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''World War II'' 1939-1945
{{subpages}}
==Name==
[[Image:Ww2-theater.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Allied designations for the various theaters of operations.]]
In the [[Commonwealth]] nations, official histories of the various militaries universally refer to the conflict as the '''Second World War'''. This style also follows literaly translations of other nations' official designation for the conflict, e.g. ''Zweiter Weltkrieg'' in German. The official histories of the United States armed forces refer to the conflict as '''World War II''' or '''World War Two''', and that term is now often used in Canada and the UK as well.
{{TOC|right}}
'''World War II''' (1931-1945) was the most destructive global war in human history, killing 53 million people.  World War II in Asia was foreshadowed by the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and began formally with the [[Second Sino-Japanese War|invasion of China by Japan]] of 1937.  World War II in Europe arguably began with the ascension of [[Adolf Hitler]] and the [[Nazi Party]] to power in Germany in 1933, although many Western governments did not immediately understand the nature of the growing threat from the Nazis.  World War II in Europe also should not be regarded as entirely separate from the [[Spanish Civil War]] (1936–39), whose 200,000 fatalities due to systematic murder, mob violence, and torture provided a breeding ground for mass atrocities later committed the Nazis.  World War II also included the [[Holocaust]], the state-sponsored murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis, who also systematically murdered (or placed in camps to die) many more millions of people besides Jews, including political prisoners, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, homosexuals, criminals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and handicapped people living in institutions.  


Parts of the world, especially Latin America, were largely unaffected directly by the conflict, with significant concentrations of activity in the European, north African, Russian, and Pacific theatres.
With battles in Europe, Africa, Asia and the South Pacific, the "Allies" (led mainly by the UK, US, and Soviet Union) eventually stopped the aggressively expanding "Axis" (mainly Germany and Japan).  Hostilities in Europe formally ended after Nazi Germany collapsed in May of 1945.  And in August of 1945, the United States [[Wikipedia:Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] with newly developed atomic bombs, killing around 355,000 civilians and leading to Japan's total surrender.


==Causes and Diplomacy==
This war, more than any other, propelled nations towards total war, a complete social, political, military, and economic commitment of a nation to war.  Thus the war stimulated unprecedented levels of productivity and generated a wide variety of new technologies.  The nations had been mobilized in the interests of many opposing ideologies, often seeking the unconditional surrender of their enemies. As whole populations were materially and politically, if not militarily, invested in the war effort, the distinction between combatant and non-combatant became blurred.  Furthermore, many of these ideologies preached ideas of racism and genocide.  Thus the level of civilian causalities in this war far surpasses any other in human history.
See [[World War II, Origins]]


==Land Warfare==
This war also marks the end of European domination of the globe and the rise of a bi-polar world dominated by two [[Superpowers|superpowers]], the United States and the Soviet Union.  The war also broke the ability of the remaining colonial powers (mainly Great Britain, France, Japan, and the Netherlands) to hold and maintain their empires. Thus the war also sparked a period of decolonization afterward. In the [[Commonwealth]] nations, official histories of the war use the term '''Second World War'''. This style also follows literally translations of other nations' official designation for the conflict, e.g. ''Zweiter Weltkrieg'' in German. The official histories of the United States refer to the conflict as '''World War II''' or '''World War Two''', and that term is now often used in Canada and the UK as well. Parts of the world, especially Latin America, were largely unaffected directly by the conflict, with significant concentrations of activity in the European, north African, Russian, and Pacific theaters.
===Europe===
[[Image:Ww2-europe1.jpg|thumb|350px|Allied strategy and supply lines]]
;[[Polish Campaign]]
Both Germany and the Soviet Union participated in an armed invasion and occupation of Poland, beginning with an initial German attack on September 1, 1939. The German invasion has often been referred to as "[[blitzkrieg]]" (lighting war) but in actual fact the German Army used traditional concepts of warfare wedded to existing technologies in order to achieve spectacular results against the relatively unprepared Poles.  


