Veterans Day – A Tribute to the Military Service of our Ancestors RESEARCH DRAFT 2013 11 WORLD WAR II World War II Figure 49 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, Wilhelm Keitel s 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, Wilhelm Keitel signing the German Surrender, Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad Date 1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945 Europe, Pacific, Atlantic, South-East Asia, China, Middle East, Location Mediterranean and Africa, briefly North America Allied victory Result Dissolution of the Third Reich Creation of the United 1 Veterans Day – A Tribute to the Military Service of our Ancestors RESEARCH DRAFT 2013 Nations Emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as superpowers Beginning of the Cold War. (more...) Belligerents Allies Soviet Union (1941– 45)[nb 1] Axis United States (1941– Germany 45) Japan (at war 1937– British Empire 45) China (at war 1937– Italy (1940–43) 45) Hungary (1941–45) France[nb 2] Romania (1941–44) Poland Bulgaria (1941–44) Canada Australia Thailand (1942–45) New Zealand Co-belligerents South Africa Finland (1941–44) Yugoslavia (1941–45) Iraq (1941) Greece (1940–45) Norway (1940–45) Puppet states Netherlands (1940– Manchukuo 45) Croatia (1941–45) Belgium (1940–45) Slovakia Czechoslovakia ...and others Brazil (1942–45) ...and others Commanders and leaders Allied leaders Axis leaders Joseph Stalin Adolf Hitler Franklin D. Hirohito Roosevelt Winston Churchill Benito Mussolini ...and others ...and others 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 (1937– Over 12,000,000 (1937– 45) 45) 2 Veterans Day – A Tribute to the Military Service of our Ancestors RESEARCH DRAFT 2013 ...further details ...further details World War II seriesv · d · e Precursors Asian events ·European events ·Timeline [show]v · d · e Campaigns of World War II 1939 ·1940 ·1941 ·1942 ·1943 ·1944 ·1945 Eastern front ·Western Front ·Pacific War ·Battles ·Mediterranean, Middle East and African Campaigns ·Commanders Technology ·Military operations ·Manhattan Project Air warfare of World War II ·Home front ·Collaboration ·Resistance Aftermath Casualties · Further effects ·War crimes ·Japanese war crimes ·Consequences of Nazism Depictions World War II articles Alphabetical index: 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 Campaigns | Countries | Equipment Lists | Outline | Timeline | Portal | Category [show]v · d · e History of World War II by country and region [show]v · d · eWorld War II Allies (Leaders) Ethiopia ·China ·Czechoslovakia ·Poland ·United Kingdom ·India ·France ·Australia ·New Zealand ·South Africa ·Canada ·Norway ·Belgium ·Netherlands ·Luxembourg ·Greece ·Yugoslavia 3 Veterans Day – A Tribute to the Military Service of our Ancestors RESEARCH DRAFT 2013 ·Soviet Union ·United States ·Philippines ·Mexico ·Brazil Axis and Bulgaria Axis-aligned ·Reorganized (Leaders) National Government of China ·Croatia ·Finland ·Germany ·Hungary ·Iraq ·Italy ·Italian Social Republic ·Japan ·Manchukuo ·Romania ·Slovakia ·Thailand ·Vichy France Resistance Albania ·Austria ·Baltic States ·Belgium ·Czech lands ·Denmark ·Estonia ·Ethiopia ·France ·Germany ·Greece ·Hong Kong ·India ·Italy ·Jewish ·Korea ·Latvia ·Luxembourg ·Netherlands ·Norway ·Philippines ·Poland (Anti- communist) ·Romania ·Thailand ·Soviet Union ·Slovakia ·Western Ukraine ·Vietnam ·Yugoslavia Prelude Africa ·Asia ·Europe 1939 Invasion of Poland ·Phoney War ·Winter War 4 Veterans Day – A Tribute to the Military Service of our Ancestors RESEARCH DRAFT 2013 ·Atlantic ·Changsha (1939) ·China 1940 Weserübung ·Netherlands ·Belgium ·France ·UK ·North Africa ·British Somaliland ·Baltic States ·Moldova ·Indochina ·Greece ·Compass 1941 East Africa ·Invasion of Yugoslavia ·Yugoslav Front ·Greece ·Crete · Soviet Union (Barbarossa) · Karelia ·Lithuania ·Middle East ·Kiev ·Anglo- Soviet invasion of Iran ·Leningrad ·Moscow ·Sevastopol ·Pearl Harbor ·Hong Kong ·Philippines ·Changsha (1941) ·Malaya ·Borneo 1942 Burma ·Changsha (1942) · Coral Sea · Gazala ·Midway ·Blue ·Stalingrad ·Dieppe ·El Alamein ·Torch ·Guadalcanal 1943 End in Africa ·Kursk ·Smolensk ·Solomon Islands ·Sicily ·Lower Dnieper ·Italy ·Gilbert and Marshall ·Changde 1944 Monte Cassino and Shingle ·Narva 5 Veterans Day – A Tribute to the Military Service of our Ancestors RESEARCH DRAFT 2013 ·Cherkassy · Tempest · Ichi-Go ·Normandy ·Mariana and Palau ·Bagration ·Western Ukraine ·Tannenberg Line ·Warsaw Uprising ·Eastern Romania ·Yugoslavia · Paris ·Gothic Line ·Market Garden ·Estonia ·Crossbow ·Pointblank ·Lapland ·Hungary ·Leyte ·Bulge · Burma 1945 Vistula-Oder ·Iwo Jima ·Okinawa ·Surrender of Italy ·Berlin ·Czechoslovakia ·Budapest ·West Hunan ·Surrender of Germany ·Manchuria ·Philippines ·Borneo ·Atomic bombings ·Surrender of Japan General Air warfare of World War II ·Attacks on North America ·Blitzkrieg ·Comparative military ranks ·Cryptography ·Home front ·Manhattan Project · Military awards ·Military equipment ·Military production ·Nazi plunder ·Technology 6 Veterans Day – A Tribute to the Military Service of our Ancestors RESEARCH DRAFT 2013 ·Total war ·Strategic bombing ·Bengal famine of 1943 Aftermath Effects ·Expulsion of Germans ·Operation Paperclip ·Operation Keelhaul ·Occupation of Germany ·Morgenthau Plan ·Territorial changes ·Soviet occupations (Romania, Poland, Hungary, Baltic States) ·Occupation of Japan ·First Indochina War ·Indonesian National Revolution ·Cold War ·Decolonization ·Popular culture War crimes German and Wehrmacht war crimes ·The Holocaust ·Italian war crimes ·Japanese war crimes · Allied war crimes ·Soviet war crimes ·United States war crimes War rape Rape during the occupation of Japan ·Comfort women ·Rape of Nanking ·Rape during the occupation of Germany 7 Veterans Day – A Tribute to the Military Service of our Ancestors RESEARCH DRAFT 2013 Prisoners Nazi crimes against Soviet POWs ·Italian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union ·Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union ·Japanese prisoners of war in World War II ·German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union ·Finnish prisoners of war in the Soviet Union ·Polish prisoners of war in the Soviet Union ·Romanian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union ·German prisoners of war in the United States World War II, or the Second World War[1] (often abbreviated as WWII or WW2), was a global military conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, which involved most of the world's nations, including all of the great powers: eventually forming two opposing military alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million military personnel mobilised. 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 was the deadliest conflict in human history,[2] resulting in 50 million to over 70 million fatalities. The war is generally accepted 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 occupied and annexed territories of its six European neighbours. Britain and the Commonwealth remained the only major force continuing the fight against the Axis in North Africa and in extensive naval warfare. 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, from that moment on, tied down the major part of the Axis military power. In December 1941, Japan, which had been at war with China since 1937,[3] and aimed to dominate Asia, attacked the United States and European possessions in the Pacific Ocean, quickly conquering much of the region. The Axis advance was stopped in 1942 after the defeat of Japan in a series of naval battles and after defeats of European Axis troops in North Africa and, 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 8 Veterans Day – A Tribute to the Military Service of our Ancestors RESEARCH DRAFT 2013 initiative and undertook strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded France, while the Soviet Union regained all 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. The Japanese Navy was defeated by the United States, and invasion of the Japanese Archipelago ("Home