World War II was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It was the most widespread and deadliest war in world history. The opposing sides were the Allies and the Axis.
By the end of the war, the Allies consisted of the United States (Panama, and territories in the Caribbean and Pacific), Great Britain (British colonies in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the Caribbean and Pacific), the Soviet Union, China, France (French colonies in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Pacific), Canada, Australia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece, India, the Netherlands (and Dutch East Indies, today’s Indonesia), Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark (territories of Iceland and Greenland), Norway, New Zealand, Czechoslovakia, Mongolia, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, the Philippines, Iran, Ethiopia, South Africa, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Nepal, Nicaragua and Oman. By the end of the war, in some instances the last months of the war, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela declared war on the Axis powers.
The Axis powers were Germany, Japan and Italy. Germany and Italy had invaded and set up “puppet” regimes in Romania, Albania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Iraq. Japan invaded and set up “puppet” regimes in Thailand, Vietnam and Burma, and controlled Korea. Finland was involved in fighting the Soviet Union prior to 1941. Finland was never occupied by Soviet forces and retained its independence, however, at a loss of about 93,000 soldiers.
Neutral counties were Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Sweden.
Casualties
Estimates for the total casualties of the war vary, because many deaths went unrecorded. Estimates are that 75 million people died in the war, including about 20 million soldiers and 40 million civilians.
Civilians died because of disease, starvation, massacres, mass bombings and genocide. Many deaths were caused by war crimes committed by German and Japanese forces in occupied territories. The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people during the war,including 8.7 million military and 19 million civilian deaths. One of every four Soviet citizens was killed or wounded in the war.
The German Nazis were responsible for the Holocaust (the killing of approximately six million Jews), as well as two million ethnic Poles and four million others who were deemed “unworthy of life.” These included the disabled and mentally ill, prisoners of war, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, gypsies and others.
About 7.5 million civilians died in China under Japanese occupation and 3 to 4 million Chinese soldiers died. Estimates are that between 3 million to more than 10 million civilians were killed by Japanese occupation forces in the Pacific, Southeast Asia and China. Japanese prisoner of war camps had extremely high death rates. The death rate of Western prisoners was 27.1 percent and for American POWs, 37 percent. The number of Chinese prisoners of war released by the Japanese at the end of the war was only 56.
United States casualties were among the lowest of the war. Military deaths totaled 416,800, including the Merchant Marine and Coast Guard, and 1,700 civilian deaths due to military activity and crimes against humanity.
More than 8,500 North Carolinians who served in World War II did not return.
Beginning of War
The Empire of Japan aimed to dominate East Asia, had annexed Korea in 1910, was at war with China in 1937, invaded Mongolia in 1938 and was fighting the Soviet Union in border conflicts in 1938. Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935 and conquered Albania in 1939. Germany annexed Austria in 1938 and from 1938 to 1939 invaded Czechoslovakia.
But the official beginning of the war is dated as Sept. 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. By 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway; launched campaigns against France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg; and launched an air and sea campaign against Great Britain. Italy began attacks and invasions against Malta, British colonies in East Africa and Egypt, and began attacks against Greece. Germany aided Italy in Libya and other areas of Africa, in Greece, and invaded Romania and Yugoslavia. Battles were ongoing in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. In 1941, Germany and Italy invaded the Soviet Union.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor. Simultaneous attacks were launched against Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and islands in the Pacific.
End of War
The war in Europe ended with an invasion of Germany by the Allies, the capture of Berlin and Germany’s surrender on May 8, 1945. The United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945. Japan surrendered Aug. 15, 1945.
The United Nations was established after the war.
The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as superpowers. The decolonization of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific began. Nations of the world moved toward recovery.
Henderson County in World War II – Deaths and Battles