How and why World War 2 started
World war 2 began on September 1st, 1939 and ended on the
September 2, 1945 which lasted upto 6 years, when Nazi
Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler launched a
sudden and unprovoked invasion of Poland using a military
tactic known as lightning war, which involved rapid,
coordinated attacks by air and land forces. This aggression
violated multiple international agreements and forced Britain
and France, bound by mutual defence treaties with Poland, to
declare war on Germany two days later, marking the official
start of a conflict that would soon engulf much of the globe.
However, the causes of this war ran much deeper than this
single event. The roots of World War 2 can be traced back to
the aftermath of World War I, particularly the Treaty of
Versailles in 1919, which imposed heavy reparations,
territorial losses, and severe military restrictions on Germany.
This treaty upset Hitler because he was humiliated by his loss,
and because of this treaty, Hitler lost territory, his military was
drastically reduced, and he had to pay massive reparations to
Allied counites. Many Germans viewed the treaty as a
national humiliation and a betrayal by their leaders, fostering
a deep sense of injustice and resentment. Because of this
humiliation, Hitler took things into his own hands and took
his anger out on Poland. (Hughes, Thomas A., and John Graham
Royde-Smith., 2022)
In the years after World War I, global economic problems,
especially the Great Depression of the 1930s, made things
worse, causing widespread unemployment and hardship. In
Germany, this helped extremist ideas take hold. Adolf Hitler
and the Nazi Party gained support by tapping into public
anger and promising to make Germany strong again through
military power and expansion. At the same time, authoritarian
,governments also rose in Italy under Mussolini and in Japan,
with all three countries pushing for aggressive expansion. The
League of Nations, created to keep peace, was too weak to
stop them. It failed to act when Japan invaded Manchuria in
1931 and when Italy took over Ethiopia in 1935. (Augustyn,
Adam., 2025)
Western democracies, particularly Britain and France, initially
adopted a policy of appeasement, most infamously at the 1938
Munich Conference, where they allowed Hitler to annexe the
Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia in hopes of avoiding
another major war. However, Hitler’s continued violations of
international agreements, including the full occupation of
Czechoslovakia and his non-aggression pact with the Soviet
Union, made it clear that his ambitions would not be satisfied
through diplomacy. When diplomatic efforts failed and
Germany invaded Poland, the illusion of peace collapsed. The
war that followed would become the deadliest and most
widespread conflict in human history, involving more than 30
countries and resulting in tens of millions of deaths. This war
is still talked about to this day because of the number of lives
that were lost in WW2 and how many people sacrificed
everything to succeed and prevent Hitler from harming
anyone and his army. (Imperial War Museums., 2018)
What different countries got involved in World War 2
World War II involved more than 30 nations and evolved into
the most widespread and devastating conflict in human
history, broadly divided into two opposing military alliances,
the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers. At the core of the
Allied Powers were major nations like the United Kingdom,
which stood against Nazi Germany from the war’s outset.
France which was quickly occupied by Germany but
continued to fight through the Free French forces. The Soviet
, Union initially signed a non-aggression pact with Germany
but joined the Allies after being invaded in June 1941. The
United States entered the war following Japan’s surprise
attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941. China, which had
been locked in brutal conflict with Japan since the early 1930s
and became one of the earliest fronts in the Pacific theatre.
These were the main countries that fought in World War II,
and who they were fighting against. On the opposite team that
were fighting against these countries were known as the Axis
Powers, which were led by Nazi Germans under Adolf Hitler,
Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini, and Imperial Japan, all
of whom pursued aggressive territorial expansion and sought
to dominate Europe, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region
respectively. Germany’s blitzkrieg tactics swiftly overran
much of Europe in the early years of the war, while Japan
carved out a vast empire across East and Southeast Asia. Italy
expanded into North Africa and the Balkans, though with
limited success. (National Army Museum., 2022)
Beyond these central powers, numerous other countries were
pulled into the conflict. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and
South Africa joined the war alongside Britain due to their ties
as members of the British Commonwealth. India, then under
British colonial rule, which meant that millions of soldiers and
resources were allocated. Many Eastern European countries,
such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, were
invaded and occupied but continued to resist through
underground movements and governments-in-exile. Nordic
countries like Norway and Denmark were occupied by
Germany, while Finland fought two separate wars against the
Soviet Union. In the Middle East and Africa, regions under
colonial rule were strategically important and became sites of
key battles and supply lines. Even countries that initially
remained neutral, such as Sweden, Switzerland, and Spain,
World war 2 began on September 1st, 1939 and ended on the
September 2, 1945 which lasted upto 6 years, when Nazi
Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler launched a
sudden and unprovoked invasion of Poland using a military
tactic known as lightning war, which involved rapid,
coordinated attacks by air and land forces. This aggression
violated multiple international agreements and forced Britain
and France, bound by mutual defence treaties with Poland, to
declare war on Germany two days later, marking the official
start of a conflict that would soon engulf much of the globe.
