World War II
From left to Right, up to down: Commonwealth troops at the desert, Chinese civilians about to be buried alive by Japanese soldiers, German submarine under attack, Soviet forces at the Winter Campaign, Soviet Troops at Berlin, Japanese fighters about to take of from an aircraft carrier
Date:	September 1 of 1939 - September 2 of 1945
Place:	All Continents, specially Europe and the far east.
Result:	Smashing victory of the Allied Powers.
Causes:	Axis Expansionist desires, invasion of Belgium and Poland.
Consequences:	Creation of the United Nations Emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as the major superpowers. Creating spheres of influence of the in the world that led to the Cold War. Started the process of descolonization of the world

Belligerents
Allied Forces:	United States Soviet Union United Kingdom France China And Others
Axis Powers	Germany Italy Japan Romenia Hungary Vichy France And Others

Commanders
Axis Powers:	Germany Adolf Hitler Erwin Rommell Erich Von Manstein Karl Dönitz Heinrich Himmler Heinz Guderian Herman Göring Italy Benito Mussolini Ugo Cavallero Japan Hideki Tojo Chuichi Nagumo And others
Allied:	United States Franklin Theodore Roosevelt Dwight Eisenhower George Patton Douglas MacArthur Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov Konstantin Rokossovsky Ivan Konev United Kingdom Winston Churchill Bernard Montgomery Lord Mountbatten And Others

The Second World War (World War II or WWII) was a global military conflict, which arose as a result of Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939, and later merged with the Second Sino-Japanese War which began in 1937.

The conflict split the majority of the world's countries into two opposing alliances: the Allies (Great Britain, France, Soviet Union, United States) and the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Japan).

It involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history, and placed the participants in a state of "total war", erasing the distinction between civil and military resources.

The result of the war was a victory for the Allies, with the United States and Soviet Union emerging as the new world superpowers, which set the stage for the Cold War. African countries moved faster towards decolonalisation, and Europe headed for more cooperation and integration. However, it was the European participants that were forced to recover from the worst effects of the war, with severely depleted populations, resources (military and civil) and ruined cities from bombing raids.

Over 75 million people (Approximately 23 million Russians) were killed, mostly civilians, making WWII the deadliest conflict in human history. The financial cost of the war is estimated at about a trillion 1944 U.S. dollars worldwide, making it the most costly war. The United Nations was established to prevent another war such as this.

The countries that participated in World War II were aligned in one of two camps: the Allies and the Axis powers.

Contents 1 Causes 1.1 Causes in Europe 1.2 Causes in Asia 2 Involved Countries 2.1 The allied countries 2.2 The Axis powers 3 Technology 4 Chronology 5 See Also 5.1 Campaingns 5.2 Armies 5.3 Battles and Operations 6 Comments

CausesEdit

Main Article: Causes of World War II

The Second World War was caused due to a combination of factors, whether political and economic conditions which contributed, more or less decisive, and their main motivation for the purpose of world domination by imperialist powers. The raids made Germany, in Europe, and Japan in Asia, can be considered as immediate causes of the conflict.

Causes in EuropeEdit

• Treaty of Versailles: The treaty can be seen as the most important cause indirectly to the outbreak of war. Blaming only Germany and its allies by the First World War, the treaty imposed, in addition to intense payments by Germany to the Allies, applying a strong blow to the economy of the country and raising inflation to astronomical levels, a feeling of humiliation for unrecoverable German citizens.
• World War I: Said by the then American president Woodrow Wilson, as the war to end all wars turned out to be not so well, mainly to Germany, which sought ways to avenge the humiliations suffered by the defeat. As was said by Winston Churchill about the WWII, "This war is in fact a continuation of the previous.
• Lebensraum: The primary concern of Hitler during that period was with the German need for Lebensraum, or living space. If the country should move from nation to second-rate to a world superpower, the country would need room to expand, and if needed to contain a rapidly growing population and prosperity demands, needed land for crops and raw materials for energy and industry
• Great Depression: The Great Depression of 1929 was crucial to the outbreak of the world war two, as the germans had blamed the Superpowers as the cause of the crisis in Germany.
• Anti-Semitism and Anti-Comunism: Were the causes to Germany invade the Slavic countries, Poland and Russia..
• Poland: Mostly, from the "Polish corridor (or Polish).

