World+War+II

 WORLD WAR2


 * WORLD WAR 2 Introduction
 * WORLD WAR 2 Introduction

|| **World War II**, or the **Second World War** (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, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. The war involved the mobilisation 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 seventy million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history. Source:[|Wikipedia] || || The start of the war is generally held to be in September 1939 with the German invasion of Poland and subsequent declarations of war on Nazi Germany by the British Commonwealth and France. Many belligerents entered the war before or after this date, during a period which spanned from 1937 to 1941, as a result of other events. Amongst these main events are the Marco Polo Bridge Incident (fought between Nationalist China and Japan), the start of Operation Barbarossa (the Nazi invasion of Russia), and the attacks on Pearl Harbor and British and Dutch colonies in South East Asia. Source: media type="youtube" key="JJtQCjX8g0A" height="307" width="378"
 * How did the war start?
 * How did the war start?

[|Wikipedia] ||~  || || ||~   || media type="youtube" key="nm3XnJe9-j8" height="239" width="294" HEY LOOK AT ME!!!
 * Adolf Hitler
 * Adolf Hitler

media type="youtube" key="k-yqMbSHR1g" height="262" width="319" || **Adolf Hitler** (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: //Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei//, abbreviated NSDAP), popularly known as the Nazi Party. He was the ruler of Germany from 1933 to 1945, serving as chancellor from 1933 to 1945 and as head of state (//Führer und Reichskanzler//) from 1934 to 1945. A decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the Nazi Party in 1920 and became its leader in 1921. Following his imprisonment after a failed coup in 1923, he gained support by promoting nationalism, antisemitism and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and propaganda. He was appointed chancellor in 1933, and quickly established a totalitarian and fascist dictatorship. Hitler pursued a foreign policy with the declared goal of seizing //Lebensraum// ("living space") for Germany, directing the resources of the state toward this goal. His rebuilt Wehrmacht invaded Poland in 1939, leading to the outbreak of World War II in Europe. Within three years, Germany and the Axis powers occupied most of Europe and large parts of Africa, East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. However, the Allies gained the upper hand from 1942 onward and in 1945 Allied armies invaded Germany from all sides. His forces committed numerous atrocities during the war, including the systematic killing of as many as 17 million civilians including the genocide of an estimated six million Jews, a crime known as the Holocaust. During the final days of the war in 1945, Hitler married his long-time mistress Eva Braun. Less than 40 hours later, the two committed suicide. Source: [|Wikipedia]

=As we can see, Mr. Adolf is pretty serious.=



||~  ||
 * ==THE ALLIED FORCES: UK, USA, USSR==
 * ==THE ALLIED FORCES: UK, USA, USSR==

|| === United Kingdom === //Main article: [|British military history of World War II]// The United Kingdom was one of the original Allies, entering the war in 1939 to honour its guarantees to Poland. After the fall of France, the United Kingdom was the only Allied nation left in Europe until the invasion of Greece. It remained the only one of the Big Three in the war until 1941 when the Soviet Union was invaded. The United Kingdom was heavily engaged in the Western European, Atlantic, Mediterranean, African and South East Asian theatres, and was considered one of the Big Three during Allied conferences in the second half of the war. The United Kingdom maintained close ties with the nations of the British Empire, and the forces of those countries were often incorporated into British military operations

Soviet Union / Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
//Main article: [|Military history of the Soviet Union during World War II]// Soviet participation in World War II began with the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, with Japan in Mongolia in 1939. Later that year, protected with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, where the Soviet Union had peace with Germany. Following Finland's refusal of Soviet demands for military bases and a territorial swap, the Soviet Union invaded on November 30, 1939, in the Winter War. The Soviet Union also annexed Bessarabia (a Romanian province since 1918), leading Romania to ally with Germany. Germany launched a surprise attack on the Soviet Union in 1941. Thereafter, most of the German forces were concentrated on the Eastern Front. The USSR played a crucial role in the defeat of Nazi Germany. The Soviet Red Army mounted a successful counter-offensive during the winter, and gained the initiative with a series of major victories in 1943, culminating in the ultimate advance of Soviet forces into Eastern Europe and Germany in 1945, concluded with the Battle of Berlin. The Soviet Union suffered greater losses, both among civilians and military forces, than any of the other participants in the war. However, the RKKA took out almost two times more axis soldiers than all other allies together. Following the end of the war in Europe and the American atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the USSR declared war on Japan in 1945. The Soviet Union became one of the main victors and gained one of the permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council. After the war, the Soviet sphere of influence was widened to cover most of Eastern Europe, formalized in the Warsaw Pact, to counter the western Allies and NATO. The Soviet Union came to be considered one of the two superpowers of the Cold War.

