World War II

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Several terms redirect here. For other uses, see WWII (disambiguation), The Second
World War (disambiguation), and World War II (disambiguation).

World War II
 From top to bottom, left to right:

 German Stuka dive bombers on the Eastern Front, 1943

 British Matilda II tanks during the North African campaign,
1941
 U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki in Japan, 1945
 Soviet troops at the Battle of Stalingrad, 1943
 Soviet soldier raising a flag over the Reichstag after the Battle
of Berlin, 1945
 U.S. warships in Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines, 1945
Date 1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945[a]
(6 years, 1 day)
Location Global
Result  Allied victory

Participants

Allies Axis

Commanders and leaders

Main Allied leaders: Main Axis leaders:

 Joseph Stalin  Adolf Hitler

 Franklin D. Roosevelt  Hirohito
 Winston Churchill  Benito Mussolini
 Chiang Kai-shek

Casualties and losses

 Military dead:  Military dead:

 Over 16,000,000  Over 8,000,000
  Civilian dead:  Civilian dead:
 Over 45,000,000  Over 4,000,000
 Total dead:  Total dead:
 Over 61,000,000  Over 12,000,000
 (1937–1945)  (1937–1945)
 ...further details  ...further details

show
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Campaigns of World War II

World War II

Navigation


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World War II[b] or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was
a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the
world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit
of total war. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of
cities and delivery of the first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II
was the deadliest conflict in history, resulting in 70 to 85 million deaths, more than half
of which were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by
massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan,
and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war
crimes.

The causes of World War II included unresolved tensions in the aftermath of World War
I and the rises of fascism in Europe and militarism in Japan. Key events preceding the
war included Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the Spanish Civil War, the
outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, and Germany's annexations of
Austria and the Sudetenland. World War II is generally considered to have begun on 1
September 1939, when Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland, leading
the United Kingdom and France to declare war on Germany. Poland was divided
between Germany and the Soviet Union under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In 1940,
the Soviets annexed the Baltic states and parts of Finland and Romania. After the fall of
France in June 1940, the war continued mainly between Germany and the British
Empire, with fighting in the Balkans, Mediterranean, and Middle East, the aerial Battle of
Britain and the Blitz, and naval Battle of the Atlantic. Through campaigns and treaties,
Germany gained control of much of continental Europe and formed the Axis
alliance with Italy, Japan, and other countries. In June 1941, Germany led an invasion
of the Soviet Union, opening the Eastern Front and initially making large territorial gains.

In December 1941, Japan attacked American and British territories in Asia and the
Pacific, including at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, leading the United States to enter the war
against Japan and Germany. Japan conquered much of coastal China and Southeast
Asia, but its advances in the Pacific were halted in June 1942 at the Battle of Midway. In
late 1942, Axis forces were defeated in North Africa and at Stalingrad in the Soviet
Union, and in 1943 their continued defeats on the Eastern Front, an Allied invasion of
Italy, and Allied offensives in the Pacific forced them into retreat on all fronts. In 1944,
the Western Allies invaded France at Normandy as the Soviet Union recaptured its pre-
war territory and the U.S. crippled Japan's navy and captured key Pacific islands. The
war in Europe concluded with the liberation of German-occupied territories; invasions of
Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, which culminated in the fall of
Berlin to Soviet troops; and Germany's unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945. On 6
and 9 August, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
Faced with an imminent Allied invasion, the prospect of further atomic bombings, and a
Soviet declaration of war and invasion of Manchuria, Japan announced its unconditional
surrender on 15 August, and signed a surrender document on 2 September 1945.

World War II transformed the political, economic, and social structures of the world, and
established the foundation of international relations for the rest of the 20th century and
into the 21st century. The United Nations was created to foster international cooperation
and prevent future conflicts, with the victorious great powers—China, France, the Soviet
Union, the UK, and the U.S.—becoming the permanent members of its security council.
The Soviet Union and U.S. emerged as rival global superpowers, setting the stage for
the half-century Cold War. In the wake of Europe's devastation, the influence of its great
powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia. Many countries whose
industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery and expansion.
Start and end dates
See also: List of timelines of World War II

Timelines of World War

II

Chronological

Prelude

 Events (in Asia

 in Europe)
 Aftermath

 1939
 1940
 1941
 1942

1943
 1944
 1945
 Aftermath

By topic

o Causes (Diplomacy)
 Declarations of war

o Battles
o Operations

By theatre
 Battle of Europe air operations

o Eastern Front
o Manhattan Project
 United Kingdom home front
 Surrender of the Axis armies
  v
 t
 e

