World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries.
1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1944th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 944th year of the 2nd millennium, the 44th year of the 20th century, and the 5th year of the 1940s decade.
1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1945th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 945th year of the 2nd millennium, the 45th year of the 20th century, and the 6th year of the 1940s decade.
The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Germany, the Kingdom of Italy, and the Empire of Japan. The Axis were united in their opposition to the Allies, but otherwise lacked comparable coordination and ideological cohesion.
The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the Western Allies conquering most of Western Europe, the Soviet Union conquering most of Eastern Europe and Germany's unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 but the fighting on the Eastern front continued until 11 May during the Prague offensive and the end of the Battle of Odzak on 25 May. The Allied powers fought the Axis powers on two major fronts as well as in a strategic bombing offensive and in the adjoining Mediterranean and Middle East theatre.
The final battle of the European Theatre of World War II continued after the definitive overall surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allies, signed by Field marshal Wilhelm Keitel on 8 May 1945 in Karlshorst, Berlin. After German dictator Adolf Hitler's suicide and handing over of power to German Admiral Karl Dönitz in May of 1945, the Soviet troops conquered Berlin and accepted German surrender led by Dönitz. The last battles were fought as part of the Eastern Front which ended in the total surrender of all of Nazi Germany’s remaining armed forces, such as in the Courland Pocket from Army Group North in the Baltics lasting until 10 May 1945 and in Czechoslovakia during the Prague offensive on 11 May 1945.
Almost every country in the world participated in World War II. Most were neutral at the beginning, but only a relatively few nations remained neutral to the end. The Second World War pitted two alliances against each other, the Axis powers and the Allied powers; the Soviet Union served 35 million men and women, with the U.S serving 16 million, Germany 13 million, the British Empire 8.5 million and Japan 6 million. It is estimated that in total 127 million people were mobilised during the war. It is generally estimated that a total of 72 million people died, with the lowest estimate being 40 million dead and the highest estimate being 90 million dead. The leading Axis powers were Nazi Germany, the Empire of Japan and the Kingdom of Italy; while the British Empire, the United States and the Soviet Union were the "Big Three" Allied powers.
The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy. Its principal members by 1941 were the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union, and China.
Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation to propaganda, hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. In many countries, resistance movements were sometimes also referred to as The Underground.
The Axis leaders of World War II were important political and military figures during World War II. The Axis was established with the signing of the Tripartite Pact in 1940 and pursued a strongly militarist and nationalist ideology; with a policy of anti-communism. During the early phase of the war, puppet governments were established in their occupied nations. When the war ended, many of them faced trial for war crimes. The chief leaders were Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany, Benito Mussolini of Fascist Italy, and Hirohito of Imperial Japan. Unlike what happened with the Allies, there was never a joint meeting of the main Axis heads of government, although Mussolini and Hitler met on a regular basis.
Foreign relations of the Axis powers includes states which were not officially members of the Axis but had relations with one or more Axis members.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to World War II:
This is a timeline of events that occurred during World War II in 1943.
This is a timeline of events that occurred during 1944 in World War II.
This is a timeline of the events that stretched over the period of World War II from January 1945 to 1991, its conclusion and legal aftermath.
This is an Index of World War II articles, that can be found on Wikipedia.
- La Courneuve – 8 Mai 1945
- La Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation
- La Liberation de Paris
- Lack of outside support in the Warsaw Uprising
- Lamason, Phil
- Landing Operation on Hainan Island
- Landing Ship, Tank
- Landing Vehicle Tracked
- Language of Nazi concentration camps
- Lapland War
- Last will and testament of Adolf Hitler
- Latvian Legion
- Latvian resistance movement
- Law on the status of Jews
- Law regarding foreign nationals of the Jewish race
- Laws against Holocaust denial
- Lead up to the Warsaw Uprising
- Leadership ranks of the Sturmabteilung
- League of German Girls
- Lebensborn
- Lebensraum
- Legal purge in Norway after World War II
- Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism
- Legionnaires' rebellion and Bucharest pogrom
- Leni Riefenstahl
- Leningrad Front
- Leningrad People's Opolcheniye Army
- Leopold III of Belgium
- Letters from Iwo Jima
- Lexington-class aircraft carrier
