The Second World War lasted from 1939 to 1945 and involved all the major world powers. On one side were the Allies, including Great Britain, the United States, France and the Soviet Union. On the other hand the Axis powers included Germany, Japan and Italy. This conflict was the result of the rise of totalitarian and militarist regimes in Germany, Japan and Italy after the First World War. Partly responsible were the humiliating peace treaties imposed on Germany after the First World War. The Great Depression of the 1930s created worldwide economic turmoil and thus contributed to war. During the 1930s Japan was very aggressive in Asia and Italy, led by Mussolini, was invading Ethiopia. The French and British appeasement of Hitler's Nazi regime in Germany culminated in the Munich Pact of 1938. This sacrificed much of Czechoslovakia to Germany. France and Great Britain began to rearm and offer guarantees to other potential victims of Nazi aggression. In August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union, previously bitter enemies, concluded a non-aggression pact, thus freeing Hitler to invade Poland on September 1. 1939. France and Great Britain immediately declare war on Germany, officially starting the Second World War. Germany won a quick victory in Poland and occupied Norway and Denmark in 1940. In May it invaded the Netherlands, broke into France, and infiltrated the English Channel. On 22 June 1940, France surrendered. However a Free French force continued to fight. Britain under Prime Minister Winston Churchill was left to fight alone. The Battle of Britain lasted from August to October 1940. Germany's attempt to bomb Britain into submission was the only German failure of the early years of the war. Axis ground operations continued in North Africa and the Balkans, where Greece and Yugoslavia were occupied. On June 22, 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, bringing the nation led by Prime Minister Joseph Stalin into war. Meanwhile the United States under the presidency of FD Roosevelt was moving closer to the Allies. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into war. Axis successes continued. By 1942 Japan had conquered the Philippines, many other Pacific islands, and all of Southeast Asia. German forces in the Soviet Union reached Stalingard and the Caucasus. German General Ro...... middle of document ......945 as the United States prepared to invade Japan American President Harry S. Truman ordered the dropping of the atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 14, 1945, Japan surrendered. Thus ending World War II. Work CitedHirsch, E.D., Jr., Joseph F. Kett, James Trefil. The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.. 1991. pp 231-234. "Second World War". Columbia's Concise Encyclopedia. New York: Columbia University Press. 1983. pp 930-931. Tourtellot, Arthur B.. Photographic History of World War II. New York: Time Inc.. 1950. pp 227 Hofstadter, Richard, William Miller, Daniel Aaron. The United States: History of a Republic. New Jersey: 2nd edition. Prentice-Hall Inc..1967. pp 702-703Jablonski, Edward. A pictorial history of the Second World War years. New York: Doubleday & Co. Inc.. 1977. pp 207-230. Sramek, Joseph. “The Greatest Deception of All Time: Britain, Ultra and D-Day” 2/10/1998. www.suite 101.com/article.cfm/945/7260.“D-Day” The American Experience. www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dday/about.html.“Normandy Campaign.” The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th edition. 2001.www.bartleby.com/65/no/normcamp.html.