Causes in AsiaEdit

• Japanese Invasion of China: Relations between the United States and Japan went tense for some time, and the main point of contention were the Japanese attempts to put China under the control of the empire of the japan, by means of warfare. The Second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937, provoking american protests since the U.S. had strong interests in China. The refusal of Japan to give heed to these protests moved the U.S. government to declare an embargo on exports of certain products to Japan, including oil, which gradually increased the contest. Deprived of an important source of fuel, the Japanese had two choices: accept a humiliating agreement with an American claiming the sanctity of China, or look for oil elsewhere, by force if necessary.

Involved CountriesEdit

The allied countriesEdit

Main article: Allies of World War II

Initially,

the main countries were allies: Britain, France (Free France from June 1940), Poland, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. A special case is the China that was at war with Japan since 1937. As a result of the German invasion in April 1940 was added to Norway in May the Netherlands (capitulated after cities were bombed without warning, half of the German airforce was destroyed in this attack) and Belgium were occupied by Germany (without a war decleration Germany attacked), and Greece had been attacked by Italy in October 1940. The Soviet Union had a pact with Germany since August 1939 but the German invasion in June 1941, made ​​it change sides. In December 1941 the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor made ​​the United States entered the war on the allied side. Due to german attacks on brazilian ships, the Brazilian President Getulio Vargas sent the Brazilian Expeditionary Forces to combat the axis at Italy.

As the conflict inclining against Germany, the number of countries on the allied side was increasing. Near the end of the war, the Allies set as a condition for entering the United Nations that countries declare war on Germany and Japan. This made ​​the number of allied countries increased greatly, although most of this lack of strategic military importance and had no active role in the war.

The Axis powersEdit

Main article: Axis Powers

The main powers of the Axis were: Germany, Italy and the Empire of Japan . After the German victory over France in June 1940, the French government decided to collaborate with the Nazis, was the Vichy France. Then, in Eastern Europe were pressured by Hitler to join the Axis. Romania did in July 1940, Hungary in November next and Bulgaria in March 1941. Yugoslavia is reluctantly joined on 25 March 1941 but two days later there was an anti-Axis coup that triggered the German occupation of the country. Another special case is Finland which declared war on the USSR but not to any other country and for a time was considered as an Axis ally.

Not all countries were involved in the war. Some countries, like Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland and Sweden, they managed to remain neutral throughout the conflict. Spain also declared neutral but, after convincing victories of the Nazis in 1939 and 1940, when German victory seemed possible, he changed his status to "not belligerent, political and economic support to the Axis powers and sending the Blue Division which was integrated into the Wehrmacht. However, Adolf Hitler was never able to convince the president Franco to come into conflict. In 1943, when Germany began to accumulate losses, he returned to Spain to declare themselves neutral.

TechnologyEdit

Like the First World War, one of the results of WWII was the massive enhancement in military technology. Air warfare became very important for the first time, with military leaders opting for mass arial bombing rather than slow, dangerous trench battles. Tanks became fast and light, to be efficient in mechanised battles rather than trench warfare. The United States also created the first amphibious vehicles in 1941. The first military helicopters came into operation during WWII. {C

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In the Sea, Aircraft Carriers became the most important vessel in a fleet. High-tech Submarines came into use, destroying vital shipping links and prompting a range of anti-submarine defences such as SONAR.

Weapons developed during the war included Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), the first Cruise Missile, a wide range of air bombs, Napalm and plastic explosives such as C2. Handheld weapons increased in variety, reliability and accuraccy, including the first Assault Rifles. The most destructive creations were the first Atomic Bombs.

Technology for communications and intelligence rose to increased significance, with the development of Radar, SONAR, encryption technology (such as the Enigma machines) and the Magnetron (now used in microwave ovens) all coming to prominence. However, the war slowed down the development of nonessential technology such as radio and television.

One of the most dramatic single medical advance was probably the wide spread use of penicillin to treat wounds and bacterial diseases.

ChronologyEdit

• Main Article: Chronology of the World War II

Some say that the WWII started when Italy invaded Abyssinia (Future Ethiopia) or the Japanese invasion of China, but the most acepted version is that the first battle of the WWII was the Battle of Lake Khasan, where Russians and Japanese forces fought in the border of Mongolia, after, Albania was conquered by Italy, Albania was folowed by Romania and Greece.

