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World War 2

A comprehensive World War 2 history guide with facts and information on one of the most important events in British history.

  • Overview
    • World War 2 Summary
    • World War 2 Facts
    • World War 2 Timeline
    • World War 2 Prisoners Of War
    • Soldiers In World War 2
    • WW2 FAQ
      • Who Started World War 2?
      • Causes of World War 2
      • When Did WW2 Finish?
      • Which countries were involved in World War Two
      • When was World War 2?
      • Who won World War 2?
      • How Many People Died In World War 2
    • WW2 Planes: A History of World War 2 Aircraft
  • Battles
    • The Blitz
    • Pearl Harbour
    • Battle Of Britain
    • Dday
    • Operation Barbarossa
    • The Battle Of Kursk
    • Operation Overlord
    • Battle Of Midway
    • Battle of Stalingrad
    • The Invasion Of Poland
    • Operation Cerberus
  • Leaders
    • Winston Churchill
    • Franklin D Roosevelt
    • Adolf Hitler
    • Benito Mussolini
    • Emperor Hirohito
    • Joseph Stalin
  • Home Front
    • Evacuees Of World War 2
    • World War 2 Recipes
    • World War 2 Shelters
  • Anne Frank
  • Miscellaneous
    • World War 2 Books
    • World War 2 Movies
    • World War 2 Poems
    • World War One
    • The Phoney War
    • Blitzkrieg
    • World War 2 Allies
  • World War 2 For Kids
    • World War 2 Facts Kids
    • Children in World War 2

World War 2 Summary

Known as one of the most brutal conflicts in recent history, the Second World War wreaked havoc for six years, involving 113 countries from six continents. Starting in 1939, the Allied forces – mainly Britain, Russia, and the USA – sought to stop Nazi Germany in its conquest for European domination. By 1945, Western Europe had been rampaged, an entire race of people had come close to eradication, and the dynamic of power in many participating countries was to change forever.

Having been appointed to Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Adolf Hitler led the Nazi party with an ideology of racial superiority, nationalism, and destruction of all who opposed them. The aftermath of WW1 – specifically, the Treaty of Versailles – meant that Germany was limited in what it could do on a diplomatic stage, and during the 1930s, the Nazis broke a series of rules that had been laid down in 1919. This caused the Allied countries to become concerned, and when the Nazis invaded Poland in September 1939, France and Britain declared war on Germany.World War 2 Summary

What followed was six years of turmoil. One of Hitler’s key aims as Fuhrer of Germany was the destruction of the Jewish race, and even before the war began the Nazis had implemented a number of laws which discriminated against the Jews. Things became gradually worse, with the Nazis establishing Jewish ghettos in Poland in 1940, and the concentration camps 1942. It is estimated that 6 million Jews were killed during the reign of Hitler. Other social minorities were targeted by the Nazis, including homosexuals, communists, Romani, and people with disabilities.

The battles of WW2 were fought at sea, in the air, as well as on land. Some of the most well-known battles include the Battle of Britain (1940), Stalingrad (1942-3), El Alamein (1942-3), Iwo Jima (1945), and the Battle of the Bugle (1944-5). The D-Day landings in June 1944 are also some of the most famous events from the war, since many people consider it a turning point in the course of the war. D-Day resulted in the liberation of Paris, and allowed the Allied forces to close in around Germany. By 1944, the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union was proving unsuccessful, and the Soviets were bringing the Eastern front closer to Germany, meaning that the final year of the war saw Hitler stop fighting his own offense, and switching to tactics of defence.

By May 1945, Hitler had committed suicide, and the Nazi regime had collapsed. Japan surrendered in August 1945, and the Allied forces had achieved victory. All territory that had been claimed by Germany was split between the Western and Eastern Allied countries, and Germany itself was divided likewise. Many other countries who previously boasted empires lost their own territories in the years that followed, with the hangover of the Nazi dictatorship leaving bad associations with colonisation. Approximately 73 million people are thought to have died during the conflict, and the economic repercussions were felt across the participating countries for decades after peace was declared.

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Overview

WW2 Summary
WW2 Facts
WW2 Timeline
Soldiers in WW2
WW2 Planes
WW2 Prisoners Of War

Leaders

Winston Churchill
Franklin D Roosevelt
Adolf Hitler
Benito Mussolini
Emperor Hirohito
Joseph Stalin

Home Front

Evacuees of WW2
WW2 Recipes
WW2 Shelters

Misc

WW2 Books
WW2 Movies
WW2 Poems
World War One
The Phoney War
Blitzkrieg
WW2 Allies

Kids

WW2 For Kids
Children in WW2
WW2 Facts For Kids

Battles

The Blitz
Pearl Harbour
Battle of Britain
D-Day
Operation Barbarossa
The Battle Of Kursk
Operation Overlord
Battle Of Midway
Battle Of Stalingrad
The Invasion Of Poland
Operation Cerberus

Common Questions

Who started WW2?
Causes of WW2
When did WW2 finish?
Which countries were involved in WW2?
When was WW2?
Who won WW2?
How many people died?

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