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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a large scale military conflict that took place between 1939 and 1945. Engulfing much of the globe, it was the largest and deadliest war in history.The war began between Germany and the Allies. The Allies at first consisted of Poland, the United Kingdom, France, and others. Germany was later joined by Italy, Japan, and others, jointly known as the Axis.
In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, causing the Soviets to enter the war on the side of the Allies. In December the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor causing the United States to enter the war on the Allies' side as well. China, which had been at war with Japan since the mid-1930s, also joined the Allies, as did a number of other countries.
Italy surrendered to the Allies in 1943. Germany surrendered to the Allies in May of 1945. The war ended on September 2, 1945 with the formal surrender of Japan.
Approximately 62 million people, the majority of them civilians, died as a result of the war. The Holocaust by Hitler, the displacement and starvation of entire peoples in the Soviet Union by Stalin, and the aerial mass bombing of civilians by all sides, were among the causes responsible for the civilian deaths attributed to WWII.
For the first time a number of newly developed technologies were used against either military or civilian targets. Atomic weapons, long range missiles, jet aircraft, and radar, are only a few of many wartime inventions that changed the face of conflict.
The war is responsible for the re-drawing of national boundaries and the creation of new nations, the end of western colonialism, and the beginning of the Cold War.
After World War II, Europe was informally partitioned into Western and Soviet spheres of influence. Western Europe largely aligned as NATO, and Eastern Europe largely as the Warsaw pact. There was a fundamental shift in power from Western Europe and the British Empire to the new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, with significant boundary changes and displacement of people as the Soviet Union's borders shifted westwards.
In Asia, the United States' military occupation of Japan led to Japan's democratization. China's civil war continued through and after the war, resulting eventually in the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The former colonies of the European powers, such as India, Indonesia, and Vietnam, began their road to independence.
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The links open in a new window.» A Short History of World War II
» World War II Day By Day
» Memories of World War II: Photographs from the Archives of the Associated Press
» War Stories: Remembering World War II
