The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to World War II:

World War II, or the Second World War was a global military conflict that was fought between September 1, 1939, and September 2, 1945. The war pitted two major military alliances against each other: the Allies of the United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, China and others against the Axis of Germany, Japan, Italy and others. Over 60 million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.

The Second World War was known for modern warfare and tactics such as air warfare, strategic bombing, blitzkrieg and the first, and only, use of nuclear weapons in warfare. It is also known for the numerous war crimes committed during its duration, mostly by Axis forces but also by Allied forces, that left tens of millions of civilians dead through genocides, massacres and starvation; such as the Holocaust, Three Alls Policy, Genocide of ethnic Poles, Unit 731, Nanjing massacre, Hunger Plan and the Warsaw Uprising.

Causes of World War II

• World War I
  • Treaty of Versailles
• Imperialism, expansionism and nationalism
  • Expansionist nationalism
    • Lebensraum
    • Japanese nationalism
• Events preceding World War II in Europe
  • Nazi Party
    • Adolf Hitler
• Events preceding World War II in Asia
  • Statism in Shōwa Japan
  • Japanese invasion of Manchuria
  • Xi'an Incident
  • Second Sino-Japanese war

Participants in World War II

The Axis powers

Major Axis powers

• Germany
• Japan
• Italy

Other Axis powers

• Hungary
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Finland

The Allied powers

The 'Big Five' major allies

• Soviet Union
• United States
• United Kingdom
• China
• France

Other major allies

• Poland
• Yugoslavia
• Greece
• Canada
• Netherlands
• Belgium
• Czechoslovakia
• India
• Australia

People in World War II

Leaders in World War II

Axis leaders

• Adolf Hitler – Führer (leader) of Germany
• Hirohito – Emperor of Japan
• Benito Mussolini – Prime Minister of Italy

Allied leaders

• Joseph Stalin – Leader of the Soviet Union
• Franklin D. Roosevelt – President of the United States
• Winston Churchill – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• Chiang Kai-shek – Leader of China

Military forces of World War II

• List of World War II aces by country
• List of World War II air aces

British Army during the Second World War

• History of the Royal Navy
• British Army Groups in WWII
• British Corps in World War II List of British Commonwealth divisions in the Second World War
  • Canada in World War II
  • Indian Army during World War II

Military history of France during World War II

• Army of Africa
• French Liberation Army
• French Expeditionary Corps
• Armistice Army (Vichy)

Military history of the United States during World War II

• List of formations of the United States Army during World War II
• United States Navy in World War II
• United States Army Air Forces
• American Minority Groups in World War II

Red Army

• Military units and formations of the Soviet Union in World War II
• Field armies of the Soviet Union

National Revolutionary Army

• Army groups of the National Revolutionary Army

Military history of Germany

• Wehrmacht
• German Army
• Luftwaffe
• Kriegsmarine
• Schutzstaffel
• Waffen-SS

Imperial Japanese Army

• Imperial Japanese Navy
• Imperial Japanese Army Air Service
• Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
• Imperial Japanese Naval Landing Forces
• List of Japanese Infantry divisions

Royal Italian Army during World War II

• List of Italian divisions in World War II
• Royal Corps of Colonial Troops
• Corpo Aereo Italiano
• Regia Marina
• Blackshirts
• Black Brigades

Timeline of World War II

The following list includes some of the largest events in World War II:

1939

• August 23: Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression pact
  • September 1: Germany invades Poland, beginning the war
  • September 3: War is declared on Germany by the United Kingdom and France, the Battle of the Atlantic and Phoney War begins
  • September 17: After the Soviet Union defeats Japan in Mongolia, they invade Poland as well
• November 30: The Soviet Union invades Finland

1940

• April 9: Germany invades Denmark and Norway
• May 10: Germany invades France and the low countries
  • May 26: British troops evacuate Dunkirk
• July 10: Germany begins an air campaign against Britain
  • September 7: Germany begins a major bombing campaign against Britain

1941

• June 22: Germany invades the Soviet Union
• September 8: The Siege of Leningrad begins
• October 2: The Battle of Moscow begins
• December 7: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into the war

1942

• February 8: Fall of Singapore
• May 4: Battle of the Coral Sea
• June 4: Battle of Midway
• July 1: First Battle of El Alamein
• July 17: Battle of Stalingrad
• August 19: Dieppe Raid
• October 23: Second Battle of El Alamein
• November 8: Operation Torch

1943

• July 4: Battle of Kursk
• July 9: Allied invasion of Sicily
• September 3: Allied invasion of Italy and surrender of Italy

1944

• January 17: Battle of Monte Cassino
• January 22: Landings at Anzio
• April 19: Operation Ichi-Go
• June 6: D-day
• June 22: Destruction of Army Group Center
• August 1: Warsaw Uprising
• August 15: Invasion of Southern France
• September 17: Operation Market Garden
• September 19: Battle of Hürtgen Forest
• October 23: Battle of Leyte Gulf
• December 16: Battle of the Bulge

1945

• April 16 - May 2: Battle of Berlin
• May 8: Victory in Europe Day
• August 6 and 9: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• August 15: Victory over Japan Day
• September 2: Surrender of Japan

World War II by region

Theatres and major campaigns

Europe

• Eastern front
• Western front
• Mediterranean and Middle Eastern theatre
  • Italian Campaign
• Arctic theatre
  • Arctic convoys

