World War II 1939–1945

Axis Powers ⚔ Allies of World War II

Key battles

• Marco Polo Bridge incident (1937)
• Battle of Shanghai (1937)
• Battle of Nanking (1937)
• Battle of Beiping–Tianjin (1937)
• Battle of Taiyuan (1937)
• Battle of Pingxingguan (1937)
• Battle of Xinkou (1937)
• Defense of Sihang Warehouse (1937)
• Battle of Wuhan (1938)
• Battle of Taierzhuang (1938)
• Battle of Xuzhou (1938)
• Battle of Westerplatte (1939)
• Saar Offensive (1939)
• Battle of the Bzura (1939)
• Siege of Warsaw (1939)
• Battle of Suomussalmi (1939)
• Battle of Changsha (1939)
• Battle of Tolvajärvi (1939)
• Battle of Wizna (1939)
• Defense of the Polish Post Office in Danzig (1939)
• Battle of Kollaa (1939)
• Battle of Salla (1939)
• Battle of Hel (1939)
• Battle of Kock (1939)
• Battle of Nanchang (1939)
• Battle of Modlin (1939)
• Battle of Brześć Litewski (1939)
• Baltic Sea campaigns (1939)
• Battle of Lwów (1939)
• Battle of South Guangxi (1939)
• Battle of Petsamo (1939)
• Battle of Mława (1939)
• Charge at Krojanty (1939)
• Battle of France (1940) — Walther von Brauchitsch, Walther von, &nbsp vs Maurice Gamelin, Alphonse Georges, Maxime Weygand
• Battle of Dunkirk (1940)
• German invasion of the Netherlands (1940)
• German invasion of Belgium (1940)
• Battle of Taranto (1940)
• Siege of Malta (1940)
• Attack on Mers-El-Kebir (1940)
• Battles of Narvik (1940)
• Battle of Fort Eben-Emael (1940)
• Battle of Gabon (1940)
• Battle of Dakar (1940)
• Battle of Arras (1940)
• Altmark Incident (1940)
• Battle of Sedan (1940)
• Action off Calabria (1940)
• Hundred Regiments Offensive (1940)
• Battle of Hannut (1940)
• Siege of Lille (1940)
• Battle of Raate Road (1940)
• Battle for The Hague (1940)
• Battle of Gembloux (1940)
• Siege of Calais (1940)
• Battle of the Lys (1940)
• Battle of Boulogne (1940)
• Battle of Montcornet (1940)
• Battle of the Afsluitdijk (1940)
• Battle of Maastricht (1940)
• Battle of Drøbak Sound (1940)
• 1939–1940 Winter Offensive (1940)
• Attack on Pearl Harbor (1941) — Husband E. Kimmel, Walter Short vs Isoroku Yamamoto, Chūichi Nagumo
• Siege of Leningrad (1941) — Georg von Küchler, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, C.G.E. Mannerheim vs Markian Popov, Kliment Voroshilov, Georgy Zhukov
• Battle of Moscow (1941)
• Battle of Crete (1941)
• Battle of Kiev (1941)
• Siege of Sevastopol (1941)
• Battle of Smolensk (1941)
• Battle of Białystok–Minsk (1941)
• First Battle of Kharkov (1941)
• Siege of Odesa 1941 (1941)
• Siege of Tobruk (1941)
• Battle of Rostov (1941)
• Battle of Hong Kong (1941)
• Defense of Brest Fortress (1941)
• Battle of Guam (1941)
• Battle of Uman (1941)
• Battle of Wake Island (1941)
• Battle of Brody (1941)
• Operation Sonnenblume (1941)
• Battle of Raseiniai (1941)
• Bombing of Belgrade in 1941 (1941)
• Battle of Changsha (1941)
• Yelnya Offensive (1941)
• Baltic Operation (1941)
• Battle of Keren (1941)
• Battle of Thermopylae (1941)
• Battle of Bardia (1941)
• First Battle of Sirte (1941)
• Battle of Bryansk (1941)
• Battle of the Duisburg Convoy (1941)
• Battle of Shanggao (1941)
• Raid on Souda Bay (1941)
• Battle of Stalingrad (1942) — Adolf Hitler, Franz Halder, Kurt Zeitzler vs Joseph Stalin, Georgy Zhukov, Aleksandr Vasilevsky
• Second Battle of El Alamein (1942)
• First Battle of El Alamein (1942)
• Dieppe Raid (1942)
• Battle of Singapore (1942)
• Second Battle of Kharkov (1942)
• Battle of Gazala (1942)
• Case Blue (1942)
• Battle of Madagascar (1942)
• Battle of Bir Hakeim (1942)
• Demyansk Pocket (1942)
• Battle of Savo Island (1942)
• Battles of Rzhev (1942)
• Battle of Alam el Halfa (1942)
• Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands (1942)
• Battle of Los Angeles (1942)
• Battle of the Eastern Solomons (1942)
• Bombing of Darwin (1942)
• Scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon (1942)
• Battle of Cape Esperance (1942)
• Operation Pedestal (1942)
• Battle of the Tenaru (1942)
• Battle of Voronezh (1942)
• Battle of Timor (1942)
• Battle of Bataan (1942)
• Battle for Velikiye Luki (1942)
• Battle of Edson's Ridge (1942)
• Battle of Corregidor (1942)
• Battle of Milne Bay (1942)
• Battle of Christmas Island (1942)
• Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo (1942)
• Battle of Rabaul (1942)
• Battle of Changsha (1942)
• Battle for Henderson Field (1942)
• Battle of Buna–Gona (1942)
• Toropets–Kholm Offensive (1942)
• Battle of Lyuban (1942)
• Battle of Balikpapan (1942)
• Battle of El Agheila (1942)
• Second Battle of the Java Sea (1942)
• Kholm Pocket (1942)
• Battle for Australia (1942)
