World War II took place from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945.
The Empire of Japan aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific and was already at war with the Republic of China in 1937 , but the world war is generally said to have begun on 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom .	Pacific	Pacific Ocean	China	Second Sino-Japanese War	Nazi Germany	Nazi Germany	Empire of Japan	Empire of Japan	Asia	Asia	at war	Second Sino-Japanese War	Republic of China	Republic of China (191249)	invasion	invasion of Poland	Poland	Soviet invasion of Poland	France	French Third Republic	United Kingdom	United Kingdom	Japan	Empire of Japan
The war in Europe concluded with an invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union , culminating in the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops and the subsequent German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 .	Europe	European theatre of World War II	Soviet Union	Soviet Union	Allies	Allies of World War II	invasion	invasion of Poland	invasion of Germany	Western Allied invasion of Germany	capture of Berlin	Battle of Berlin	German unconditional surrender	German Instrument of Surrender	8 May 1945	Victory in Europe Day	in Europe	European integration
With an invasion of the Japanese archipelago imminent , the possibility of additional atomic bombings , and the Soviet Union 's declaration of war on Japan and invasion of Manchuria , Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945 .	Japanese	Empire of Japan	Soviet Union	Soviet Union	invasion	invasion of Poland	Japan	Empire of Japan	invasion of the Japanese archipelago	Operation Downfall	invasion of Manchuria	Soviet invasion of Manchuria	Japan surrendered	Surrender of Japan
Thus ended the war in Asia , cementing the total victory of the Allies .	Allies	Allies of World War II	Asia	Asia
