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World War II: Quick Facts

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News •

World War II 'Death Railway' station found in Thailand • Nov. 11, 2026, 6:03 PM ET (Deutsche Welle)
More than 80 years after WWII, victims of Nazi Germany's war in Poland are still looking for reparations • Nov. 10, 2026, 12:54 PM ET (Deutsche Welle)
‘De Gaulle’ Wins Top Prize at American French Film Festival as 30th Anniversary Edition Draws 18,000 Attendees • Nov. 9, 2026, 3:45 PM ET (Variety)
King leads solemn Remembrance Sunday service at Cenotaph • Nov. 8, 2026, 1:20 PM ET (BBC)
World War Two hero, 101, reflects on survival, loss and a new life • Nov. 8, 2026, 4:23 AM ET (BBC)

Facts

Also Known As WWII • Second World War
Date September 3, 1939 - September 2, 1945
Participants Australia • China • France • Germany • India • Italy • Japan • Soviet Union • United Kingdom • United States
Context Today in History—May 30: The Real Story of A League of Their Own

Did You Know?

  • About 70 million total soldiers fought on behalf of the Allied or Axis countries.
  • Some scholars argue that the "start" of WWII was in 1937 when Japan invaded China instead of when Germany invaded Poland.
  • Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Sweden all declared themselves neutral during WWII.

Photos and Videos

World War II: Germany invading Poland
Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, and Joseph Stalin seated side by side in wicker chairs outdoors during the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, with greenery in the background.
Atomic bombing of Hiroshima
Adolf Hitler
German tanks
German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bomber in flight, viewed from below at an angle, with swastika insignia visible on the tail against a cloudy sky.
Hawker Hurricane; Royal Air Force
Bismarck battleship
Main entrance to the Schoenenbourg Fort on the Maginot Line, a concrete bunker set into a grassy embankment with trees in the background, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France.
Invasion of Poland in World War II
View archival footage of German troops invading Poland and forcing Europe into war
See how German troops parachuted behind the Maginot Line as part of the blitzkrieg against Allied forces
How the halt command saved British troops in Dunkirk
Learn how Nazi panzers wedged between French and British troops and trapped the latter at Dunkirk
What Was the Battle of Britain?
See All Videos, Images, Audio and Interactives →

Related Topics and References

Topics
Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Timeline

Samuel Bak: Smoke
Holocaust
1933 - 1945
Learn how the Third Reich utilized U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic to destroy Allied supply convoys
Battle of the Atlantic
September 3, 1939 - May 8, 1945
Nazi leaders in Paris
Battle of France
May 10, 1940 - June 25, 1940
Dunkirk evacuation
Dunkirk evacuation
May 26, 1940 - June 4, 1940
Map showing the British and Axis military campaigns in North Africa during World War II, with labeled troop movements, key battles, and shifting front lines from Egypt across Libya to Tunisia along the Mediterranean coast. The map includes arrows and dates marking advances and retreats by both sides, and highlights major turning points and defensive lines.
North Africa campaigns
June 1940 - May 13, 1943
the Blitz
Battle of Britain
July 1940 - September 1940
German bombing of London during the Blitz
the Blitz
September 7, 1940 - May 11, 1941
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
June 22, 1941
Pearl Harbor attack
Pearl Harbor attack
December 7, 1941
Wake Island
Battle of Wake Island
December 8, 1941 - December 23, 1941
U.S. troops advancing on Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, in 1943
Pacific War
December 8, 1941 - September 2, 1945
Bataan Death March
Bataan Death March
April 9, 1942
Doolittle Raid
Doolittle Raid
April 18, 1942
Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
June 3, 1942 - June 6, 1942
eastern New Guinea, from the 10th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica, c. 1902
Kokoda Track Campaign
July 1942 - January 1943
U.S. Marines in combat gear wade ashore from a landing craft onto a sandy beach during the Guadalcanal landing in August 1942.
Battle of Guadalcanal
August 1942 - February 1943
Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
August 22, 1942 - February 2, 1943
Operation Mincemeat documents
Operation Mincemeat
1943
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
April 19, 1943 - May 16, 1943
The Allied invasion of Sicily
Allied invasion of Sicily
July 9, 1943 - August 17, 1943
Italian Campaign, World War II
Italian Campaign
July 9, 1943 - May 2, 1945
Battle of Anzio
Battle of Anzio
January 22, 1944 - June 5, 1944
American soldiers in helmets crouch inside a landing craft approaching a smoke-covered beach during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944.
Normandy Invasion
June 6, 1944 - July 9, 1944
Cowra, New South Wales, Australia
Cowra breakout
August 5, 1944
Battle of Leyte Gulf
Battle of Leyte Gulf
October 23, 1944 - October 26, 1944
Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
December 16, 1944 - January 16, 1945
Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima
February 19, 1945 - March 26, 1945
U.S. Marines on Okinawa
Battle of Okinawa
April 1, 1945 - June 21, 1945
Atomic bombing of Hiroshima
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 6, 1945 - August 9, 1945

Key People

default image
Alessandro Pertini
president of Italy
default image
Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr.
United States brigadier general
default image
Keith Park
New Zealand military officer
default image
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
United States military officer
British prime minister Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
prime minister of United Kingdom
Portrait of Adolf Hitler in a collared shirt and tie, facing forward with a serious expression, circa 1933.
Adolf Hitler
dictator of Germany
Franklin D. Roosevelt smiling and leaning on a surface, holding a cigarette in a holder, wearing a suit and glasses, photographed in 1937.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
president of United States
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
premier of Soviet Union
Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Italian dictator
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
president of United States
Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
president of France
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
president of United States
George S. Patton
George Patton
American military officer
Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia, wearing a suit and tie, speaks at a podium with microphones during a conference in Belgrade.
Josip Broz Tito
president of Yugoslavia
Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
German political leader and convicted war criminal
Chesty Puller
Chesty Puller
United States Marine Corps officer
Alan Turing
Alan Turing
British mathematician and logician
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chinese soldier and statesman
default image
Harold K. Johnson
United States Army officer
Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
German propagandist

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American soldiers in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge.
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