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
nationsincluding all of the great powerseventually 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) [1][2] 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),[3] it resulted in an estimated 50 million to 85 million
fatalities. These made World War II the deadliest conflict inhuman history.[4]
The Empire of Japan aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific and was already at war with
the Republic of China in 1937,[5] but the world war is generally said to have begun on 1 September
1939[6] with the invasion of Poland by Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany
by France and the United Kingdom. From late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns
and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis
alliance with Italy and Japan. Under theMolotovRibbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and
the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European
neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and theBaltic states. The war continued primarily between the
European Axis powers and the coalition of the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth, with
campaigns including the North Africa and East Africa campaigns, the aerial Battle of Britain, the Blitz
bombing campaign, the Balkan Campaign as well as the long-running Battle of the Atlantic. In June
1941, the European Axis powers launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, opening the largest land
theatre of war in history, which trapped the major part of the Axis' military forces into a war of
attrition. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European territories in the Pacific
Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific.
The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, and
Germany was defeated in North Africa and then, decisively, at Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. In
1943, with a series of German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasion of Sicily and
the Allied invasion of Italy which brought about Italian surrender, and Allied victories in the Pacific,
the Axis lost the initiative and undertook strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western
Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses
and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in
mainland Asia in SouthCentral China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy and
captured key Western Pacific islands.

The war in Europe concluded with an invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet
Union, culminating in the capture of Berlin by Soviet and Polish troops and the subsequent German
unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945. Following the Potsdam Declaration by the Allies on 26 July
1945 and the refusal of Japan to surrender under its terms, the United States dropped atomic
bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 August and 9 August respectively.
With an invasion of the Japanese archipelago imminent, the possibility of additional atomic
bombings, and the Soviet Union's declaration of war on Japan and invasion of Manchuria, Japan
surrendered on 15 August 1945. Thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies.
World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world. The United
Nations (UN) was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The
victorious great powersthe United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, and
Francebecame the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.[7] The Soviet
Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War,
which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while
the decolonisation of Asia and Africa began. Most countries whose industries had been damaged
moved towardseconomic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to
end pre-war enmities and to create a common identity.[8]