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The Bengal famine of 1943 is one amongst the several Famines that occurred in British administered undivided Bengal (now independent Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal) in 1943. It is estimated that 1.5-3 million people died from starvation, malnutrition during the famine. A famine is an phenomenon in which a large percentage of the population of a region or country are undernourished and death by starvation becomes increasingly common. ...
Bengal (Bengali: বঙà§à¦— Bôngo, বাংলা Bangla, বঙà§à¦—দেশ Bôngodesh or বাংলাদেশ Bangladesh), is a historical and geographical region in the northeast of South Asia. ...
, West Bengal (Bengali: পশà§à¦šà¦¿à¦®à¦¬à¦™à§à¦— Poshchimbôŋgo) is a state in eastern India. ...
A female child during the Nigerian-Biafran war of the late 1960s, shown suffering the effects of severe hunger and malnutrition. ...
Percentage of population affected by malnutrition by country, according to United Nations statistics. ...
A famine is a social and economic crisis that is commonly accompanied by widespread malnutrition, starvation, epidemic and increased mortality. ...
Possible Causes
The United Kingdom had suffered a disastrous defeat at Singapore in 1942 against the Japanese military, which then proceeded to conquer Burma from the British in the same year. Burma was the world's largest exporter of rice in the inter-war period, the British having encouraged production by Burmese smallholders, which resulted a virtual monoculture in the Irrawady delta and Arakan [1]. By 1940 15% of India's rice overall came from Burma, whilst in Bengal the proportion was slightly higher given the province's proximity to Burma [2].
It seems unlikely, however, that these imports can have amounted to more than 20% of Bengal's consumption, and this alone is insufficient to account for the famine, although it ensured that there were fewer reserves to fall back on. British authorities feared a subsequent Japanese invasion of British India proper by way of Bengal (see British Raj), and emergency measures were introduced to stockpile food for British soldiers and prevent access to supplies by the Japanese in case of an invasion. The flag of British India British India, circa 1860 The British Raj (Raj in Hindi meaning Rule; from Sanskrit Rajya) was the British rule between 1858 and 1947 of the Indian Subcontinent, which included the present-day India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Burma (Myanmar), whereby these lands were under the colonial...
A 'scorched earth' policy was implemented in the Chittagong region, nearest the Burmese border, whilst large amounts of rice were exported to the Middle East to feed British troops, and to Ceylon, which had been heavily dependent on Burmese rice before the war, and which was the headquarters of South East Asia Command. [citation needed] This article is about Chittagong as a city in Bangladesh. ...
South East Asia Command (SEAC) was the body set up to be in overall charge of Allied operations in the South-East Asian Theatre during World War II. The initial supreme commander of the theatre was General Sir Archibald Wavell, initially as head of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command...
On the 16th October 1942 the whole east coast of Bengal and Orissa was hit by a cyclone. A huge area of rice cultivation up to forty miles inland was flooded, causing the autumn crop in these areas to fail. This meant that the peasantry had to eat their surplus, and the seed that should have been planted in the winter of 1942-3 had been consumed by the time the hot weather began in May 1943. [3].
This was exacerbated by exports of food and appropriation of arable land. However, Amartya Sen holds the view that there was no overall shortage of rice in Bengal in 1943: availability was actually slightly higher than in 1941, when there was no famine [4]. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
It was partly this which conditioned the sluggish official response to the disaster, as there had been no serious crop failures and hence the famine was unexpected. Its root causes, Sen argues, lay in rumours of shortage which caused hoarding, and rapid price inflation caused by war-time demands which made rice stocks an excellent investment (prices had already doubled over the previous year).
Whilst landowning peasants who actually grew rice, together with those employed in defence-related industries in urban areas and at the docks saw their wages rise, this led to a disastrous shift in the exchange entitlements of groups such as landless labourers, fishermen, barbers, paddy huskers and other groups who found the real value of their wages had been slashed by two-thirds since 1940. Quite simply, although Bengal had enough rice and other grains to feed itself, millions of people were suddenly too poor to buy it.[5]
The Failed Response Wartime pressures, the failure to implement the 'famine code' (which would have ensured a minimum level of relief in Bengal), together with the corruption of the Bengal Provincial Government of the time and the laziness and incompetence of many of the Indian Civil Service in the province, meant that the measures for famine relief which were normally implemented in peacetime were never employed.[6]
As the situation spiralled out of control, Lord Mountbatten, the British commander in Southeast Asia, and Lord Wavell, the Viceroy of India at the time, both endeavoured to draw attention to and provide food aid to citizens in the famine-struck regions, but their efforts were hampered by the indifference of the War Cabinet and Leo Amery, the Secretary of State for India, in the face of the Quit India movement and wartime demands. Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (June 25, 1900 – August 27, 1979) was a British admiral and statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. ...
Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell (May 5, 1883 - May 24, 1950) was a British General and the commander of British Army forces in the Middle East during World War II. He led British forces to victory over the Italians, only to be defeated by the German army. ...
The Governor-General of India (or Governor-General and Viceroy of India) was the head of the British administration in India. ...
Leopold Charles Maurice (or Moritz) Stennett Amery (22 November 1873 - 16 September 1955), was a British statesman and Conservative politician. ...
The Quit India Movement (Bharat chhodo) was a call for immediate independence of India from British rule. ...
Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of Britain at the time of the famine and, while the Bengal Famine occurred under his watch, his own role in the disaster, and even the extent of his knowledge about the crisis in Bengal, remain a matter of some dispute. (e.g. Sen, 1984.) Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. ...
The Bengal Government failed to prevent rice exports, and made little attempt to import surpluses from elsewhere in India, or to buy up stocks from speculators to redistribute to the starving. Overall, as Sen shows, the authorities failed to understand that the famine was not caused by an overall food shortage, and that the distribution of food was not just a matter of railway capacity, but of providing free famine relief on a massive scale: "The Raj was, in fact, fairly right in its estimation of overall food availability, but disastrously wrong in its theory of Famines".[7] The famine ended when the government in London agreed to import 1,000,000 tons of grain to Bengal, reducing food prices.[8]
The film Ashani Sanket suggests that the famine was partly caused by hoarding. Before the famine, rumors were circulating that the price of rice would increase. Many Bengalis rushed to buy or seize as much rice as possible. As a result, some Bengalis had more rice than others, but most had little or none at all. Those who had any rice fiercely guarded what little they possessed.
Famines and democracies Citing the Bengal Famine and other examples from the world, Amartya Sen argues that famines do not occur in functioning democracies. Nobel Laureate Kenneth Arrow provides a discussion of this argument [1] A famine is a social and economic crisis that is commonly accompanied by widespread malnutrition, starvation, epidemic and increased mortality. ...
Kenneth Joseph Arrow (born August 23, 1921) is an American economist, joint winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics with John Hicks in 1972, and the youngest person ever to receive this award, at 51. ...
The Bengal Famine may be placed in the context of previous famines in British India. During the British rule in India there were approximately 25 major famines spread through states such as Tamil Nadu in South India, Bihar in the north, and Bengal in the east; altogether, between 30 and 40 million Indians were the victims of famines in the latter half of the 19th century (Bhatia 1985). Tamil Nadu (தமிழ் நாடு, Land of the Tamils) is a state at the southern tip of India. ...
South India is a linguistic-cultural region of India that comprises the four states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the two Union Territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry, whose inhabitants are collectively referred to as South Indians. ...
, Bihar (Hindi: बिहार, Urdu: بÛار, IPA: , ) is a state of the Indian union situated in the eastern part of the country. ...
Bengal (Bengali: বঙà§à¦— Bôngo, বাংলা Bangla, বঙà§à¦—দেশ Bôngodesh or বাংলাদেশ Bangladesh), is a historical and geographical region in the northeast of South Asia. ...
Though malnutrition and hunger remain widespread in India, there have been no famines since the end of the British rule in 1947 and the establishment of a democratic government. There has been a recurrent threat of famine in Bangladesh[2][3], which unlike India has spent a considerable period of its existence under military rule. Possibly over a million people died in the Bangladesh famine of 1974, from July 1974 to January 1975, although the Bangladesh government claimed only 26,000 people died. ...
The increase in the food available to the population is also reflected in the fact that in 50 years of British rule (1891 to 1941) the population grew by 35% (from 287 million to 389 million) whereas in the 50 years of democratic rule from 1951 to 2001 the population grew by 183% (from 363 million to 1,023 million) [4]. During this period there have been no famines, though the population has almost tripled. It should be noted that between 1950 and 1984, as the Green Revolution transformed agriculture around the globe, world grain production increased by 250%.[5] Year 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...
For the movie, see 1941 (film). ...
The Green Revolution is a term used to describe the transformation of agriculture in many developing nations that led to significant increases in agricultural production between the 1940s and 1960s. ...
"Food Availability Decline" or "Man Made" | Year | Rice production
(in million of tons) | | 1938 | 8.474 | | 1939 | 7.922 | | 1940 | 8.223 | | 1941 | 6.768 | | 1942 | 9.296 | | 1943 | 7.628 | Severe food shortages were worsened by the Second World War, with the British administration of India exporting foods to Allied soldiers. The shortage of rice forced rice prices up, and wartime inflation compounded the problem. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...
In general, allies are people or groups that have joined an alliance and are working together to achieve some common purpose. ...
In economics and business, the price is the assigned numerical monetary value of a good, service or asset. ...
