WW2 was the culmination of Adolf Hitler's plans to make Germany a great power again, after its humiliation as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The persecution in Germany of Jews and others whom he considered undesirable was just the beginning--he intended to spread this policy throughout Europe as part of the New European Order. After "appeasing" Hitler in 1938 by accepting Germany's annexation of Austria and invasion of Czechoslovakia, Britain and France declared war against Germany when the latter invaded Poland in 1939. France itself was invaded and occupied by Germany in May 1940, whereupon Britain stood alone against the Nazis and their lackey nations. Some events soon after this were: Dunkirk (end of May-start of June 1940; a French town from which British and French troops were evacuated across the English Channel to England by naval and civilian boats, to escape German troops sweeping across France), the Battle of Britain (summer 1940; the air battle between English and German fighter planes over mainly south-east England), and the Blitz (1940 onwards; during which thousands of bombs were dropped on Britain by German planes). Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Greece were also invaded by Germany. So was the USSR on June 22 1941, and this changed the course of the war. As did the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan on December 7 1941; and upon America's entry into the war, Germany's victory over "Christian civilization" (as Winston Churchill called it) began to look even more unlikely. History books will tell you a lot more than I can, but what is generally forgotten when speaking of WW2 is its after-effects. The end of the war was not the end as General Wesc has it in his/her write-up.