The second World War started with the invasion of Polen (Poland) by Germany. This invasion was unterstützt (supported) by Stalins Soviet Union due to the Hitler-Stalin-Pakt. As a result of this invasion, France and England declared Krieg (war), but at first stayed inactive on the westerly German Grenze (boarder).
In 1940 Hitler occupied Litauen (Lithuania), Lettland (Latvia) and Estland (Estonia). He also marched his troops into Norway and Denmark and besetzte (occupied) these countries. In the same year he marched into France and occupied a large part of the country. The Luftschlacht (air battle) in 1940 however was lost by Germany and they concentrated more on the invasion on Africa.
In 1941 Hitler occupied Jugoslawien (Yugoslavia) and Griechenland (Greece) and helped his Italian Verbündeten (ally) Mussolini with his attack on Albania. In the same year Hitler attacked the Soviet Union. This Angriff (attack) took them to roughly 20KM away from Moskow, where they were stopped in December 1941. At the same time the attack from Japan on Pearl Harbour took place, also in December 1941. Japan did this to declared war on USA. Following Japan’s attack, Germany also declared war on the USA. This war now became a world war. England, USA and the Soviet Union allied against Germany and Japan and requested the bedingungslose Kapitulation (unconditional surrender).
The ultimate turn in the war was in 1942/43 with the battle of Stalingrad. Russia marched to the west and Mussolini was stopped. This resulted in Italy leaving the war and Germany lost an important ally.
In 1945, Russians, British and Americans marched into Germany and eroberten (conquered) Berlin first, and Germany surrendered on the 8th May 1945. Japan also had to surrender due to the bomb attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was the end of the 2nd world war, with over 55 million dead people and a major Zerstörung (destruction) in Europe.
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