World War II

World War II
Clockwise from top left German soldiers advance through northern Russia · German flamethrower team · Soviet Ilyushin Il-2s over German positions near Moscow · Soviet POWs on the way to prison camps · Soviet soldiers fire artillery
Date	1 September 1939 – 4 July 1945
Place	Major theaters: Europe Pacific Atlantic Indian Ocean South-East Asia China Japan Middle East Mediterranean North Africa Horn of Africa Central Africa Australia Caribbean North and South America
Result	Axis Victory
Belligerents
Allies Major: United Kingdom Soviet Union (from 1941) United States (from 1941) Axis Major: German Reich Kingdom of Italy Empire of Japan Minor: Kingdom of Hungary Kingdom of Romania Tsardom of Bulgaria
Leaders
Main Allied leaders: Nikolai Bukharin Thomas E. Dewey Winston Churchill Chiang Kai-shek Main Axis leaders: Adolf Hitler Hirohito Benito Mussolini

World War II was an international conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945. It was the decisive event which created the timeline of The New Order: Last Days of Europe, as the Axis victory propelled the Greater Germanic Reich and the Empire of Japan to the status of world powers and resulted in the destruction of the Allies.

In OTL, the Germans do not conquer the British mainland as Operation Sealion fails, and the Germans fail to capitulate the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. In the timeline of TNO, though, the Germans succeed in many of the decisive operations that failed for the Germans in OTL.

History

Background

Interwar Years in Europe

In the aftermath of World War One, the old European order was shattered. Empires which had existed for centuries, such as Russia's, the Ottomans' or the Hapsburgs', collapsed. The ascension of Germany had been stopped in its tracks, and the new republic crushed beneath humiliating military and economic restrictions, despite only being defeated on one front. Even the victorious western allies had their nations shaken to their cores. Millions were left with their faith in the inevitable progress of man destroyed.

The first major change was the rise of the Bolsheviks to power in the former Russian empire in 1917, with the revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin (and his successor, Nikolai Bukharin) creating the first stable socialist state, and one with a mission to spread Marxism across the world. This, though it inspired the leftists of the world, was far more empowering to the reactionaries who feared communist expansion, creating the red scare.

This first took shape in Italy. After years of growing political tensions, almost boiling over into a civil war at various points, Benito Mussolini and his fascists took power in Italy in 1922, creating the first fascist state. From there, a new movement began, in opposition to communists, socialists, liberals, and all those deemed a threat to the nation. True fascist ideologues, conservatives, nationalists, militarists and broader anticommunists united in Germany and Spain, under Adolf Hitler and Francisco Franco respectively. In particular, the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany saw substantial change to Europe. What was a fairly weak liberal republic quickly turned into a ultranationalist, irridentist and totalitarian one-party state, and one which saw territorial expansion, military buildup and the reversal of the deeply unpopular treaty of Versailles.

Italy and Germany would find common ground in their fascist leadership and desire for expansion. Ethiopia, Albania, Austria and Czechoslovakia were subjugated, all to the relative inaction of the United Kingdom and the French Republic, both of whom followed a policy of appeasement, in an effort to preserve peace.