Outline of World War II

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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to World War II:

World War II, or the Second World War – global military conflict from 1939 to 1945, which was fought between the Allied powers of the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union against the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan, with their respective allies. Over 60 million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.^[1]

Essence of World War II

Main articles: World War II and Timeline of World War II

Causes of World War II

The Holocaust

Participants in World War II

Allies of World War II (see also Allies)
- Major Allied powers
  - United Kingdom
  - Soviet Union (June 1941 – 1945)
  - France (September 1939 – June 1940) / Free French (June 1940 to end of war)
  - United States (December 1941 – 1945)
  - Greece
  - Poland
  - China
  - Canada
- Minor Allied powers
Axis powers
- Major Axis powers
- Minor Axis powers
  - Bulgaria
  - Croatia
  - Hungary
  - Romania
  - Slovak Republic
  - Kingdom of Yugoslavia (for two days)
  - Thailand
- (For co-belligerents, puppet states, and collaborator states, see Axis Powers).

Timeline of World War II

Summary timeline

Invasion of Poland (September 1-October 6, 1939)
Phoney War
Winter War (30 November 1939 – 13 March 1940)
Battle of the Atlantic (September 3, 1939 – May 7, 1945)
Invasion of Denmark and Norway (April 9–June 10, 1940)
Invasion of the Low Countries and the fall of France (May 10-June 25, 1940)
Dunkirk evacuation (May 26-June 4, 1940)
Battle of Britain (September 1940)
Operation Barbarossa (Invasion of the Soviet Union, commencing on June 22, 1941)
Siege of Leningrad (September 8, 1941 – January 27, 1944)
Battle of Moscow (October 2, 1941 – January 7, 1942)
Attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)
Fall of Singapore (February 8–15, 1942)
Battle of the Coral Sea (May 4–8, 1942)
Battle of Midway (June 4–7, 1942)
First Battle of El Alamein (July 1–27, 1942)
Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942 – February 2, 1943)
Dieppe Raid (August 19, 1942)
Second Battle of El Alamein (October 23-November 5, 1942)
Operation Torch (November 8–10, 1942)
Battle of Kursk (July 4-August 23, 1943)
Allied invasion of Sicily (July 9-August 17, 1943)
Allied invasion of Italy (September 3–16, 1943)
Armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces (Signed on September 3, declared on September 8, 1943)
Battle of Monte Cassino (January 17-May 18, 1944)
Landings at Anzio (January 22-June 5, 1944)
D-day (June 6, 1944)
Destruction of Army Group Centre (June 22-August 19, 1944)
Invasion of Southern France (August 15, 1944)
Gothic Line (August 25-December 17, 1944)
Operation Market Garden (September 17–25, 1944)
Battle of Hürtgen Forest (September 19, 1944 – February 10, 1945)
Battle of Aachen (October 2–21, 1944)
Battle of the Scheldt (October 2-November 8, 1944)
Battle of the Bulge (December 16, 1944 – January 25, 1945)
Battle of Berlin (April 16-May 2, 1945)
Victory in Europe Day (May 8, 1945)
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, 1945)
Victory over Japan Day (August 15, 1945)

Comprehensive timeline

Timeline of World War II (1939–1945)

World War II by region

Free World (World War II)

World War II theatres, fronts, and campaigns

World War II by country

Other initiatives in World War II

Nazi plunder

Propaganda during World War II

People in World War II

Leaders in World War II

Military forces of World War II

Technology during World War II

Equipment of World War II

Equipment losses in World War II

Vehicles of World War II

Weapons of World War II

Common military awards

Soviet Union

United States

United Kingdom

France and Belgium

Croix de Guerre

Poland

Nazi Germany

Iron Cross

The End of World War II

Aftermath of World War II

World War II in pop-culture

Fiction based on World War II

Books about World War II

History of the Second World War

References

↑ Dunnigan, James; Albert Nofi. Dirty Little Secrets of World War II: Military Information No One Told You About the Greatest, Most Terrible War in History, William Morrow & Company, 1994. ISBN 0-688-12235-3

External links

Directories

General

World War II Database
The Second World War—Spartacus Educational
Deutsche Welle special section on World War II created by one of Germany’s public broadcasters on World War II and the world 60 years after.
Canada and WWII
End of World War II in Germany
World War II Encyclopedia by the History Channel
World War II Awards and their recipients.

Media

U.S. National Archives Photos
World War II Poster Collection hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries' *Digital Collections
World War II Propaganda Leaflet Archive
World War 2 Pictures In Colour
Multimedia map—Presentation that covers the war from the invasion of the Soviet Union to the fall of Berlin
Radio news from 1938 to 1945
The Art of War Online Exhibition at the UK National Archive

On-line documents

Stories

WW2 People's War—A project by the BBC to gather the stories of ordinary people from World War II

Documentaries

The World at War (1974) is a 26-part Thames Television series that covers most aspects of World War II from many points of view. It includes interviews with many key figures (Karl Dönitz, Albert Speer, Anthony Eden etc.) (Imdb link)
The Second World War in Colour (1999) is a three episode documentary showing unique footage in color (Imdb link)
Battlefield (documentary series) is a television documentary series initially issued in 1994–1995 that explores many of the most important battles fought during the Second World War.
The War (2007) is 7-part PBS documentary recounting the experiences of a number of individuals from American communities.

[1] Dunnigan, James; Albert Nofi. Dirty Little Secrets of World War II: Military Information No One Told You About the Greatest, Most Terrible War in History, William Morrow & Company, 1994. ISBN 0-688-12235-3

[1]