1941

1941 was a turning point in the Second World War, as the conflict expanded from Europe into the Soviet Union and the Pacific, creating new fronts that would shape the remainder of the decade. In March the United States enacted the Lend-Lease Act, enabling material support for Allied nations fighting the Axis powers. On June 22, Germany and its allies launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, opening a brutal eastern front that would stretch across vast territories and lead to prolonged sieges and vast casualties, including the siege of Leningrad beginning September 8.

In August the Atlantic Charter, issued by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, articulated common goals for the postwar world and Allied cooperation. In October Hideki Tojo became prime minister of Japan, consolidating aggressive expansionist policy in Asia. In the Pacific and Southeast Asia, Japan conducted further offensives, culminating in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which brought the United States into the war. The following days saw Germany and Italy declare war on the United States, bringing the major Allied and Axis powers into direct global confrontation.

Across Europe and the Mediterranean, Axis forces conducted campaigns in the Balkans, Greece and Yugoslavia, while the North African theatre saw continued fighting between Axis and Allied forces. The year also witnessed intensified Nazi persecution and mass killings in occupied territories as part of the Holocaust, signaling the widening scope of wartime atrocities.