World War II began in Europe on 1 September 1939[1][2] with the German invasion of
Poland and the United Kingdom and France's declaration of war on Germany two days
later on 3 September 1939. Dates for the beginning of the Pacific War include the start
of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937,[3][4] or the earlier Japanese invasion of
Manchuria, on 19 September 1931.[5][6] Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor,
who stated that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred
simultaneously, and the two wars became World War II in 1941.[7] Other proposed
starting dates for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October
1935.[8] The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as
the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and
the Soviet Union from May to September 1939.[9] Others view the Spanish Civil War as
the start or prelude to World War II.[10][11]

The exact date of the war's end also is not universally agreed upon. It was generally
accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 15 August 1945 (V-J Day),
rather than with the formal surrender of Japan on 2 September 1945, which
officially ended the war in Asia. A peace treaty between Japan and the Allies was
signed in 1951.[12] A 1990 treaty regarding Germany's future allowed the reunification of
East and West Germany to take place and resolved most post–World War II issues.
[13]
No formal peace treaty between Japan and the Soviet Union was ever signed,
[14]
although the state of war between the two countries was terminated by the Soviet–
Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956, which also restored full diplomatic relations
between them.[15]

Background
Main article: Causes of World War II
Aftermath of World War I

The League of Nations assembly, held in Geneva,

Switzerland (1930)
World War I had radically altered the political European map with the defeat of
the Central Powers—including Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman
Empire—and the 1917 Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia, which led to the founding
of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the victorious Allies of World War I, such as France,
Belgium, Italy, Romania, and Greece, gained territory, and new nation-states were
created out of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires.
[16]

To prevent a future world war, the League of Nations was established in 1920 by
the Paris Peace Conference. The organisation's primary goals were to prevent armed
conflict through collective security, military, and naval disarmament, as well as settling
international disputes through peaceful negotiations and arbitration.[17]

Despite strong pacifist sentiment after World War I,

[18]
irredentist and revanchist nationalism had emerged in several European states.
These sentiments were especially marked in Germany because of the significant
territorial, colonial, and financial losses imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. Under the
treaty, Germany lost around 13 percent of its home territory and all its overseas
possessions, while German annexation of other states was prohibited, reparations were
imposed, and limits were placed on the size and capability of the country's armed
forces.[19]

Germany and Italy

The German Empire was dissolved in the German revolution of 1918–1919, and a
democratic government, later known as the Weimar Republic, was created. The
interwar period saw strife between supporters of the new republic and hardline
opponents on both the political right and left. Italy, as an Entente ally, had made some
post-war territorial gains; however, Italian nationalists were angered that the promises
made by the United Kingdom and France to secure Italian entrance into the war were
not fulfilled in the peace settlement. From 1922 to 1925, the Fascist movement led
by Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy with a nationalist, totalitarian, and class
collaborationist agenda that abolished representative democracy, repressed socialist,
left-wing, and liberal forces, and pursued an aggressive expansionist foreign policy
aimed at making Italy a world power, promising the creation of a "New Roman Empire".
[20]
 Adolf Hitler at a German Nazi political rally in Nuremberg,
August 1933
Adolf Hitler, after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government in
1923, eventually became the chancellor of Germany in 1933 when President Paul von
Hindenburg and the Reichstag appointed him. Following Hindenburg's death in 1934,
Hitler proclaimed himself Führer of Germany and abolished democracy, espousing
a radical, racially motivated revision of the world order, and soon began a
massive rearmament campaign.[21] France, seeking to secure its alliance with
Italy, allowed Italy a free hand in Ethiopia, which Italy desired as a colonial possession.
The situation was aggravated in early 1935 when the Territory of the Saar Basin was
legally reunited with Germany, and Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles,
accelerated his rearmament programme, and introduced conscription.[22]

European treaties
The United Kingdom, France and Italy formed the Stresa Front in April 1935 in order to
contain Germany, a key step towards military globalisation; however, that June, the
United Kingdom made an independent naval agreement with Germany, easing prior
restrictions. The Soviet Union, concerned by Germany's goals of capturing vast areas of
Eastern Europe, drafted a treaty of mutual assistance with France. Before taking effect,
though, the Franco-Soviet pact was required to go through the bureaucracy of the
League of Nations, which rendered it essentially toothless.[23] The United States,
concerned with events in Europe and Asia, passed the Neutrality Act in August of the
same year.[24]