France and Great Britain, having sworn to defend Poland, declared war on Germany but in the end were unable to provide material assistance. The Soviet Union launched its own invasion of Polish territory, and Slovak troops also participated in operations on Polish soil. Poland officially capitulated in August.
;[[Phony War]]
;[[Winter War]]
;[[Invasion of Norway]]
;France and the Low Countries
;[[Battle of Britain]]
;Invasion of Greece
;Invasion of Yugoslavia
;Operation Barbarossa
;Continuation War
;Battle of Sicily
[[Image:Ww2-husky.jpg|Operation Husky: Invasion of Sicily, 1943]]
;Italian Campaign
;Battle of Normandy
;Northwest Europe Campaign
;Southern France
;Crossing the Rhine
;Battle of Berlin
===China===
see [[CBI]]
===Southwest Pacific===
*[[Guadalcanal campaign]]
*[[Coaral Sea, battle of]]


==Naval Warfare==
see [[World War II, Pacific]]
see [[Battle of the Atlantic]]
===Major battles===
*[[Pearl Harbor, battle of]]
*[[Midway, battle of]]
*[[Philippine Sea, battle of]]
*[[Battle of the Atlantic]]
*[[Leyte Gulf, battle of]]
*[[Iwo Jima, battle of]]
*[[Okinawa, battle of]]
===Major developments===
On December 8, 1941, the [[battleship]], with large guns as its primary weapon, had become secondary to the [[aircraft carrier]] as the dominant ship of the world's navies. the last combat between battleships was the Battle of Surigao Strait on 25 October 1944.


Naval aviation, primarily carrier-based but with some significant activity by land-based aircraft, became the centerpiece of combat at sea, although [[submarine]]s, primarily operating alone, was also decisive. Defense against aircraft attack also advanced quickly, with the key technologies of [[radar]], improved [[anti-aircraft artillery]] with [[proximity fuze|proximity-fuzed shells]], [[combat air patrol]] doctrine, and [[combat information center]] coordination. Defense was especially important against the first large-scale use of [[precision-guided munition]]s, or [[kamikaze]] aircraft with pilots intending to die with their airplanes crashing into ships.
==Japanese causualties==
Total Japanese military fatalities between 1937 and 1945 were 2.1 million; most came in the last year of the war.  Starvation or malnutrition-re­lated illness accounted for roughly 80 percent of Japanese military deaths in the Philippines, and 50 percent of military fatalities in China.  The aerial bombing of a total of 65 Japanese cities appears to have taken a minimum of 400,000 and possibly closer to 600,000 civilian lives (over 100,000 in Tokyo alone, over 200,000 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, and 80,000-150,000 civilian deaths in the battle of Okina­wa). Civilian deaths among settlers who died attempting to re­turn to Japan from Manchuria in the winter of 1945 were probably around 100,000.<ref name=Dower2007>John Dower, "Lessons from Iwo Jima," ''Perspectives'' (Sept 2007) 45#6 pp 54-56 available at [http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2007/0709/0709med2.cfm www.historians.org]</ref>


[[Amphibious warfare]] doctrine and practice constantly improved.
==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}


[[replenishment at sea]] allowed U.S. fleets to operate for long periods, away from bases. This was a major [[force multiplier]].
[[Category:Suggestion Bot Tag]]
 
==Air War==
see [[World War II, air war]]
==Economics==
*[[World War II, Homefront]]
*[[World War II, Homefront, U.S.]]
 
===Financing===
===Production===
===Manpower===
==War Crimes==
===Holocaust===
*see [[Holocaust]]
*see [[Holocaust denial]]
*see [[Turkey and the Holocaust]]
 
==Resistance==
==Results and Aftermath==
===Japan===
Total Japanese military fatalities between 1937 and 1945 were 2.1 million; most came in the last year of the war.  Starvation or malnutrition-re­lated illness accounted for roughly 80 percent of Japanese military deaths in the Philippines, and 50 percent of military fatalities in China.  The aerial bombing of a total of 65 Japanese cities appears to have taken a minimum of 400,000 and possibly closer to 600,000 civlian lives (over 100,000 in Tokyo alone, over 200,000 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, and 80,000-150,000 civilian deaths in the battle of Okina­wa). Civilian death among settlers who died attempting to re­turn to Japan from Manchuria in the winter of 1945 were probably around 100,000.<ref> John Dower, "Lessons from Iwo Jima," ''Perspectives'' (Sept 2007) 45#6 pp 54-56 at [http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2007/0709/index.cfm]</ref>
 
