World War II, a conflict that engulfed the globe, began six years and one day after Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. This invasion ignited the 20th century’s second major global war, a war that would tragically claim an estimated 60 to 80 million lives – approximately 3% of the world’s population – by its conclusion on September 2, 1945. A significant majority of these casualties were civilians, a stark reminder of the war’s devastating impact, which included the Holocaust and the systematic murder of six million Jews in Nazi concentration camps.
In the early stages of the war, Germany’s “blitzkrieg,” or “lightning war,” strategy proved devastatingly effective. They swiftly conquered the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, forcing a massive evacuation of over 300,000 British and Allied troops from Dunkirk. By June 1941, emboldened by these victories, German dictator Adolf Hitler violated his nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union and launched Operation Barbarossa. This invasion pushed Nazi forces deep into Soviet territory, reaching the very gates of Moscow and initiating a brutal and protracted conflict on the Eastern Front.
Alt: Devastating human cost of World War II, with tens of millions of deaths, predominantly civilians.
However, the tide began to turn as the war progressed. The United States’ entry into World War II, triggered by the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, marked a significant shift in global power dynamics. By this time, Nazi Germany controlled vast swathes of Europe, stretching from the Black Sea to the English Channel. Yet, the Allied forces, with their combined strength and resources, gradually began to push back, setting the stage for the end of WWII. Several pivotal events played crucial roles in bringing this global conflict to a close.
1. The Battle of Stalingrad and Allied Invasions Shaped the End of WWII
The relentless German advance across Europe in the initial years of the war began to falter with the monumental Battle of Stalingrad. From August 1942 to February 1943, the Soviet Red Army fiercely defended Stalingrad against the Axis powers, marking a crucial turning point on the Eastern Front. This brutal battle, named after Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, resulted in nearly two million casualties, including countless civilian deaths within Stalingrad itself. The Soviet victory at Stalingrad exhausted and overextended the Axis forces, placing them firmly on the defensive.
Alt: Turning point of WWII at Battle of Stalingrad, with devastating urban warfare and heavy losses for both sides.
As Soviet forces pushed westward along the Eastern Front, the Western Allies launched their own offensives. They invaded Sicily and southern Italy in 1943, leading to the downfall of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s regime in July. This Italian campaign opened a new front and further stretched German resources. The pivotal moment in the West came on June 6, 1944, with the D-Day invasion of Normandy. This massive amphibious landing established a Western Front in northern France, allowing Allied troops to gain a foothold in continental Europe. Following D-Day, the Allies swiftly liberated Paris on August 25 and Brussels shortly after, steadily advancing eastward towards Germany.
2. The Battle of the Bulge Marks Germany’s Last Stand
By late 1944, Germany was caught in a vise, facing the relentless advance of Soviet forces from the East and the Western Allies pushing from the West. Fighting a two-front war with dwindling resources, Hitler, in a desperate attempt to regain the initiative, authorized a final major offensive on the Western Front. On December 16, 1944, the Nazis launched a surprise attack through the Ardennes Forest in Belgium and Luxembourg, aiming to split the Allied lines.
Alt: German soldiers in the Battle of the Bulge, representing their final major offensive in the Western Front of WWII.
The German offensive created a bulge in the Allied lines, hence the name “Battle of the Bulge.” However, despite initial successes, the Allied forces held firm during six weeks of brutal winter fighting in sub-zero temperatures. American forces bore the brunt of the German attack, suffering approximately 20,000 casualties in their deadliest single battle of World War II. The Battle of the Bulge proved to be Germany’s last major offensive. Simultaneously, the Soviet Red Army launched a winter offensive on the Eastern Front, pushing relentlessly towards Berlin and reaching the Oder River, a mere 50 miles from the German capital, by spring 1945.
3. The Liberation of Concentration Camps and Hitler’s Suicide
As the Allied forces advanced deeper into Germany, they uncovered the horrific reality of the Holocaust. Following the devastating firebombing of Dresden and other German cities, Western Allied troops crossed the Rhine River and moved towards Berlin. In their advance, they liberated concentration camps like Bergen-Belsen and Dachau, revealing the scale of Nazi atrocities to the world.
Alt: Allied soldiers liberating Dachau concentration camp, a grim discovery exposing Nazi Germany’s atrocities.
With both the Eastern and Western fronts collapsing, and defeat clearly inevitable, Adolf Hitler retreated to his bunker beneath the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. On April 30, 1945, facing imminent capture and the utter destruction of his regime, Hitler committed suicide.
Following Hitler’s death, his successor, Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, initiated peace negotiations. On May 7, Dönitz authorized General Alfred Jodl to sign an unconditional surrender of all German forces at U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s headquarters in Reims, France. This surrender was set to take effect the following day. However, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin insisted on a separate surrender ceremony in Soviet-occupied Berlin. Consequently, the Germans were compelled to sign a second unconditional surrender in Berlin on May 8, 1945, marking Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day.
4. Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Despite the Allied victory in Europe, World War II continued to rage in the Pacific Theater. American forces had been engaged in a long and arduous campaign against Japan, steadily advancing towards the Japanese mainland after the crucial victory at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. The Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in early 1945 proved to be exceptionally bloody, demonstrating the fierce resistance the Americans would face in any invasion of Japan. US military projections estimated potentially a million casualties for a full-scale invasion of the Japanese home islands.
Alt: Mushroom cloud over Hiroshima after the atomic bomb, symbolizing the devastating power and end of WWII in the Pacific.
In a move intended to force a swift Japanese surrender and avoid a costly invasion, US President Harry Truman authorized the use of the newly developed atomic bomb. On August 6, 1945, the American B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, a major Japanese manufacturing city. The immediate blast killed an estimated 80,000 people, with tens of thousands more succumbing to radiation exposure in the aftermath. When Japan did not immediately surrender, the United States detonated a second, even more powerful atomic bomb over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, resulting in the immediate deaths of approximately 35,000 people and another 50,000 in the following weeks and months.
5. The End of World War II: Soviets Declare War and Japan Surrenders
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not the sole factors compelling Japan towards surrender. On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union formally declared war on Japan and launched an invasion of Japanese-occupied Manchuria in northeastern China. This Soviet entry into the Pacific War significantly increased the pressure on Japan, eliminating any hope of Soviet mediation for a conditional peace.
Alt: General MacArthur accepting Japanese surrender on USS Missouri, a historical moment signifying the formal end of World War II.
Faced with the catastrophic destruction of the atomic bombs and the Soviet Union’s entry into the war, Japan’s Imperial Council was deadlocked. Emperor Hirohito, breaking with tradition, intervened and decided that Japan must surrender unconditionally. On August 15, 1945 (Japanese time), Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender in a historic radio broadcast, his first-ever address to the Japanese people.
The formal surrender ceremony took place on September 2, 1945, aboard the U.S. battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. General Douglas MacArthur, as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, accepted Japan’s formal surrender, officially bringing World War II to an end after 2,194 days of global conflict. In a radio broadcast to the world from the deck of the Missouri, MacArthur declared, “Today the guns are silent. A great tragedy has ended. A great victory has been won.”
References:
- Germany’s invasion of Poland
- World War II
- the Holocaust
- “blitzkrieg”
- evacuate continental Europe from Dunkirk
- Adolf Hitler
- nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union
- Operation Barbarossa
- Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor
- Battle of Stalingrad
- Joseph Stalin
- Eastern Front
- invaded Sicily
- southern Italy
- Benito Mussolini’s
- D-Day invasion of Normandy
- liberated Paris
- Nazis launched a surprise attack
- Battle of the Bulge
- firebombing of Dresden
- moved eastward toward Berlin
- Dachau
- Hitler committed suicide
- sign an unconditional surrender
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- sign another one
- Allied victory in Europe
- Battle of the Midway
- Iwo Jima
- Okinawa
- first successful test of the atomic bomb
- President Harry Truman
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- its use against Japan
- bombing of Hiroshima
- even more powerful atomic bomb on Nagasaki
- Soviet Union formally declared war
- Emperor Hirohito
- emperor announced Japan’s surrender
- Douglas MacArthur
- signing of the agreement