Hitler defied the Versailles and Locarno Treaties by remilitarising the Rhineland in
March 1936, encountering little opposition due to the policy of appeasement.[25] In
October 1936, Germany and Italy formed the Rome–Berlin Axis. A month later,
Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, which Italy joined the following
year.[26]

Asia
The Kuomintang party in China launched a unification campaign against regional
warlords and nominally unified China in the mid-1920s, but was soon embroiled in a civil
war against its former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) allies[27] and new regional
warlords. In 1931, an increasingly militaristic Empire of Japan, which had long sought
influence in China[28] as the first step of what its government saw as the country's right to
rule Asia, staged the Mukden incident as a pretext to invade Manchuria and establish
the puppet state of Manchukuo.[29]

China appealed to the League of Nations to stop the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.
Japan withdrew from the League of Nations after being condemned for its incursion into
Manchuria. The two nations then fought several battles, in Shanghai, Rehe and Hebei,
until the Tanggu Truce was signed in 1933. Thereafter, Chinese volunteer forces
continued the resistance to Japanese aggression in Manchuria, and Chahar and
Suiyuan.[30] After the 1936 Xi'an Incident, the Kuomintang and CCP forces agreed on a
ceasefire to present a united front to oppose Japan.[31]

Pre-war events
Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935)
Main article: Second Italo-Ethiopian War

Benito Mussolini inspecting troops during the Italo-

Ethiopian War, 1935
The Second Italo-Ethiopian War was a brief colonial war that began in October 1935
and ended in May 1936. The war began with the invasion of the Ethiopian Empire (also
known as Abyssinia) by the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy (Regno d'Italia), which
was launched from Italian Somaliland and Eritrea.[32] The war resulted in the military
occupation of Ethiopia and its annexation into the newly created colony of Italian East
Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana); in addition it exposed the weakness of the League of
Nations as a force to preserve peace. Both Italy and Ethiopia were member nations, but
the League did little when the former clearly violated Article X of the
League's Covenant.[33] The United Kingdom and France supported imposing sanctions
on Italy for the invasion, but the sanctions were not fully enforced and failed to end the
Italian invasion.[34] Italy subsequently dropped its objections to Germany's goal of
absorbing Austria.[35]

Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)

Main article: Spanish Civil War
When civil war broke out in Spain, Hitler and Mussolini lent military support to
the Nationalist rebels, led by General Francisco Franco. Italy supported the Nationalists
to a greater extent than the Nazis: Mussolini sent more than 70,000 ground troops,
6,000 aviation personnel, and 720 aircraft to Spain.[36] The Soviet Union supported the
existing government of the Spanish Republic. More than 30,000 foreign volunteers,
known as the International Brigades, also fought against the Nationalists. Both Germany
and the Soviet Union used this proxy war as an opportunity to test in combat their most
advanced weapons and tactics. The Nationalists won the civil war in April 1939; Franco,
now dictator, remained officially neutral during World War II but generally favoured the
Axis.[37] His greatest collaboration with Germany was the sending of volunteers to fight
on the Eastern Front.[38]

Japanese invasion of China (1937)

Main article: Second Sino-Japanese War

Imperial Japanese Army soldiers during the Battle of

Shanghai, 1937
In July 1937, Japan captured the former Chinese imperial capital of Peking after
instigating the Marco Polo Bridge incident, which culminated in the Japanese campaign
to invade all of China.[39] The Soviets quickly signed a non-aggression pact with China to
lend materiel support, effectively ending China's prior cooperation with Germany. From
September to November, the Japanese attacked Taiyuan, engaged the Kuomintang
Army around Xinkou,[40] and fought Communist forces in Pingxingguan.[41]
[42]
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to defend Shanghai, but after
three months of fighting, Shanghai fell. The Japanese continued to push Chinese forces
back, capturing the capital Nanking in December 1937. After the fall of Nanking, tens or
hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants were murdered
by the Japanese.[43][44]

In March 1938, Nationalist Chinese forces won their first major victory at Taierzhuang,
but then the city of Xuzhou was taken by the Japanese in May.[45] In June 1938, Chinese
forces stalled the Japanese advance by flooding the Yellow River; this manoeuvre
bought time for the Chinese to prepare their defences at Wuhan, but the city was
taken by October.[46] Japanese military victories did not bring about the collapse of
Chinese resistance that Japan had hoped to achieve; instead, the Chinese government
relocated inland to Chongqing and continued the war.[47][48]

