WWII

1. Who- Major Axis Powers: Germany, Japan, Italy Minor Axis Powers: Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Thailand

Allied Powers: British Empire, USSR, USA, Poland, France\

What- A global military conflict involving most of the world's nations Where- Most fighting took place in Europe and Asia When- 1939-1945 Why- It all started when Hitler came into power in 1933 and began a massive rearming campaign. This worried Great Britain and France. Later on Italy invaded Ethiopia with the support of Germany. Eventually Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland, which was in direct violation of the Locarno and Versailles treaties (in the latter Germany lost a lot of land and was forced to pay massive reparations and lessen their military). Eventually the Germans attacked Poland and the war began.

2. Europe was left in shambles after WW2. It needed to be repaired. Britain was destroyed and it's economy would not be strong again for the next few years (10-20). Many of the colonies of European countries decolonized. India, Indochina, and many countries in Africa were released from the European countries due to the lack of money to support them. Russia claimed some of the land taken over by the Germans and started an arms race with the US. Eventually most European economies were back to normal.

3. The United Nations was formed after WWII to keep the peace between countries. Also, Germany was ridiculed for starting the european side of the war and being the main perpetrator of the war in general. Most of germany laid in ruins and 50 million europeans were dead because of the war. Europe was split into four quadrants which were run by the allied powers. After the war ended, the USSR and the US came out on top as superpowers and the tension built. This lead to the cold war. Also, the division of east germany and west germany by the building of the berlin wall was from the after affects of WW2. The wall was built because after the war when the country was split into four sections, the major powers that were next to eachother combined and the split became just east and west. The east was communist because it was run by the soviet union and the west was capitalist for the most part. Citizens from the east side tried to then get back to the capitalist areas and the wall was then built to keep them from getting across the border.

4. After World War II, the alliance between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union had begun to deteriorate. Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain. Soon after, tensions rose between The Soviet Union and the American-led NATO beginning the Cold War. China and its communist forces continued their civil war and soon after that was resolved, War broke out in Korea. Decolonization began to take place in the European Colonial powers and things remained reatively peaceful.