- Liberation Front of the Slovenian People
- Liberation of Arnhem
- Liberation of Paris
- Liberty ship
- Lichtenburg
- Lieutenant Hubert Gruber
- Lili Marleen
- List of Adolf Hitler books
- List of Adolf Hitler speeches
- List of air operations of the Battle of Europe
- List of aircraft engines in use by Japan during World War II
- List of Aircraft engines in use of Japanese Army Air Force
- List of aircraft engines of Germany during World War Two
- List of Aircraft engines used by Japanese Navy Air Service
- List of aircraft of Italy, World War II
- List of aircraft of Japan, World War II
- List of aircraft of Russia, World War II
- List of aircraft of the French Air Force during World War II
- List of aircraft of the British, World War II
- List of aircraft of the Japanese Navy
- List of aircraft of the Luftwaffe, World War II
- List of aircraft of the U.S. military, World War II
- List of aircraft of World War II
- List of Allied forces in the Normandy Campaign
- List of Allied propaganda films of World War II
- List of Allied ships at the Japanese surrender
- List of Allied traitors during World War Two
- List of Allied warships in the Normandy Landings
- List of armour used by the Imperial Japanese Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War
- List of armoured fighting vehicles of World War II
- List of artillery weapons of the Imperial Japanese Navy
- List of Australian divisions in World War II
- List of Australian divisions in WWII
- List of Axis war criminals
- List of B-29 Superfortress operators
- List of basic World War II topics
- List of battleships of Japan
- List of Bombs in use by Imperial Japanese Army
- List of British armies in World War I
- List of British armies in WWII
- List of British divisions in WWII
- List of British Empire divisions in World War II
- List of broadsides of major World War II ships
- List of Brothers in Arms characters
- List of Canadian divisions in World War II
- List of Canadian divisions in WWII
- List of Coastal Batteries in Australia and Territories during World War II
- List of common World War II infantry weapons
- List of component units of British 1st (African) Division
- List of component units of British 1st Armoured Division
- List of component units of British 1st Infantry Division
- List of component units of Fighter Command
- List of composers influenced by the Holocaust
- List of cruiser classes of the Imperial Japanese Navy
- List of demolished entertainment venues in Paris
- List of diplomatic missions during World War II
- List of Eastern Fleet ships
- List of engines and weapons used on Japanese tanks during World War II
- List of escort aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy
- List of Female SOE Agents
- List of films about Anne Frank
- List of films based on war books — 1927–1945
- List of Finnish armies in WWII
- List of Finnish corps in the Continuation War
- List of Finnish corps in the Winter War
- List of Finnish divisions in the Continuation War
- List of Finnish divisions in the Winter War
- List of Flower-class corvettes
- List of foreign aircraft tested by Japanese forces from 1930s to WW2
- List of foreign recipients of the Knight's Cross
- List of foreign vehicles used by Nazi Germany in World War II
- List of Gaue of Nazi Germany
- List of Gauleiters
- List of German Army Groups in WWII
- List of German concentration camps
- List of German corps in WWII
- List of German divisions in World War II
- List of German divisions in World War II
- List of German military units of World War II
- List of German World War II jet aces
- List of German World War II night fighter aces
- List of Hawker Hurricane operators
- List of helicopters used in World War II
- List of Holocaust films
- List of Holocaust survivors
- List of IJA Independent Mixed Brigades
- List of IJA Mixed Brigades
- List of Imperial Japanese Navy admirals
- List of Indian corps in WWII
- List of Indian divisions in WWII
- List of individuals in the Warsaw Uprising
- List of infantry weapons of the Imperial Japanese Navy
- List of Italian divisions in WWII
- List of Japanese-run internment camps during World War II
- List of Japanese aircraft in use during the Second Sino-Japanese War
- List of Japanese armored divisions
- List of Japanese Army military engineer vehicles of World War II
- List of Japanese Auxiliary Cruiser Commerce Raiders
- List of Japanese campaigns of the Second Sino-Japanese War
- List of Japanese dreadnought battleships
- List of Japanese government and military commanders of World War II
- List of Japanese HEAT Shells in WW2
- List of Japanese hell ships
- List of Japanese Infantry Divisions
- List of Japanese infantry weapons used in the Second-Sino Japanese War
- List of Japanese military detachments in World War II
- List of Japanese military equipment of World War II
- List of Japanese Mixed Brigades
- List of Japanese nationalist movements and parties
- List of Japanese naval commanders
- List of Japanese Navy Air Force aces
- List of Japanese Navy ships and war vessels in World War II
- List of Japanese steam battleships
- List of Japanese tanks and armoured vehicles of the WWII period
- List of Japanese trainer aircraft during World War II
- List of Japanese World War II explosives
- List of Japanese World War II military specialists on the USSR
- List of Japanese World War II navy bombs
- List of Japanese World War II radar
- List of Japanese WW2 Weapons
- List of jet aircraft of World War II
