On June 22, 1941, German troops invaded the territory of the Soviet Union. The Great Patriotic War began. Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Finland, and Italy joined Germany in its war against the USSR, and in August, Norway joined them.
On July 12, 1941, an agreement was signed between the USSR and Great Britain on joint action against Germany. On August 2, an agreement was reached with the United States on military and economic cooperation. To prevent the danger of fascist bases being established in the Middle East, British and Soviet troops entered Iran in August-September 1941.
On December 7, 1941, Japan launched an attack on Pearl Harbor, declaring war on the United States. On December 8, the United States, Great Britain, and other countries of the anti-fascist coalition declared war on Japan. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. In late 1941 and early 1942, Japan captured Malaya, the Philippines, and Burma, posing a threat of invasion to Australia.
On the Soviet-German front, Soviet troops wore down the enemy in heavy fighting and stopped its advance on all key fronts. The first major defeat of the Wehrmacht in World War II was the defeat of the German fascist troops in the Battle of Moscow in 1941-1942, which meant the failure of Hitler’s “blitzkrieg” plan.
Japan, due to the failures of its armed forces in the Pacific in 1942 (defeats by the US Navy in the Coral Sea in May and at Midway Island in June), as well as the failure of the German-Nazi offensive in 1942 on the Soviet-German front, was forced to abandon its attack on the USSR and switch to defense in the Pacific at the end of 1942.
By May 1943, Anglo-American troops had liberated North Africa. In July-August 1943, Anglo-American troops landed on the island of Sicily. On September 3, 1943, Italy signed an act of surrender. On October 13, Italy declared war on Germany. German fascist troops occupied its territory.
