World War II: main events and aftermath

​​In a nutshell

World War II was a series of conflicts that took place from 1939 until 1945 in which more than thirty countries participated.

World War II

In 1939, WWII started with the invasion of Poland by Germany, a year later the conflict escalated with more government control, conscription, air raids, and rationing. From September 1939 to June 1940, Germany took over Poland, Belgium, Holland and, Norway; France surrendered and the British troops retreated from Dunkirk. 

In 1941, Hitler decided to invade the USSR, however, the German army was defeated by the Russian winter and the resistance of Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad; as a consequence, Germany was forced to surrender in January 1943. After Germany's surrender, the Russians marched through Eastern Europe to free the countries controlled by the Germans. Another significant event was the US intervention in 1941 which led to a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and the advance of Montgomery's army in North Africa (1942), these events paved the way for the final victory inaugurated by the D-Day (Day for Deliverance). So, in June 1944, the Allies arrived at Normandy's coasts and liberated France.

After World War II

1945 was the year of Germany's final surrender after Hitler's suicide. On the other hand, Japan remained at the war until August 1945 when US President Harry Truman commanded the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war, the European empires were weakened by the war and the independence of some of their colonies. In 1947, America established the US Marshall Plan, a project to help European countries to recover economically from the war and prevent them to fall under Russian influence. In addition, the US signed an agreement of mutual defense with Western Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The Soviet Union was the only country that could outweigh America's powerful position, so, competition, fear, and the aim to dominate international affairs between these two nations were known as the Cold War. The center of the Cold War was the creation of nuclear weapons, the world was not the same after the US exploded the H-bomb in 1952, and the Russians built an H-bomb in 1953 making the world a most dangerous place.

In order to overcome the problems caused by the war, the British government established the 'Welfare State' which was a sort of government intervention over the interests and welfare of citizens in health, unemployment, and pensions. In 1952, George VI died and was succeeded by his daughter Elizabeth II (1926-2022) who started to rule in 1953. The new Elizabethan Age was filled with disillusionment and disappointment by WWII and the Cold War, as well as the realization of the fact that Britain was no longer an empire and depended on the United States.