Soviet–Japanese border conflicts

Main article: Soviet–Japanese border conflicts
In the mid-to-late 1930s, Japanese forces in Manchukuo had sporadic border clashes
with the Soviet Union and Mongolia. The Japanese doctrine of Hokushin-ron, which
emphasised Japan's expansion northward, was favoured by the Imperial Army during
this time. This policy would prove difficult to maintain in light of the Japanese defeat
at Khalkin Gol in 1939, the ongoing Second Sino-Japanese War[49] and ally Nazi
Germany pursuing neutrality with the Soviets. Japan and the Soviet Union eventually
signed a Neutrality Pact in April 1941, and Japan adopted the doctrine of Nanshin-ron,
promoted by the Navy, which took its focus southward and eventually led to war with the
United States and the Western Allies.[50][51]

European occupations and agreements

Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini,

and Ciano pictured just before signing the Munich Agreement, 29 September 1938
In Europe, Germany and Italy were becoming more aggressive. In March 1938,
Germany annexed Austria, again provoking little response from other European powers.
[52]
Encouraged, Hitler began pressing German claims on the Sudetenland, an area
of Czechoslovakia with a predominantly ethnic German population. Soon the United
Kingdom and France followed the appeasement policy of British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain and conceded this territory to Germany in the Munich Agreement, which
was made against the wishes of the Czechoslovak government, in exchange for a
promise of no further territorial demands.[53] Soon afterwards, Germany and Italy forced
Czechoslovakia to cede additional territory to Hungary, and Poland annexed the Trans-
Olza region of Czechoslovakia.[54]

Although all of Germany's stated demands had been satisfied by the agreement,
privately Hitler was furious that British interference had prevented him from seizing all of
Czechoslovakia in one operation. In subsequent speeches Hitler attacked British and
Jewish "war-mongers" and in January 1939 secretly ordered a major build-up of the
German navy to challenge British naval supremacy. In March 1939, Germany invaded
the remainder of Czechoslovakia and subsequently split it into the German Protectorate
of Bohemia and Moravia and a pro-German client state, the Slovak Republic.[55] Hitler
also delivered an ultimatum to Lithuania on 20 March 1939, forcing the concession of
the Klaipėda Region, formerly the German Memelland.[56]
 German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop (right) and
the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, after signing the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, 23 August
1939
Greatly alarmed and with Hitler making further demands on the Free City of Danzig, the
United Kingdom and France guaranteed their support for Polish independence;
when Italy conquered Albania in April 1939, the same guarantee was extended to
the Kingdoms of Romania and Greece.[57] Shortly after the Franco-British pledge to
Poland, Germany and Italy formalised their own alliance with the Pact of Steel.[58] Hitler
accused the United Kingdom and Poland of trying to "encircle" Germany and renounced
the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish declaration of non-
aggression.[59]

The situation became a crisis in late August as German troops continued to mobilise
against the Polish border. On 23 August the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression
pact with Germany,[60] after tripartite negotiations for a military alliance between France,
the United Kingdom, and Soviet Union had stalled.[61] This pact had a secret protocol
that defined German and Soviet "spheres of influence" (western Poland and Lithuania
for Germany; eastern Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Bessarabia for the Soviet
Union), and raised the question of continuing Polish independence.[62] The pact
neutralised the possibility of Soviet opposition to a campaign against Poland and
assured that Germany would not have to face the prospect of a two-front war, as it had
in World War I. Immediately afterwards, Hitler ordered the attack to proceed on 26
August, but upon hearing that the United Kingdom had concluded a formal mutual
assistance pact with Poland and that Italy would maintain neutrality, he decided to delay
it.[63]

In response to British requests for direct negotiations to avoid war, Germany made
demands on Poland, which served as a pretext to worsen relations.[64] On 29 August,
Hitler demanded that a Polish plenipotentiary immediately travel to Berlin to negotiate
the handover of Danzig, and to allow a plebiscite in the Polish Corridor in which the
German minority would vote on secession.[64] The Poles refused to comply with the
German demands, and on the night of 30–31 August in a confrontational meeting with
the British ambassador Nevile Henderson, Ribbentrop declared that Germany
considered its claims rejected.[65]
Course of the war
For a chronological guide, see List of timelines of World War II.
See also: Diplomatic history of World War II and World War II by country
War breaks out in Europe (1939–1940)
Main article: European theatre of World War II