The civil administration did not intervene to control the price of rice, and so the price of rice exceeded the means of ordinary people. People migrated to the cities to find food and employment; finding neither, they starved.
Amartya Sen has cast doubt on the idea that the rice shortage was due to a fall in production. He quotes official records for rice production in Bengal in the years leading up to 1943 as reported in the table to the right. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
The 1943 yield, while low, was not in itself outside the normal spectrum of recorded variation, and other factors beyond simple crop failure may thus be invoked as a causal mechanism.
Diseased rice vs. Total Rice Yield It has been argued that the famine was primarily due to an epidemic of brown spot disease Cochliobolus miyabeanus former: Helminthosporium oryzae), affecting the crop. This argument, based on data collected by S. Y. Padmanabhan, has been developed by the historian Mark Tauger. Cochliobolus miyabeanus is a fungus that causes brown spot disease in rice. ...
In the rice growing season of 1942, weather conditions were exactly right to encourage an epidemic of the rice disease brown spot following a cyclone and flooding. The outbreak of the disease caused a variation in the 1942 crop ranging from a 236.6% gain to a 90% crop loss in Bankura and Chinsurah according to Padmanabhan. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...
1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ...
Tauger argues that Sen's analysis based economic entitlement overlooks the role of food shortage. Tauger argues that the yield in 1942 was low (based on Padmanabhan's data) causing a serious food shortage in Bengal and was the most important cause of the famine. Others dispute this argument, primarily based on the fact that Padmanabhan's data is yield per acre for different varieties, and from this data it is impossible to estimate total production without knowing the total acreage of the different varieties.
The official famine inquiry commission reporting on the Bengal Famine of 1943 put its death toll at about 1.5 million Indians. Source : Famine Inquiry Commission, India (1945a),pp. 109-10.
Years later in 1974, W.R. Aykroyd who was a member of the Famine inquiry commission and was primarily responsible for the estimation, conceded that the figures were an underestimate. Quote by W.R. Aykroyd "I now think it (the death toll) was an under-estimate, especially in that it took little account of roadside deaths".[9]
The Famine in Bengali culture Artists, novelists and film-makers have tried to capture the enormity of the famine in their works. The renowned Bengali painter Zainul Abedin was one of the early documentarians of the famine, with his sketches of the dead and dying. Zainul Abedin (Bangla: জয়নà§à¦² আবেদিন) (1914-1976) was a artist from Bangladesh. ...
The novelist Bibhuti Bhusan Bandyopadhhay penned his novel Ashani Sanket with the famine serving as both backdrop and protagonist. The novel was adapted in 1973 by Satyajit Ray into an award-winning film, also titled Ashani Sanket. Mrinal Sen also made a film about the famine, titled Akaler Shondhaney (In Search of Famine). Bibhutibhushan Bandhopadhyay Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay (Bengali: Bibhutibhushon Bôndopaddhae) was a Bengali novelist and writer. ...
(Bengali: সতà§à¦¯à¦œà¦¿à¦¤à§ রায় Shottojit Rae) (May 2, 1921–April 23, 1992) was an Indian filmmaker who is widely regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. ...
Ashani Sanket (1973; English title: Distant Thunder) is a Bengali-language film by the renowned Indian director Satyajit Ray. ...
Mrinal Sen (Bangla: মৄণাল সেন) is a Bengali Indian filmmaker. ...
See Also In the past, droughts have periodically led to major Indian famines [1] . The prospect of a devastating famine every few years was inherent in Indias ecology [2] From the earliest endeavours of the British East India Company on the Subcontinent but especially since 1857—the year of the first...
An incomplete list of major famines, ordered by date: 14th century Great Famine of 1315-1317, Europe 19th century Tenpo famine (1830s Japan) Highland Potato Famine (1846 - 1857) (Scotland) Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849) 20th century Russian famine of 1921 Holodomor (Ukraine, 1932–1934) 1984 - 1985 famine in Ethiopia Bengal...
References - ^ Nicholas Tarling (Ed.) The Cambridge History of SouthEast Asia Vol.II Part 1 pp139-40
- ^ C.A. Bayly & T. Harper Forgotten Armies. The Fall of British Asia 1941-45 (London: Allen Lane) 2004 p284
- ^ Paul Greenough Prosperity and Misery in Modern Bengal: the famine of 1943-44 (New Delhi) 1982 p150; Bayly & Harper Forgotten Armies p285
- ^ Amartya Sen Poverty and Famines. An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation (Oxford) 1981 pp58-9
- ^ Sen Poverty and Famines pp70-78
- ^ Sen Poverty and Famines pp78-9
- ^ Sen Poverty and Famines pp80-83
- ^ Lawrence James, Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India
- ^ Sen Poverty and Famines p52
- Bhatia, B.M. (1985) Famines in India: A study in Some Aspects of the Economic History of India with Special Reference to Food Problem, Delhi: Konark Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
- Padmanabhan, S.Y. The Great Bengal Famine. Annual Review of Phytopathology, 11:11-24, 1973
- Sen, A. Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation, 1981, Oxford University Press. ISBN# 0198284632
- Tauger, M. 2003. Entitlement, Shortage and the 1943 Bengal Famine: Another Look. The Journal of Peasant Studies 31:45 - 72
| v • d • e World War II Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...
