- Introduction
- Axis initiative and Allied reaction
- The outbreak of war
- Forces and resources of the European combatants, 1939
- Technology of war, 1918–39
- The war in Europe, 1939–41
- Other fronts, 1940–41
- Invasion of the Soviet Union, 1941
- The war in the Pacific, 1938–41
- Developments from autumn 1941 to spring 1942
- The Allies’ first decisive successes
- The Solomons, Papua, Madagascar, the Aleutians, and Burma, July 1942–May 1943
- Burma, autumn 1942–summer 1943
- Montgomery’s Battle of el-Alamein and Rommel’s retreat, 1942–43
- Stalingrad and the German retreat, summer 1942–February 1943
- The invasion of northwest Africa, November–December 1942
- Tunisia, November 1942–May 1943
- The Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the North Sea, 1942–45
- Air warfare, 1942–43
- German-occupied Europe
- Casablanca and Trident, January–May 1943
- The Eastern Front, February–September 1943
- The Southwest and South Pacific, June–October 1943
- The Allied landings in Europe and the defeat of the Axis powers
- Developments from autumn 1943 to summer 1944
- Sicily and the fall of Mussolini, July–August 1943
- The Quadrant Conference (Quebec I)
- The Allies’ invasion of Italy and the Italian volte-face, 1943
- The western Allies and Stalin: Cairo and Tehrān, 1943
- German strategy, from 1943
- The Eastern Front, October 1943–April 1944
- The war in the Pacific, October 1943–August 1944
- The Burmese frontier and China, November 1943–summer 1944
- The Italian front, 1944
- Developments from summer 1944 to autumn 1945
- The Allied invasions of western Europe, June–November 1944
- The Eastern Front, June–December 1944
- Air warfare, 1944
- Allied policy and strategy: Octagon (Quebec II) and Moscow, 1944
- The Philippines and Borneo, from September 1944
- Burma and China, October 1944–May 1945
- The German offensive in the west, winter 1944–45
- The Soviet advance to the Oder, January–February 1945
- Yalta
- The German collapse, spring 1945
- Potsdam
- The end of the Japanese war, February–September 1945
- Costs of the war
- Developments from autumn 1943 to summer 1944
World War II, also called Second World War, conflict that involved virtually every part of the world during the years 1939–45. The principal belligerents were the Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—and the Allies—France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, China. The war was in many respects a continuation, after an uneasy 20-year hiatus, of the disputes left unsettled by World War I. The 40,000,000–50,000,000 deaths incurred in World War II make it the bloodiest conflict, as well as the largest war, in history.
Along with World War I, World War II was one of the great watersheds of 20th-century geopolitical history. It resulted in the extension of the Soviet Union’s power to nations of eastern Europe, enabled a communist movement to eventually achieve power in China, and marked the decisive shift of power in the world away from the states of western Europe and toward the United States and the Soviet Union.
Axis initiative and Allied reaction
The outbreak of war
By the early part of 1939 the German dictator Adolf Hitler had become determined to invade and occupy Poland. Poland, for its part, had guarantees of French and British military support should it be attacked by Germany. Hitler intended to invade Poland anyway, but first he had to neutralize the possibility that the Soviet Union would resist the invasion of its western neighbour. Secret negotiations led on August 23–24 to the signing of the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact in Moscow. In a secret protocol of this pact, the Germans and the Soviets agreed that Poland should be divided between them, with the western third of the country going to Germany and the eastern two-thirds being taken over by the U.S.S.R.
Having achieved this cynical agreement, the other provisions of which stupefied Europe even without divulgence of the secret protocol, Hitler thought that Germany could attack Poland with no danger of Soviet or British intervention and gave orders for the invasion to start on August 26. News of the signing, on August 25, of a formal treaty of mutual assistance between Great Britain and Poland (to supersede a previous though temporary agreement) caused him to postpone the start of hostilities for a few days. He was still determined, however, to ignore the diplomatic efforts of the western powers to restrain him. Finally, at 12:40 pm on August 31, 1939, Hitler ordered hostilities against Poland to start at 4:45 the next morning. The invasion began as ordered. In response, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, at 11:00 am and at 5:00 pm, respectively. World War II had begun.
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