Can someone explain World War II to me?

Summary of Events

The European Theater

German Aggression

The war in Europe began in September 1939, when Germany, under Chancellor Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland. Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany but took little action over the following months. In 1940, Germany launched its next initiative by attacking Denmark and Norway, followed shortly thereafter by attacks on Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. All of these nations were conquered rapidly.

The Battle of Britain

Later in the summer of 1940, Germany launched a further attack on Britain, this time exclusively from the air. The Battle of Britain was Germany’s first military failure, as the German air force, the Luftwaffe, was never able to overcome Britain’s Royal Air Force.

Greece and North Africa

As Hitler plotted his next steps, Italy, an ally of Germany, expanded the war even further by invading Greece and North Africa. The Greek campaign was a failure, and Germany was forced to come to Italy’s assistance in early 1941.

The USSR

Later in 1941, Germany began its most ambitious action yet, by invading the Soviet Union. Although the Germans initially made swift progress and advanced deep into the Russian heartland, the invasion of the USSR would prove to be the downfall of Germany’s war effort. The country was just too big, and although Russia’s initial resistance was weak, the nation’s strength and determination, combined with its brutal winters, would eventually be more than the German army could overcome. In 1943, after the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, Germany was forced into a full-scale retreat. During the course of 1944, the Germans were slowly but steadily forced completely out of Soviet territory, after which the Russians pursued them across eastern Europe and into Germany itself in 1945.

The Normandy Invasion

In June 1944, British and American forces launched the D-Day invasion, landing in German-occupied France via the coast of Normandy. Soon the German army was forced into retreat from that side as well. Thus, by early 1945, Allied forces were closing in on Germany from both east and west. The Soviets were the first to reach the German capital of Berlin, and Germany surrendered in May 1945, shortly after the suicide of Adolf Hitler.

The Pacific Theater

Pearl Harbor

The war in the Pacific began on December 7, 1941, when warplanes from Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. By this time, Japan had already been at war with China for several years and had seized the Chinese territory of Manchuria. After the Pearl Harbor attack, Japan began a massive campaign of expansion throughout the Southeast Asia–Pacific region.

The U.S. Entrance and Battle of Midway

Although the Pearl Harbor attack provoked a declaration of war by the United States on Japan the very next day, it would be several months before U.S. forces would get seriously involved militarily. In late spring of 1942, the United States and Japan engaged in a series of naval battles, climaxing in the Battle of Midway on June 3–6, 1942, in which Japan suffered a catastrophic defeat.

The Solomon Islands and Guadalcanal

For the next year, the United States engaged Japan in a protracted struggle for the Solomon Islands, which lay near vital Allied shipping routes. Between August 1942 and February 1943, Allied forces carried out an invasion on the island of Guadalcanal—the beginning of a long series of Allied offensives that would eventually force the Japanese out of the Solomons and then pursue them from various other Pacific island chains that the Japanese had earlier seized. In the meantime, British and Indian forces were combating Japanese troops in Burma.

The Approach to Japan

Fighting continued throughout the Pacific in 1944 and early 1945, including major battles at Leyte, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. By the late spring of 1945, most of Japan’s conquests had been liberated, and Allied forces were closing in on the Japanese home islands. As they neared Japan proper, the Allies began heavy bombing campaigns against major Japanese cities, including Tokyo. This process continued through the summer of 1945 until finally, in early August, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Stunned by the unexpected devastation, Japan surrendered a few days later.

Explain World War 2

I'm going to start with WW1. There was an assassination in Southern Europe. This started the war because all the European nations had treaties with one side or the other. So the Germans and others fought Britain and France. This is a very bare bones explaination. There were other nations involved. This went on for about three years with no one side really getting any where. America joined in early 1917. Because we had so much manpower the Germans at that point really had no chance. So they surrender. The European powers really hit the German hard with the tearty of Verci(?) which made the Germans give up all their land and made them pay reparations for the war.

Once the German population started to rebound (you can't have a war without soldiers) Hitler came on the scene and formed the Nazis. They won a significant amount of votes in the 1933 elections and built more power over the next few years until Hitler was made Chancellor. He wanted to take back all the lands they lost during WW1. Plus he was just nuts with everything else he wanted to do with purifying the human races and taking over the world.

Hitler turned on the Russians and ended up creating two fronts which was impossible to maintain. So the Allies from the West and the Russians from the East kept pushing the Germans back until Hitler killed himself and the other Germans surrendered.

Japan was a very isolated country. They refused to have anything to do with the outside world. One day in 1853 an America warship pulled into harbor and opened trade. At this point the Japanese didn't realize how technologically advanced the rest of the world was. Other countries moved in and there was a lot of problems with the other cultures.

The Japanese studied history and decided they wanted to create an navy empire much like the British did. They created a state of the art navy. They invaded China in 1931. They needed the raw materials. This was the start of their expansion.

The Americans were really trying to stay out of the war, but the Japs were unsure so they bombedPearl Harbor crippling the US Pacific fleet. the Japs figured that it would take six months for the Americans to regain their navy. In that time the Japs would aggressively sweep and take as much territory they could grab while the Americans were rebuilding. The thinking was that once the Japs expanded and got fortified the Americans would just leave them alone.

Of course this didn't happen. The Americans forced the Japs back by island hopping until they had the main island left. From there they droppped two atomic bombs and the japs surrendered.

A war from 1939-1945 which was fought by all of the world. In the end, the Axis powers, which are Italy, Germany, Japan and some more countries lost and so did millions of lives.

To present an overview of World War II, its causes, its major events, and its combatants would be far beyond the scope of this question-and-answer service, and presents enough material to fill a small textbook. Therefore, I offer you this instead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aytQJzdhILM

Here's a fun little thing somebody put together. WW2 as told by the facebook newsfeed:

http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1802364

ussr and germany invaded poland and split the pie, germany got hungry and went for the rest of the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II

Basically, there was a lot of Jew killing, power mongers (Hitler and Stalin) and conflict between nations that ended in a lot of bloodshed and a nuclear bomb being dropped on Japan.

a few counties got pissed at each other and decided to bomb the crap out the other

yeah