World War II

Definition

(Noun) A "worldwide" armed conflict, that caused 50,000,000-75,000,000 military and civilian deaths on all sides. It certainly ended with the Allies' defeat of Japan and Nazi Germany in 1945, but when it began is a matter of judgment. Some would say 1939 (Germany and Britain go to war), some 1941 (Japan attacks America, and Germany aligns with Japan four days later) - and the Rhineland/Austria/Czechoslovakia/small Central European powers (Germany) and Manchuria/China (Japan), while not at all popularly-agreed-upon starting dates, are certainly subject to debates by historians: the 1930s were the time of triumph for the dictator states.