Wolrd War 2

"WWII" redirects here. For other uses, see WWII (disambiguation). For Winston Churchill's history, see The Second World War (book series).

World War II

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 Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad
Date 1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945 (6 years, 1 day)
Location Europe, Pacific, Atlantic, South-East Asia, China, Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa, briefly North America
Result Allied victory
Dissolution of the Third Reich
Creation of the United Nations
Emergence of the United States andthe Soviet Union as superpowers
Beginning of the Cold War (more...)
Belligerents
Allies
Soviet Union (1941–45)[nb 1]
United States (1941–45)
British Empire
China (at war 1937–45)
France[nb 2]
Poland
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
South Africa
Yugoslavia (1941–45)
Greece (1940–45)
Norway (1940–45)
Netherlands (1940–45)
Belgium (1940–45)
Czechoslovakia
Brazil(1942–45)
...and others
Client and puppet states
Philippines (1941–45)
Mongolia (1941–45)
...and others
Axis
Germany
Japan (at war 1937–45)
Italy (1940–43)
Hungary (1940–45)
Romania (1941–44)
Bulgaria (1941–44)
Co-belligerents
Finland (1941–44)
Thailand (1942–45)
Iraq (1941)
Client and puppet states
Manchukuo
Italian Social Republic (1943–45)
Croatia (1941–45)Slovakia
...and others
Commanders and leaders
Allied leaders
Winston Churchill
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Joseph Stalin
Chiang Kai-shek
...and others
Axis leaders
Adolf Hitler
Hirohito
Benito Mussolini
...and others
Casualties and losses
Military dead:
Over 16,000,000
Civilian dead:
Over 45,000,000
Total dead:
Over 61,000,000 (1937–45)
...further details Military dead:
Over8,000,000
Civilian dead:
Over 4,000,000
Total dead:
Over 12,000,000 (1937–45)
...further details
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Campaigns of World War II
World War II
Alphabetical indices
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Navigation
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World War II, or the Second World War (often abbreviated as WWII or WW2), wasa global war that was underway by 1939 and ended in 1945. It involved a vast majority 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 people serving in military units. In a state of "total war", the major participants placed their entireeconomic, 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 resulted in 50 million to over 70 million fatalities. These deaths make World War II by far the deadliest conflictin all of human history.[1]
Although the Empire of Japan was already at war with the Republic of China in 1937,[2] the world war is generally said 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. Following the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the nominally neutral Soviet Union fully or partially invaded, occupied and annexed territories of its six European neighbours, including Poland. The United Kingdom and its Commonwealth remained the only major force continuing the...