| | Western Europe · Eastern Europe · China · Africa · Mediterranean · Asia and the Pacific · Atlantic During World War II, the Western Front was the theater of fighting west of Germany, encompassing the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Denmark. ...
Combatants Soviet Union,[1] Poland, Tannu Tuva (until 1944 incorporation with USSR), Mongolia Germany,[2] Italy (to 1943), Romania (to 1944), Finland (to 1944), Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Spain (to 1943, unofficial) Commanders Joseph Stalin, Aleksei Antonov, Ivan Konev, Rodion Malinovsky, Ivan Bagramyan, Kirill Meretskov, Ivan Petrov, Alexander Rodimtsev, Konstantin Rokossovsky...
219. ...
The Mediterranean region. ...
Combatants China Allies (entered 1941): United States United Kingdom Australia Free France Netherlands New Zealand Canada Soviet Union (1945) Japan Germany (from 1941) Manchukuo Thailand (from 1942) Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Franklin D. Roosevelt Winston Churchill John Curtin Charles de Gaulle Hirohito Hideki Tojo Kuniaki Koiso Kantaro Suzuki Campaigns and...
Combatants Royal Navy Royal Canadian Navy United States Navy (1941–5) Kriegsmarine Regia Marina (1940–3) Commanders Sir Percy Noble Sir Max K. Horton Percy W. Nelles Leonard W. Murray Ernest J. King Erich Raeder Karl Dönitz Casualties 30,248 merchant sailors 3,500 merchant vessels 175 warships 28...
| | Major participants This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
| Timeline This is a timeline of events that stretched over the period of World War II. // 1: The Invasion of Poland begins at 4:30 a. ...
| Aspects | To 1945 unless otherwise indicated.
Principal co-belligerents in italics. | Prelude
• Causes
• in Asia
• Japanese invasion of China
• in Europe This article is concerned with the events that preceded World War II in Asia. ...
Combatants China Japan Commanders Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Cheng, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren, Xue Yue, Bai Chongxi, Mao Zedong, Peng Dehuai Hirohito, Hideki Tojo, Kotohito Kanin, Matsui Iwane, Hajime Sugiyama, Shunroku Hata, Toshizo Nishio, Yasuji Okamura, Umezu Yoshijiro, Fumimaro Konoe Strength 58,600,000 4,100,000...
In Europe, the origins of the war are closely tied to the rise of fascism, especially in Nazi Germany. ...
1939
• Invasion of Poland
• Phoney War
• Soviet invasion of Finland
• Battle of the Atlantic3 Combatants Poland Germany, Slovakia, Soviet Union Commanders Edward Rydz-ÅšmigÅ‚y Fedor von Bock (Army Group North), Gerd von Rundstedt (Army Group South), Mikhail Kovalov (Belorussian Front), Semyon Timoshenko (Ukrainian Front), Ferdinand ÄŒatloÅ¡ (Field Army Bernolak) Strength 39 divisions, 16 brigades, 4,300 guns, 880 tanks, 400 aircraft Total: 950...
British Ministry of Home Security Poster of a type that was common during the Phoney War The Phoney War[1] was a phase in early World War II marked by few military operations in Continental Europe, in the months following the German invasion of Poland and preceding the Battle of...
Combatants Finland Soviet Union Commanders Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Kliment Voroshilov, later Semyon Timoshenko Strength 250,000 men 30 tanks 130 aircraft[1][2] 1,000,000 men 3,000 tanks 3,800 aircraft[3][4] Casualties 26,662 dead 39,886 wounded 1,000 captured[5] 126,875 dead...
Combatants Royal Navy Royal Canadian Navy United States Navy (1941–5) Kriegsmarine Regia Marina (1940–3) Commanders Sir Percy Noble Sir Max K. Horton Percy W. Nelles Leonard W. Murray Ernest J. King Erich Raeder Karl Dönitz Casualties 30,248 merchant sailors 3,500 merchant vessels 175 warships 28...
1940
• Denmark and Norway
• Battle of France
• Battle of Britain
• Soviet invasion of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
• Soviet invasion of Bessarabia and Bukovina
• Japanese invasion of Indochina
• Italian invasion of Greece Combatants Germany Denmark Norway Operation Weserübung was the German codename for Nazi Germanys assault on Denmark and Norway during World War II and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign. ...
