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 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact signed in 1939 by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union before World War II broke out. The pact lasted until Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.
The atomic bomb and nuclear bombs, powerful weapons that use nuclear reactions as their source of explosive energy, were developed during World War II and are regulated by international agreements.
On the home front during World War II, life in the U.S. was changed by rationing, defense production, women’s jobs and popular radio and movie entertainment.
Rosie the Riveter was the star of a campaign aimed at recruiting female workers for defense industries during World War II. Artist Normal Rockwell's cover image of Rosie, made in 1943, became, perhaps the most iconic image of working women.
The explicit reason was to swiftly end the war with Japan. But it was also intended to send a message to the Soviets.
Troops and military supplies traversed the Mother Road throughout the early 1940s.
The G.I. Bill— officially known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944—was created to help veterans of World War II. It established hospitals, made low-interest mortgages available and granted stipends covering tuition and expenses for veterans attending college or trade schools.
Under cripplingly cold winter conditions, American troops proved their mettle.
The fire prevention icon was born of national paranoia about enemy-initiated wildfires.
Both nations viewed civilian morale as essential to victory, but Germany shielded its people from many wartime hardships while Japan demanded far greater sacrifice.
The tennis club's center court even took a direct hit from a 500-pound German bomb.