- List of Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves recipients: 1940
- List of Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves recipients: 1941
- List of Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves recipients: 1942
- List of Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves recipients: 1943
- List of Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves recipients: 1944
- List of Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves recipients: 1945
- List of Kriegsmarine ships
- List of leaders of Independent State of Croatia
- List of Liberty ships: A-F
- List of Liberty ships: G-L
- List of Liberty ships: M-R
- List of Liberty ships: S-Z
- List of Liberty ships
- List of Luftwaffe aircraft prototype projects during World War II
- List of Maginot Line ouvrages
- List of major U.S. Commands of World War II
- List of major World War II warships built by minor powers
- List of Mauthausen-Gusen inmates
- List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Battle of Iwo Jima
- List of Medal of Honor recipients for World War II
- List of Medal of Honor recipients: World War II
- List of members of the July 20 Plot
- List of military aircraft of Germany
- List of military engagements of World War II
- List of military equipment of the Canadian Army during the Second World War
- List of Military Operations in the West European Theater during WW2 by Year
- List of Military operations on the Eastern Front European Theater during WW2
- List of military operations on the Eastern Front of World War II
- List of military operations
- List of military units in the Warsaw Uprising
- List of military vehicles of World War II
- List of National Socialist publishers
- List of Naval and land based operations in Mediterranean Sea Area during WW2
- List of Naval and land based operations in Pacific Theater during WW2
- List of Nazi-German concentration camps
- List of Nazi Party leaders and officials
- List of networks and movements of the French Resistance
- List of New Zealand divisions in World War II
- List of North African Campaign Battles
- List of officers of the People's Liberation Army
- List of people involved with the French Resistance
- List of people who assisted Jews during the Holocaust
- List of Polish armies in World War II
- List of Polish armies in WWII
- List of Polish divisions in World War II
- List of Polish divisions in WWII
- List of posthumous publications of Holocaust victims
- List of POW camps in Australia
- List of POW camps in Britain
- List of POW camps in Canada
- List of POW camps in Italy
- List of POW camps in Japan
- List of POW camps in occupied Germany
- List of POW camps in the Soviet Union
- List of POW camps in the United States
- List of prisoner-of-war camps in Germany
- List of Pro-Axis Leaders and Governments or Direct Control in Occupied Territories
- List of prototype World War II combat vehicles
- List of prototype WWII combat vehicles
- List of Radars in use by Imperial Japanese Army
- List of Righteous Among the Nations by country
- List of Royal Air Force aircraft squadrons
- List of Second World War Victoria Cross recipients
- List of secondary and special-issue World War II infantry weapons
- List of ships of the Free French Naval Forces
- List of ships of the Japanese Navy
- List of ships sunk by Axis warships in Australian waters
- List of ships sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy
- List of SOE Agents
- List of SOE establishments
- List of South African Divisions in World War II
- List of Soviet Union divisions 1917–1945
- List of Special Operations Executive Operations in WW2
- List of SS personnel
- List of subcamps of Auschwitz
- List of subcamps of Buchenwald
- List of subcamps of Dachau
- List of subcamps of Flossenbürg
- List of subcamps of Gross-Rosen
- List of subcamps of Herzogenbusch
- List of subcamps of Kraków-Płaszów
- List of subcamps of Mauthausen
- List of subcamps of Mittelbau
- List of subcamps of Natzweiler-Struthof
- List of subcamps of Neuengamme
- List of subcamps of Ravensbrück
- List of subcamps of Sachsenhausen
- List of subcamps of Stutthof
- List of tanks and armoured vehicles of the Imperial Japanese Navy
- List of territories occupied by Imperial Japan
- List of the 108 Martyrs of World War Two
- List of theaters and campaigns of World War II
- List of U-boats never deployed
- List of undersea-carried planes during World War II
- List of uniforms and clothing of WWII
- List of United States Army Air Forces Air Force Component Commands
- List of United States Army divisions during World War II
- List of United States Navy escort aircraft carriers
- List of United States Navy losses in World War II
- List of United States Navy ships present at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941
- List of units using the B-26 Marauder during World War II
- List of V-1 storage depots
- List of V-2 test launches
- List of Vichy France Air Aces
- List of victims of Nazism
- List of victims of the Babi Yar massacre
- List of Victory ships
- List of Waffen SS units
- List of war apology statements issued by Japan
- List of weapons of military aircraft of Germany during World War Two
- List of weapons of the Japanese Navy
- List of weapons of World War II Japanese aircraft
- List of weapons on Japanese combat aircraft
- List of World War II aces by country
- List of World War II aces from Australia
- List of World War II aces from Austria
- List of World War II aces from Belgium
- List of World War II aces from Bulgaria
