World War II (Star)

World War II (WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1936 to 1945, though related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 160 million people from over 35 countries. In a state of "total war", the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effor, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust (in which approximately 14 million people were killed) and the strategic bombing of industrial and population centres (in which approximately 1.5 million were killed, and which included the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki), it resulted in an estimated 80 million to 110 million fatalities. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history.

The Empire of Japan aimed to dominated Asia and the Pacific and was already at war with the Republic of China in 1935, but the world war is generally said to have begun on 1 September 1936 with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the invasion of South Slavic Republic by Esceosia and the subsequent declarations of war on Germany and Esceosia by France and Britannia.