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.
Start Here
Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Poland in September 1939 drove Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany, marking the beginning of World War II. Over the next six years, the conflict took more lives and destroyed more land and property around the globe than any previous war. See a timeline of the war's battles.
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
Explore All Related Topics
The Proof of Survival: Agnes László Geva's Holocaust Testimony
Agnes László Geva, 92, recalls surviving Auschwitz and a 400 km death march. Saved by her mother’s courage and her own fluency in German, she now shares her story—and her tattoo—as proof, urging us never to remain indifferent to injustice.
Operation Barbarossa, Adolf Hitler’s codename for Nazi Germany’s massive 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II, was ultimately a costly failure.
From dead rats implanted with bombs, to a giant explosive wheel, these World War II weapons were creative, but not very successful.
Learn the backroom politics, courtroom dramas and moral debates.