Soldiers of the Danzig Schutzpolizei tearing down the

border crossing into Poland, 1 September 1939
On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland after having staged several false flag
border incidents as a pretext to initiate the invasion.[66] The first German attack of the war
came against the Polish defences at Westerplatte.[67] The United Kingdom responded
with an ultimatum for Germany to cease military operations, and on 3 September, after
the ultimatum was ignored, Britain and France declared war on Germany.[68] During
the Phoney War period, the alliance provided no direct military support to Poland,
outside of a cautious French probe into the Saarland.[69] The Western Allies also began
a naval blockade of Germany, which aimed to damage the country's economy and war
effort.[70] Germany responded by ordering U-boat warfare against Allied merchant and
warships, which would later escalate into the Battle of the Atlantic.[71]

On 8 September, German troops reached the suburbs of Warsaw. The Polish counter-
offensive to the west halted the German advance for several days, but it was outflanked
and encircled by the Wehrmacht. Remnants of the Polish army broke through
to besieged Warsaw. On 17 September 1939, two days after signing a cease-fire with
Japan, the Soviet Union invaded Poland[72] under the supposed pretext that the Polish
state had ceased to exist.[73] On 27 September, the Warsaw garrison surrendered to the
Germans, and the last large operational unit of the Polish Army surrendered on
6 October. Despite the military defeat, Poland never surrendered; instead, it formed
the Polish government-in-exile and a clandestine state apparatus remained in occupied
Poland.[74] A significant part of Polish military personnel evacuated to Romania and
Latvia; many of them later fought against the Axis in other theatres of the war.[75]

Germany annexed western Poland and occupied central Poland; the Soviet
Union annexed eastern Poland; small shares of Polish territory were transferred
to Lithuania and Slovakia. On 6 October, Hitler made a public peace overture to the
United Kingdom and France but said that the future of Poland was to be determined
exclusively by Germany and the Soviet Union. The proposal was rejected[65] and Hitler
ordered an immediate offensive against France,[76] which was postponed until the spring
of 1940 due to bad weather.[77][78][79]

Mannerheim Line and Karelian Isthmus on the last day

of the Winter War, 13 March 1940
After the outbreak of war in Poland, Stalin threatened Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania with
military invasion, forcing the three Baltic countries to sign pacts allowing the creation of
Soviet military bases in these countries; in October 1939, significant Soviet military
contingents were moved there.[80][81][82] Finland refused to sign a similar pact and rejected
ceding part of its territory to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union invaded Finland in
November 1939,[83] and was subsequently expelled from the League of Nations for this
crime of aggression.[84] Despite overwhelming numerical superiority, Soviet military
success during the Winter War was modest,[85] and the Finno-Soviet war ended in March
1940 with some Finnish concessions of territory.[86]

In June 1940, the Soviet Union occupied the entire territories of Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania,[81] as well as the Romanian regions of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the
Hertsa region. In August 1940, Hitler imposed the Second Vienna Award on Romania
which led to the transfer of Northern Transylvania to Hungary.[87] In September 1940,
Bulgaria demanded Southern Dobruja from Romania with German and Italian support,
leading to the Treaty of Craiova.[88] The loss of one-third of Romania's 1939 territory
caused a coup against King Carol II, turning Romania into a fascist dictatorship under
Marshal Ion Antonescu, with a course set towards the Axis in the hopes of a German
guarantee.[89] Meanwhile, German-Soviet political relations and economic co-operation[90]
[91]
gradually stalled,[92][93] and both states began preparations for war.[94]

Western Europe (1940–1941)

Main article: Western Front (World War II)
 German advance into Belgium and Northern
France, 10 May – 4 June 1940, sweeping past the Maginot Line (shown in dark red)
In April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway to protect shipments of iron ore
from Sweden, which the Allies were attempting to cut off.[95] Denmark capitulated after
six hours, and despite Allied support, Norway was conquered within two months.
[96]
British discontent over the Norwegian campaign led to the resignation of Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain, who was replaced by Winston Churchill on 10 May 1940.
[97]

On the same day, Germany launched an offensive against France. To circumvent the
strong Maginot Line fortifications on the Franco-German border, Germany directed its
attack at the neutral nations of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.[98] The
Germans carried out a flanking manoeuvre through the Ardennes region,[99] which was
mistakenly perceived by the Allies as an impenetrable natural barrier against armoured
vehicles.[100][101] By successfully implementing new Blitzkrieg tactics,
the Wehrmacht rapidly advanced to the Channel and cut off the Allied forces in Belgium,
trapping the bulk of the Allied armies in a cauldron on the Franco-Belgian border near
Lille. The United Kingdom was able to evacuate a significant number of Allied
troops from the continent by early June, although they had to abandon almost all their
equipment.[102]

