World War II

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World War II, or the Second World War,^[1] (often abbreviated WWII or WW2) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all of the great powers,^[2] organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. The war involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history. In a state of "total war", the major participants placed their complete economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Over 70 million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.^[3]

The starting date of the war is generally held to be September 1939 with the German invasion of Poland and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by the United Kingdom, France and the British Dominions.^[4][5] However, as a result of other events, many belligerents entered the war before or after this date, during a period which spanned from 1937 to 1941. Amongst these main events are the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the start of Operation Barbarossa, and the attack on Pearl Harbor and British and Dutch colonies in South East Asia.

The Soviet Union and the United States emerged from the war as the world's leading superpowers. This set the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 45 years. The United Nations was formed in the hope of preventing another such conflict. The self determination spawned by the war accelerated decolonisation movements in Asia and Africa, while Western Europe itself began moving toward integration.

Background

Main article: Causes of World War II

In the aftermath of World War I, a defeated Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles.^[6] This caused Germany to lose a significant portion of its territory, prohibited the annexation of other states, limited the size of German armed forces and imposed massive reparations. Russia's civil war led to the creation of the Soviet Union which soon was under the control of Joseph Stalin. In Italy, Benito Mussolini seized power as a fascist dictator promising to create a "New Roman Empire."^[7] The Kuomintang (KMT) party in China launched a unification campaign against regional warlords and nominally unified China in the mid-1920s, but was soon embroiled in a civil war against its former Chinese communist allies. In 1931, an increasingly militaristic Japanese Empire, which had long sought influence in China^[8] as the first step of its right to rule Asia, used the Mukden Incident as justification to invade Manchuria; the two nations then fought several small conflicts, in Shanghai, Rehe and Hebei until the Tanggu Truce in 1933. Afterwards Chinese volunteer forces continued the resistance to Japanese aggression in Manchuria, and Chahar and Suiyuan.

Adolf Hitler, after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government in 1923, became the leader of Germany in 1933. He abolished democracy, espousing a radical racially motivated revision of the world order, and soon began a massive rearming campaign.^[9] This worried France and the United Kingdom, who had lost much in the previous war, as well as Italy, which saw its territorial ambitions threatened by those of Germany.^[10] To secure its alliance, the French allowed Italy a free hand in Ethiopia, which Italy desired to conquer. The situation was aggravated in early 1935 when the Saarland was legally reunited with Germany and Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, speeding up remilitarization and introducing conscription. Hoping to contain Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy formed the Stresa Front. The Soviet Union, concerned due to Germany's goals of capturing vast areas of eastern Europe, concluded a treaty of mutual assistance with France.

Before taking effect though, the Franco-Soviet pact was required to go through the bureaucracy of the League of Nations, rendering it essentially toothless^[11][12] and in June 1935, the United Kingdom made an independent naval agreement with Germany easing prior restrictions. The United States, concerned with events in Europe and Asia, passed the Neutrality Act in August.^[13] In October, Italy invaded Ethiopia, with Germany the only major European nation supporting her invasion. Italy then revoked objections to Germany's goal of making Austria a satellite state.^[14]

In direct violation of the Versailles and Locarno treaties, Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland in March 1936. He received little response from other European powers.^[15] When the Spanish Civil War broke out in July, Hitler and Mussolini supported fascist Generalísimo Francisco Franco's nationalist forces in his civil war against the Soviet-supported Spanish Republic. Both sides used the conflict to test new weapons and methods of warfare^[16] and the nationalists would prove victorious in early 1939.

With tensions mounting, efforts to strengthen or consolidate power were made. In October, Germany and Italy formed the Rome-Berlin Axis and a month later Germany and Japan, each believing communism and the Soviet Union in particular to be a threat, signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, which Italy would join in the following year. In China, the Kuomintang and communist forces agreed on a ceasefire to present a united front to oppose Japan.^[17]

Chronology

Other dates for the beginning of war include the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931,^[18][19] the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937,^[20][21] or one of several other events. Other sources follow A. J. P. Taylor, who holds that there was a simultaneous Sino-Japanese War in East Asia, and a Second European War in Europe and her colonies, but they did not become a World War until they merged in 1941; at which point the war continued until 1945. This article uses the conventional dating.^[22]

The end of the War also has several dates. Some sources end it from the armistice of August 14, 1945, rather than the formal surrender; in some European histories, it ended on V-E Day. The Treaty of Peace with Japan was not signed until 1951.

Course of the war

See also: Timeline of World War II

War in China

In mid-1937, following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Japan began a full invasion of China. The Soviets quickly lent support to China, effectively ending China's prior cooperation with Germany. Starting at Shanghai, the Japanese pushed Chinese forces back, capturing the capital Nanjing in December. In June 1938 Chinese forces stalled the Japanese advance by flooding the Yellow River; though this bought time to prepare their defenses at Wuhan, the city was still taken by October.^[23] During this time, Japanese and Soviet forces engaged in a minor skirmish at Lake Khasan; in May 1939, they became involved in a more serious border war^[24] that ended with signing a cease-fire agreement on September 15 and restoring the status quo.^[25]

War breaks out in Europe

In Europe, Germany and Italy were becoming bolder. In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria, again provoking little response from other European powers.^[26] Encouraged, Hitler began making claims on the Sudetenland; France and Britain conceded these for a promise of no further territorial demands.^[27] Germany soon reneged. In March 1939 Germany and Hungary fully occupied Czechoslovakia.

Alarmed, and with Hitler making further demands on Danzig, France and Britain guaranteed their support for Polish independence; when Italy conquered Albania in April, the same guarantee was extended to Romania and Greece.^[28] Shortly after the Franco-British pledges to Poland, Germany and Italy formalized their own alliance with the Pact of Steel.

The Soviet Union attempted to ally with France and Britain, but was rebuffed due to western suspicions about Soviet motives and capability.^[29] Since France and Britain were unwilling to create a formal military alliance with the USSR^[30] and apprehensive of a possible war with Hitler while the Western powers remained neutral or tacitly favorable to Hitler,^[31] the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact, named after the foreign secretaries of the two countries, on August 23, with Germany, including a secret agreement to split Poland and Eastern Europe between them.^[32][33]

On September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler launched his invasion of Poland and World War II broke out. France, Britain, and the countries of the Commonwealth declared war on Germany but provided little military support to Poland other than a small French attack into the Saarland.^[34] On September 17, 1939, after signing an armistice with Japan, the Soviets launched their own invasion of Poland.^[35] By early October, Poland had been defeated and divided between Germany and the Soviet Union. At the same time as the battle in Poland, Japan launched its first attack against Changsha, a strategically important Chinese city, but was repulsed by early October.^[36]

Following the invasion of Poland, the Soviet Union began moving troops into the Baltic States. Finnish resistance to similar pressure by the Soviet Union in late November led to the four-month Winter War, ending with Finnish concessions.^[37] France and the United Kingdom, treating the Soviet attack on Finland as tantamount to entering the war on the side of the Germans^[38] responded to the Soviet invasion by supporting its expulsion from the League of Nations.^[38] Though China had the authority to veto such an action, it was unwilling to alienate itself from either the Western powers or the Soviet Union and instead abstained.^[38] The Soviet Union was displeased by this course of action and as a result suspended all military aid to China.^[38] By June 1940, the Soviet Armed Forces completed the occupation of the Baltic States.^[39]

In Western Europe, British troops deployed to the Continent, but neither Germany nor the Allies launched direct attacks on the other. In April, Germany invaded