Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Ana ganin yakin duniya na II ya fara ne a ranar 1 ga Satumba, 1939, lokacin da Nazi Jamus, a karkashin Adolf Hitler, ya mamaye Poland. Daga bisani Birtaniya da Faransa suka yi yaƙi da Jamus a ranar 3 ga watan. A karkashin Yarjejeniyar Molotov-Ribbentrop na watan Agusta 1939, Jamus da Tarayyar Soviet sun raba Poland kuma sun nuna "yanayin tasirin su" a duk fadin Finland
, Romania da kuma kasashen Baltic. Daga ƙarshen 1939 zuwa farkon 1941, a cikin jerin kamfen da yarjejeniyoyi, Jamus ta ci nasara ko sarrafa yawancin Turai, kuma ta kafa ƙungiyar Axis tare da Italiya da Japan (tare da sauran ƙasashe daga baya). Bayan fara kamfen a Arewacin Afirka da Gabashin Afirka, da faɗuwar Faransa a tsakiyar 1940, yaƙin ya ci gaba da kasancewa tsakanin ƙasashen Turai na Axis da Daular Burtaniya, tare da yaƙi a cikin Balkans, Yakin sama na Burtaniya, Blitz na Burtaniya, da Yakin Atlantic. A ranar 22 ga Yuni, 1941, Jamus ta jagoranci kasashen Turai na Axis a cikin mamayewar Tarayyar Soviet, ta buɗe Gabashin Gabas, mafi girma a fagen yaƙi a cikin tarihi da kuma kama ikon Axis, musamman Jamusanci "Wehrmacht", a cikin yakin basasa.