==Bibliography==
 
 
*see [[World War II, Origins]]
*[[World War II, air war]]
* [[CBI]], China-Burma-India theater
*[[World War II, Europe]]
*[[World War II, Pacific]]
*[[World War II, Homefront]]
*[[World War II, Homefront, U.S.]]
*[[Joseph Stalin]]
*[[Adolf Hitler]]
* [[Chiang Jai-shek]]
*[[Winston Churchill]]
*[[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
[[Category:Disambiguation]]

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Allied designations for the various theaters of operations.

World War II (1931-1945) was the most destructive global war in human history, killing 53 million people. World War II in Asia was foreshadowed by the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and began formally with the invasion of China by Japan of 1937. World War II in Europe arguably began with the ascension of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party to power in Germany in 1933, although many Western governments did not immediately understand the nature of the growing threat from the Nazis. World War II in Europe also should not be regarded as entirely separate from the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), whose 200,000 fatalities due to systematic murder, mob violence, and torture provided a breeding ground for mass atrocities later committed the Nazis. World War II also included the Holocaust, the state-sponsored murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis, who also systematically murdered (or placed in camps to die) many more millions of people besides Jews, including political prisoners, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, homosexuals, criminals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and handicapped people living in institutions.

With battles in Europe, Africa, Asia and the South Pacific, the "Allies" (led mainly by the UK, US, and Soviet Union) eventually stopped the aggressively expanding "Axis" (mainly Germany and Japan). Hostilities in Europe formally ended after Nazi Germany collapsed in May of 1945. And in August of 1945, the United States destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with newly developed atomic bombs, killing around 355,000 civilians and leading to Japan's total surrender.

This war, more than any other, propelled nations towards total war, a complete social, political, military, and economic commitment of a nation to war. Thus the war stimulated unprecedented levels of productivity and generated a wide variety of new technologies. The nations had been mobilized in the interests of many opposing ideologies, often seeking the unconditional surrender of their enemies. As whole populations were materially and politically, if not militarily, invested in the war effort, the distinction between combatant and non-combatant became blurred. Furthermore, many of these ideologies preached ideas of racism and genocide. Thus the level of civilian causalities in this war far surpasses any other in human history.

This war also marks the end of European domination of the globe and the rise of a bi-polar world dominated by two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. The war also broke the ability of the remaining colonial powers (mainly Great Britain, France, Japan, and the Netherlands) to hold and maintain their empires. Thus the war also sparked a period of decolonization afterward. In the Commonwealth nations, official histories of the war use the term Second World War. This style also follows literally translations of other nations' official designation for the conflict, e.g. Zweiter Weltkrieg in German. The official histories of the United States refer to the conflict as World War II or World War Two, and that term is now often used in Canada and the UK as well. Parts of the world, especially Latin America, were largely unaffected directly by the conflict, with significant concentrations of activity in the European, north African, Russian, and Pacific theaters.


Japanese causualties

Total Japanese military fatalities between 1937 and 1945 were 2.1 million; most came in the last year of the war. Starvation or malnutrition-re­lated illness accounted for roughly 80 percent of Japanese military deaths in the Philippines, and 50 percent of military fatalities in China. The aerial bombing of a total of 65 Japanese cities appears to have taken a minimum of 400,000 and possibly closer to 600,000 civilian lives (over 100,000 in Tokyo alone, over 200,000 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, and 80,000-150,000 civilian deaths in the battle of Okina­wa). Civilian deaths among settlers who died attempting to re­turn to Japan from Manchuria in the winter of 1945 were probably around 100,000.[1]

Notes

  1. John Dower, "Lessons from Iwo Jima," Perspectives (Sept 2007) 45#6 pp 54-56 available at www.historians.org