Asia

• Second Sino-Japanese War
• South-East Asian Theatre
• Pacific Ocean theatre

Africa

For all theatres in Africa, see: African theatres

• North African campaign
• West Africa campaign
• East African campaign

Other

• Home front during World War II

By country

Europe

• Albania
  • Albania under Italy
• Belarus
• Bulgaria
  • Bulgarian resistance movement during World War II
• Carpathian Ruthenia
• Estonia
  • Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Gibraltar
• Greece
  • Axis occupation of Greece during World War II
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
  • Italian Campaign
    • Allied invasion of Sicily
    • Allied invasion of Italy
• Latvia
  • Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany
• Leningrad Oblast
• Netherlands
• Soviet Union
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• Yugoslavia
  • Invasion of Yugoslavia
• Occupation of Baltic republics by Nazi Germany
• Occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany
• Occupation of Denmark
• German occupation of the Channel Islands
• History of Poland (1939–1945)
  • Invasion of Poland
  • Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany
  • Soviet invasion of Poland
  • Slovak invasion of Poland
  • Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)
  • Administrative division of Polish territories during World War II
  • War crimes in occupied Poland during World War II
  • Polish culture during World War II
• Romania

Asia

• Burma
• India
• Nepal
• Philippines
• Vietnam

Africa

• Algeria
• Egypt
• South Africa
• Southern Rhodesia

Oceania

• Australia
• New Zealand
  • Axis naval activity in New Zealand waters

The Americas

• United States
• Canada
• Greenland

War crimes

The Second World War was characterized by many instances of War crimes:

Genocide

The Holocaust

• Nazism
• Nazi Party
• Nazi eugenics
• Political views of Adolf Hitler
• Anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany
• Diary of Anne Frank
• Nazi book burnings
• Nazi ghettos
• Nazi concentration camps
• Nazi extermination camps
  • Auschwitz
  • Belzec
  • Chełmno
  • Majdanek
  • Sobibor
  • Treblinka
• History of Jews in Europe
• History of the Jews during World War II
• List of major perpetrators of the Holocaust
• Nazi human experimentation
• Racial policy of Nazi Germany
• Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust
• List of individuals and groups assisting Jews during the Holocaust

Other genocides

• Nazi genocide of ethnic Poles
• Romani genocide

Massacres

• Three Alls Policy
• Nanjing massacre
• Massacres during the Warsaw Uprising
  • Wola massacre
  • Ochota massacre
• Katyn massacre

Mistreatment of civilians

• Comfort women
• Unit 731
• Rape during the occupation of Germany
• Population transfer in the Soviet Union

Technology during World War II

Technology during World War II

• German military technology during World War II
• Allied technological cooperation during World War II
• Technological escalation during World War II

Equipment of World War II

• Lists of World War II military equipment
• Equipment losses in World War II

Vehicles of World War II

• List of World War II military vehicles by country
• List of World War II military vehicles of Germany
• List of World War II ship classes
• List of World War II ships
• List of World War II ships of less than 1000 tons
• List of WW2 Luftwaffe aircraft by manufacturer
• List of aircraft of Italy, World War II
• List of aircraft of Japan, World War II
• List of ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy
• List of aircraft of Russia, World War II
• List of aircraft of World War II
• List of aircraft of the French Air Force during World War II
• List of aircraft of the British, World War II
• List of aircraft of the Luftwaffe, World War II
• List of aircraft of the U.S. military, World War II
• List of armored fighting vehicles of World War II
• List of broadsides of major World War II ships
• List of undersea-carried planes during World War II
• List of weapons on Japanese combat aircraft
• List of prototype WWII combat vehicles
• List of foreign vehicles used by Nazi Germany in World War II
• List of helicopters used in World War II
• List of jet aircraft of World War II
• List of limited service World War II combat vehicles

Weapons of World War II

• List of World War II weapons
• List of World War II infantry weapons
• List of World War II firearms of Germany

Other initiatives in World War II

• Nazi plunder

Propaganda during World War II

• Black propaganda
• World War II political cartoons
• List of Allied propaganda films of World War II
• American propaganda during World War II
  • Walt Disney's World War II propaganda production
• British propaganda during World War II
• Propaganda and India in World War II
• Soviet propaganda during World War II
• Nazi propaganda
• Propaganda in Fascist Italy
• Propaganda in Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II

Common military awards

Soviet Union

• Hero of the Soviet Union
• Order of Lenin
• Order of Suvorov
• Order of the October Revolution
• Order of the Red Banner
• Order of Victory

United States

• Medal of Honor
• Purple Heart
• Silver Star
• Bronze Star
• Distinguished Flying Cross
• Air Medal
• World War II Victory Medal
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
• European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
• American Campaign Medal

United Kingdom

• Victoria Cross
• Air Force Cross
• Order of the Bath
• Order of the British Empire
• Distinguished Flying Cross
• Africa Star
• Pacific Star

France and Belgium

• Croix de Guerre

Poland

• Cross of the Valorous
• Order of Polonia Restituta
• Virtuti Militari

Nazi Germany

• Orders, decorations, and medals of Nazi Germany
• Iron Cross

Aftermath of World War II

The end of World War II

• End of World War II in Europe
• End of World War II in the Pacific

Immediate events

• War reparations
  • Japanese reparations
  • Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union
• Nuremberg trials
• International Military Tribunal for the Far East

The post-war world

• Cold War
  • Emergence of United States and USSR as global superpowers
  • NATO
  • Warsaw Pact
  • Iron Curtain
  • Proxy wars
  • Decolonization
• Post–World War II baby boom
• Pursuit of Nazi collaborators

World War II - related media

• World War II in popular culture
• The Holocaust in popular culture
• List of World War II films
• History books about World War II

See also

• Lists of World War II topics
• Opposition to World War II
• Outline of war
• Outline of World War I

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Bix, Herbert P. (September 4, 2001). Hirohito and the making of modern Japan. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-093130-8. Retrieved April 6, 2022.

External links