- List of World War II aces from Canada
- List of World War II aces from China
- List of World War II aces from Croatia
- List of World War II aces from Czechoslovakia
- List of World War II aces from Denmark
- List of World War II aces from Finland
- List of World War II aces from France
- List of World War II aces from Germany
- List of World War II aces from Greece
- List of World War II aces from Hungary
- List of World War II aces from Italy
- List of World War II aces from Japan
- List of World War II aces from New Zealand
- List of World War II aces from Norway
- List of World War II aces from Poland
- List of World War II aces from Rhodesia
- List of World War II aces from Romania
- List of World War II aces from Slovakia
- List of World War II aces from South Africa
- List of World War II aces from Spain
- List of World War II aces from the Soviet Union
- List of World War II aces from the United Kingdom
- List of World War II aces from the United States
- List of World War II aces from United States
- List of World War II air aces
- List of World War II artillery
- List of World War II Battles
- List of World War II battles
- List of World War II British naval radar
- List of World War II conferences
- List of World War II convoys
- List of World War II electronic warfare equipment
- List of World War II evacuations
- List of World War II films
- List of World War II firearms of Germany
- List of World War II firearms
- List of World War II flying aces from Romania
- List of World War II guided missiles of Germany
- List of World War II Infantry Anti-Tank Weapons of Germany
- List of World War II military aircraft of Germany
- List of World War II military equipment
- List of World War II military gliders
- List of World War II military operations
- List of World War II military units of Germany
- List of World War II military vehicles by country
- List of World War II military vehicles of Germany
- List of World War II POW camps
- List of World War II ship classes
- List of World War II ships of less than 1000 tons
- List of World War II ships
- List of World War II torpedoes of Germany
- List of World War II video games
- List of World War II weapons of France
- List of World War II weapons of Germany
- List of World War II weapons of Italy
- List of World War II weapons of the Soviet Union
- List of World War II weapons of the United Kingdom
- List of World War II weapons of the United States
- List of World War II weapons
- List of WW2 Luftwaffe aircraft by manufacturer
- List of WWII POW camps in Kenya
- Lists of World War II topics
- Lithuanian 1941 independence
- Lithuanian Activist Front
- Lithuanian Security Police
- Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force
- Little Boy
- Liverpool Blitz
- Living with the enemy in the German-occupied Channel Islands
- Local Self-Defence in Lithuania during the Nazi German occupation (1941–1944)
- Lockheed Model 10 Electra
- Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar
- Lockheed P-38 Survivors
- Lom prisoner of war camp
- London and Paris Conferences
- London Can Take It!
- London Charter of the International Military Tribunal
- London Victory Parade of 1946
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Los Alamos National Security
- Los Alamos Primer
- Los Alamos Ranch School
- Los Alamos, New Mexico
- Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
- Losses during the Second Battle of the Atlantic
- Lost Battalion
- Lower Silesian Offensive Operation
- LSM-1-class landing ship medium
- Lublin-Brest Offensive Operation
- Lublin Army
- Lublin R-VIII
- Lublin R-XIII
- Luftflotte 1
- Luftflotte 2
- Luftflotte 3
- Luftflotte 4
- Luftflotte 5
- Luftflotte 6
- Luftflotte Reich
- Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment
- Luftstreitkräfte
- Luftvärnskanonvagn L-62 Anti II
- Luftwaffe Central (Weissrutenische) detachment
- Luftwaffe Commander
- Luftwaffe Field Division
- Luftwaffe Fliegerführer
- Luftwaffe Institute of Aviation Medicine
- Luftwaffe North (Ostland) detachment
- Luftwaffe Northern (Arctic) detachment(Luftflotte 5)(Finland-Norway)
- Luftwaffe Order of Battle August 1940
- Luftwaffe serviceable aircraft strengths (1940-1945)
- Luftwaffe Southern (Balkan-Ukraine) detachment
- Luftwaffe units before the 1939 invasion of Poland
- Luftwaffe
- Luftwaffen-Legion Lettland
- Luftwaffenhelfer
- Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr
- Luger P08 pistol
- Luxembourg in World War II
- Luxembourgish government-in-exile
- Luxembourgish Patriot League
- Luxembourgish Red Lion
- Luxembourg Resistance
- LVI Panzer Corps
- Lviv Civilian Massacre (1941)
- Lviv pogroms
- Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive
- Lwów Ghetto
- Lwów Uprising
- LXIV Corps (Germany)
- Léon Degrelle
Events in the year 1944 in Germany.
Events in the year 1945 in Germany.
The foreign relations of Third Reich were characterized by the territorial expansionist ambitions of Germany's dictator Adolf Hitler and the promotion of the ideologies of anti-communism and antisemitism within Germany and its conquered territories. The Nazi regime oversaw Germany's rise as a militarist world power from the state of humiliation and disempowerment it had experienced following its defeat in World War I. From the late 1930s to its defeat in 1945, Germany was the most formidable of the Axis powers - a military alliance between Imperial Japan, Fascist Italy, and their allies and puppet states.
The following events occurred in April 1944: