Viking

The Vikings also used soap, long before it was reintroduced to Europe after the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Though these camps did not involve heavy labour, forced isolation and sub-standard living conditions were the norm. In particular, combs are among the most frequent artifacts from Viking Age graves, and one can conclude that a comb was the personal equipment of every man and woman. and Canadian governments. The Vikings used a variety of tools for personal grooming such as combs, tweezers, razors or specialized "ear spoons". Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of Japanese North Americans were interned by the U.S. The image of wild-haired, dirty savages, sometimes associated with the Vikings in popular culture, has hardly any base in reality. and Commonwealth prisoners were little better than many German concentration camps.

(Scandinavian skalle: skall means simply "shell" or "bowl".) The skull-cup allegation may have some history also in relation with other Germanic tribes (see skull cups). Japanese POW camps also had high death rates; many were used as labour camps, and starvation conditions among the mainly U.S. from horns] were rendered as drinking ex craniis eorum quos ceciderunt [from the skulls of those whom they had slain]. In addition to the Nazi concentration camps, the Soviet Gulags, or labour camps, led to the death of many citizens of occupied countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as German prisoners of war and even Soviet citizens themselves: opponents of Stalin's regime and large proportions of some ethnic groups (particularly Chechens). In the Latin translation of the Krákumál by Magnús Ólafsson (in Ole Worm's Runer seu Danica literatura antiquissima of 1636), warriors drinking ór bjúgviðum hausa [from the curved branches of skulls, i.e. Millions of Jews who had been confined to diseased and massively overcrowded Ghettos were transported to these "Death-camps" where they were gassed or shot, usually immediately after arriving. The rise of this myth can be traced back to a mistranslation of an Icelandic kenning. While concentration camps and labour camps containing political enemies had existed since Hitler came to power, the Nazis built six extermination camps, including Treblinka and Auschwitz, specifically to kill Jews.

The use of human skulls as drinking vessels is also unhistorical. By 1942, the Nazi leadership decided to implement the Final Solution (Endlösung), the genocide of all Jews in Europe, and increase the pace of the Holocaust. The cliché is perpetuated by cartoons like Hägar the Horrible and Vicky the Viking. Originally, the Nazis used killing squads, Einsatzgruppen, to conduct massive open-air killings, shooting as many as 33,000 people in a single massacre, as in the case of Babi Yar. The latter-day mythos created by national romantic ideas blended the Viking Age with glimpses of the Nordic Bronze Age some 2000 years earlier, for which actual horned helmets, probably for ceremonial purposes, are attested both in petroglyphs and by actual finds (See Bohuslän [1]). The groups deemed as "undesirable" included Jews, Poles, Russian war prisoners and other Slavs, Roma and Sinti, the mentally or physically disabled, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Communists and political dissidents. The general misconception that vikings wore horned helmets was partly promulgated by the 19th-century enthusiasts of the Götiska Förbundet, founded in 1811 in Stockholm, with the aim of promoting the suitability of Norse mythology as subjects of high art and other ethnological and moral aims. With the outbreak of war in 1939, Germany began the first stages of what would become the Holocaust, the premeditated and industrialized massacre of between 9 and 11 million people (figures are uncertain).

In fact, the formal close-quarters style of Viking combat (either in shield walls or aboard "ship islands") would have made horned helmets cumbersome and hazardous to the warrior's own side. The Americans carried out strategic, atomic and firebombings against Japanese cities where the industrial facilities were intermixed with the civilian populations, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. Apart from two or three representations of (ritual) helmets with protrusions that may be either snakes or horns, no depiction of Viking Age warriors' helmets, and no actually preserved helmet, has horns. Such bombings resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of German civilians. While the earliest groups had little claim for historical accuracy, the seriousness and accuracy of re-enactors has increased dramatically during the 1990s, including many re-enactment groups concentrating on an accurate representation of the Viking Age. The British carpet-bombed several German cities (in part as retaliation to the bombing of London), and continued even after the strategic value of such bombings became debatable (e.g., the bombing of Dresden in 1945). Since the 1960s, there has been rising enthusiasm for historical reenactment. Germany killed between 11 million and 24 million civilians in deliberate acts of genocide and mass murder which often took priority over pressing military needs, while the Soviet Union and Japan used labour camps and often conducted massacres of their own, with Japan killing around 6 million civilians in areas they occupied, and the Soviets approximately 4 million civilians, half of these being from among the Soviet Union's own citizens [11].

This renewed interest of Romanticism in the Old North had political implications. This later led to the development of the Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The word was taken to refer to romanticized, idealized naval warriors, who had very little to do with the historical Viking culture. The last of these was the first step into the space age as its trajectory took it through the stratosphere, higher and faster than any aircraft. According to the Swedish writer, Jan Guillou, the word Viking was popularized, with positive connotations, by Erik Gustaf Geijer in the poem, The Viking, written at the beginning of the 19th century. During the war the Germans produced various Glide bomb weapons, which were the first smart bombs; the V-1 flying bomb, which was the first cruise missile weapon; and the V-2 rocket, the first ballistic missile weapon. The pace of publication increased during the 17th century with Latin translations of the Edda (notably Peder Resen's Edda Islandorum of 1665). The Jet aircraft age began during the war with the development of the Heinkel He 178, the first true turbojet, the Messerschmitt 262, the first jet in combat, and the Gloster Meteor, the first Allied jet fighter.

Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (Olaus Magnus, 1555), and the first edition of the 13th century Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus in 1514. While the war stimulated many technologies, such as radio and radar development, it slowed down related yet non-critical fields such as television in the major powers. Early modern publications, dealing with what we now call Viking culture, appeared in the 16th century, e.g. In addition, the pressing need for numerous time-critical calculations for various projects like code-breaking and ballistics tables accentuated the need for the development of electronic computer technology. See also 19th century Viking revival.. ^[10]The massive research and development demands of the war, including the Manhattan Project's efforts to quickly develop the atomic bomb, had a great impact on the scientific community, among other things creating a network of national laboratories in the United States and new sciences like cybernetics. The influence of the Norse, seeing themselves then as part of wider European civilization, as well as technical advances in warfare, made the Viking raids less desirable and less profitable, and eventually the political structures based on them were replaced by structures based more on continental feudalism. Foreign slave labour was more significant as a substitute for the males enlisted into the armed forces.

However, elements of the old faith and secret blóts remained until the 19th century (and played a role in the emergence of Asatru in the mid 20th century). For example, women's labour was not mobilized as thoroughly as in the United Kingdom or the United States. After decades of trade and settlement, Christianity was introduced into Scandinavia by the 11th century, and the process of Christianization was mostly completed during the Middle Ages. It was not until comparatively late in the war that the civilian German population was effectively organized to support the war effort. Yet their continuing presence in the Biscay area may help to explain why the Basques have so many traditions (such as whale hunting) with possible Nordic origins, and perhaps why they are said to have reached America one hundred years before Christopher Colombus. This was due in large part to the reduced access to certain luxuries already experienced by German civilians prior to the beginning of hostilities; the war made some less available, but many were in short supply to begin with. The Gascons of Nordic origin were allowed to stay in the country which had become rich under their rule, but they were condemned not to mix with other communities, becoming (according to one legend) the despised and ostracized Agotes or Cagots. Most goods were freely available.

Their army was finally defeated in 982 by forces from Gascony, Périgord and Navarre. In Germany, at least for the first part of the war, there were few restrictions on civilian activities. Gascony stayed under the Vikings’ control for 140 years. In Canada, the government established three military compartments for women: the CWAAF (Canadian Women's Auxiliary Air Force), CWAC (Canadian Women's Army Corps) and WRCNS (Women's Royal Canadian Naval Services). Northumbria, Mercia, Frisia, Aquitaine, Bretagne and Normandy were all affected by these attempts to found Scandinavian settlements. Roosevelt stated that the efforts of civilians at home to support the war through personal sacrifice were as critical to winning the war as the efforts of the soldiers themselves. Then a new war began: the Danish chiefs tried to emulate the success of Björn in Gascony and to create their own overseas kingdoms. Franklin D.

The first Viking war was over: the Danes had set up a new trade network in place of an older and opposing one. In the United States these women are now called "Rosies" for Rosie the Riveter. In 863, Dorestad in Frisia, the Franks' main commercial centre on the Rhine, was definitively destroyed. In the United States and Canada women also joined the workforce. He obtained a commercial treaty from the Byzantine Emperor intended to attract trade away from the Rhône to the Ebro. A notable case was the collection of street railings as scrap iron, which changed the 'feel' of many older urban streets. While Hastein set about disorganizing trade in the Rhine valley and Italy, Björn attacked Constantinople, after joining up with the Swedish Varyags who had come across Russia. Many things were conserved to turn into weapons later, such as fat to turn into nitroglycerin.

He then sailed with Hastein to the Mediterranean Sea. Schools and organizations held scrap drives and money collections to help the war effort. In the following year, Björn forced the king of Navarre to make a treaty allowing the Danes to cross Navarre to reach the river Ebro and Tortosa. Civilians also served as Air Raid Wardens, volunteer emergency services and other critical functions. In 858, having crushed the Frankish kingdom, Björn concluded a treaty with Charles the Bald whereby the Danes were formally granted all the country south of the river Garonne, an area which was thereafter no longer mentioned in the Frankish annals. Families also grew victory gardens, small home vegetable gardens, to supply themselves with food. The Danish war in the north of France began with two objectives: to weaken the power of King Charles the Bald and to prevent the Franks from attacking in the south. Access to luxuries was severely restricted, though there was also a significant black market.

Effectively, by 845 all the lands around the Bay of Biscay were under Danish control. Food, clothing, petrol and other items were rationed. In 845 Asgeir began to settle in Saintonge in Aquitania. In the United Kingdom, women joined the work force in jobs that the men used to occupy. Hastein had occupied Noirmoutier in 843. Home front is the name given to the activities of the civilians in a state of total war. The leader of the invasion, Björn Ironside, became the ruler of the area and gave his name to Bayonne (originally "Björnhamn"). Various organisations were also formed to establish foreign resistance cells or support existing resistance movements, like the British SOE and the American OSS (the forerunner of the CIA).

