World War II

World War II was a war fought between the Allies and the Axis Powers. It was called a "World War" because many countries all over the world fought or helped in this war. Of all the wars ever fought, World War II involved the most countries and killed the most people. It lasted almost six years, from 1939 to 1945.

The Axis Powers were Germany, Italy and Japan (The Japanese Empire). These countries had signed an agreement called the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis Powers in 1937, where they agreed to help each other in wars.

The Allies or Allied Powers were the British Empire (which included Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and Burma), France, and China. China had been invaded by Japan in 1931, and was partially conquered by 1941. The Allies were later joined by the Soviet Union, after Germany attacked them on June 22nd 1941, and by the United States after the Japanese attacked them later that year.

Many Americans did not want to get involved in World War II at first. They were called Isolationists. After Japan attacked the United States Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, on December 7th, 1941, the United States joined the Allies. Before that, it had been quietly helping Britain. Many American ships had sailed to Britain already carrying ammunition and supplies.

In Europe, the war first started on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland, although Germany, Japan and Italy had all been attacking smaller countries before that. The war ended on August 15, 1945, after the unconditional (total) surrender of the Empire of Japan. About 55 million people were killed in World War II. About 12 million people were killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust, an attempt to kill certain groups of people. The largest of these groups to be killed were the Jews, Slavs, and Gypsies. The war destroyed millions of farms, houses, factories, roads, railways and bridges, and some countries needed a long time to recover.

The war introduced new tactics, strategies, and technologies. Some of the new strategies were the Blitzkrieg (fast war maneuvers that used tanks, trucks, and planes) and aerial assaults (use of many airplanes and rockets). Another major new technology was radar (finding airplanes by using radio waves).

The war also made weapons with far more killing power. The atomic bomb was first used by the United States during this war. President Truman ordered two atomic bombs to be dropped from airplanes on the two Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No atomic weapons have been used in war since then.

See also:

Wars

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