Combatants France United Kingdom Canada Czechoslovakia Poland Belgium Netherlands Luxembourg Germany Italy Commanders Maurice Gamelin, Maxime Weygand (French) Lord Gort (British Expeditionary Force) Leopold III (Belgian) H.G. Winkelman (Dutch) Gerd von Rundstedt (Army Group A) Fedor von Bock (Army Group B) Wilhelm von Leeb (Army Group C) H.R...
Combatants United Kingdom Including combatants from:[1] Poland New Zealand Canada Czechoslovakia Belgium Australia South Africa France Ireland United States Jamaica Palestine Rhodesia Germany Including combatants from Italy Commanders Hugh Dowding Hermann Göring Strength 754 single-seat fighters 149 two-seat fighters 560 bombers 500 coastal 1,963 total...
The occupation of Baltic states generally refers to the occupation of the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) by the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany during World War II, and to the Soviet presence in the Baltics from 1945 until the re-establishment of their independence. ...
On June 28, 1940 Bessarabia and northern Bukovina were occupied by the Soviet Union. ...
Combatants Imperial Japanese Army, Japan French Army, France Commanders Lt. ...
Combatants Italy Greece Commanders Sebastiano Visconti Prasca Ubaldo Soddu Ugo Cavallero Giovanni Messe Alexander Papagos Strength 529,000 men Under 300,000 men Casualties 13,755 dead, 50,874 wounded, 25,067 missing, 12,368 incapacitated by frostbites, ca. ...
1941
• East Africa
• Invasion of Yugoslav republics
• German invasion of the USSR
• Iraq, Syria-Lebanon, Iran
• Siege of Leningrad
• Japan attacks the USA Combatants United Kingdom Sudan British Somaliland British East Africa British India Gold Coast Nigeria N. Rhodesia S. Rhodesia Union of S. Africa Free France Belgian Congo Ethiopian rebels Italy Italian East Africa Commanders Archibald Wavell William Platt Alan Cunningham Duke of Aosta Guglielmo Nasi Luigi Frusci Pietro Gazzera Carlo De...
“April War†redirects here. ...
Combatants Germany, Romania, Finland, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia Soviet Union Commanders Adolf Hitler Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb Fedor von Bock Gerd von Rundstedt C.G.E. Mannerheim Giovanni Messe, CSIR Italo Gariboldi, ARMIR Joseph Stalin Kliment Voroshilov Semyon Timoshenko Fyodor Kuznetsov Dmitry Pavlov Ivan Tyulenev Ivan Konev Semyon Budyonny Georgy Zhukov...
The Middle East Campaign was a part of the Middle East Theatre of World War II. // This campaign included: The British police actions in Palestine. ...
Combatants Germany Spanish Blue Division Soviet Union Commanders Wilhelm von Leeb Georg von Küchler AgustÃn Muñoz Grandes Kliment Voroshilov Georgiy Zhukov Strength 725,000 930,000 Casualties Unknown Red Army: 332,059 KIA 24,324 non-combat dead 111,142 missing 16,470 civilians 1 million civilians...
This article is about the actual attack. ...
1942
• Battle of Midway
• Battle of Stalingrad
• 2nd Battle of El Alamein
• Guadalcanal campaign Combatants United States Empire of Japan Commanders Chester W. Nimitz Frank J. Fletcher Raymond A. Spruance Isoroku Yamamoto Chuichi Nagumo Tamon Yamaguchi †Strength 3 carriers, ~50 support ships, 233 carrier aircraft, 127 land-based aircraft 4 carriers, 7 battleships, ~150 support ships, 248 carrier aircraft, 16 floatplanes Casualties 1 carrier...
Combatants Germany Romania Italy Hungary Soviet Union Commanders Adolf Hitler Friedrich Paulus # Erich von Manstein Hermann Hoth Petre Dumitrescu Constantin Constantinescu Italo Garibaldi Gusztav Jany Vasiliy Chuikov Aleksandr Vasilyevskiy Georgiy Zhukov Semyon Timoshenko Konstantin Rokossovskiy Rodion Malinovskiy Andrei Yeremenko Strength Army Group B: German Sixth Army German Fourth Panzer Army...
For the Battle of Alam Halfa, which is also often termed the Second Battle of El Alamein, see Battle of Alam Halfa Combatants British Eighth Army: United Kingdom Australia New Zealand South Africa India Panzer Army Africa: Nazi Germany Fascist Italy Commanders Bernard Montgomery Erwin Rommel Strength 220,000 men...