United States of America
//See also: [|Military history of the United States during World War II]// The United States of America was neutral early in the war, although it steadily grew ties with the Allies and began providing increased levels of assistance to them. The United States joined the Allies in December 1941 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when war on Japan was declared by Congress on December 8. Germany and Italy declared war on the United States 3 days later. The United States subscribed to the Allied plan of making German defeat the priority, where it operated in coordination with the United Kingdom in most major operations. However, it also maintained a strong effort against Japan, being the primary Allied power in the Pacific Theatre. The U.S. played an important role in providing valuable industrial production to support the Allied war effort. After the war, the United States retained military commitments to European security while providing economic investment to rebuild nations suffering devastation during the war. Politically, the U.S. became the leader of the western Allies in forming NATO, and hosts the United Nations in which it gained one of the permanent seats on the Security Council. ||~  ||
 * =The AXIS Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan=
 * =The AXIS Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan=



|| ===Germany, the Third Reich===

//Main article: [|Nazi Germany]//

Germany was unofficially the leader of the Axis powers as it had the largest and most technologically-advanced armed forces of the Axis powers. Germany was ruled at this time by Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist German Workers' Party (a.k.a. the Nazi Party). German citizens felt that their country had been humiliated as a result of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I in which Germany was forced to pay enormous reparations payments, and forfeit German-populated territories and its colonies. German nationalists blamed the country's defeat on pacifists, Communists, and Jews. The Germans had to pay large reparations which placed pressure on the German economy leading to hyperinflation during the early 1920s. In 1923, the French occupied the Ruhr region as a result of late payments leading to greater feelings of discontent. Although Germany began to improve economically in the mid-1920s, the Great Depression created more economic hardship and a rise in political forces that advocated radical solutions to Germany's woes. The Nazis under Adolf Hitler followed and promoted the nationalist belief that Germany had been betrayed by Jews and Communists and promised to rebuild Germany as a major power and to create a Greater Germany which would include Alsace-Lorraine, Austria , Sudetenland , and other German-populated territories in Europe. In addition to this, the Nazis aimed to occupy non-German territory of Poland, Baltic countries, and the Soviet Union to colonize with Germans as part of the Nazi policy of seeking Lebensraum ("living space") in eastern Europe. Germany renounced the Versailles treaty in 1935 and began to rearm. The Rhineland was remilitarised. Germany later <span class="wiki_link_ext">annexed Austria in 1938, the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia and <span class="wiki_link_ext">Memel from <span class="wiki_link_ext">Lithuania in 1939. Germany then invaded the rest of <span class="wiki_link_ext">Czechoslovakia in 1939, creating the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and <span class="wiki_link_ext">Slovakia as a country. The invasion of Poland led to the subsequent beginning of <span class="wiki_link_ext">World War II. By 1941, Germany occupied most of Europe and its military forces were fighting the Soviet Union, nearly capturing its capital of <span class="wiki_link_ext">Moscow. However, crushing defeats at the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Battle of Stalingrad and the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Battle of Kursk devastated the German armed forces. This combined with Western Allied landings in France and Italy led to a three-front war which depleted Germany's armed forces resulting in Germany's defeat in 1945.

The empire of Japan
//Main article: [|Empire of Japan]//

<span class="wiki_link_ext">Japan was the principal Axis power in <span class="wiki_link_ext">Asia and the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Pacific. The Empire of Japan, commonly referred to as //Imperial Japan//, was a constitutional monarchy ruled by <span class="wiki_link_ext">Emperor Shōwa. The constitution prescribed that "The Emperor is the head of the Empire, combining in Himself the rights of sovereignty, and exercises them, according to the provisions of the present Constitution" (article 4) and that "The Emperor has the supreme command of the Army and the Navy" (article 11). Under the imperial institution were a political cabinet and <span class="wiki_link_ext">Imperial General Headquarters with two chiefs of staff. At its height, Japan's <span class="wiki_link_ext">Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere included <span class="wiki_link_ext">Manchuria, <span class="wiki_link_ext">Inner Mongolia , large parts of <span class="wiki_link_ext">China , <span class="wiki_link_ext">Malaysia , <span class="wiki_link_ext">French Indochina , <span class="wiki_link_ext">Dutch East Indies , <span class="wiki_link_ext">The Philippines , <span class="wiki_link_ext">Burma , some of <span class="wiki_link_ext">India , and various other Pacific Islands - specifically in the central Pacific. As a result of the internal discord and economic downturn of the 1920s, militaristic elements set Japan on a path of expansionism. Japan had plans to establish its hegemony in Asia and thus become self-sufficient, as the Japanese home islands lacked natural resources needed for growth, by acquiring areas with abundant natural resources. Japan's expansionist policies alienated it from other countries in the <span class="wiki_link_ext">League of Nations and by the mid-1930s brought it closer to Germany and Italy which both had pursued similar expansionist policies which resulted in condemnation by a number of countries. Initial steps of Japan aligning itself militarily with Germany began with the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Anti-Comintern Pact, in which the two countries agreed to ally with each other to challenge any attack by the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Soviet Union. Japan's first major belligerent action was <span class="wiki_link_ext">against the Chinese in 1937. The subsequent Japanese invasion and occupation of parts of China resulted in numerous atrocities against civilians such as the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Nanking massacre and the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Three Alls Policy. The <span class="wiki_link_ext">Japanese also <span class="wiki_link_ext">fought skirmishes with <span class="wiki_link_ext">Soviet Union forces in <span class="wiki_link_ext">Manchukuo in 1938 & 1939. Japan sought to avoid potential war with the Soviet Union by signing a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union later in 1941.

