Second World War
The Second World War was the deadliest and most destructive global conflict in history, claiming the lives of more than 50 million people. Adolf Hitler started the war in 1939 when his German forces invaded Poland.
When did WW2 start? 1 September 1939
When did it end? 2 September 1945
Which countries were involved? The Second World War involved 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
the Allies (France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, China)
How many people died? It has been estimated that 50 million soldiers and civilians died in the Second World War
Why did WW2 happen? We can now say without equivocation that this was Hitler’s war, say expert historians including Professor Richard Evans, Sir Ian Kershaw and Laurence Rees
WW2 timeline: 20 important dates and milestones you need to know
The day the machines fell silent at Bletchley Park
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"The war without an end": what happened in Europe after VE Day?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
A ‘good’ war?
In contrast with the First World War, the 1939–45 conflict has been perceived in the UK as a ‘good’ war resulting in the triumph of western democracies over evil fascist regimes, says Emma Hanna, a lecturer in the School of History at the University of Kent. The Second World War, despite its many hardships and historians’ subsequent findings to the contrary, is remembered as a time the nation put aside differences and pulled together to fight for freedom.
It is therefore unsurprising that memories of the ‘finest hour’ have been frequently invoked in the British media, particularly in times of stress and uncertainty. The fascination with the Battle of Britain continues, together with the mythology of the Blitz and the now ubiquitous ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ poster (which was never actually deployed during the war but is now seen on mugs, tea towels and countless other products).
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) was military and political leader of Germany from 1933 to 1945. Appointed chancellor in January 1933, by August 1934 Hitler had declared himself Führer - the leader of Germany. Hitler launched the Second World War in 1939 and is responsible for the death of millions of people, including an estimated six million Jewish people in the Nazi genocide
Rise of a dictator: how did Hitler gain power and become the führer of Germany?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
The woman who gave birth for Hitler
The dark charisma of Adolf Hitler
MembershipaudioThe rise of Hitler. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (aka the Third Reich) is the common English name for Germany between 1933 and 1945 when the country was ruled by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party. Following his appointment as chancellor in 1933, Hitler and his Nazi government soon assumed dictatorial powers and tried to control and impose Nazi values on all aspects of people’s political, social and working lives, using propaganda and persecution
How did the Nazi party rise to power in Germany in 1933? And what were Hitler’s motivations?
Why did Hitler choose the swastika as a Nazi symbol?
MembershipaudioNazi Germany: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Nazi wives: the women beside Hess, Goebbels, Göring and Himmler
The Holocaust
Orchestrated by anti-Semitic Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, the Holocaust saw the systematic murder of more than six million Jews. The Auschwitz concentration camp is the site of the largest mass murder in the history of the world: around 1.1 million people were killed there – 1 million of them Jews. Today the Holocaust is commemorated on Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January
12 things you need to know about Anne Frank and her diary
A brief history of Auschwitz
Censoring Anne Frank: how her famous diary has been edited through history
Holocaust denial on trial: the story of Irving v Lipstadt
Aftermath of the Holocaust: how Europe dealt with the crimes of the Third Reich. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
A brief history of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where Anne Frank died
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Second World War battles
From D-Day to Dunkirk; from Stalingrad to the Battle of Britain, we bring you the facts and analysis on the most important battles of the Second World War
The 11 most significant battles of WW2
7 must-see WW2 films, from Schindler’s List to Letters from Iwo Jima
D-Day: 24 hours that changed the world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
6 Battle of Britain myths. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Pearl Harbor: 12 facts about the surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet
The real history that inspired WW2 film Greyhound
More on Second World War battles
D-Day
The Normandy landings – aka D-Day – took place on 6 June 1944, when Allied forces launched a combined naval, air and land assault on Nazi-occupied France. Codenamed operation Overlord, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history and marked the beginning of the campaign to liberate north-west Europe from German occupation
Your guide to D-Day: what happened, how many casualties were there, and what did it accomplish?
