World War II/Infobox

World War II
	; Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the Battle of Wanjialing, Australian 25-pounder guns during the First Battle of El Alamein, German Stuka dive bombers on the Eastern Front winter 1943–1944, US naval force in the Lingayen Gulf, Wilhelm Keitel signing the German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad
Date	1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945 (6 years, 1 day)
Location	Europe, Pacific, Atlantic, South-East Asia, China, Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa, briefly North and South America
Result	Allied victory; Dissolution of the Third Reich; Creation of the United Nations; ; Emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as superpowers; ; Beginning of the Cold War (more...);
Belligerents
Allies; Soviet Union (1941–45); United States (1941–45); United Kingdom; China (at war 1937–45); France; Poland; Canada; Australia; New Zealand; South Africa; Newfoundland; Denmark (1940–45); Yugoslavia (1941–45); Greece (1940–45); Norway (1940–45); Netherlands (1940–45); Belgium (1940–45); Czechoslovakia ; Brazil (1942–45); Mexico (1942–45); ...and others Client and puppet states; Philippines (1941–45); Mongolia (1941–45); ...and others	Axis; Germany; Japan (at war 1937–45); Italy (1940–43); Hungary (1940–45); Romania (1941–44); Bulgaria (1941–44); Co-belligerents; Finland (1941–44); Thailand (1942–45); Iraq (1941); Client and puppet states; Manchukuo; Croatia (1941–45); Slovakia; ...and others
Commanders and leaders
Allied leaders; Joseph Stalin; Franklin D. Roosevelt; Winston Churchill; Chiang Kai-shek; Charles De Gaulle; Ignacy Mościcki; William Lyon Mackenzie King; Peter Fraser; Jan Smuts; Humphrey T. Walwyn; Thorvald Stauning; Josip Broz Tito; Alexander Papagos; Johan Nygaardsvold; Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy; Hubert Pierlot; Edvard Beneš; Getúlio Vargas; Manuel Ávila Camacho; Manuel L. Quezon; Gonchigiin Bumtsend; ...and others	Axis leaders; Adolf Hitler; Hirohito; Benito Mussolini; Miklós Horthy; Ion Antonescu; Bogdan Filov; Risto Ryti; Plaek Phibunsongkhram; Rashid Ali al-Gaylani; Zhang Jinghui; Ante Pavelić; Risto Ryti; ...and others
Casualties and losses
Military dead:; Over 16,000,000; Civilian dead:; Over 45,000,000; Total dead:; Over 61,000,000 (1937–45); ...further details	Military dead:; Over 8,000,000; Civilian dead:; Over 4,000,000; Total dead:; Over 12,000,000 (1937–45); ...further details

References

Footnotes

^ 23 August 1939, the USSR and Germany sign non-aggression pact, secretly dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. USSR armistice with Japan 16 September 1939; invades Poland 17 September 1939; attacks Finland 30 September 1939; forcibly incorporates Baltic States June 1940; takes eastern Romania 4 July 1940. 22 June 1941, USSR is invaded by European Axis; USSR aligns with countries fighting Axis.
^ After the fall of the Third Republic in 1940, the de facto government was the Vichy Regime. It conducted pro-Axis policies until November 1942 while remaining formally neutral. The Free French Forces, based out of London, were recognized by all Allies as the official government in September 1944.

[1] 23 August 1939, the USSR and Germany sign non-aggression pact, secretly dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. USSR armistice with Japan 16 September 1939; invades Poland 17 September 1939; attacks Finland 30 September 1939; forcibly incorporates Baltic States June 1940; takes eastern Romania 4 July 1940. 22 June 1941, USSR is invaded by European Axis; USSR aligns with countries fighting Axis.

[2] After the fall of the Third Republic in 1940, the de facto government was the Vichy Regime. It conducted pro-Axis policies until November 1942 while remaining formally neutral. The Free French Forces, based out of London, were recognized by all Allies as the official government in September 1944.

[nb 1]

[nb 2]