World War II was a war that started in the Autumn of 1939 and ended in the Autumn of 1945, lasting 366 days. It follows World War I and the world Depression, where many countries were in a slum, including the United States and Germany. At least a couple thousand films being related to WWII were made since 1939 - 2014, with about a third of them being American films. It took place between two sides: the Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan) and the Allies (USSR, USA, UK, France, China). The fighting took place in every continent except the Americas and Antarctica.
Pre-WW2 Events
Rise of Nazism in Germany
The Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler began to undergo power in 1919, and it started off with him joining the German Workers' Party. It was then renamed to the National Socialist German Workers' Party, or more commonly known as Nazi Party. In the 1920s, the Nazis had already latched onto the very weak political government of Germany, making them able to express their ideals easier. As the years went on, Hitler rallied more and more people to join on his side, as he would "lead them to a better life". Germany after WWI was devastated by debt, which was worse than the United States.This made it even easier for Hitler to gain power. By the early 1930s, the Nazis had become the largest party in Germany.
By the 1929 market crash in the US, the communists and Nazis were able to denounce democracy, and have a chance to prove that their political ideology was better than the US'. This led to the democracy campaigners to suffer from heavy losses in the political elections due to a spread of word of how evil democracy is. At this time, the Nazis had about a million people who were apart of them. The Nazis had tried several times to put Hitler onto the Chancellor's seat, but fell just short of it by other political leaders. However, the inability to gain control wasn't very short, as in 1933, he was appointed Chancellor of Germany. Many of the people who opposed the Nazis had failed to act against it, and Hitler was able to seize total control.
Eventually the Nazis began to suspend civil rights and political opposition. All of the communists were kicked out of any seat in power. He continue to take away freedoms from the people. He even got a stamped letter saying that he had the free will to do what he wants without consent of parliament. He and his party also spread antisemitism amongst the people, allowing them to have a common enemy. Hitler took his control and used it with force and intimidation.
Rise of Fascism in Italy
At the same time in Italy, Benito Mussolini was gaining power from a new political ideology called fascism. They would claim themselves to be the best nationalists and wanted what was only right for their country. The Italian fascists took against Liberalism and gathered a stronger suit of being a heavily conservative ideology. The people known as the Blackshirts, which were a mix of World War I veterans and ideal socialists, were taken under Mussolini's wing. However, it wasn't just democracy that was against fascism, but instead feminists as well, as Mussolini had a deal of women's suffrage movement in Italy, which was partially taken into account by the fascists. Although some recognize Nazi Germany to be fascist, this isn't true, as Nazism was a much more extreme form of both fascism and totalitarian.
The War
The Clash
World War II officially began on September 1, 1939 with the German invasion of Poland, which was to look like a Polish espionage mission against Germany. At this time, Hitler made a non-aggression pact with Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, which that they wouldn't attack each other. They also made an agreement to invade Poland together: Germany from the west, and the Soviets from the east. Two days later, the UK and France, along with the British Commonwealth, declared war on Germany. The Germans made a new style of warfare, Blitzkrieg, which was a lightning-fast attack with full armor. Poland fell in just a week and a half. The remaining soldiers of Poland evacuated to Romania.
On the sixth of October of that year, Hitler wanted a peace agreement with France and the UK. Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at that time, rejected the peace offering. Hitler answered to the denial with a full attack against France. Due to bad weather, it was postponed to Spring of the next year. Meanwhile in the Soviet Union, they were stationing troops along the Baltic nations, as for peace. Finland rejected this idea, causing the Soviets to invade Finland. This gave the USSR bad relations with the Allies, causing the Russian seat to be kicked out of the League of Nations.
Western Europe
Spring of 1940 Germany invaded Denmark and Norway, both falling in just two months. By this time, the UK was doing nothing to protect themselves, which forced Chamberlain out of office, whom was replaced by Winston Churchill. Before invading France, Germany invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg for a closer front. The French were using an outdated form of military equipment, which wouldn't hold against the German's blitzkrieg offensive. However, the French also put their strongest fortifications on the Maginot Line (French fortifications built in the 1930s to protect themselves from the growing German threat), which the Germans easily avoided by going around the Line by going through Belgium.
France did not expect this, and quickly abandoned their posts, leaving all of the artillery behind. As the French were fleeing for their lives, Italy declared war on both the UK and France, and invaded them from the south. Paris fell to the Germans soon after and France surrendered. The remaining French militants were being evacuated off the coast into the UK. France was then divided into Italian zones and German zones.
By now Hitler had his sights on the UK. He figured if he could get the United Kingdom, he could move across north and invade Canada, and finally the United States. In order to do this, he ordered for bombers and fighter planes to attack the city of London in hopes of gaining air superiority. Then he could move on to destroying the ships blocking the English Channel, and finally move in ships carrying soldiers to invade Britain. The Germans began bombing, in hopes of succeeding, as they have so far never lost in the war. Over the course of several months, the Royal Air Force (RAF) managed to keep the Germans from attaining air superiority, and eventually Hitler called back his bombers.
The Germans had been using U-boats for the first and now the second World War. They're easy and cheap to make, which is why Germans continued to build them. Hitler figured that they should build a battleship, which would go around and destroy all of the other battleships that the Allies had. After construction, Hitler was proud of creating the Bismarck, which lived a short time before being destroyed by small British boats. Hitler wanted to make another, but was advised to stay with the U-boats, as building another battleship would be too expensive and not worth it.
Belligerents
Allies
- United Kingdom
- Soviet Union
- United States
- China
- Poland
- France
- Canada
- Australia
- New Zealand
- South Africa
- Belgium
- The Netherlands
- Greece
- Yugoslavia
- Norway
- Ethiopia
- Brazil
- Denmark
- Luxembourg
- Cuba
- Mexico
Client States/ Colonies
- India
- Philippines
- Mongolia
Axis
Co-Belgets
Eropean Client States
Japan's puppet states
Leaders
Allies
- Winston Churchill: United Kingdom
- Franklin Roosevelt: United States
- Charles de Gaulle: Free France
- Joseph Stalin: Soviet Union
Axis
- Adolf Hitler: Germany
- Benito Mussolini: Italy
- Hideki Tojo: Japan
Major Battles
| Major Battles | ||||||
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| Blitzkrieg | ||||||
Germany Soviet Union |
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Germany |
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Germany |
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| The War in the Mediterranean | ||||||
Germany Italy |
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United States Germany Italy |
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United States France Germany |
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| The Invasion of the Soviet Union | ||||||
Germany |
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Germany |
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Germany |
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Germany |
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| Germany's Defeat | ||||||
Britain Canada Germany |
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Germany |
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Germany |
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Britain Germany |
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The War in The Pacific
- The Battle of the Philippines, occurred in 1941-1942, land battle, Japanese Victory
- The Battle of Singapore, occurred in 1942, siege, Japanese Victory
- The Battle of Coral Sea, occurred in 1942, naval battle, American Victory
- The Battle of Guadalcanal, occurred in 1942-1943, land battle, Allied (American) Victory
- The Battle of Midway, occurred in 1942, naval battle, Allied (American) Victory
- The Battle of Leyte Gulf, occurred in 1944, land battle, Allied (American) Victory
- The Battle of Philippine Sea, occurred in 1944, Allied (American) Victory
- The Battle of Iwo Jima, occurred in 1945, land battle, Allied (American) Victory
- The Battle of Okinawa, occurred in 1945, land battle, Allied (American) Victory
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