The World Wars

세계 대전

2 WORLD WAR I

• 2.1 THE OUTBREAK OF WAR
  • 2.1.1 Forces and resources of the combatant nations in 1914.
  • 2.1.2 Technology of war in 1914.
• 2.2 The initial stages of the war
  • 2.2.1 INITIAL STRATEGIES
    • 2.2.1.1 The Schlieffen Plan.
    • 2.2.1.2 Eastern Front strategy, 1914.
    • 2.2.1.3 The strategy of the Western Allies, 1914.
  • 2.2.2 THE WAR IN THE WEST, 1914
    • 2.2.2.1 The German invasion.
    • 2.2.2.2 The First Battle of the Marne.
  • 2.2.3 THE EASTERN AND OTHER FRONTS, 1914
    • 2.2.3.1 The war in the east, 1914.
    • 2.2.3.2 The Serbian campaign, 1914.
    • 2.2.3.3 The Turkish entry.
    • 2.2.3.4 The war at sea, 1914-15.
    • 2.2.3.5 The loss of the German colonies.
• 2.3 The years of stalemate
  • 2.3.1 Rival strategies and the Dardanelles campaign, 1915-16.
  • 2.3.2 THE WESTERN AND EASTERN FRONTS, 1915
    • 2.3.2.1 The Western Front, 1915.
    • 2.3.2.2 The Eastern Front, 1915.
  • 2.3.3 OTHER FRONTS, 1915-16
    • 2.3.3.1 The Caucasus, 1914-16.
    • 2.3.3.2 Mesopotamia, 1914-April 1916.
    • 2.3.3.3 The Egyptian frontiers, 1915-July 1917.
    • 2.3.3.4 Italy and the Italian front, 1915-16.
    • 2.3.3.5 Serbia and the Salonika expedition, 1915-17.
  • 2.3.4 MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS IN 1916
    • 2.3.4.1 The Western Front, 1916.
    • 2.3.4.2 The Battle of Jutland.
    • 2.3.4.3 The Eastern Front, 1916.
    • 2.3.4.4 German strategy and the submarine war, 1916-January 1917.
    • 2.3.4.5 Peace moves and U.S. policy to February 1917.
  • 2.3.5 DEVELOPMENTS IN 1917
    • 2.3.5.1 The Western Front, January-May 1917.
    • 2.3.5.2 The U.S. entry into the war.
    • 2.3.5.3 The Russian revolutions and the Eastern Front, March 1917-March 1918.
    • 2.3.5.4 Greek affairs.
    • 2.3.5.5 Caporetto.
    • 2.3.5.6 Mesopotamia, summer 1916-winter 1917.
    • 2.3.5.7 Palestine, autumn 1917.
    • 2.3.5.8 The Western Front, June-December 1917.
    • 2.3.5.9 The Far East.
    • 2.3.5.10 Naval operations, 1917-18.
    • 2.3.5.11 Air warfare.
    • 2.3.5.12 Peace moves, March 1917-September 1918.
• 2.4 The last offensives and the Allies' victory
  • 2.4.1 THE WESTERN FRONT, MARCH-SEPTEMBER 1918
    • 2.4.1.1 "St. George I and II."
  • 2.4.2 OTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN 1918
    • 2.4.2.1 Czechs, Yugoslavs, and Poles.
    • 2.4.2.2 Eastern Europe and the Russian periphery, March-November 1918.
    • 2.4.2.3 The Balkan front, 1918.
    • 2.4.2.4 The Turkish fronts, 1918.
    • 2.4.2.5 Vittorio Veneto.
    • 2.4.2.6 The collapse of Austria-Hungary.
  • 2.4.3 THE FINAL OFFENSIVE ON THE WESTERN FRONT
    • 2.4.3.1 The end of the German War.
    • 2.4.3.2 The Armistice.
  • 2.4.4 KILLED, WOUNDED, AND MISSING