Combatants Allied forces including: United States Australia New Zealand British Solomon Is. ...
| 1943
• End in Africa
• Battle of Kursk
• Solomon Islands campaign
• Allied invasion of Italy5 Combatants United Kingdom United States France Germany Italy Commanders Dwight D. Eisenhower Harold Alexander Keneth Anderson Bernard Montgomery Albert Kesselring Erwin Rommel Hans-Jürgen von Arnim Giovanni Messe The Tunisia Campaign (also known as the Battle of Tunisia), was a series of World War II battles that took place...
Combatants Germany Soviet Union Commanders Erich von Manstein Günther von Kluge Hermann Hoth Walther Model Georgiy Zhukov Konstantin Rokossovskiy Nikolay Vatutin Ivan Konyev Strength 2,700 tanks 800,000 infantry 2,000 aircraft 3,600 tanks 1,300,000 infantry and supporting troops 2,400 aircraft Casualties German Kursk...
The Solomon Islands Campaign was a large series of battles that occurred in the Pacific Theater of World War II. This was the first large-scale campaign in the War in the Pacific, and the victories achieved by the Americans in the battles of this campaign helped secure vital bases...
This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...
1944
• Battle of Normandy
• Germans ousted from Belorussia and Ukraine
• Battle of Romania
• Allied occupation of Paris
• Operation Market Garden
• Battle of Leyte Gulf Combatants United States United Kingdom Canada Free France Poland Germany Commanders Dwight Eisenhower (Supreme Allied Commander) Bernard Montgomery (land) Bertram Ramsay (sea) Trafford Leigh-Mallory (air) Omar Bradley (U.S. 1st Army) Miles Dempsey (UK 2nd Army) Harry Crerar (Canadian 1st Army) Gerd von Rundstedt (OB WEST) Erwin Rommel (Heeresgruppe...
Combatants Germany Soviet Union Commanders Ernst Busch Walther Model Ferdinand Schörner Konstantin Rokossovsky Georgy Zhukov Aleksandr Vasilevsky Strength 800,000 1,700,000 Casualties : 400,000 killed, 158,000 POWs, 590,000 wounded : 260,000 killed, 250,000 wounded 116,000 POWs 60,000 KIA/MIA, 110,000 WIA...
Combatants Soviet Union Germany Romania Commanders Rodion Malinovsky Fyodor Tolbukhin Johannes Friessner Ion Antonescu Strength 1,341,200, 1,874 tanks and assault guns ca. ...
The Liberation of Paris in World War II took place in late August 1944 after the battle of Normandy. ...
Combatants United Kingdom United States Canada Poland Germany Commanders Bernard Montgomery Brian Horrocks Roy Urquhart James M. Gavin Maxwell Taylor Stanislaw Sosabowski Walter Model Wilhelm Bittrich Kurt Student Strength 35,000 20,000 Casualties 11,377 dead,wounded or missing 6,450 Captured 2,000 Killed 6,000 Wounded Operation...
Combatants United States Australia Empire of Japan Commanders William Halsey, Jr (3rd Fleet) Thomas C. Kinkaid (7th Fleet) Takeo Kurita (Centre Force) Shoji Nishimura†(Southern Force) Kiyohide Shima (Southern Force) Jisaburo Ozawa (Northern Force) Strength 17 aircraft carriers 18 escort carriers 12 battleships 24 cruisers 141 destroyers and destroyer escorts...
1945
• Battle of Okinawa
• Battle of Berlin
• Germany surrenders
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Japan surrenders Combatants United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand Empire of Japan Commanders Simon B. Buckner†, Joseph W. Stilwell, Ray Spruance Mitsuru Ushijima†Isamu Cho†Strength 548,000 regulars, 1300 ships, ? aircraft 100,000 regulars and militia, ? ships, ? aircraft Casualties 12,513 dead or missing, 38,916 wounded, 33,096...
Combatants Soviet Union Communist Poland Nazi Germany Commanders 1st Belorussian Front – Georgiy Zhukov 2nd Belorussian Front – Konstantin Rokossovskiy 1st Ukrainian Front – Ivan Konev Army Group Vistula – Gotthard Heinrici then Kurt von Tippelskirch[2] Army Group Centre – Ferdinand Schörner Berlin Defense Area – Helmuth Reymann then Helmuth Weidling #[3] Strength 2...
During the Battle for Berlin, the Red Flag was raised over the Reichstag, May 1945. ...
The Fat Man mushroom cloud resulting from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rises 18 km (11 mi, 60,000 ft) into the air from the hypocenter. ...
The Japanese representatives on board USS Missouri during the surrender ceremonies on 2 September 1945. ...
Aftermath and Consequences
• Effects
• Casualties
• Expulsion of Germans
• Occupation of Germany
• Morgenthau plan
• Territorial changes
• Occupation of Japan
• Cold War
• in contemporary culture
• World War III (close calls/hypothetical)
The immediate aftermath of the Second World War had far-reaching repercussions for the international community. ...