On 10 June, Italy invaded France, declaring war on both France and the United
Kingdom.[103] The Germans turned south against the weakened French army,
and Paris fell to them on 14 June. Eight days later France signed an armistice with
Germany; it was divided into German and Italian occupation zones,[104] and an
unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime, which, though officially neutral, was
generally aligned with Germany. France kept its fleet, which the United Kingdom
attacked on 3 July in an attempt to prevent its seizure by Germany.[105]

The air Battle of Britain[106] began in early July with Luftwaffe attacks on shipping and
harbours.[107] The German campaign for air superiority started in August but its failure to
defeat RAF Fighter Command forced the indefinite postponement of the proposed
German invasion of Britain. The German strategic bombing offensive intensified with
night attacks on London and other cities in the Blitz, but largely ended in May
1941[108] after failing to significantly disrupt the British war effort.[107]

Using newly captured French ports, the German Navy enjoyed success against an over-
extended Royal Navy, using U-boats against British shipping in the Atlantic.[109] The
British Home Fleet scored a significant victory on 27 May 1941 by sinking the German
battleship Bismarck.[110]

In November 1939, the United States was assisting China and the Western Allies, and
had amended the Neutrality Act to allow "cash and carry" purchases by the Allies.[111] In
1940, following the German capture of Paris, the size of the United States
Navy was significantly increased. In September the United States further agreed to
a trade of American destroyers for British bases.[112] Still, a large majority of the American
public continued to oppose any direct military intervention in the conflict well into 1941.
[113]
In December 1940, Roosevelt accused Hitler of planning world conquest and ruled
out any negotiations as useless, calling for the United States to become an "arsenal of
democracy" and promoting Lend-Lease programmes of military and humanitarian aid to
support the British war effort; Lend-Lease was later extended to the other Allies,
including the Soviet Union after it was invaded by Germany.[114] The United States
started strategic planning to prepare for a full-scale offensive against Germany.[115]

At the end of September 1940, the Tripartite Pact formally united Japan, Italy, and
Germany as the Axis powers. The Tripartite Pact stipulated that any country—with the
exception of the Soviet Union—that attacked any Axis Power would be forced to go to
war against all three.[116] The Axis expanded in November 1940 when Hungary, Slovakia,
and Romania joined.[117] Romania and Hungary later made major contributions to the
Axis war against the Soviet Union, in Romania's case partially to recapture territory
ceded to the Soviet Union.[118]

Mediterranean (1940–1941)
Main article: Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II
In early June 1940, the Italian Regia Aeronautica attacked and besieged Malta, a British
possession. From late summer to early autumn, Italy conquered British Somaliland and
made an incursion into British-held Egypt. In October, Italy attacked Greece, but the
attack was repulsed with heavy Italian casualties; the campaign ended within months
with minor territorial changes.[119] To assist Italy and prevent Britain from gaining a
foothold, Germany prepared to invade the Balkans, which would threaten Romanian oil
fields and strike against British dominance of the Mediterranean.[120]
 German Panzer III of the Afrika Korps advancing across
the North African desert, April 1941
In December 1940, British Empire forces began counter-offensives against Italian forces
in Egypt and Italian East Africa.[121] The offensives were successful; by early February
1941, Italy had lost control of eastern Libya, and large numbers of Italian troops had
been taken prisoner. The Italian Navy also suffered significant defeats, with the Royal
Navy putting three Italian battleships out of commission after a carrier attack at Taranto,
and neutralising several more warships at the Battle of Cape Matapan.[122]

Italian defeats prompted Germany to deploy an expeditionary force to North Africa; at

the end of March 1941, Rommel's Afrika Korps launched an offensive which drove back
Commonwealth forces.[123] In less than a month, Axis forces advanced to western Egypt
and besieged the port of Tobruk.[124]

By late March 1941, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact; however, the
Yugoslav government was overthrown two days later by pro-British nationalists.
Germany and Italy responded with simultaneous invasions of
both Yugoslavia and Greece, commencing on 6 April 1941; both nations were forced to
surrender within the month.[125] The airborne invasion of the Greek island of Crete at the
end of May completed the German conquest of the Balkans.[126] Partisan warfare
subsequently broke out against the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, which continued until
the end of the war.[127]

In the Middle East in May, Commonwealth forces quashed an uprising in Iraq which had
been supported by German aircraft from bases within Vichy-controlled Syria.[128] Between
June and July, British-led forces invaded and occupied the French possessions of Syria
and Lebanon, assisted by the Free French.[129]