World War Two

World War 2 remains the most titanic and devastating war in human history. Six long years of war consumed Europe and Asia. Battlefields erupted across the Globe as fascism, communism and the free world faced off in Total War.
55,000,000 human beings lost their lives and entire countries were destroyed.
People learned new words: Holocaust • Blitzkrieg • Strategic Bombing • D-Day • Kamikaze • Nazis • Red Army • Blitz • Messerschmitt • Paratrooper • Air Craft Carrier
People heard about new places: Stalingrad • Ardennes • Omaha Beach • Normandy • Pearl Harbor • Iwo Jima • Hiroshima • Auschwitz
Military commanders became household names: Eisenhower • Zhukov • Rommel • De Gaulle • Patton • Guderian • Montgomery • Yamamoto • Nimitz • Marshall • MacArthur • Donitz • Bradley
Many civilians stood out during the war years: Richard Sorge • Anne Frank • Bob Hope • Oskar Schindler • Soviet Union partisans
And the war was prosecuted by the powerful leaders of 5 combatant countries:
The War also changed human history in many ways:
• Tanks and planes revolutionized warfare
• Europe's colonial empire collapsed
• The United Nations was created
• The United States and Soviet Union emerged as super powers
• Humanity discovered nuclear power
• The Holocaust destroyed European Jewry
• The Nurenburg trials established presedence for prosecuting national leaders
• Israel, India, Philippines, Korea and other countries gained independence
• The Cold War began
World War Two summed up in this Adult Swim cartoon