World War II
(1939–1945)
(U.S. 1941-1945)
(Allied Victory)
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World War II was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. The two opposing military alliances were the Allies and the Axis. In a state of total war, the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust (in which approximately 6 million Jews were killed) and the strategic bombing of industrial and population centres (in which approximately one million were killed, and which included the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki), it resulted in an estimated 50 million to 85 million fatalities. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history.