World+War+II-The+5+'W's

What
World War II was Britain's toughtest war. Involving a total of 61 countries, WWII claimed 50 million lives, 100s of millions sustained injuries-1.7 billion people were involved. No war in history was as wide spread.

Why
WWI was actually one of the causes of WWII. After Germany had lost WWI, alot was left undone; hatred and resentment had brewed and Germany was left in economic crisis due to the war and the compensation they had to hand out to others. Humiliated, many Germans had now developed a general hate towards the rest of the world, and so elected Hitler as their president-he was known for his sternness and made promises to rebuild the broken country.

In Poland, Germany had carried out an unprovoked invasion. Britain and France told Hitler to disarm his fighters and call off the attack, but Hitler refused. As a result Britain and France declared war on Germany (2 days later). Germany had the aim of building a empire in Europe. Hitler started WWII.

When
WWII started on the 1st of September, 1939, when Hitlers troops entered Poland. From 1939 to 1945, the deadly conflict raged on. By 1941, Germany had conquered many countries in Europe. After this, Britain and the Commonwealth were the only major force that remained to fight the Axis (see next paragraph). Later on, Japan joined the war- fighting on the Axis side of the war. On the 7th of May, 1945, Germany surrendered, signing the Instrument of Surrender.

Who
The conflict involved 2 main parties: the //Allies// and the //Axis.// //(This is not a full list)//
 * Allies || Axis ||
 * = [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union_%281923-1955%29.svg/22px-Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union_%281923-1955%29.svg.png width="22" height="11"]]Soviet_Union || [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Flag_of_the_NSDAP_%281920%E2%80%931945%29.svg/22px-Flag_of_the_NSDAP_%281920%E2%80%931945%29.svg.png width="22" height="13"]]Germany ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/US_flag_48_stars.svg/22px-US_flag_48_stars.svg.png width="22" height="12"]]United_States || [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Merchant_flag_of_Japan_%281870%29.svg/22px-Merchant_flag_of_Japan_%281870%29.svg.png width="22" height="15"]]Japan ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg/22px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg.png width="22" height="11"]]British Empire || [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Flag_of_Italy_%281861-1946%29_crowned.svg/22px-Flag_of_Italy_%281861-1946%29_crowned.svg.png width="22" height="15"]]Italy ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/Flag_of_the_Republic_of_China.svg/22px-Flag_of_the_Republic_of_China.svg.png width="22" height="15"]]China || [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/Flag_of_Hungary_1940.svg/22px-Flag_of_Hungary_1940.svg.png width="22" height="15"]]Hungary ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c3/Flag_of_France.svg/22px-Flag_of_France.svg.png width="22" height="15"]]France || [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Flag_of_Romania.svg/22px-Flag_of_Romania.svg.png width="22" height="15"]]Romania ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/12/Flag_of_Poland.svg/22px-Flag_of_Poland.svg.png]]Poland || [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Flag_of_Bulgaria.svg/22px-Flag_of_Bulgaria.svg.png width="22" height="13"]]Bulgaria ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Flag_of_Canada_1921.svg/22px-Flag_of_Canada_1921.svg.png width="22" height="11"]]Canada || [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Flag_of_Thailand.svg/22px-Flag_of_Thailand.svg.png width="22" height="15"]]Thailand ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b9/Flag_of_Australia.svg/22px-Flag_of_Australia.svg.png width="22" height="11"]]Australia ||  ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Flag_of_New_Zealand.svg/22px-Flag_of_New_Zealand.svg.png width="22" height="11"]]New Zealand || [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Flag_of_Finland.svg/22px-Flag_of_Finland.svg.png width="22" height="13"]]Finland ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Flag_of_South_Africa_1928-1994.svg/22px-Flag_of_South_Africa_1928-1994.svg.png width="22" height="15"]]South Africa || [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Flag_of_Iraq_%281924%E2%80%931959%29.svg/22px-Flag_of_Iraq_%281924%E2%80%931959%29.svg.png width="22" height="11"]]Iraq ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Yugoslav_Partisans_flag_1945.svg/22px-Yugoslav_Partisans_flag_1945.svg.png width="22" height="11"]]Yugoslavia ||  ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/Kingdom_of_Greece_Flag.svg/22px-Kingdom_of_Greece_Flag.svg.png width="22" height="15"]]Greece || [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c7/Flag_of_Independent_State_of_Croatia.svg/22px-Flag_of_Independent_State_of_Croatia.svg.png width="22" height="15"]]Croatia ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Flag_of_Norway.svg/22px-Flag_of_Norway.svg.png width="22" height="16"]]Netherlands || [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Flag_of_Manchukuo.svg/22px-Flag_of_Manchukuo.svg.png width="22" height="15"]] Manchukuo ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Flag_of_Belgium.svg/22px-Flag_of_Belgium.svg.png width="22" height="19"]]Belgium || [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Flag_of_First_Slovak_Republic_1939-1945.svg/22px-Flag_of_First_Slovak_Republic_1939-1945.svg.png width="22" height="15"]]Slovakia ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Flag_of_Czechoslovakia.svg/22px-Flag_of_Czechoslovakia.svg.png width="22" height="15"]]Czechoslovakia ||  ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Flag_of_the_Philippines_%28navy_blue%29.svg/22px-Flag_of_the_Philippines_%28navy_blue%29.svg.png width="22" height="11"]]Philippines ||  ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/05/Flag_of_Brazil.svg/22px-Flag_of_Brazil.svg.png width="22" height="15"]]Brazil ||  ||

Where
Battles took place in Africa, Europe and Asia. There were also many sea battles involving the Navy. One of the first of these took place in the Pacific ocean and is known as The Battle Of The Coral Sea. There were many famous conflicts such as: D-Day (Battle of Normandy), when canadian troops landed on the French shores of Normandy; The Battle of Britain, an air invasion by Germany in 1940 and Pearl Harbour, a sudden attack on Hawaii, which bought America into WWII.

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