World War II, which lasted from September 1, 1939, to September 2, 1945, was started by Nazi Germany, Italy, and militaristic Japan. Sixty-one countries with a population of 1.7 billion people were drawn into the war, with military operations conducted on the territory of 40 countries, as well as in maritime and ocean theaters.
Reasons for the outbreak of war
World War II arose as a result of the intensification of social, ideological, and national contradictions both within a number of the world’s largest countries and between states and groups of states, as well as the militarization of all spheres of public life. Political and economic contradictions between two groups of capitalist powers (the victorious and defeated countries of World War I) reached a boiling point. The main cause of World War II was the policy of Germany and its allies to violently redivide the world.
World War II began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. On September 3, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany, as they were bound by alliance obligations to Poland, which had been attacked. The Anglo-French coalition, which included British dominions and colonies (September 3 – Australia, New Zealand, India; September 6 – Union of South Africa; September 10 – Canada, etc.), provided virtually no assistance to Poland. The courageous resistance of the Polish people and troops could not prevent the country’s defeat: its territory was occupied by German troops.
The Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940 had a certain impact on the international situation. During this “strange war,” Anglo-French troops remained virtually inactive, with fighting taking place only in the air. Create a carousel Add a description
In April-May 1940, Nazi German troops occupied Denmark and Norway, then Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, and then invaded France through their territory, which surrendered on June 22.
In August 1940, the German air force began massive strikes on British cities. At the same time, German naval forces became more active in the Atlantic Ocean.
In August of the same year, the troops of fascist Italy, which had entered the war on the side of Germany on June 10, 1940, captured British Somaliland, part of Kenya and Sudan, and in mid-September invaded Egypt from Libya, seeking to break through to Suez. The Greek army repelled the Italian offensive from Albania into Greece, which began in October 1940. In January-May 1941, British troops, supported by the rebellious population and partisans, drove the Italians out of British Somaliland, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Italian Somaliland, and Eritrea. In early 1941, German troops began arriving in North Africa, forming the so-called African Corps. Launching an offensive on March 31, Italian-German troops reached the Libyan-Egyptian border in the second half of April.
Simultaneously with the military operations in Europe and Africa, Japan’s aggression in China continued to expand. Japanese troops began occupying southern China and captured the northern part of French Indochina.
In the spring of 1941, the United States sent troops to Greenland and, in the summer, to Iceland, establishing military bases there.
On March 1, 1941, German fascist troops were sent into Bulgaria, which had joined the Tripartite Pact, a military-political alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan, concluded on September 27, 1940, which formalized the parties’ obligations to provide mutual political, economic, and military assistance.
In April 1941, Italian-German, Hungarian, and Bulgarian troops occupied Greece and Yugoslavia, and in May, German troops occupied the island of Crete. As a result, all countries in Western and Central Europe were occupied by Nazi Germany and Italy.
