The Second World War began on the 1st of September 1939 and ended on the 2nd of September 1945. This global conflict involved nearly every country in the world, mobilizing resources for total war. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, enabling strategic bombing of cities and the delivery of nuclear weapons. The death toll exceeded 60 million people, making it the deadliest conflict in history. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied. German and Japanese leaders faced trials for war crimes.
Interwar Geopolitics
World War I had radically altered the political European map with the defeat of the Central Powers. The Treaty of Versailles imposed significant territorial, colonial, and financial losses on Germany. Irredentist and revanchist nationalism emerged in several European states, especially in Germany. Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933 after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the government in 1923. Following President Paul von Hindenburg's death in 1934, Hitler proclaimed himself Führer and abolished democracy. Italy saw fascist leader Benito Mussolini seize power from 1922 to 1925 with a nationalist agenda. The League of Nations was established in 1920 to prevent future conflicts through collective security.Axis Expansion And Alliances
Germany annexed Austria in March 1938, provoking little response from other European powers. Hitler pressed claims on the Sudetenland, leading to the Munich Agreement which conceded territory to Germany. In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland after staging false flag border incidents. The Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany on the 23rd of August 1939, containing secret protocols defining spheres of influence. Japan staged the Mukden incident in 1931 as a pretext to invade Manchuria. The Second Italo-Ethiopian War began in October 1935 when Italian forces invaded Ethiopia. The Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, with Hitler and Mussolini supporting Nationalist rebels led by General Francisco Franco.European Theater Campaigns
On the 1st of September 1939, German troops reached the suburbs of Warsaw during the invasion of Poland. France fell to Germany on the 14th of June 1940, eight days after Italy declared war. The Battle of Britain began in early July 1940 with Luftwaffe attacks on shipping and harbours. Operation Barbarossa launched on the 22nd of June 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union. By November 1941, the German army almost reached Moscow's outer suburbs before suspending the offensive. The Battle of Stalingrad ended in early February 1943 with German defeat. D-Day occurred on the 6th of June 1944, when Western Allies invaded northern France. Paris was liberated on the 25th of August 1944 by local resistance assisted by Free French Forces.