During my research on World War 2 for this project, I learned many facts I didn’t know about the war and even furthered my knowledge on some subjects I already knew. World War 2 was mostly a result of unresolved conflicts from World War 1 or the Great War and took place from September 1, 1939, to September 2, 1945. In World War 2 “the principal belligerents were the Axis powers- Germany, Italy, and Japan- and the Allies- France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent China,” however, many other countries were involved including Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Guatemala (Royde-Smith 2020). Because of the many deaths said to have occurred during the war, many historians claim it is “the bloodiest conflict, as well as the largest war, in history” (Royde-Smith 2020). The war started on September 1, 1939, when “Hitler invaded Poland from the west: two days later, France and Great Britain declared war on Germany, beginning World War II” (History.com Editors 2020). The war of the Allied forces against Germany ended in February of 1945 with Germany’s surrender but the war would not fully end until September 1945. At the Potsdam Conference, which took place from July- August 1945, “U.S. president Harry S. Truman (who had taken office after Roosevelt’s death in April), Churchill and Stalin discussed the ongoing war with Japan as well as the peace settlement with Germany” (History.com Editors 2020). The war officially came to an end on “September 2, [when] U.S. General Douglas MacArthur accepted Japan’s formal surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay (History.com Editors 2020).

Sources:

Britannica: World War 2: https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II

History.com – World War 2

https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history

Here is a video I found to quickly summarize World War 2. World War II: Crash Course World History #38-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q78COTwT7nE