3 WORLD WAR II

• 3.1 Axis initiative and Allied reaction
  • 3.1.1 The outbreak of war.
  • 3.1.2 Forces and resources of the European combatants, 1939.
  • 3.1.3 Technology of war, 1918-39.
  • 3.1.4 THE WAR IN EUROPE, 1939-41
    • 3.1.4.1 The campaign in Poland, 1939.
    • 3.1.4.2 The Baltic states and the Russo-Finnish War, 1939-40.
    • 3.1.4.3 The war in the west, September 1939-June 1940.
      • 3.1.4.3.1 The invasion of Norway.
      • 3.1.4.3.2 The invasion of the Low Countries and France.
      • 3.1.4.3.3 The evacuation from Dunkirk.
      • 3.1.4.3.4 Italy's entry into the war and the French Armistice.
    • 3.1.4.4 The Battle of Britain.
    • 3.1.4.5 Central Europe and the Balkans, 1940-41.
  • 3.1.5 OTHER FRONTS, 1940-41
    • 3.1.5.1 Egypt and Cyrenaica, 1940-summer 1941.
    • 3.1.5.2 East Africa.
    • 3.1.5.3 Iraq and Syria, 1940-41.
    • 3.1.5.4 The beginning of lend-lease.
    • 3.1.5.5 The Atlantic and the Mediterranean, 1940-41.
    • 3.1.5.6 German strategy, 1939-42.
  • 3.1.6 INVASION OF THE SOVIET UNION, 1941
    • 3.1.6.1 The German attack on the Soviet Union, 1941.
  • 3.1.7 THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC, 1938-41
    • 3.1.7.1 The war in China, 1937-41.
    • 3.1.7.2 Japanese policy, 1939-41.
    • 3.1.7.3 Pearl Harbor and the Japanese expansion, to July 1942.
    • 3.1.7.4 The Fall of Singapore.
    • 3.1.7.5 The Chinese front and Burma, 1941-42.
  • 3.1.8 DEVELOPMENTS FROM AUTUMN 1941 TO SPRING 1942
    • 3.1.8.1 Allied strategy and controversies, 1940-42.
    • 3.1.8.2 Libya and Egypt, autumn 1941-summer 1942.
    • 3.1.8.3 The Germans' summer offensive in southern Russia, 1942.
• 3.2 The Allies' first decisive successes
  • 3.2.1 The Solomons, Papua, Madagascar, the Aleutians, and Burma, July 1942-May 1943.
  • 3.2.2 Burma, autumn 1942-summer 1943.
  • 3.2.3 Montgomery's Battle of el-Alamein and Rommel's retreat, 1942-43.
  • 3.2.4 Stalingrad and the German retreat, summer 1942-February 1943.
  • 3.2.5 The invasion of northwest Africa, November-December 1942.
  • 3.2.6 Tunisia, November 1942-May 1943.
  • 3.2.7 The Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the North Sea, 1942-45.
  • 3.2.8 Air warfare, 1942-43.
  • 3.2.9 German-occupied Europe.
  • 3.2.10 Casablanca and Trident, January-May 1943.
  • 3.2.11 The Eastern Front, February-September 1943.
  • 3.2.12 The Southwest and South Pacific, June-October 1943.
• 3.3 The Allied landings in Europe and the defeat of the Axis powers
  • 3.3.1 DEVELOPMENTS FROM AUTUMN 1943 TO SUMMER 1944
    • 3.3.1.1 Sicily and the fall of Mussolini, July-August 1943.
    • 3.3.1.2 The Quadrant Conference (Quebec I).
    • 3.3.1.3 The Allies' invasion of Italy and the Italian volte-face, 1943.
    • 3.3.1.4 The western Allies and Stalin: Cairo and Tehran, 1943.
    • 3.3.1.5 German strategy, from 1943.
    • 3.3.1.6 The Eastern Front, October 1943-April 1944.
    • 3.3.1.7 The war in the Pacific, October 1943-August 1944.
      • 3.3.1.7.1 The encirclement of Rabaul.
      • 3.3.1.7.2 Western New Guinea.
      • 3.3.1.7.3 The central Pacific.
    • 3.3.1.8 The Burmese frontier and China, November 1943-summer 1944.
    • 3.3.1.9 The Italian front, 1944.
  • 3.3.2 DEVELOPMENTS FROM SUMMER 1944 TO AUTUMN 1945
    • 3.3.2.1 The Allied invasions of western Europe, June-November 1944.
    • 3.3.2.2 The Eastern Front, June-December 1944.
    • 3.3.2.3 Air warfare, 1944.
    • 3.3.2.4 Allied policy and strategy: Octagon (Quebec II) and Moscow, 1944.
    • 3.3.2.5 The Philippines and Borneo, from September 1944.
    • 3.3.2.6 Burma and China, October 1944-May 1945.
    • 3.3.2.7 The German offensive in the west, winter 1944-45.
    • 3.3.2.8 The Soviet advance to the Oder, January-February 1945.
    • 3.3.2.9 Yalta.
    • 3.3.2.10 The German collapse, spring 1945.
    • 3.3.2.11 Potsdam.
    • 3.3.2.12 The end of the Japanese war, February-September 1945.
      • 3.3.2.12.1 Iwo Jima and the bombing of Tokyo.
      • 3.3.2.12.2 Okinawa.
      • 3.3.2.12.3 Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
      • 3.3.2.12.4 The Japanese surrender.
  • 3.3.3 COSTS OF THE WAR
    • 3.3.3.1 Killed, wounded, prisoners, or missing.
    • 3.3.3.2 Human and material cost.
      • 3.3.3.2.1 Europe.
      • 3.3.3.2.2 The Far East.

      　

• 4 Bibliography
  • 4.1 World War I:
  • 4.2 World War II:

1 Introduction

World War I (1914-18) and World War II (1939-45) are so called because they were wars in which virtually all of the most powerful nations of the world were involved, either on one side or the other, and because they were fought over large areas of the globe, on both land and sea. World War I pitted Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey against France, Great Britain, Russia, the United States, China, and a host of smaller nations. In World War II, Japan and the Fascist nations of Germany and Italy confronted the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain, France, China, and many smaller nations. World War II was a truly global conflict that was fought not only throughout the European continent but also in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, in China and Southeast Asia, in North Africa, and throughout the world's oceans.

The world wars are the great watersheds of 20th-century geopolitical history. World War I led to the fall of four great imperial dynasties (in Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey), resulted in the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, and, in its destabilization of European society, laid the groundwork for World War II. World War II resulted in the extension of the Soviet Union's power to the nations of eastern Europe, enabled a Communist movement to eventually achieve power in China, and marked the decisive shift of power in the world away from the states of western Europe and toward the United States and the Soviet Union. The world wars were almost unprecedented in their slaughter, carnage, and destruction, as mechanized armies of millions of soldiers destroyed both each other and the territories they were fighting over. The 40,000,000-50,000,000 deaths incurred in World War II make it the bloodiest conflict as well as the largest war in history.

This article treats the military course and the diplomatic history of World Wars I and II. Other aspects of the world wars are treated in several articles in the Macropædia. The wars' causes and consequences, as well as the political and other events leading up to them and resulting from them, are treated in INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, 20TH-CENTURY . The strategic and tactical considerations of the wars' participants are treated in WAR, THE THEORY AND CONDUCT OF , while the weapons and weapons systems used in the wars are treated in WAR, THE TECHNOLOGY OF .