1939–1945 CE / Europe
The Second World War and Global Catastrophe
War in Europe converged with existing wars of aggression in Asia, drawing many parts of the world into total war, occupation, and genocide, and realigning international power after the war.
The story
After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany, beginning a major war in Europe. Aggression and resistance in Asia had already continued for years, with the full-scale Sino-Japanese War of 1937 marking a key phase. German, Italian, and Japanese expansion and Allied counteroffensives extended the battlefields across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the oceans. Military occupation, bombing, forced labor, and the Nazis' systematic murder of Jews and other groups inflicted immense catastrophe on civilians. Germany and Japan surrendered in succession in 1945, ending the war. Warsaw represents the outbreak of war in Europe here; the global war is not treated as having only one starting point. Postwar decolonization and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union also accelerated as a result. On November 20, 1945, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg opened the trial of major Nazi leaders. Efforts to hold perpetrators accountable continued for years after the war; not everyone who carried out persecution was prosecuted.
Elsewhere in the world
Soldiers, laborers, and resources from Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania all participated in the war, and the United Nations was founded in 1945 in response to the postwar need for peace.
Dates and precision
1939–1945 CE Ongoing process
The dates describe a process over time; the interactive timeline uses its starting point.
Representative map location
Representative coordinates · 52.23°, 21.012°
Coordinates locate a representative point for the story. They do not mean the event happened only here and do not represent historical borders.
Bibliography
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | World War II and the Holocaust, 1939–1945
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg Opens on November 20, 1945
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Postwar Trials and the Limits of Accountability
Sources are listed as bibliography titles, without external links. A reference does not mean every sentence or interpretation has been independently verified.