List of World War II topics
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global military conflict, the joining of what had initially been two separate wars. The first began in Asia in 1937 as the Second Sino-Japanese War; the other began in Europe in 1939 with the German invasion of Poland.[1] This global conflict split the majority of the world's nations into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. It involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread and largest war in history, propelling the participants into a state of "total war", which erased the distinction between civil and military resources, as nations focused their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities toward winning (and ending) the war. Over 60 million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.[2] The financial cost of the war is estimated at about a trillion 1944 U.S. dollars worldwide,[3][4] making it the most costly war in capital as well as lives.
The Allies were victorious, and from among them emerged two superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union, the tension between them setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 45 years. The United Nations was formed in hopes of preventing further international conflicts. The self determination spawned by the war accelerated decolonization movements in Asia and Africa, while Europe itself began moving toward integration.[5]
See also List of basic World War II topics. Topics related to World War II include:
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World War II topics |
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