D-Day: a resounding success for the Allies. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioA new view of D-Day. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
D-Day: the WW2 battle through the eyes of the men who were there. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Our best Second World War podcasts
MembershipaudioThe rise of Hitler. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioAppeasement and the road to World War Two. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
1942: Churchill's darkest hour. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioBeevor on Arnhem. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioThe aftermath of the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioThe Holocaust orphans. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioMax Hastings on the Dambusters. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioGermany’s World War Two. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Dunkirk
In 1940, as British troops retreated through France under fire from an advancing German Army, a massive evacuation was launched to bring the soldiers safely home. Between 26 May and 4 June 1940, a staggering 338,000 troops were rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk, France, in the remarkable Operation Dynamo
9 things you (probably) didn’t know about Dunkirk
Where history happened: Dunkirk. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Dunkirk: 6 big questions on a remarkable rescue mission. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
“I wouldn’t recommend anyone attempt Everest”: Tenzing director Jennifer Peedom on Everest queues, reclaiming lost narratives and dropping Loki into a crevasse
Winston Churchill
Britain’s wartime prime minister Winston Churchill (1874–1965), who led the country to victory in the Second World War, is considered one of the defining figures of the 20th century. Churchill served as Conservative prime minister twice – from 1940 to 1945 (before being defeated in the 1945 general election by the Labour leader Clement Attlee) and from 1951 to 1955
Why Churchill’s reputation is still on the line. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Winston Churchill facts: 9 things you might not know about the WW2 prime minister
Churchill’s days of destiny. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Winston Churchill: atomic warrior, nuclear peacemaker. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioChurchill’s darkest hour. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
The Special Operations Executive: Churchill's secret army. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Read more about Winston Churchill
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Pearl Harbor
On 7 December 1941, a deadly surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor by Japanese planes sank or damaged 21 warships and destroyed more than 150 planes on nearby airfields. The attack, which was launched without a declaration of war, killed more than 2,000 Americans
Pearl Harbor: 12 facts about the surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet
How did the rest of the world react to the attack on Pearl Harbor?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioThe attack on Pearl Harbor and physics through the ages. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Pearl Harbor: 3 historical films about the Japanese attack on the US fleet
VE Day
On 8 May 1945, millions of people rejoiced in the news that Germany had surrendered: after nearly six years, the war in Europe was finally over...
"Hooray! The war is ended": 5 people's recollections of VE Day. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
A brief guide to VE Day
MembershipaudioVE Day special. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioFrom plague 'searchers' to strawberry birthmarks: a history of women's bodies. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
The Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain, which took place between July and October 1940, was a major air campaign in which Britain’s Royal Air Force defended the British Isles against Nazi Germany’s air force, the Luftwaffe. Described by prime minister Winston Churchill as the RAF's finest hour, it was the first major military campaign in history to be fought entirely in the air. It was one of Britain's most important victories of the Second World War and prevented Germany from invading Britain
6 Battle of Britain myths. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioThe Battle of Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
The Battle of Britain: a brilliant triumph that involved far more than just the chosen few. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Days of destiny: 5 key dates in the Battle of Britain
Read more on the Battle of Britain
The Blitz
The Blitz – the German word for 'lightning' – was a sustained aerial bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe lasting eight months between September 1940 and May 1941. The Blitz killed 41,480 people, while another 86,000 people – including more than 7,500 children – were seriously injured
The cruel cost of the Blitz: how did everyday Britons rebuild their lives?
MembershipaudioEscaping the Blitz and recording the First World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
The dangers of the Blitz spirit. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Criminals of the Blitz: how the German bombings created a golden age of crime. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Wartime Britain
What was life like in Britain during the Second World War? Here we explore rationing, evacuation measures, crime, and the role of women
The Dad’s Army guide to defending Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
10 facts about crime on the home front in the Second World War
Remembering the Kindertransport. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioBritain’s secret wartime prison. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Britain's fight for survival: Fortress Britain 1940. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Persuading the people: British propaganda in the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Read more about wartime Britain
The Battle of the Atlantic
In March 1941 Winston Churchill coined the phrase ‘Battle of the Atlantic’ to describe a campaign that had opened on 3 September 1939. That battle would not conclude until the last day of the war. It was the longest, and perhaps strangest, clash of the Second World War – one that would see British merchant seamen using kites and wire-carrying rockets in defence of their ships...
The Battle of the Atlantic: the "desperate" WW2 campaign featured in Tom Hanks film Greyhound. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Britain’s 10 most significant naval battles
MembershipaudioThe Battle of the Atlantic and the history of Spain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Danger in the deep: key questions about the Battle of the Atlantic answered. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Read more about the Battle of the Atlantic
The global war
The Second World War involved almost every part of the world. What was the impact of the conflict in countries such as Japan, Canada, New Zealand, India, America and China?
When Britain tamed ‘superman’. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioThe Battle of the Bulge and children of the Holocaust. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Tobruk: 8 facts about the WW2 confrontation in North Africa
MembershipaudioIndia at war and mining accidents. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
The reluctant kamikaze of the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US in WW2 justified?
MembershipaudioChina in World War Two. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
El Alamein: the line in the sand. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Read more about the global war
The Eastern Front
The eastern front was a zone of conflict in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union during the Second World War, in which the German army along with its allies engaged the armies to its east. Notable Second World War battles fought on the eastern front include the battle of Moscow, Operation Barbarossa, and the battle of Stalingrad
Operation Barbarossa: why Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union was his greatest mistake
Did the Soviet Union win the war?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Barbarossa and Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.