World War II

World War II

The Second World War , known as World War II , began in 1939 and did not end until 1945 . It was the largest war in history and included over 61 nations . Adolph Hitler began his rise to power in Germany in 1933 and by 1938 had already started his campaign against the Jews (the History Place , 2007

Hitler 's campaign to wipe out the Jews and any other group that did not fit his Aryan perfection ideal cost the lives of over 6 million people by the time the Allies

stormed the concentration camps in 1945

The Holocaust is the most remembered event of World War II and people still feel its effects today , but there were many other events that made up World War II , all of them important . The war itself was fought in Europe , Africa , Middle East , South-East Asia and the Mediterranean . The combatants were divided into two sides : Allies and Axis powers

The Allies included the United States , the United Kingdom , The Soviet Union , China and France . These were the countries who formally announced that they were against what the Axis powers stood for and would fight to stop them . Of these countries , the United States , United Kingdom and the Soviet Union were considered the main powers and it was these powers that formed the first United Nations in 1941 . President Roosevelt , Joseph Stalin , Winston Churchill , Chiang Kai Shek and Charles de Gaulle were the allied leaders (wikipedia , 2007

The Axis group included Germany , Japan and Italy . Adolph Hitler Hirohito and Benito Mussolini were the Axis leaders . Of these three Germany was considered the biggest threat by the Allies due to Hitler 's actions during the war . In March of 1939 , Germany invaded

Czechoslovakia . This was the beginning of the Second World War . Later in that same year , Germany signed pacts with Italy and the Soviets

In August 1939 , the British fleet began mobilizing and evacuation of London began . Air raids and daylight attacks made being in the streets of London highly dangerous . Germany had already built some of its concentration camps and had begun to incarcerate the Jews and other groups they considered undesirable to the Nazi party

In Sept , while the United States claimed its neutrality , Britain France , Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany and Canada joined them in that same month . The Soviets invaded both Poland and Finland before the end of the year and both countries surrendered to the Nazis

In 1940 , Britain began rationing its supplies . People had limited amounts of food , water , oil and other basic necessities . The Nazi 's began bombing Paris and Italy declared war on Britain and France . In late 1940 , Hitler signed a treaty with France . Hitler decided that a French Government with which he could negotiate a peace should be allowed to remain in office . He wanted to avoid the high costs of the occupation of the whole of France , and feared that if the German terms were too severe the...