World War 2 By David Walsh.

Background to the war. With the defeat of the central power after WW1,many countries involved with them lost many territories and power including Germany. Germany elected Adolph Hitler chancellor giving him full power in Germany. Hitler promised to gain power in Europe. Hitler first made allies with Italy and Japan. He then invaded and conquered many countries surrounding Poland.

Invasion of Poland. One of Adolf Hitler's first acts as chancellor of Germany was to invade Poland to gain more power in Europe. On the first of September 1939 Germany invaded Poland and within weeks had defeated the Polish army. On the third of September 1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany.

Concentration Camps. Nazi Germany had many concentration camps spread throughout the territories they controlled. Poland had more than 430 camp complexes. Some of the major ones, such as Stutthof and Auschwitz consisted of dozens of small camps scattered over a broad area of land. Concentration camps were often overcrowded so many people died of disease and starvation as well as the gas chambers.

The Battle of Britain On the 18th of June 1940, Churchill gave a speech to the British people, saying" the Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin." Four days later, France surrendered to Germany and they began the invasion of Britain. German air superiority in the south of England was crucial before Hitler could even begin an invasion. Hitler said to the leader of the Luftwaffe, that the RAF must be "beaten down to such an extent that it can no longer muster any power of attack worth mentioning against the German crossing".

D-Day After much of Europe had been occupied by the Axis powers for four years, the Allies finally launched their campaign to liberate Western Europe on the 6th of June 1944. The Allied forces, based in Britain, decided to begin the invasion by landing a huge army at a place called Normandy Beach, which is located on the northwest coast of France. Commanded by American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Allies landed on five beaches in the Normandy area. Local French Resistance forces, alerted to the invasion, engaged in behind-the-lines sabotage and combat against the occupying Germans. The German failure to successfully defend the Normandy area from the Allied liberation forces in a way doomed Hitler's dream of a Nazi controlled "Fortress Europe" and marked the beginning of the end for Germany.

The allies take Germany In April 1945, with the allies bombing major German cities and Russian and allied soldiers advancing through Germany, Hitler was forced to make a last stand in Berlin. Hitler took shelter in a bunker while thousands of soldiers lost their lives fighting for him. Then on the 30th of April 1945 Hitler committed suicide along with his new wife Eva Braun and dog Blondii. On the 7th of May 1945 Hitler's successor Admiral Donitz offered an unconditional surrender to the allies. This is known as V.E day.

The bombs dropped on Japan After Germany surrendered, Japan did not. American scientists had invented atomic bombs and asked Japan to surrender or else they would attack. After japan refused, America, reluctantly, Dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, within the first four months of the bombings, the effects killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki, with roughly half of the deaths in each city occurring on the first day. on August 15, Japan announced its surrender to the Allied Powers, ending World War II, as Germany had already surrendered on May 7, ending the war in Europe.