Europe, Pacific, Atlantic, South-East Asia, China, Mediterranean, North Africa and Horn of Africa, briefly North and South America
Outcome:
Allied victory
Combatants
Allies: United Kingdom France Soviet Union (1940-42) United States (1941-42) China Poland (1939) (1941-42) Yugoslavia (1940-42) Australia Canada Norway (1940-42) Denmark (1940-42) Netherlands (1940-42) Belgium (1940-42) Luxembourg (1940-42)
Axis: Germany Italy (1940-41) Empire of Japan Spain (1940-41)
Commanders
Joseph Stalin Franklin D. Roosevelt Winston Churchill Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle
Adolf Hitler Hirohito Benito Mussolini Francisco Franco
Germany: 14,000,000 Empire of Japan: 7,679,000 Italy: 3,345,000 Spain: 600,000
Casualties and Losses
Military dead: Over 10,000,000
Military dead: Over 5,800,000
World War II (WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. The Empire of Japan aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific and was already at war with the Republic of China in 1937, but 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 the United Kingdom.