• Naval Battle of Casablanca (1942)
• Battle of Ambon (1942)
• Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse (1942)
• Battle of Java (1942)
• Kozara Offensive (1942)
• Koli Point action (1942)
• Battle of Dutch Harbor (1942)
• Battle of Kursk (1943) — Adolf Hitler, Kurt Zeitzler, Günther von Kluge vs Joseph Stalin, Georgy Zhukov, Western Front
• Third Battle of Kharkov (1943)
• Battle of the Dnieper (1943)
• Battle of Tarawa (1943)
• Battle of Kasserine Passe (1943)
• Allied invasion of Italy (1943)
• Battle of Smolensk (1943)
• Battle of Prokhorovka (1943)
• Battle of the Bismarck Sea (1943)
• Battle of the Caucasus (1943)
• Operation Spark (1943)
• Battle of Kiev (1943)
• Battle of Neretva (1943)
• Battle of the Sutjeska (1943)
• Battle of Attu (1943)
• Bougainville Campaign (1943)
• Battle of Changde (1943)
• Battle of Makin (1943)
• Battle of Vella Gulf (1943)
• Operation Cartwheel (1943)
• Battle of the Mareth Line (1943)
• Battle of Sidi Bou Zid (1943)
• Donbass Strategic Offensive (August 1943) (1943)
• Kerch–Eltigen Operation (1943)
• Battle of Ortona (1943)
• Battle of Cape Gloucester (1943)
• Battle of Lenino (1943)
• Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive (1943)
• New Georgia Campaign (1943)
• Operation Fustian (1943)
• Battle of El Guettar (1943)
• Zhitomir–Berdichev Offensive (1943)
• Battle of Empress Augusta Bay (1943)
• Battle of Arawe (1943)
• Battle of West Hubei (1943)
• Voronezh–Kastornoye Offensive (1943)
• Normandy landings (1944) — Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, Bernard Montgomery, First Army vs Erwin Rommel, Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg, Leo von Schweppenburg
• Battle of the Bulge (1944)
• Operation Bagration (1944)
• Battle of Monte Cassino (1944)
• Liberation of Paris (1944)
• Battle of Aachen (1944)
• Siege of Budapest (1944)
• Battle of Anzio (1944)
• Battle of Peleliu (1944)
• Operation Ichi-Go (1944)
• Battle of Saipan (1944)
• Battle of Hürtgen Forest (1944)
• Belgrade offensive (1944)
• Battle of Guam (1944)
• Falaise Pocket (1944)
• Crimean Offensive (1944)
• Battle of the Scheldt (1944)
• Battle of Kohima (1944)
• Battle of Arnhem (1944)
• Operation Nordwind (1944)
• Battle of the Korsun–Cherkassy Pocket (1944)
• Battle for Caen (1944)
• Battle of Imphal (1944)
• Battle of Villers-Bocage (1944)
• Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive (1944)
• Battle of Debrecen (1944)
• Battle of Tinian (1944)
• Battle of Leyte (1944)
• Baltic Offensive (1944)
• Battle of Angaur (1944)
• Battle for Narva (1944)
• Battle of the Dukla Pass (1944)
• Courland Pocket (1944)
• Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive (1944)
• Budapest offensive (1944)
• Battle of Cherbourg (1944)
• Siege of Bastogne (1944)
• Battle of Eniwetok (1944)
• Dekemvriana (1944)
• Battle of Tali-Ihantala (1944)
• Operation Tonga (1944)
• Battle of Memel (1944)
• Battle of Kwajalein (1944)
• Brécourt Manor Assault (1944)
• Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket (1944)
• Battle of San Marino (1944)
• Battle of Carentan (1944)
• Battle for Brest (1944)
• Battle of Tannenberg Line (1944)
• Battle of Mindoro (1944)
• Battle of Ancona (1944)
• Battle of Ormoc Bay (1944)
• Battle of Ilomantsi (1944)
• Siege of Dunkirk (1944)
• Minsk Offensive (1944)
• Vilnius Offensive (1944)
• Riga Offensive (1944)
• Battle of Morotai (1944)
• Battle of Changsha (1944)
• Tallinn Offensive (1944)
• Battle of Metz (1944)
• Battle of Guilin–Liuzhou (1944)
• Battle of Berlin (1945) — Flag of the Soviet Union .svg &nbsp, Georgy Zhukov, Flag of the Soviet Union .svg &nbsp vs Flag of Germany .svg &nbsp, Adolf Hitler Death of Adolf Hitler, Flag of Germany .svg &nbsp
• Battle of Iwo Jima (1945)
• Battle of Okinawa (1945)
• Vistula–Oder Offensive (1945)
• Battle of Castle Itter (1945)
• Battle of Manila (1945)
• Operation Bodenplatte (1945)
• Battle of Königsberg (1945)
• Battle of the Seelow Heights (1945)
• Ruhr Pocket (1945)
• East Pomeranian Offensive (1945)
• Battle of Luzon (1945)
• Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina (1945)
• Battle of Ramree Island (1945)
• Battle of Halbe (1945)
• Colmar Pocket (1945)
• Siege of Breslau (1945)
• Upper Silesian Offensive (1945)
• Battle of Mindanao (1945)
• Battle of Nuremberg (1945)
• Lower Silesian Offensive (1945)
• Battle of Odžak (1945)
• Battle of Shumshu (1945)
• Battle of Tarakan (1945)
• Final operations in Slovenia (1945)
• Battle of North Borneo (1945)
• Battle of Bautzen (1945)
• Operation Teardrop (1945)
• Battle of Sagami Bay (1945)
• Battle of Remagen (1945)

