Premise: World War II ( often abbreviated to WWII or WW2 ) , also known as the Second World War , was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945 , although related conflicts began earlier . It involved the vast majority of the world 's countries -- including all of the great powers -- eventually forming two opposing military alliances : the Allies and the Axis . A world war , as it is commonly understood , is a large-scale war involving many of the countries of the world or many of the most powerful and populous ones . While a variety of global conflicts have been subjectively deemed ` world wars , ' the term is only widely and generally accepted as it is applied to the two major international conflicts that occurred during the twentieth century : World War I ( 1914 -- 1918 ) and World War II ( 1939 -- 1945 ) respectively .
Hypothesis: World War II involved a country.
Label: ENTAILMENT