However, the causes of this war ran much deeper than this
single event. The roots of World War 2 can be traced back to
the aftermath of World War I, particularly the Treaty of
Versailles in 1919, which imposed heavy reparations,
territorial losses, and severe military restrictions on Germany.
This treaty upset Hitler because he was humiliated by his loss,
and because of this treaty, Hitler lost territory, his military was
drastically reduced, and he had to pay massive reparations to
Allied counites. Many Germans viewed the treaty as a
national humiliation and a betrayal by their leaders, fostering
a deep sense of injustice and resentment. Because of this
humiliation, Hitler took things into his own hands and took
his anger out on Poland. (Hughes, Thomas A., and John Graham
Royde-Smith., 2022)
In the years after World War I, global economic problems,
especially the Great Depression of the 1930s, made things
worse, causing widespread unemployment and hardship. In
Germany, this helped extremist ideas take hold. Adolf Hitler
and the Nazi Party gained support by tapping into public
anger and promising to make Germany strong again through
military power and expansion. At the same time, authoritarian
,governments also rose in Italy under Mussolini and in Japan,
with all three countries pushing for aggressive expansion. The
League of Nations, created to keep peace, was too weak to
stop them. It failed to act when Japan invaded Manchuria in
1931 and when Italy took over Ethiopia in 1935. (Augustyn,
Adam., 2025)
Western democracies, particularly Britain and France, initially
adopted a policy of appeasement, most infamously at the 1938
Munich Conference, where they allowed Hitler to annexe the
Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia in hopes of avoiding
another major war. However, Hitler’s continued violations of
international agreements, including the full occupation of
Czechoslovakia and his non-aggression pact with the Soviet
Union, made it clear that his ambitions would not be satisfied
through diplomacy. When diplomatic efforts failed and
Germany invaded Poland, the illusion of peace collapsed. The
war that followed would become the deadliest and most
widespread conflict in human history, involving more than 30
countries and resulting in tens of millions of deaths. This war
is still talked about to this day because of the number of lives
that were lost in WW2 and how many people sacrificed
everything to succeed and prevent Hitler from harming
anyone and his army. (Imperial War Museums., 2018)
What different countries got involved in World War 2
World War II involved more than 30 nations and evolved into
the most widespread and devastating conflict in human
history, broadly divided into two opposing military alliances,
the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers. At the core of the
Allied Powers were major nations like the United Kingdom,
which stood against Nazi Germany from the war’s outset.
France which was quickly occupied by Germany but
continued to fight through the Free French forces. The Soviet
, Union initially signed a non-aggression pact with Germany
but joined the Allies after being invaded in June 1941. The
United States entered the war following Japan’s surprise
attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941. China, which had
been locked in brutal conflict with Japan since the early 1930s
and became one of the earliest fronts in the Pacific theatre.
These were the main countries that fought in World War II,
and who they were fighting against. On the opposite team that
were fighting against these countries were known as the Axis
Powers, which were led by Nazi Germans under Adolf Hitler,
Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini, and Imperial Japan, all
of whom pursued aggressive territorial expansion and sought
to dominate Europe, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region
respectively. Germany’s blitzkrieg tactics swiftly overran
much of Europe in the early years of the war, while Japan
carved out a vast empire across East and Southeast Asia. Italy
expanded into North Africa and the Balkans, though with
limited success. (National Army Museum., 2022)
Beyond these central powers, numerous other countries were
pulled into the conflict. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and
South Africa joined the war alongside Britain due to their ties
as members of the British Commonwealth. India, then under
British colonial rule, which meant that millions of soldiers and
resources were allocated. Many Eastern European countries,
such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, were
invaded and occupied but continued to resist through
underground movements and governments-in-exile. Nordic
countries like Norway and Denmark were occupied by
Germany, while Finland fought two separate wars against the
Soviet Union. In the Middle East and Africa, regions under
colonial rule were strategically important and became sites of
key battles and supply lines. Even countries that initially
remained neutral, such as Sweden, Switzerland, and Spain,
