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| World War II | ||||||||
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| Belligerents | ||||||||
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| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
Main Allied leaders: Winston Churchill Ernst Thälmann Ivanoe Bonomi Antônio Salazar Hong Yangwei
| Main Front leaders
| Sphere leaders Hirohito Puyi Demchugdongrub Plaek Pibulsonggram
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| Casualties and losses | ||||||||
| Military dead: Over 9,000,000 Civilian dead: Over 35,000,000 Total dead: Over 43,000,000 (1937–1947) | Military dead: Over 13,000,000 Civilian dead: Over 15,000,000 Total dead: Over 28,000,000 (1937–1947) | Military dead: Over 2,000,000 Civilian dead: Over 1,000,000 Total dead: Over 3,000,000 (1937–1947) |
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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 1940 to 1947. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming three opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Front Powers, and the Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere. In a 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. The strategic bombing of population centres also played a big role in the conflict. Tens of millions of people died due to genocides, starvation, massacres, and disease, a majority being civilians. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities.
World War II is generally considered to have begun on 21 November 1940, when Russia, under Alexander Kolchak, invaded the Baltic nations. The British Commonwealth and France subsequently declared war on Russia on 23 November. Under the Steinhoff–Konovalets Pact, the Intermarium was de jure dissolved after the annexation of Lithuanian, Ruthenian and Belarusian territories to Russia, although Germany never invaded Poland, still adopting a neutral policy. In a series of campaigns between 1940 and 1942, Russia controlled much of the Eastern European territory, including a Northern portion of the Scandinavian territory, forming the Front alliance with Spain, Italy and Fascist Yugoslavia. Following the onset of campaigns in North, Central and East Africa, the fall of Portugal and the Intermarium between 1941 and 1942, the war continued primarily between the Front powers and the Allied powers. On 12 September 1942, Russia led the Front powers in an invasion of Germany, opening the Eastern Front.
In the meantime, Japan opened a third coalition in the war with the Pacific War, invading and capturing both Russian and British territories in the East, as well as continuing the Second Sino-Japanese War. Therefore, the Allied Powers and the Front Powers declared war on Japan in solidarity, escalating the conflict to a full-scale global war. Japan soon captured much of the western Pacific, but its advances were halted in 1942 after losing the critical Battle of Midway; later, Spain and Italy were defeated in Africa and at Stettin. Other key elements in the defeat of the Front Powers were the major Resistance movements in Eastern Europe, which included the overthrow of the Stojadinović government, Allied invasion of Italy, and Japanese invasions and raids in the East cost the Front powers their initiative and forced it into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1946, the Franco-British coalition invaded Spain while a British-German coalition captured the oil fields in the Caucasus, the main supplier in the Russian State. Japan also suffered reversals such as the capitulation of puppet states by Chinese forces, driving the Army out of mainland Asia, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy and captured key western Pacific islands.
In Europe, the war concluded with not only the liberation of Russian-occupied territories in Eastern Europe, but the creation of other countries from former Russian territory. The invasion of Russia happened in three fronts: the German-Scandinavian front to the west, the Caucasian front to the south, and the Chinese front to the east, culminating in the fall of Moscow, the capture of Kolchak on his way to Persia and the Russian unconditional surrender on 30 March 1947. Faced with an imminent invasion of the Japanese archipelago, and the same fate of Kolchak, Japan announced on 18 April its intention to surrender, signing the surrender document on 5 April 1945, cementing total victory in Asia for the Allies.
Consequences to the Front powers and Japan were heavy. While Italy signed an armistice earlier, the country didn't suffer many of the consequences of the aftermath. The same with Yugoslavia, which a coalition led by Marshal Tito overthrew the Front-aligned government and forced the resignation of King Peter. However, Spain was punished by being dissolved in four states: Aragon, Basque Country, Castile and Galicia; and a total of nine states were separated from Russia, while the country had to pay war reparations and its armed forces were dissolved into the current Self-Defence Forces of Russia. Other territorial changes include the annexation of the remaining Belarusian territory into the Intermarium and the Far East into China.
World War II changed the political alignment and social structure of the globe. The Society of Nations was reformed to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts, with the victorious great powers—China, France, Germany, Scandinavia, the British Commonwealth—, becoming the permanent members of its Security Council. Germany and the British Commonwealth emerged as rival superpowers, eventually commencing the Cold War. Due to the European devastation, the influence of great powers waned, as the wars for decolonization in Africa and Asia started.
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