WWII

World War II was a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world’s nations and ending with the defeat of the Axis powers. It was the deadliest conflict in human history, with civilian and military casualties numbering in the tens of millions and widespread destruction across continents. The war spanned Europe, the Pacific, Africa, and Asia, and included the systematic genocide of six million Jews and millions of others in the Holocaust.

The roots of the war lay in the aftermath of World War I, economic instability, and the rise of totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan. Expansionist aims and the failure of appeasement further destabilized the international order. The conflict began with Germany’s invasion of Poland in September 1939 and expanded as Axis powers sought to redraw national borders. The war expanded to include the Allied powers—Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States, China, and others—against the Axis of Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Key theaters included Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific. Important turning points were the Allied victories at Stalingrad and El Alamein in 1942, and Midway in 1942. The Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944 opened a Western Front, while Soviet advances pushed from the East. The war concluded with the unconditional surrenders of Germany in May 1945 and Japan in September 1945, following atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The aftermath reshaped the world: the United Nations was established to prevent future conflicts; war crimes trials were held; decolonization intensified; and the Cold War began, along with major geopolitical and economic realignments.