When was started second world war

The grim struggle that rolled back and forth across the North African desert from to resulted in the first major Allied victory of the Second World War. In the Axis powers invaded Yugoslavia and Greece. British and Commonwealth intervention and evacuation followed before a vicious partisan conflict began.

Between December and August , British Commonwealth troops and their allies fought a bitter war across the vast expanses of Asia and the Pacific Ocean against a tenacious and often brutal enemy.

France's defeat in the summer of left Britain threatened with invasion. Find out how the Home Front was mobilised to resist enemy attack. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Be the first to hear about our latest events, exhibitions and offers. Simply enter your email address below to start receiving our monthly email newsletter.

To find out more about how we collect, store and use your personal information, read our Privacy Policy. National Army Museum 10am - 5. Toggle navigation. View this object. Background After the First World War and the economic crises of the s, aggressive nationalism began to emerge in Europe.

Summer Battle of Britain Germany attempts to gain air control over the British Isles before invasion. September The Blitz begins Germany commences the strategic aerial bombing of British cities.

April The Axis invade Yugoslavia and Greece The German Army launches an assault to overthrow the recently established pro-Allied government in Yugoslavia and support the stalled Italian invasion of Greece. June Operation Barbarossa Hitler launches a surprise invasion of the Soviet Union, breaking a pact of non-aggression between the two nations. February Fall of Singapore At Singapore, 80, Commonwealth troops are taken prisoner in Britain's worst defeat of the war.

Autumn Battle of Guadalcanal The Unites States earns another significant victory over the Japanese and goes on the offensive in the Pacific. November Battle of El Alamein After a series of battles in the desert, the British secure a decisive victory at El Alamein, forcing the Axis into retreat.

Spring Battles at Imphal and Kohima Bitter jungle fighting finally earns the Allies a decisive victory over the Japanese in Burma. September Operation Market Garden The Allies' airborne attack aimed at securing a crossing of the Rhine is defeated. December Battle of the Bulge Germany's last offensive in the west, a counter-attack in the Ardennes aimed at dividing the advancing Allies, fails. Spring Japan on the run Commonwealth troops continue to force the Japanese back in Burma.

August Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki The United States drops atomic weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing mass destruction and loss of life. The deadliest conflict in human history Over 65 million people died during the Second World War. Legacy Although Britain emerged victorious, the economic and political cost of the conflict accelerated the break-up of its Empire in the years that followed. Explore further. Story Victory in Europe During , the Allies endured months of fighting against a determined enemy.

Story The struggle for North Africa The grim struggle that rolled back and forth across the North African desert from to resulted in the first major Allied victory of the Second World War. Sign up to the National Army Museum newsletter Be the first to hear about our latest events, exhibitions and offers. The fierceness of the fighting can be gauged by the fact that in Normandy British infantry battalions were suffering the same percentage casualty rates as they had on the Western Front in — Eventually the breakout was achieved, and on 25 August, Paris was liberated.

Brussels followed on 3 September. Hopes that the war might be won in were dashed by the Allied failure at Arnhem and the unexpected German offensive in the Ardennes in December.

February Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin sit for a group photograph during the Yalta conference. Between June and June , Britain stood alone against Hitler. But then, after the German invasion of Russia and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, she gained two powerful allies. Churchill conferred with both Roosevelt and Stalin to hammer out strategy and to discuss postwar arrangements. The three men congregated for the first time at Tehran in November There, and again at their last meeting at Yalta, Churchill was conscious of the fact that Britain, exhausted by her war effort, was now very much the junior partner of the two emerging superpowers.

At Yalta, the postwar division of Germany was agreed upon as was the decision to bring war criminals to trial. The future constitution of the United Nations was discussed, and Stalin undertook to enter the war against Japan after Germany had been defeated. But the future of eastern Europe remained a stumbling block. With the Red Army in occupation, the Soviet dictator was disinclined to listen to the views of his two allies. At Yalta, an Allied plan to bomb the hitherto untouched city of Dresden was discussed.

The reason for attacking the city was due principally to its strategic importance as a communications centre in the rear of the German retreat that followed the Soviet winter offensive of January It was also believed that Dresden might be used as an alternative to Berlin as the Reich capital. Strategic bombing attacks had previously failed to break Germany, although they had proved valuable in reducing its capacity to wage war.

The bombing created a firestorm that destroyed 1, acres of Dresden. Even today it is still uncertain as to how many died and estimates have ranged from 25, to , Most authorities now put the death toll at around 35, The scale of destruction, the enormous death toll, and its timing at such a late stage in the war, have all ensured that the bombing of Dresden still remains highly controversial. Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was liberated by the British Army on 15 April Even today it is not known for certain when the order to set about systematic extermination of European Jewry was given.

But by December , the first extermination camp at Chelmno in German-occupied Poland was in operation, while mass shootings of Soviet Jews had begun in June.

On 20 January , a meeting of Nazi bureaucrats took place at Wannsee, near Berlin, to discuss the technicalities of the Final Solution. It is estimated that nearly six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators, over 1.

On the afternoon of 8 May , the British prime minister Winston Churchill made the radio announcement that the world had long been waiting for. But while VE Day marked the end of the Second World War in Europe, fighting in the far east would continue for another three-and-a-half months.

As a consequence, there was always a slightly solemn undercurrent to the celebrations of VE Day. Japan was not finally defeated until after the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August …. On 2 August , Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt alerting him to the military potential of splitting the atom.

Fears that German scientists might be working on an atomic bomb, prompted the Americans and British to set up the Manhattan Project to develop their own atomic weapon. Although the bomb had been conceived with Germany as the target, it was now seen as both a way of quickly ending the war with Japan, and as a lever to apply political pressure on the Russians. It will then open the application and you will enter the webinar room. On April 21, , two political parties united, creating a single, dominant party in what became East Germany.

Join Museum educators to discuss the few Americans who saw the atrocities of the Holocaust with their own eyes. Join us for an engaging roundtable discussion regarding the experiences of those who did the liberating and those who were liberated in Europe in , and how institutions and scholars preserve and teach this history.

Most scholars date the beginning of the Space Race to the middle of the s. By the winter of , millions of American military personnel were on the move, but they were not alone. More than 60, women wed by American servicemen during World War II hoped to leave their old homes behind and rejoin their husbands for a new life in the United States.

Interpreters and translators were the unspoken heroes of the Nuremberg Trials. Their work at Nuremberg was a groundbreaking development in simultaneous interpretation. The courtroom of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg hosted nearly visitors each day, including members of the international press.

Following victory, the Allies turned to the legal system to hold Axis leaders accountable. In an unprecedented series of trials, a new meaning of justice emerged in response to war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by both the Germans and the Japanese throughout the war. The Hollywood Canteen, which had been in operation since October , closed its doors after one last hoorah on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, In all, more than 3, volunteers, many famous stars among them, had welcomed and entertained nearly four million servicemen and women.

The first international war crimes tribunal in history revealed the true extent of German atrocities and held some of the most prominent Nazis accountable for their crimes. Featured Content. Featured Articles. Article Type. Featured Video Content. Frequently Asked Questions.