World War II

The Second World War was the most extensive and expensive conflict in human history. Its magnitude was really worldwide, impacting nearly every region of the earth. The political geography of the planet underwent a transformation at its conclusion. While one might overstate the significance of the 1945 victory, the transformation from the pre-war era characterized by economic turmoil, European imperialism, and aggressive nationalism to the post-war period marked by economic prosperity, decolonization, and the ideological conflict of the Cold War was indeed profound.

It is important to recall that initially, no one could ascertain the trajectory of the conflict or predict the extent of the ensuing carnage and violence. Various areas of conflict converged, akin to distinct flames merging into a singular inferno: the European dispute regarding Germany's attempts to dismantle the restrictions imposed following its defeat in World War I; the tensions instigated by an expansionist and ambitious Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini, who aspired to resurrect the Roman Empire; the war in Asia waged by Imperial Japan, intent on asserting the rights of non-white peoples to partake in imperialism; and in western Asia, an alliance of anti-Communist states surrounding Hitler's Germany, which initiated a campaign against the nascent Soviet regime in 1941.