward, was favoured by the
Imperial Army during this time. This policy would prove difficult to maintain in light of
the Japanese defeat at Khalkin Gol in 1939, the ongoing Second Sino-Japanese
[49]
War and ally Nazi Germany pursuing neutrality with the Soviets. Japan and the
Soviet Union eventually signed a Neutrality Pact in April 1941, and Japan adopted
the doctrine of Nanshin-ron, promoted by the Navy, which took its focus southward
[50][51]
and eventually led to war with the United States and the Western Allies.

European occupations and agreements

Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, and Ciano pictured just before signing the Munich
Agreement, 29 September 1938

In Europe, Germany and Italy were becoming more aggressive. In March 1938,
Germany annexed Austria, again provoking little response from other European
[52]
powers. Encouraged, Hitler began pressing German claims on the Sudetenland,
an area of Czechoslovakia with a predominantly ethnic German population. Soon the
United Kingdom and France followed the appeasement policy of British Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain and conceded this territory to Germany in the Munich
Agreement, which was made against the wishes of the Czechoslovak government, in
[53]
exchange for a promise of no further territorial demands. Soon afterwards,
Germany and Italy forced Czechoslovakia to cede additional territory to Hungary,
[54]
and Poland annexed the Trans-Olza region of Czechoslovakia.

Although all of Germany's stated demands had been satisfied by the agreement,
privately Hitler was furious that British interference had prevented him from seizing
all of Czechoslovakia in one operation. In subsequent speeches Hitler attacked
British and Jewish "war-mongers" and in January 1939 secretly ordered a major
build-up of the German navy to challenge British naval supremacy. In March 1939,
Germany invaded the remainder of Czechoslovakia and subsequently split it into the
German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and a pro-German client state, the
[55]
Slovak Republic. Hitler also delivered an ultimatum to Lithuania on 20 March
1939, forcing the concession of the Klaipėda Region, formerly the German
[56]
Memelland.
 German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop (right) and the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin,
after signing the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, 23 August 1939

Greatly alarmed and with Hitler making further demands on the Free City of Danzig,
the United Kingdom and France guaranteed their support for Polish independence;
when Italy conquered Albania in April 1939, the same guarantee was extended to
[57]
the Kingdoms of Romania and Greece. Shortly after the Franco-British pledge to
[58]
Poland, Germany and Italy formalised their own alliance with the Pact of Steel.
Hitler accused the United Kingdom and Poland of trying to "encircle" Germany and
renounced the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish declaration
[59]
of non-aggression.

The situation became a crisis in late August as German troops continued to mobilise
against the Polish border. On 23 August the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression
[60]
pact with Germany, after tripartite negotiations for a military alliance between
[61]
France, the United Kingdom, and Soviet Union had stalled. This pact had a secret
protocol that defined German and