In August 1939, the Axis Powers assigned a peace treaty with Russia wich was broken when the Operation Barbarossa started.

On September 1, Germany and Slovakia invaded Poland, on 10 May 1940, the Maginot Line was flanked, the Netherlands attacked in 5 days Germany lost half (220 of the 410 transport planes f.e.) of their airplanes (Holland only had 8 left after the bombing of the airfields and some inferior, old weapons) after the war Germans said they couldn\t attack England with groundforces because of this huge loss of forces (shipped to Britain when captured, many were trainers of pilots) and material. On may the 15th the Netherlands capitulated after the bombing of cities without prior warning. In July of the same year, the Battle of Britain had taken place, this battle halted the German advance in the Western Europe, on 22 June 1941 the Germans invaded Russia, Operation Barbarossa that was the name given for this invasion, the initial phase of this operation was very succesfull, but on 5 december of 1942, the Russians started a counter-strike, which repelled the Germans from Russian territory and

started the counter attack, on 7 December, 1941 the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor. In the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese had lost the Battle of Midway, that was crucial to the defeat of the Japanese and in the North-African theater, Operation Torch expelled the Germans and Italian from the African continent.

On July 1943, the victory of the Russians at Kursk had destroyed any hope of the German high-command for victory in Russia, in January the Americans launched a series of atack at Monte Cassino, in May 1944 the Crimea was liberated.

On 6 June 1944, the Americans, British and Canadians started Operation Overlord (also known as D-Day) the invasion of Normandy in France, after this operation, the Allies made a movement to enclosure the Germans in the Falaise-Gap, this movement caused many losses in the Wehrmacht, and was crucial to liberate Paris and retire Vichy France, on 16 December 1944, the German army made a counter-offensive in Ardenes in what was known as the Battle of Bulge even as this halted the allied advance temporarily, this wasn't enough to defeat the Allied Forces.

In February 1944, the Soviets invaded Silesia and Pomerania, while Western Allied forces entered Western Germany and closed to the Rhine river which was crossed in March of the same year. In early April, the Western Allie

s finally pushed forward in Italy and swept across Western Germany, while Soviet forces Stormed Berlim in late April; the two forces linked up on Elbe river on 25 April. On 30 April 1945, the Reichstag was captured by the Soviet 3rd Shock Army, signaling the military defeat of the Third Reich.

German forces surrendered in Italy on 29 April and in Western Europe on 7 May. On the Eastern Front, Germany surrendered to the Soviets on 8 May. A German Army Group Centre resisted in Prague until 11 May.

In the Pacific theatre, American forces accompanied by the forces of the Philippine Commonwealth advanced in the Philippines, clearing Leyte by the end of April 1945. They landed on Luzon in January 1945 and seized Manila in March, leaving it in ruins. Fighting continued on Luzon, Mindanao and other islands of the Philippines until the end of the war. In May 1945, Australian troops landed on Borneo, overrunning the oilfields there. British, American and Chinese forces defeated the Japanese in northern Burma in March, and the British pushed on to reach Rangoon by 3 May. American forces also moved toward Japan, taking Iwo Jima by March, and Okinawa by the end of June. American bombers destroyed Japanese cities, and American submarines cut off Japanese imports.

On 11 July, the Allied leaders met in Potsdam, Germany. They confirmed earlier agreements about Germany, and reiterated the demand for unconditional surrender of all Japanese forces by Japan, specifically stating that "the alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction". During this conference the United Kingdom held its general election, and Clement Attlee replaced Churchill as Prime Minister. When Japan continued to reject the Potsdam terms, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August. Between the two bombs, the Soviets, pursuant to the Yalta agreement, invaded the Japanese-held Manchuria, and quickly defeated the Kwantung Army, which was the primary Japanese fighting force. The Red Army also captured Sakhalin Island and the Kurile Islands. On 15 August 1945 Japan surrendered, with the surrender documents finally signed aboard the deck of the American battleship USS Missouri on 2 September 1945, ending the war.

See AlsoEdit

CampaingnsEdit

• Pacific Campaign (WWII)
• European Campaign (WWII)

ArmiesEdit

• Wehrmacht
• Red Army
• Free France

Battles and OperationsEdit

• Battle of Stalingrad
• Operation Overlord
• Operation Barbarossa
• Nuclear Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagazaki
• Operation Husky