This map shows the situation in 1940 the areas in pink were under Japanese control. Tensions escalated into full-scale war by 1937. Japan established a puppet state called Manchukuo in Manchuria in 1932 and dispatched troops to the area. China was politically chaotic in the early 1930s, and Japan saw opportunities for territorial expansion. But Japan and China had already been at war for several years at that point. People often describe World War II as beginning in September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. The Axis (and the Soviet Union) attacks 4) Japan and China were already at war in 1937 When Hitler began forcefully annexing territory to his east in 1938, it provoked a political crisis and, a year later, the start of World War II. Adolf Hitler exploited German resentment of the war’s outcome to aid his rise to power. They dismembered the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and shrank the borders of Germany, creating several new countries in Central Europe. Meeting in Paris in 1919, at the end of World War I, the victorious Allies redrew the map of Europe. It was only a matter of time before the gap in economic output provided a decisive advantage on the battlefield.ģ) After World War I, the allies took territory away from Germany Fluteflute Troops needed a constant supply of new tanks, guns, airplanes, ships, bombs, and other manufactured goods. And that was crucial because World War II was the most mechanized war in history up to that point. Once the United States and the Soviet Union entered on the Allied side of the war in 1941, the combined economic output of the Allies was approximately twice that of the Axis powers. But the most important factor was economics. The full YouTube animation, available here is even more detailed, with a frame for each day of the war.Ģ) The Allied countries had larger economies, a crucial factor in their triumph Tyson Whiting, data courtesy of Mark HarrisonĪ lot of factors contributed to the ultimate victory of the Allies over the Axis powers. It shows Japanese conquests in the Pacific, German gains in Europe, and then the slow but inexorable Allied effort to recapture the lost territory. This amazingly detailed animated map, by YouTube user Emperor Tigerstar, provides a global view of the conflict. World War II was the biggest conflict in world history, with major battles on three continents and some of the largest naval engagements in history. Here are 42 maps that explain the conflict - how it started, why the Allies won, and how it has shaped the modern world.īackground 1) World War II, animated EmperorTigerstar Yet the war also spurred rapid technological development, hastened the end of colonialism, and laid the foundation for institutions like the United Nations and the European Union. World War II was a great tragedy, claiming 60 million lives and throwing millions more into turmoil.

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