Who was involved...

WWII was a series of battles between the Allied Forces and the Axis Powers. 

The war officially started on September 1, 1939 when Hitler, the leader of Germany, invaded Poland. Sixteen days later the Soviet Union also invaded Poland. 

The Allied Forces

The Allies included: England, USA, France, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and Russia.

The Axis Powers

The Axis Powers were made of an alliance between Germany, Japan and Italy.

Why was Hitler so bad:

Hitler, Germany’s leader since 1933, and a Nazi, sought to make Germany the most powerful empire in the world and exterminate all they viewed as inferior. In pursuit of this, he ordered the extermination of over 11 million people, the majority of them Jewish, but also including Roman Catholics, Roma (gypsies), Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, the physically and mentally handicapped, and any others who did not meet Hitler's standards for "racial purity.”

Hitler's plan

Hitler and the Nazis carried out their plan to exterminate “less pure” people by putting them to death in concentration camps, such as Auschwitz and Buchenwald. They also conducted scientific research on people. In all, at least 6 million people were put to death. The Nazis destroyed many records, so no official number is known.

The term Holocaust came out of WWII. It means the destruction or slaughter on a mass scale of the European Jews between 1941 and 1945, across German-occupied Europe.

Some important dates

• September 1, 1939. World War II Begins - Hitler invades Poland

• September 17, 1939 Soviet Union invades Poland

• December 7, 1941 Attack of Pearl Harbor (USA) by the Japanese

• June 4, 1942 Battle of Midway (Fought between the Allies and the Empire of Japan, when Japanese planes launched bombing raids on Midway, a group of islands under US control.)

Some final numbers

• With approximately 27 Million total fatalities (deaths -- both military and civilian), the Soviet Union lost the most lives during World War II.

• China was next with approximately 11 Million total fatalities

• Germany with approximately 7 Million total fatalities.

• This does not include those put to death in concentration camps. 405,000 Americans lost their lives.

Some important dates

• June 6, 1944 D-Day (Allied Forces stormed the beach at Normandy, France)

• April 30, 1945 Hitler killed himself

• August 6, 1945 US dropped first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan

• August 9, 1945 US dropped second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, Japan surrendered