World War II

This war occurred 1939-1945. Historians believe that the war was partly caused by treaties and economic problems from World War I. The other cause was when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. There were approximately 17,000,000 people killed in this war. This did not include the deaths caused by starvation, bombing raids, massacres, and epidemics.

Adolf Hitler was the dictator of Germany. He over took Poland, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, and France. Great Britain was the only country against them, because Italy also joined Germany. In June of 1941 Germany then invaded the Soviet Union. Japan joined Germany and Italy and became known as the Axis Powers.

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This caused the United States to join war. June 6, 1944 the U.S. and British started an invasion across the English Channel. This was the Normandy invasion called D-Day. D-Day surprised the Germans but they fought back hard.  On August 6, 1945 the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

In 1945, as the Allies (U.S., Great Britain, France and 47 other countries.) swept through northern Germany they discovered the terrible concentration camps that the Nazi’s had created.

On May 7, 1945 World War II officially ended in Europe when the German forces signed a statement  of surrender at president Eisenhower’s office in Reims, France.