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

A decoy rubber tank such as those used by the Allies during WW2.

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Masters of disguise: the story of the Allies' WW2 'Ghost Army'. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Volunteers shovel sand in Fulham in 1941, filling bags used to protect windows from bomb blasts. Our clichés of the Blitz don’t tell the whole story, writes Lucy Worsley. (Photo by Mary Evans)

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Lucy Worsley on Blitz Spirit: the courageous stories of six Londoners. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Adolf Hitler. (Photo by Heinrich Hoffmann/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Second World War

Your guide to Adolf Hitler: key facts about the Nazi dictator

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Blitz spirit or broken morale?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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QuizHow well do you know Year 9 history?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Sutton Hoo excavations are the focus of a new film, 'The Dig'. Carey Mulligan stars as Edith Pretty, and Ralph Fiennes portrays Basil Brown

Second World War

The Dig: the real history of the remarkable Sutton Hoo excavation

Adolf Hitler photographed with British politician Henry Vane-Tempest Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry (left) and Joachim von Ribbentrop (right), minister of foreign affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. (Photo litzy ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

20th Century

Making friends with Hitler: Britain’s pre-war admiration for the Nazi dictator

Speech of Adolf Hitler to the Reichstag inthe Kroll Opera in Berlin after the Declaration of war to the USA, in addition to the lectern to the right: Press Chief Otto Dietrich and the personal adjutant of Hitler Albert Bormann the Brigade Commander o

Second World War

"One of the most puzzling decisions of WW2": Ian Kershaw on why Hitler declared war on America

Did Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler (pictured) ever meet? (Photos by Getty Images)

Second World War

Q&ADid Churchill and Hitler ever meet?

Adolf Eichmann during his trial in 1961

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Forgotten voices: the history behind Holocaust Memorial Day. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Spectacular discoveries at Sutton Hoo. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Rebuilding Europe after WW2. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

‘Inkhorn’ was the term for an inkwell made out of a small horn and became a nickname for the new words being created by playwrights and poets, such as William Shakespeare. (Photo by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

Norman

The evolution of the English language

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MI9’s secret escape missions. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Hitler and Stalin: tyrants at war. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A composite image of Joseph Stalin (left) and Adolf Hitler

Second World War

Hitler and Stalin’s utopian dreams

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The collapse of the Third Reich. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Félix Kir in 1947, when he was the mayor of Dijon

Second World War

History heroSimon Farnaby chooses Félix Kir (1876–1968)

Women queue for potatoes in a greengrocer's shop in London, c1945. (Photo by Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer/IWM via Getty Images)

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Saving food, saving lives: rationing in the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Gary Oldman plays Winston Churchill in the 2018 Oscar winner 'Darkest Hour'.

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Think pieceOur dangerous devotion to the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The battle for Sicily, 1943. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Winston Churchill on roller skates

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How the roller skating craze caught Churchill. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Historian Margaret Macmillan

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"To destroy a library is to erase part of the cultural memory of humankind": Margaret MacMillan on war. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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A WW2 story of survival. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Georg Elser, a little-known carpenter-turned-assassin whose daring attempt to kill Hitler almost succeeded

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Georg Elser: the man who nearly assassinated Hitler. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Wrens operating the Colossus computer at Bletchley Park, 1943

Second World War

Your guide to Bletchley Park, the key WW2 decryption centre

Second World War

Caught off guard: why didn't America see Pearl Harbor coming?

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Robert Harris on V2, historical fiction and WW2. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and British prime minister Sir Winston Churchill, meeting during the Casablanca conference in 1943. (Photo by AFP/Getty Images)

Second World War

Churchill and D-Day: did the prime minister oppose the Normandy landings?

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Laurence ReesHitler and Stalin: The Tyrants and the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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