Lesson 4/55 min
World War II: causes, sides and timeline
1 September 1939. Germany invades Poland and the Second World War begins. The war ends on 2 September 1945, the day Japan formally surrenders unconditionally.
Main causes: the harsh terms of Versailles, Nazism and imperial ambition in Germany, Mussolini's fascism in Italy, and the Depression of 1929-30. The direct cause was Hitler's invasion of Poland.
Sides and leaders
| Allied Powers | Axis Powers |
|---|---|
| Britain, France, the Soviet Union, the United States, China, Poland, Belgium | Japan, Germany, Italy |
| Leaders: Joseph Stalin (Russia), Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman (US), Winston Churchill (UK) | Leaders: Adolf Hitler (Germany), Benito Mussolini (Italy), Hirohito (Japan) |
Memory trick: Remember the Axis as ‘Ja-Ja-I’ in Bangla: Japan, Germany, Italy. Big Three: Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill.
Timeline
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1 September 1939 | Germany invades Poland; the war begins |
| 22 June 1941 | ‘Operation Barbarossa’: the Axis invades the Soviet Union |
| 7 December 1941 | Japan bombs the US base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii |
| 8 December 1941 | The United States declares war on Japan and joins the war actively |
| 11 December 1941 | Germany and Italy declare war on the United States |
| 6 June 1944 | ‘Operation Overlord’: Allied landing in Normandy, France; D-Day; commanded by Eisenhower |
| 30 April 1945 | Hitler's suicide |
| 7 and 8 May 1945 | Germany surrenders (7 May at Reims, 8 May in Berlin); 8 May is VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) |
| 6 and 9 August 1945 | Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki |
| 15 August 1945 | Japan announces its surrender |
| 2 September 1945 | Japan's formal surrender; the war ends |
Watch out: The book says the 7 May surrender was made to the Soviet general Zhukov. According to several sources, on 7 May at Reims Alfred Jodl signed at the Allied supreme headquarters (Eisenhower's), and on 8 May at Karlshorst, Berlin, Wilhelm Keitel signed a second document before Marshal Zhukov. VE Day is 8 May.
More that exams have asked
- Britain's Prime Minister at the start was Neville Chamberlain (1937-40); Churchill from 1940
- The Allied commander was General Eisenhower
- The strategy behind Hitler's army's first nine months of victories: Blitzkrieg
- German Field Marshal Rommel was known as ‘the Desert Fox’
- Korea and Taiwan were under Japan during the war
- ‘U-boats’ were the German navy's submarines
Check yourself
Which day was ‘D-Day’?
At a glance
- 1
World War II ran from 1 September 1939 to 2 September 1945; it began with Germany's invasion of Poland.
- 2
Axis: Japan, Germany, Italy; Allies: Britain, France, the Soviet Union, the US, China and others.
- 3
Pearl Harbor was attacked on 7 December 1941; the US joined the war on 8 December 1941.
- 4
D-Day was 6 June 1944 (Operation Overlord); VE Day was 8 May 1945.
- 5
Britain's Prime Minister at the start was Chamberlain; Rommel was ‘the Desert Fox’.