WW2

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## WW2

* Part 1
* Part 2

### Length

Part 1: 13:45
Part 2: 15:34

### Historical Event

World War II

Belligerents| **Allied powers:****The Big Three:** United Kingdom (from Sept 1939) Soviet Union (from June 1941) United States (from Dec 1941)

**Allied combatants with governments-in-exile:*** Poland
* Czechoslovakia
* Norway
* The Netherlands
* Belgium
* Luxembourg
* Free France
* Ethiopia
* Greece
* Yugoslavia
* The Philippines

**Other Allied combatant states:*** China
* British Raj
* Canada
* Australia
* New Zealand
* South Africa
* Brazil
* Mongolia
* Mexico

**Co-belligerent:*** Finland (November 1939- March 1940, during the Winter War)

 **Former Axis powers:** Italy (from Sept 1943) Romania (from Aug 1944) Bulgaria (from Sept 1944)* Finland (from Sept 1944)

**Other Axis powers:*** Hungary
* Romania
* Slovak Republic
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Finland (1941-1944)
* Thailand

**Co-belligerent:*** Soviet Union (September 1940- June 1941)

Commanders| **Main Allied leaders:*** Joseph Stalin
* Franklin D. Roosevelt
* Winston Churchill
* Chiang Kai-shek
* Mao Zedong
* Emperor Hirohito
* Tojo Hideki
* King Victor Emmanuel III
* Benito Mussolini

**World War II**, better known as **WW2**, is a two-part series created by OverSimplified that covers the events that caused and happened during World War II.

## Summary

### Part 1

Background: In 1902, a man named Benito Mussolini moved to Switzerland from Italy to avoid military service. In Switzerland, Mussolini wrote a newspaper, agreeing to take down monarchs around Europe for socialism. Because of that, Mussolini traveled back and forth to Switzerland and Italy multiple times. After going through several jobs, Mussolini returned as a socialist supporter and made speeches, making him famous. Mussolini was arrested due to his rioting after Italy colonized Libya. A global conflict occurred in Europe, and Mussolini soon thought that the war could bring socialism to power in Europe. Mussolini became a supporter of the war, which caused his Socialist Party to kick him out. Mussolini decided to create a new ideology called "fascismo" or, in English, "fascism."

After winning the First World War, Italy only got some of the lands it expected. The Italian economy was weak, and the government was terrible, giving Mussolini the chance to rise to power as prime minister. He became "*Il Duce*" (the leader) of Italy.

Meanwhile, in Germany, multiple events led another fascist dictator, Adolf Hitler, to rise to power as chancellor and *Fuehrer* (leader). Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy became allies as they had (mostly) the same ideas and the same enemies.

Meanwhile, in East Asia, Japan invaded China, starting WW2 in Asia. Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles as he increased the size of his army, air force, and navy. Also, he remilitarized the Rhineland and decided that he would need to control the world to increase the Aryan population. France and the United Kingdom let Germany and Italy have territory from Africa and Europe. Italy and Germany then formed the Pact of Steel. Hitler then signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union to avoid a two-front war. In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, starting World War II in Europe. Days later, the UK and France declared war on Germany. Two weeks later, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, but the UK and France did not declare war on the USSR. Germany invaded Denmark and Norway to protect its iron trade with Sweden, while the Soviet Union invaded Finland soon after. In the United Kingdom, Chamberlain resigned, and Winston Churchill became the next Prime Minister. In the meantime, Germany blitzkrieged through the Low Countries to get around France's defenses. Those countries fell to the Germans, and Hitler thought that the United Kingdom would surrender. However, he was wrong, turning France into a puppet state and allowing Italy to enter the war by declaring war on the UK. Germany's air force lost to the RAF in the Battle of Britain, causing Hitler to abandon a planned invasion of the British Isles.

### Part 2

Germany, Italy, and Japan formed the Tripartite Pact in 1940 (the Soviets also tried to join the Axis alliance, but the Nazis didn't allow this to happen, for reasons that would become clear the next year). In the meantime, the Soviet Union invaded and annexed several countries in Eastern Europe- Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Bessarabia (Moldova). Several former French colonies joined the Free French Resistance, and Italy attacked several British colonies with some success and defeats. When Greece defeated Italy, Hitler persuaded and forced several more countries to join the Tripartite Pact. In 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt won an election in the United States, which aided the United Kingdom. Germany successfully persuaded Bulgaria to join the Tripartite Pact and invade Yugoslavia. Greece then fell to the joint German-Italian invasion. The Axis Powers pushed back the UK in North Africa. In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, in a campaign that Hitler code-named Operation Barbarossa.

The Germans captured millions of Soviets and occupied much of their land. However, the winter pushed the Nazis back. Japan attacked a US base, Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, bringing the US into the war. Japan rapidly occupied lots of land in Asia. After winter, Hitler failed to take the Caucasus, which was rich in oil. Therefore, the Soviet Union pushed back the Nazis. The Allies took over North Africa, invaded Southern Italy, and defeated the Japanese at several battles, including Midway. Italy's Fascist Party removed Mussolini from power, and Italy surrendered. Hitler took over Northern Italy after its surrender and installed Mussolini as a puppet leader. In June 1944, the Allies took control of beaches in France. A US army led by Douglas MacArthur launched a liberation of the Philippines. At the same time, US forces invaded islands close to Japan. Hitler then failed to use Blitzkrieg again against the Allies in the Battle of the Bulge. All Axis forces were pushed back by Allied forces. The Allies reached Berlin, and Hitler committed suicide in his bunker. Finally, Nazi Germany surrendered, ending the war in Europe on May 8. In July 1945, the United States successfully tested the first atomic bomb in New Mexico. Hence, the US dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in August. On September 2, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allies, finally ending WW2. Afterward, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in several wars in a colder conflict for the next 50 years.

## Trivia

* WW2 (Part 1) is OverSimplified's most popular video.
* The series was hinted as another significant war by OverSimplified at the end of the WW1 series.
* The first part of the World War 2 series is the first video uploaded in 2018 by OverSimplified.
* WW2 is the first OverSimplified content to be sponsored.
* Both parts are the seventh and eighth videos to get uploaded to the OverSimplified channel.
* The WW2 series is the third series to get uploaded to the OverSimplified channel.

## Errors

* At timestamp 7:27 in Part 1, Eritrea is misspelled as "Eritria."
* At the beginning of Part Two of the series, what should be Canada's flag is the United States' flag.
	+ However, this error is noted in the video.
* When OverSimplified says, "Italy finally declared war on the Allies, making Britain's situation even worse," (12:00 in Part 1), Italy was shown as pre-WW1 Italy.
* At timestamp 0:36-0:39 in part 2, some of the eastern parts of the Soviet Union are missing.
* There are no English subtitles in part 2.

## References

Australia •  Belgium • Republic of China •  Czechoslovakia •  Denmark • Ethiopia •  France • Greece • Luxembourg • Mexico • The Netherlands •  Norway • The Philippines • Poland •  Soviet Union •  United Kingdom •  United States • Yugoslavia

**Axis Powers**
 Nazi Germany •  Kingdom of Italy •  Empire of Japan •  Kingdom of Hungary •  Kingdom of Romania •  Kingdom of Bulgaria • Croatia • Finland • Thailand