Radar in World War II

Both the Allies and Axis powers used radar in World War II, and many important aspects of this conflict were greatly influenced by this revolutionary new technology.

The technology of radio-based detection and tracking evolved independently in a number of nations during the mid 1930s. At the outbreak of war in September 1939, both Great Britain and Germany had functioning systems. In Great Britain it was called RDF, Range and Direction Finding, while in Germany the name Funkmessgerät (radio measuring device) was used.

By the time of the Battle of Britain in mid-1940, the Royal Air Force (RAF) had fully integrated RDF as part of the national air defence. By contrast, The German Funkmessgerät, was neglected, partly due to Adolf Hitler's prejudice against defensive measures, and failings by the Luftwaffe in coherently incorporating the new technology.

Although the technology was first demonstrated in the United States during December 1934, it was only when war became likely that the U.S. recognized the potential of the new technology, and began development of ship- and land-based systems. The first of these were fielded by the U.S. Navy in early 1940, and a year later by the U.S. Army. The acronym RADAR (for RAdio Detection And Ranging) was coined by the U.S. Navy in 1940, and the term "radar" became widely used.

World War II

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. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. In a state of "total war", the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust (in which approximately 11 million people were killed) and the strategic bombing of industrial and population centres (in which approximately one million were killed, and which included the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki), it resulted in an estimated 50 million to 85 million fatalities. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history.