World War 2 Summary

World War Two began in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. This war was one of the deadliest wars in history over 60 million people were killed and over 100 countries fought in the war. The Germans were taking over Europe with their military under the rule of Adolf Hitler. The Axis powers during World War two were Germany Italy and Japan. The Axis powers were all working together to take over the world. During the early years of the war the US was not involved. This would not last very long. The United States entered World War Two after the Japanese surprise attack in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7th, 1941. On December 8th, 1941, the United States declared war on Japan. This surprise attack killed many Americans and brought the United States

The US was fighting Italy in North Africa, Japan in the Pacific, and of course Germany in the North Atlantic. The US navy would fight battles against Germany in the North Atlantic Ocean throughout the war. Meanwhile the US would take part in battles against the Axis Powers in North Africa. “The first Allied offensive in North Africa commenced in November 1942, with the landing of United States and British troops in Morocco and Algeria.” The US army fought against Germans and Italians throughout North Africa. Allied forces consisting mainly of the US and Britain would fight Germans and Italians all the way from North Africa back into Italy and defeat the Axis powers in the Italian theater.

The Germans would eventually overtake most of central and western Europe. The Germans overtook Norway, Finland and France. Some of France was considered part of Nazi Germany at one time, but most of it was just under military administration. Nazi Germany was thriving at one time taking over most of Europe with the exception of a few countries that remained neutral such as Sweden, Switzerland, and

By the end of 1944 and the beginning of 1945, there was light at the end of the tunnel. The end of the fighting in the European theater of World War II was near. The allied men fought their way into the capital of Germany. The Soviets took over Germany’s capital Berlin. The Battle of Berlin was one of the final battles of the war. It lasted from April 16th, 1945 to May 2nd, 1945. In April of 1945 Adolf Hitler committed suicide. “Adolf Hitler had committed suicide in Berlin’s Fuhrerbunker on the afternoon of April 30, 1945…” After the Battle of Berlin had ended the soviets had found something awful. They had found “The Holocaust” which was the most terrible thing these men had ever seen. The Nazis had been mass murdering millions of Jewish Europeans. The soviets and allied forces would go on to liberate these concentration camps to help the ones that had not starved to