The Kingdom of Italy
//Main article: [|Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)]//

The Kingdom of Italy was under the leadership of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in the name of King Victor Emmanuel III. During World War I, Italy had entered the war against Germany and Austria-Hungary. At the end Italy made only minor gains rather than the large concessions promised by the London Pact. The London pact was nullified with the treaty of Versailles, Italian nationalists and the public saw this as an injustice and an outrage, there had been over 600,000 Italian casualties. This resentment together with internal discontent and an economic downturn allowed the Italian Fascists under Benito Mussolini to rise to power in 1922. In the late 19th century after the reunification, a nationalist movement grew around the concept of // Italia irredenta // which advocated the incorporation of Italian-speaking areas under foreign rule into Italy; there was a desire to annex Italian speaking areas in Dalmatia. Italy's Fascist regime's intention was to create a " New Roman Empire " in which Italy would dominate the Mediterranean Sea. In 1935-1936, Italy invaded and annexed Ethiopia. The League of Nations protested, however no serious action was taken, though Italy faced diplomatic isolation by many countries. In 1937 Italy left the League of Nations and in the same year joined the Anti-Comintern Pact which was signed by Germany and Japan the preceding year. In March/April 1939 Italian troops invaded and annexed Albania. Germany and Italy signed the Pact of Steel on May 22. Italy entered World War II on June 10, 1940. In September 1940 Germany, Italy and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact. By 1941, however, the Italians had suffered multiple military defeats; in Greece and against the British in Egypt. It was only through German intervention in Yugoslavia, the Balkans and North Africa that Italy managed to avert a major military collapse. By 1943 the Italian people had lost faith in Mussolini and no longer supported the war; Italy had lost its colonies, the allies had taken North Africa in May and Sicily had been invaded in July. On July 25, 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Mussolini, placed him under arrest, and began secret negotiations with the Allies. Italy then signed an armistice with the Allies on September 8, 1943 and later joined the Western Allies as a co-belligerent. On September 12, 1943, Mussolini was rescued by the Germans in Operation Oak and a puppet state was formed in northern Italy (see "German puppet states" below), although it exercised little real power and Italy continued as a member of the Axis Tripartite Pact in name only. This resurrected Fascist state was referred to as //Repubblica di Salò// or the Italian Social Republic (//Repubblica Sociale Italiana///RSI). ||~  ||
 * SIGNIFICANT BATTLES IN WWII
 * SIGNIFICANT BATTLES IN WWII

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|| Phoney War:

The **Phoney War**, also called the **Twilight War** by Winston Churchill, //der **Sitzkrieg**// in German ("the sitting war": a play on the word //Blitzkrieg//), the **Bore War** (a play on the Boer War ) and **la drôle de guerre** ("the strange war") was a phase in early World War II – in the months following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 and preceding the Battle of France in May 1940 – that was marked by a lack of major military operations in Continental Europe. The great powers of Europe had declared war on one another, yet neither side had committed to launching a significant attack, and there was relatively little fighting on the ground. While most of the German army was engaged in Poland, a much smaller German force manned the Siegfried Line, their fortified defensive line along the French border.

Later that day, German troops marched into Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It was 10 May 1940, a short eight months after Britain and France had declared war on Germany. The Phoney War was over.

OPERATION BARBOSSA: (Three Battles: Battle of; )
 * -Smolensk
 * -Kiev
 * -Moscow


 * Operation Barbarossa** (German://Unternehmen Barbarossa//) was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that commenced on 22 June 1941.[10][11] Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 kilometer front (1800 miles).[12] The operation was named after the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire, a leader of the Third Crusade in the 12th century. The planning for Operation Barbarossa started on 18 December 1940; the secret preparations and the military operation itself lasted almost a year, from the spring of 1940, through the winter of 1941.