Who lived through the World War II

Well-known people alive during 1939–1945:

• Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) — dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945, main instigator of World War II (1889–1945)
• Albert Einstein (1879–1955) — German-born theoretical physicist (1879–1955)
• Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) — president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor (1911–2004)
• Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) — President of South Africa and anti-apartheid activist (1918–2013)
• Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) — Indian independence activist (1869–1948)
• Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) — leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953
• Joe Biden (1942–) — 46th President of the United States (2021–2025)
• Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) — Spanish painter and sculptor (1881–1973)
• Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) — English comic actor and filmmaker (1889–1977)
• Winston Churchill (1874–1965) — British statesman, soldier and writer (1874–1965)
• Elizabeth II (1926–2022) — Queen of the United Kingdom from 1952 to 2022 (1926–2022)
• John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) — president of the United States from 1961 to 1963 (1917–1963)
• Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) — Spanish artist (1904–1989)
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) — president of the United States from 1933 to 1945 (1882–1945)
• Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) — American Baptist minister and civil rights leader (1929–1968)
• Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) — American actress and model (1926–1962)
• Pope Francis (1936–2025) — 266th pope of the Catholic Church from 2013 to 2025 (1936–2025)
• Mao Zedong (1893–1976) — 1st chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and founder of the People's Republic of China (1893–1976)
• Che Guevara (1928–1967) — Argentine Marxist revolutionary (1928–1967)
• Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970) — French general and statesman (1890–1970)
• Neil Armstrong (1930–2012) — American astronaut and lunar explorer (1930–2012)
• Elvis Presley (1935–1977) — American singer and actor (1935–1977)
• Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) — Serbian-American engineer and inventor (1856–1943)
• Walt Disney (1901–1966) — American animator, producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor and entrepreneur, founder of The Walt Disney Company (1901–1966)
• George Orwell (1903–1950) — British writer and journalist (1903–1950)

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