World War II
It was the biggest and deadliest war in history, spanning six grueling years and involving countries in nearly every part of the world. Sparked by the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, World War II pitted the Allied forces (led by the United States, Great Britain and the U.S.S.R.) against the Axis powers (Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy). Explore the battles, key players and atrocities from the war and its impact on geopolitics and humankind today.
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The majority of the world's countries eventually formed two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Axis.
By the time the first Japanese bomber appeared over Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, tensions between Japan and the United States had been mounting for the better part of a decade, making war seem inevitable.
The Allied invasion of Normandy was among the largest military operations ever staged.
The Holocaust was the persecution and murder of millions of Jews, Roma, political dissidents, homosexuals and others by the Nazi regime.
The Hidden Army of Women That Helped Defeat Hitler
Flashback: The Hidden Army of Women That Helped Defeat Hitler
This 1944 American propaganda film imagine’s Hitler’s surrender and explains the Füher’s greatest mistake – his underestimation of American women. This episode of Flashback shows how female wartime workers were an indispensable part of America’s victory, even before the war was officially won.
3 Key Battles
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The fiasco was initially covered up to ensure the D-Day mission remained secret.
A look back at one of the most hard-fought battles of World War II.
In the Battle of Okinawa, the last major battle of World War II and one of the deadliest, U.S. troops overran Japanese resistance to take the island of Okinawa.
Where is Dunkirk? Dunkirk is located in the north of France, on the shores of the North Sea near the Belgian-French border. The Strait of Dover, where the distance between England and France is just 21 miles across the English Channel, is located to the...
The Battle of Midway was an epic WWII clash between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy that played out six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy’s decisive victory in the air-sea battle (June 3-6, 1942) dashed Japan’s hopes of neutralizing the United States as a naval power and effectively turned the tide of World War II in the Pacific.
The Battle of Britain in World War II, between Britain’s Royal Air Force and Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe, was the first battle in history fought solely in the air.
Under cripplingly cold winter conditions, American troops proved their mettle.
In a decisive victory, inexperienced U.S. troops stopped a Japanese juggernaut.
From the Battle of the Atlantic to the Battle of Okinawa, see a timeline of World War II's battles.
Both nations viewed civilian morale as essential to victory, but Germany shielded its people from many wartime hardships while Japan demanded far greater sacrifice.
Allied military leaders knew that casualties could be staggeringly high. Historians are still calculating the toll.
On June 6, 1944, more than 156,000 American, British and Canadian troops executed the largest amphibious landing in history. Five veterans share their stories from that day.
The grueling 1944–45 Allied offensive reopened the crucial overland supply route to China and dealt the Japanese army one of its worst defeats of the war.
From the man who led the evacuation of USS Arizona to the fighter pilot who took to the skies in his pajamas, learn the stories of eight of the many servicemen who distinguished themselves on one of the darkest days in American military history.
