When did WW2 start?<\/strong> 1 September 1939 | Did appeasement cause WW2?<\/a><\/p>\n When did it end?<\/strong> 2 September 1945 | Read more about how and when did WW2 end?<\/a><\/p>\n Which countries were involved?<\/strong> WW2\u00a0involved almost every part of the world. But the key players were the Axis powers on one side (Germany, Italy, and Japan) and on the other side\u00a0the Allies (France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, China)<\/p>\n How many people died?<\/strong> It has been estimated that 50 million soldiers and civilians died in WW2.<\/p>\n Why did WW2 happen?<\/strong> We can now say without equivocation that this was Hitler\u2019s war, say expert historians<\/a> including Professor Richard Evans, Sir Ian Kershaw and Laurence Rees | Read more about why WW2 happened<\/a><\/p>\n Read on for a timeline for a list of the most\u00a0important\u00a0dates and milestones of WW2, with expert analysis from Professor Jeremy Black and late historian Terry Charman<\/strong><\/p>\n The triggering of the full-scale war with China that lasted until 1945 began with an obscure clash involving a Japanese unit on night manoeuvres near the Marco Polo Bridge southwest of Beijing on the night of 7\u20138 July 1937. The Japanese felt the nation\u2019s honour had been challenged and sent fresh forces to the region. Hardliners in the Japanese army used the incident to press for a settlement of China on their terms, while the Chinese nationalist leader, Jiang Jieshi, was unwilling to propriate Japan. As a result, an intractable struggle began that greatly weakened both sides. Large-scale conflict broke out toward the end of July, and Beijing was occupied on 29 July.<\/p>\n By Professor Jeremy Black<\/sup><\/p>\n The Second World War began at dawn on Friday 1 September 1939, when Adolf Hitler<\/a> launched his invasion of Poland<\/a>. The Poles fought bravely, but they were heavily outnumbered in both men and machines, and especially in the air. Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, but gave no real assistance to Poland. Two weeks later, Stalin invaded eastern Poland, and on 27 September Warsaw surrendered. Organised Polish resistance ceased after another week\u2019s fighting. Poland was divided up between Hitler and Stalin.<\/p>\n In Poland the Nazis unleashed a reign of terror that was eventually to claim six million victims, half of whom were Polish Jews murdered in extermination camps. The Soviet regime was no less harsh. In March and April 1940, Stalin ordered the murder of over 20,000 Polish officers and others who had been captured in September 1939. Tens of thousands of Poles were also forcibly deported to Siberia. By May 1945, and despite his promises to Churchill and Roosevelt, Stalin had installed a subservient communist regime in Poland. Back in 1939, Poland\u2019s then-leader Marshal Eduard Smigly-Rydz had warned, \u201cWith the Germans we risk losing our liberty, but with the Russians we lose our soul.\u201d<\/p>\n By Terry Charman<\/sup><\/p>\n The German unwillingness to limit their war to the conquest of Poland and to launch meaningful peace talks meant that the Second World War broadened out. Hitler was eager to profit from the ability Poland\u2019s defeat offered for Germany to fight on only one front and argued that Germany enjoyed a window of opportunity thanks to being more prepared for war than Britain or France.<\/p>\n Bad weather in the severe winter of 1939\u201340, caution on the part of the German High Command, and the need for preparations, delayed the attack until May 1940. On 10 May, the Germans attacked Belgium and the Netherlands, both hitherto neutral, and invaded France. They successfully gained and used the initiative, while the French and British suffered from a failure to prepare for fluid defence in depth.<\/p>\n Germany\u2019s success in its subsequent seven-week campaign transformed the strategic situation in Europe. Victory led Hitler to a conviction of his own ineluctable success, and that of the Wehrmacht under his leadership. Thanks to this victory, the Germans would clearly be able to fight on, and any successful challenge to them would now have to overcome German dominance of Western Europe.<\/p>\n By Professor Jeremy Black<\/sup><\/p>\n After France\u2019s surrender in June 1940, Churchill told the British people, \u201cHitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war\u201d. To mount a successful invasion, the Germans had to gain air superiority. The first phase of the battle began on 10 July with Luftwaffe attacks on shipping in the Channel.<\/p>\n The following month, RAF Fighter Command airfields and aircraft factories came under attack. Under the dynamic direction of Lord Beaverbrook, production of Spitfire<\/a> and Hurricane fighters increased, and despite its losses in pilots and planes, the RAF was never as seriously weakened as the Germans supposed.<\/p>\n By Terry Charman<\/sup><\/p>\n Listen: James Holland describes how the Luftwaffe and RAF fought to control the skies over Britain in 1940, on this episode of the HistoryExtra<\/em> podcast:<\/strong><\/p>\nClash near the Marco Polo Bridge, close to Beijing, 7 July 1937<\/h3>\n<\/div>
The German invasion of Poland, 1 September 1939<\/h3>\n<\/div>
Germans launch offensive in the West, 10 May 1940<\/h3>\n<\/div>
The Battle of Britain, 25 July, 1940<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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