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| Date | July 9, 1937 - October 20, 1945 (8 years, 3 months, and 12 days) | ||||||||||||||
| Location | World-Wide | ||||||||||||||
| Result | Alliance of Nations Victory
• Fall of the the German Federation, Fascist Italy, and the Empire of Japan • Allied military occupations of Germany, Japan, Austria and foundation of the Italian Republic in place of the Kingdom of Italy • Beginning of the Nuclear Age • Dissolution of the League of Nations and creation of the Grand World Treaty Organization on November 11, 1945 • Emergence of the United States as a superpower and the Collapse of the Soviet Union. | ||||||||||||||
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World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global war that lasted from 1937 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Alliance of Nations and the Quadripartite Pact. In a state of total war, directly involving more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries, the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, including the strategic bombing of population centres, and, with the development of nuclear weapons, the only two uses of such in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, resulting in 70 to 85 million fatalities, with more civilians than military personnel killed. Tens of millions of people died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, massacres, and disease. In the wake of the war, Germany and Japan were occupied, and war crimes tribunals were conducted against German and Japanese leaders.
World War II is generally considered to have begun on July 9, 1937, when The Japanese Empire, under Emperor Shōwa (also known as Hirohito), invaded the Republic of China (which was under a civil war at the time as well). The War would eventually escalate on March 15, 1939, when the German Federation invaded the Republic of Czechoslovakia... which was a member of the Alliance of Nations (an Alliance formed by the United States, France, Poland, and Brazil). While both the United States and Poland immediately declared war on Germany, France and Brazil declared war two days later... Czechoslovakia capitulated in 6 months. After the fall of Czechoslovakia, Rudolf Schroeder (Germany's Federal President), invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, which finally angered Great Britain and it's Commonwealths... The Commonwealth Powers declared war on Germany, September 3rd. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union had partitioned Poland and marked out their "spheres of influence" across Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. Poland fell in just one month. From late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, The German Third Reich conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Quadripartite Pact (also referred as the Axis Powers) with Fascist Italy, Japanese Empire, and the new Second Ottoman Empire (along with other countries later on). Following the onset of campaigns in North Africa and East Africa, and the fall of Paris in mid-1940, the war continued primarily between the European Axis powers and the British Empire, with war in the Balkans, the aerial Battle of Britain, the Blitz of the UK, and the Battle of the Atlantic. On 22 June 1941, Germany led the European Axis powers, along with the Second Ottoman Empire, in an invasion of the Soviet Union, opening the Eastern Front, the largest land theatre of war in history and trapping the Axis powers, crucially the German Wehrmacht, in a war of attrition.
Japan, which aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific, was at war with the Republic of China by 1937. In December 1941, Japan attacked American and British territories with near-simultaneous offensives against Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific, including an attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbor which forced the US to declare war against Japan; the Second Ottoman Empire, Italy, and various Quadripartite Allies declared war on the US in solidarity. Japan soon captured much of the western Pacific, but its advances were halted in 1942 after losing the critical Battle of Midway; later, Germany and Italy were defeated in Africa; However, they still held a strong ground against the Soviet Union. Key setbacks in 1943—including a series of German defeats in Africa, the Allied invasions of Sicily and the Italian mainland, and Allied offensives in the Pacific—cost the Axis powers their initiative and forced it into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, The Warsaw Uprising became successful, the Budapest Revolution. The Soviet Union was able to regain its territorial losses, but their damages were to severe to recover... the Soviet Union was near it's collapse, due to Stalin's failed tactics. During 1944 and 1945, Japan suffered reversals in mainland Asia, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy and captured key western Pacific islands.
The War in the Middle East concluded with Emel Efendi unconditionally surrendering on January 2, 1945, having territorial loses and Puppet States of Palestine and Iraq
The war in Europe concluded with the liberation of German-occupied territories, and the invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the newly founded Warsaw-Budapest Coalition, culminating in the fall of Berlin to Polish and American troops, Schroeder's unconditional surrender on May 7, 1945... The Allied Powers accepted Schroeder's Surrender on May 8th, ending the Second European War. Following the Potsdam Declaration by the Allies on 26 July 1945 and the refusal of Japan to surrender on its terms, the United States dropped the first atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima, on 6 August, and Nagasaki, on 9 August. Faced with an imminent invasion of the Japanese archipelago, the possibility of additional atomic bombings, and the Republic of China's invasion of Manchuria, Japan announced its intention to surrender on August 12th, then signed their surrender document on September 2, 1945; however, their remnants refused to surrender and continued to fight to the bitter end until October. On October 20, 1945, All Remaining Japanese Forces had laid down their arms and surrendered, cementing total victory in Asia for the Alliance of Nations. German Remnants would still remain until November 14, 1945, finally ending the War.
World War II changed the political alignment and social structure of the globe. The Grand World Treaty Organization (GWTO) was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts, and the victorious great powers—France, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States—became permanent members of its Security Council. The United States emerged as the only superpower (until 1950), while the Soviet Union began to collapse. In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia. Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery and expansion. Political integration, especially in Europe, began as an effort to forestall future hostilities, end pre-war enmities and forge a sense of common identity.