When was the beginning and the end of World War 2?

Answer 1

Very basically, World War 2 is usually said to have begun on September 1, 1939 with the German invasion of Poland, and to have ended on September 2, 1945 with the formal signing of surrender documents by Japan.

World War 2 was the most destructive war in history. By one estimate, as many as 60 million people may have lost their lives. After World War 1 (the second most destructive war in history) many people thought there could never be another war like it. Because that thinking was wrong, many people today fear the possibility of an even more destructive, even nuclear, World War 3. Only time will tell.

In Europe, World War 2 is considered to have begun on September 1, 1939, with the Nazi German invasion of Poland. In 1940 Nazi Germany invaded and occupied most of France. Eventually the Germans occupied most of Europe. In 1941, Hitler abrogated his treaty with Stalin by invading the Soviet Union. The war ended in Europe when the Germans surrendered unconditionally on May 7, 1945, but fighting continued in the Pacific against the Japanese until two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in August, 1945. The Japanese surrendered on August 15, 1945, and formally surrendered on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, officially ending World War 2.

In Asia, for some historians World War 2 is considered to have begun all the way back in September of 1931 when the Japanese invaded Manchuria and took it from the Chinese. Fighting continued between the Chinese and the Japanese right through 1945. But since this fighting was limited to the Chinese and the Japanese until 1941 it may be a stretch to say that it was part of the World War.

The United States was brought into World War 2 on December 7, 1941, when naval air forces of the Japanese Empire attacked the American Naval Base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, in Hawaii. On December 8, 1941 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked for and got a declaration of war from the congress against Japan. Great Britain also declared war on Japan, since the British had been attacked also. On December 11, although Germany and Italy were not required to under the Tripartite pact with Japan, Hitler and Mussolini declared war on the United States. Most historians agree that this was a serious tactical and strategic mistake on the part of the Axis. It made it possible for the U.S. to pursue a then-secret "Germany First" policy: i.e., to first destroy the Nazi threat in Europe, then finish the job against the Japanese.

Answer 2

1939 with Hilter invasion of Poland to 1945 with the bombing of Japan.