The **Battle of Smolensk** was a successful encirclement operation by Army Group Centre's 2nd Panzer Army led by Heinz Guderian and the 3rd Panzer Army led by Hermann Hoth of parts of four Soviet Fronts. The Soviet formations were the Western Front commanded by Timoshenko, the Soviet Reserve Front commanded by Zhukov, the Soviet Central Front commanded by Kuznetsov, and Soviet Bryansk Front commanded by Yeremenko. Ultimately the Soviet 16th, 19th and the 20th Armies were encircled just to the south of Smolensk but large parts of the 19th Army managed to escape the pocket. As a result of large parts of Soviet soldiers escaping the net, Hitler called off the operation for encirclement as the premier means of defeating the Soviet Union and concentrated on inflicting severe economic damage to the Soviet Union.

D-DAY The **Normandy Landings** were the first operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy, also known as **Operation Neptune** and Operation Overlord, during World War II. The landings commenced on June 6, 1944 (**D-Day**), beginning at 6:30 British Double Summer Time (H-Hour). In planning, //D-Day// was the term used for the day of actual landing, which was dependent on final approval. The assault was conducted in two phases: an air assault landing of American, British and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight, and an amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armoured divisions on the coast of France commencing at 6:30. The invasion required the transport of soldiers and materiel from the United Kingdom by troop carrying aircraft and ships, the assault landings, air support, naval interdiction of the English Channel and naval fire-support. There were also subsidiary 'attacks' mounted under the codenames Operation Glimmer and Operation Taxable to distract the Kriegsmarine and the German army from the real landing areas.[3] The operation was the largest single-day amphibious invasion of all time, with over 130,000 troops landing on June 6,1944. By the time this was over, the war was already lost to hitler, due to the invasion of berlin by the Soviet Union

Source> [|Wikipedia] ||  ||
 * =THE END OF WORLD WAR 2=

|| =<span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: -webkit-sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> = END OF THE NAZI'S= = =<span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: -webkit-sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> = <span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: -webkit-sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> On December 16, 1944 German forces counter-attacked in the Ardennes against the Western Allies. It took six weeks for the Allies to repulse the attack. The Soviets attacked through Hungary, while the Germans abandoned Greece and Albania and were driven out of southern Yugoslavia bypartisans.[162] In Italy, the Western Allies remained stalemated at the German defensive line. In mid-January 1945, the Soviets attacked in Poland,pushing from the Vistula to the Oder river in Germany, and overran East Prussia.[163] On February 4, U.S., British, and Soviet leaders met in Yalta. They agreed on the occupation of post-war Germany,[164] and when the Soviet Union would join the war against Japan.[165] In February, Western Allied forces entered Germany and closed to the Rhine river, while the Soviets invaded Pomerania and Silesia. In March, the Western Allies crossed the Rhine north and south of the Ruhr, encircling a large number of German troops, while the Soviets advanced to Vienna. In early April the Western Allies finally pushed forward in Italy and swept across western Germany, while in late April Soviet forces stormed Berlin; the two forces linked up on Elbe river on April 25. Several changes in leadership occurred during this period. On April 12, U.S. President Roosevelt died; he was succeeded by Harry Truman. Mussolini was killed by Italian partisans on April 28[166] and two days later Hitler committed suicide, succeeded by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz.[167] Soviet soldiers raising the Soviet flag over the Reichstag after its capture German forces surrendered in Italy on April 29 and in Western Europe on May 7.[168] However, fighting continued on the Eastern Front until the Germans surrendered specifically to the Soviets on May 8. In Prague, resistance of remnants of German Army continued until May 11.

=END OF JAPAN= In the Pacific theater, American forces advanced in the Philippines, clearing Leyte by the end of 1944. They landed on Luzon in January 1945 and Mindanao in March. British and Chinese forces defeated the Japanese in northern Burma from October to March, then the British pushed on to Rangoon by May 3 American forces also moved toward Japan, taking Iwo Jima by March, and Okinawa by June. American bombers destroyed Japanese cities, and American submarines cut off Japanese imports. On July 11, the Allied leaders met in Potsdam, Germany. They confirmed earlier agreements about Germany, and reiterated the demand for unconditional surrender 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 then dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August. Between the two bombs, the Soviets invaded Japanese-held Manchuria, as agreed at Yalta. On August 15, 1945 Japan surrendered, ending the war. [|Source:WIKIPEDIA]

=AFTERMATH= At the end of the war, millions of refugees were homeless, the European economy had collapsed, and much of the European industrial infrastructure was destroyed. The Soviet Union had been heavily affected, with 30% of its economy destroyed. This war was the most bloodiest and gruesome war ever recorded, leaving millions homeless and over 56 million people dead. [|Source] ||  ||

MORE MRS. BROCK: <span class="wiki_link">Mrs. Brock and the Vietnam war Link to the pictures: War picture 1 War picture 2 War picture 3 [|War Baby Picture]