Second World War - Getty Images

Second World War

The Second World War, which started on 1 September 1939, was fought between two groups of countries: on one side were the Axis Powers (primarily Germany, Italy and Japan); and on the other side were the Allies (which included Britain, France, the Soviet Union, China and America, plus Australia, Canada, New Zealand and India). The war broke out when Germany, which was ruled by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, invaded Poland in 1939. Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later, on 3 September 1939. It has been estimated that more than 50 million people died in the Second World War, including an estimated six million Jewish people in the Nazi genocide. The conflict ended on 2 September 1945 when Japan formally surrendered to the Allies

Reeta Chakrabarti and Janusz Korczak

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My history heroReeta Chakrabarti chooses Janusz Korczak. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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My history heroSam Naz chooses Noor Inayat Khan. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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A secret Nazi plot to kill the ‘Big Three’. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Sat in his Spitfire adorned with Figaro the Cat is decorated Second World War fighter pilot Ian Gleed, who had to hide his homosexuality (Photo by Royal Air Force Official Photographer/ Imperial War Museums via Getty Images)

Second World War

Hiding in plain sightThe prejudice and tolerance of homosexuality in WW2 armed forces

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Episode 1The Holocaust with Laurence Rees – Beginnings. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

HMS Bittern on fire and severely damaged after a German air attack in Namsos fjord, 30 April 1940. Both sides sustained heavy losses in the battle of Norway but the German navy was less able to absorb these than its British foe. (Photo by Topfoto)

Second World War

Narvik in contextHow battle for Norway in 1940 saved Britain

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Episode 2The Holocaust with Laurence Rees – Radicalisation. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Episode 3The Holocaust with Laurence Rees – Mass extermination. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Diners watch a waitress chalk up the dishes offered on the day's menu at a British Restaurant in Gillingham, 1941. (Photo by Reuben Saidman/ Popperfoto via Getty Images)

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Eat for victory: the British Restaurants of WW2. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The PoWs who survived Nagasaki. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ghetto in Charkov Photo 1941 World War Two Russian Campaign Occupation of Charkov capital of the Ukraine

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The Black Book of Soviet Jewry. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Refusing to fight in WW2. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The commandos head off in José Ferrer’s Cockleshell Heroes (1955)

Second World War

Cockleshell Heroes: the real story of WW2's Operation Frankton

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Conspiracy: Hitler’s escape to South America. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Hitler and Eva Braun pose with their dogs in 1942

Second World War

Fake news and Nazis: Richard J Evans on the spectre of conspiracies

Dancers demonstrate the Charleston, c1926. The dance is often associated with ‘flappers’ – newly enfranchised women with bobbed hair, short skirts and supposedly looser morals – and characterised by frenetic up and down movements and swivelling, akimbo limbs. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

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Forbidden dances and deadly marathons: 5 facts about the history of dancing. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The hell of the Pacific War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Edda Mussolini, c1929

Second World War

Edda Ciano & Hilde Beetz: how the women stood up to Hitler

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British spies in WW2: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Men of the SAS returning from a three-month trip behind enemy lines during the war in North Africa. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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“They changed the way war is run”: Ben Macintyre on the early SAS. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Colditz captives including (third left) the famous escapee Pat Reid.

Second World War

Ben McIntyre on Colditz: "The reality of Colditz is much more interesting than the black-and-white moral fable"

A member of a Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) patrol, May 1942

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Desert raiders: the Long Range Desert Group in the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A German soldier captured during the battle of Kursk, July–August 1943. Germany’s last major offensive on the eastern front ended in crushing defeat (Photo by STF/AFP/ GettyImages)

Second World War

Bitter end: Hitler's downfall and the end of the war and the Third Reich

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How the Allies plucked victory from the jaws of defeat. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A propaganda photograph showing a typical German family eating the Eintopf, a cost-saving stew promoted by the Third Reich

Second World WargalleryThe stomach for the fight: the food policies used by the Nazis to maintain control in the Third Reich

Photo of the SAS in North Africa

Second World War

How the early SAS became heroes of the Second World War

War and Conflict, Malaya, pic: 1953, British troops of the Special Air Service (SAS) with a helicopter, having been dropped off in the jungle in search of bandits (Photo by Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)

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In a nutshellThe history of the SAS

Russian men called up to fight attend a ceremony to mark their departure

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Russia-Ukraine conflictHow the latest developments echo the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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WW2’s most daring raid. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Benito Mussolini

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Mussolini's willing followers? The Italians devoted to Fascism and the duce. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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