Piechart showing percentage of military and civilian deaths by alliance during World War II. World War II was the single deadliest conflict the world has ever seen, causing many tens of millions of deaths. ...
Germans expelled from the Sudetenland // The expulsion of Germans after World War II refers to the forced migration of people considered Germans (Reichsdeutsche and some Volksdeutsche) from various European states and territories during 1945 and in the first three years after World War II 1946-48. ...
The C-Pennant Occupation zones in Germany (1945) Capital Berlin (de jure) Political structure Military occupation Governors (1945) - UK zone F.M. Montgomery - French zone Gen. ...
The Morgenthau Plan showing the planned partitioning of Germany into a North State, a South State, and an International zone. ...
The Oder-Neisse line (Polish: , German: ) marked the border between German Democratic Republic and Poland between 1950 and 1990. ...
Capital Tokyo Language(s) Japanese Political structure Military occupation Military Governor of Japan - 1945-1951 Douglas MacArthur - 1951-1952 Matthew Ridgway Emperor - 1926-1989 Hirohito Historical era Post-WWII - Surrender of Japan August 15, 1945 - San Francisco Peace Treaty April 28, 1952 At the end of the Second World War...
For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ...
The influence of World War II has been profound and diverse, having an impact on many parts of life. ...
World War III (abbreviated WWIII), or the Third World War, is a term used to describe a hypothetical conflict on the scale of World War I and World War II, or even larger, such as a nuclear holocaust. ...
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• Resistance
• Technology
• Total war Attacks on North America during World War II by the Axis Powers were rare, mainly due to the continents geographical separation from the central theaters of conflict in Europe and Asia. ...
The defining characteristic of what is commonly known as Blitzkrieg is that it is a highly mobile form of mechanized warfare. ...
The following table shows comparative officer ranks of major Allied and Axis powers during World War II. For modern ranks refer to Comparative military ranks. ...
Cryptography was used extensively during World War II, with a plethora of code and cipher systems fielded by the nations involved. ...
Publicity photo of American machine tool worker in Texas. ...
Military awards of World War II were presented by most of the combatants. ...
// Aircraft List of aircraft of World War II List of World War II military aircraft of Germany List of aircraft of the Armée de lAir, World War II List of aircraft of the USAAF, World War II List of aircraft of the Royal Air Force, World War II...
During World War II women worked in factories throughout much of the West and East. ...
Members of the Dutch Eindhoven Resistance with troops of the US 101st Airborne Division in front of the Eindhoven cathedral during Operation Market Garden in September 1944. ...
Technology during World War II played a crucial role in determining the outcome of the war. ...
Total war is a military conflict in which nations mobilize all available resources in order to destroy another nations ability to engage in war. ...
Civilian impact and atrocities
• Allied war crimes
• Japanese war crimes
• German war crimes
• Soviet war crimes
• The Holocaust
• Bombing of civilians
Allied war crimes were violations of the laws of war committed by the Allies of World War II against civilian populations or the soldiers of the Axis Armed Forces. ...
Japanese war crimes occurred during the period of Japanese imperialism. ...
Germany committed war crimes in both World War I and World War II. The most notable of these is the Holocaust, where millions of people, about half of which were Jews, were murdered. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Soviet war crimes (WWII). ...
“Shoah†redirects here. ...
Strategic Bombing during World War II was unlike anything the world had previously witnessed. ...
| | Allies | Axis | at war from 1937
 China A representation of the changes in territory controlled by Allies and Axis powers over the course of the war. ...
Area under Axis control over the course of the war shown in black The Axis powers, also interpreted as Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries or sometimes just the Axis were those countries opposed to the Allies during the Second World War. ...
Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Republic_of_China. ...
| entered 1941
Yugoslavia
 USSR
 USA Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Kingdom_of_Yugoslavia_(state). ...
Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in the Latin alphabet, ЈугоÑлавија in Cyrillic; English: Land of the South Slavs) describes three political entities that existed one at a time on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century. ...
Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...
Image File history File links US_flag_48_stars. ...
entered 1942
Brazil Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...
entered 1943
 Italy Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy_(1861-1946)_crowned. ...
entered 1944
Romania
Bulgaria
 Finland File links The following pages link to this file: Axis Powers Flag of Romania Categories: Flag images ...
Image File history File links Flag_of_Bulgaria_(1878-1944). ...
Image File history File links Flag_of_Finland. ...
Combatants Germany Finland Commanders Lothar Rendulic Hjalmar Siilasvuo Strength 200,000 60,000 Casualties 950 killed 2,000 wounded 1,300 captured 774 killed 3,000 wounded 262 missing The Lapland War (Finnish: ; German: ; Swedish: ) is a name used for the hostilities between Finland and Germany between September 1944 and...
• others A representation of the changes in territory controlled by Allies and Axis powers over the course of the war. ...
| at war from 1937
 Japan Image File history File links Flag_of_Japan_-_variant. ...
entered 1939
 Germany
 Slovakia
Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany_1933. ...
Image File history File links 1stslovakia_flag_large. ...
entered 1940
Italy (to 1943)
 RSI (to 1945) Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy_(1861-1946)_crowned. ...
Image File history File links Flag_of_RSI.svg‎ File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Axis powers of World War II Flag of Italy Italian Social Republic Il Cuore nel Pozzo Kingdom of Italy (Savoy) ...
Anthem Giovinezza (The Youth)¹ Capital Salò Language(s) Italian Religion Roman Catholicism Government Republic Head of State Benito Mussolini Historical era World War II - Established September 23, 1943 - Disestablished April 25, 1945 ¹ External link The Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana or RSI) was a Nazi puppet state led by...
entered 1941
Bulgaria (to 1944)
Hungary
Romania (to 1944)
Finland (to 1944) Image File history File links Flag_of_Bulgaria_(1878-1944). ...
Image File history File links Flag_of_Hungary_1940. ...
File links The following pages link to this file: Axis Powers Flag of Romania Categories: Flag images ...
Image File history File links Flag_of_Finland. ...
Finnish ski troops in Northern Finland in January 1940 The Military history of Finland during World War II covers the history of Finland from 1939 to 1944. ...
entered 1942
 Thailand Image File history File links Flag_of_Thailand. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
• others Area under Axis control over the course of the war shown in black The Axis powers, also interpreted as Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries or sometimes just the Axis were those countries opposed to the Allies during the Second World War. ...
| | • Allied Leaders
• Axis Leaders
• Commanders
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with World War II Allied Leaders. ...
// Adolf Hitler Karl Dönitz Joseph Goebbels Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk Adolf Hess Victor Emmanuel III Benito Mussolini ShÅwa Fumimaro Konoe Hideki Tojo Kuniaki Koiso Miklós Horthy Ferenc Szálasi Pál Teleki László Bárdossy Miklós Kállay Döme Sztójay Géza...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
| Resistance movements Austria · Baltic2 · Bessarabia1 · Czechia · Denmark · Ethiopia · France · Nazi Germany · Greece · Italy · Jewish · Korea · Netherlands · Moldavia1 · Norway · Poland · Thailand · USSR · Slovakia4 · Ukraine3 · Vietnam · Yugoslavia · others Members of the Dutch Eindhoven Resistance with troops of the US 101st Airborne Division in front of the Eindhoven cathedral during Operation Market Garden in September 1944. ...
The Forest Brothers (also: Brothers of the Forest, Forest Brethren; Forest Brotherhood; in Estonian: metsavennad, in Latvian meža brÄļi, in Lithuanian miÅ¡ko broliai) were Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian partisans who waged guerrilla warfare against Soviet rule and for German Nazis during the Soviet invasion and occupation of...
Czech resistance during the Second World War is a scarcely documented subject, by and large a result of little formal resistance and an effective German policy that deterred acts of resistance or annihilated organizations of resistance. ...
Bust of Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (Memorial to the German Resistance, Berlin) The German Resistance refers to those individuals and groups in Nazi Germany who opposed the regime of Adolf Hitler between 1933 and 1945. ...
The Jewish resistance during the Holocaust was the resistance of the Jewish people against Nazi Germany leading up to and through World War II. Due to the careful organization and overwhelming military might of the Nazi German State and its supporters, many Jews were unable to resist the killings. ...
The Korean Liberation Army was the armed force of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, and was created on September 17, 1941 in Chongqing, China. ...
Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in the Latin alphabet, ЈугоÑлавија in Cyrillic; English: Land of the South Slavs) describes three political entities that existed one at a time on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century. ...
Members of the Dutch Eindhoven Resistance with troops of the US 101st Airborne Division in front of the Eindhoven cathedral during Operation Market Garden in September 1944. ...
| | Lists | | Category · Topics · Conferences // Military engagements For military topics (land, naval, and air engagements as well as campaigns, operations, defensive lines and sieges), please see List of military engagements of World War II. Political and social aspects of the war Causes of World War II Appeasement Occupation of Denmark Netherlands in World War II...
List of World War II conferences of the Allied forces In total Churchill attended 14 meetings, Roosevelt 12, Stalin 5. ...
| | 1 Anti-Soviet.
2 Anti-Soviet(and anti-Nazi from 1941-1943).
3 Anti-Nazi, anti-Polish, and anti-Soviet.
4 Anti-Magyar, anti-Nazi, and anti-Soviet.
5 Lasted to May 1945.
| | |
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