Gascony fell under their complete control as early as 844. Although mainland Britain did not suffer invasion in World War II, the British made preparations for a British resistance movement, called the Auxiliary Units, in the event of a German invasion. In 840, the Danes began their attacks on the Frankish Empire – not on the Seine but on the Adour. Many countries had resistance movements dedicated to fighting the Axis invaders, and Germany itself also had an anti-Nazi movement. As this course was deemed too risky, they decided to reach the oriental markets by crossing the Pyrenees, passing through Mundaka (Guernika), Pamplona and then Tortosa, which was the main slave market in Europe. Communications lines were cut, trains derailed, roads, water towers and ammunition depots were destroyed and some German garrisons were attacked. On this route they met the Moors, who were the masters of the Strait of Gibraltar. Before D-Day there were also many operations performed by the French Resistance to help with the upincoming invasion.

The Danes therefore decided to create their own route to the south along the Frankish coast. The Communist resistance was among the fiercest since they were already organized and militant even before the war and their ideology was in many respects directly opposite of that of the Nazis. The Franks initiated a form of commercial blockade in an effort to weaken the Danish kingdom. Among the most notable resistance movements were the Polish Home Army, the French Maquis and the Yugoslav Partisans. The main western European trading route between the south and the north was the Rhine-Rhône axis. Resistance movements are sometimes also referred to as "the underground". According to Supéry, the intention of these Vikings was to create a commercial route to the Mediterranean Sea, then the centre of the world's trade. Resistance during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation, disinformation and propaganda to hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns.

In 823 and 825, their presence was recorded on the Ria Mundaka in Biscaya. Multiple efforts to bring about a peace agreement, and officially end the war, have as of yet not succeeded. In AD 816, Northmen were in Pamplona fighting together with a Navarrese army against the Moors. In the last days of the armed conflict, the Soviet Union occupied the southern Kuril Islands, an area previously held by Japan and claimed by the Soviets. In 799, the Franks attacked them in Noirmoutier ; in 812, a Viking fleet was seen off Perpignan on the Mediterranean Sea. Japan's surrender to the Allied powers did not fully end the war, however, because Japan and the Soviet Union never signed a peace agreement. In AD 795, long before the start of the Danish invasion proper in 840, Scandinavians were present in Asturias, on the northern shore of Spain, where they fought with the local king against the Moors. The Japanese surrendered on 15 August 1945 (V-J day), signing official surrender papers on 2 September 1945, aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

According to Joel Supéry, the French author of “Le Secret des Vikings”, the Scandinavian attacks against the Frankish Empire were carried out not by raiding adventurers looking for gold and silver but by armies applying a military strategy. The new inclusion of the Soviet Union in the war may have also played a part, but in his radio address to the nation the emperor did not mention it as a major reason for the surrender of Japan. Thus it may be noted that the end of the Viking Age (9th–11th ct.) for the Scandinavians also marks the start of their relatively brief Middle Ages. The use of atomic weapons allowed the emperor of Japan to bypass the existing government and intervene to end the war. The names of Scandinavian kings are known only for the later part of the Viking Age, and only after the end of the Viking Age did the separate kingdoms acquire a distinct identity as nations, which went hand in hand with their christianization. On 9 August, the B-29 "Bock's Car", piloted by Major Charles Sweeney, dropped an atomic bomb (Fat Man) on Nagasaki. But the three nations were not yet clearly separated, and still united by the common Old Norse language. On 8 August 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, as had been agreed to at Yalta, and launched a large-scale invasion of Japanese occupied Manchuria (Operation August Storm).

Generally speaking, the Norwegians expanded to the north and west, the Danes to England, settling in the Danelaw, and the Swedes to the east. Later on 6 August 1945, the B-29 "Enola Gay", piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets, dropped an atomic bomb (Little Boy) on Hiroshima, effectively destroying it. Important trading ports during the period include Birka, Hedeby, Kaupang, Jorvik, Staraja Ladoga, Novgorod and Kiev. In addition, the ports and major waterways of Japan were extensively mined by air in Operation Starvation which seriously disrupted the logistics of the island nation. From 839, there were Varangian mercenaries in Byzantine service (most famously Harald Hardrada, who campaigned in North Africa and Jerusalem in the 1030s). The dense living conditions around production centres and the wooden residential constructions contributed to the large loss of life. During three centuries, Vikings appeared along the coasts and rivers of Europe, as raiders, but increasingly also as traders, and even as settlers. Amongst dozens of other cities, Tokyo was firebombed, and about 90,000 people died from the initial attack.

Viking navigators also opened the road to new lands to the north and to the west, resulting in the colonization of Shetland, Orkney, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and even a short expedition to Newfoundland, circa AD 1000. capture of islands such as Iwo Jima and Okinawa brought the Japanese homeland within range of naval and air attack. Contemporary with the European Viking Age, the Byzantine Empire experienced the greatest period of stability (circa 800–1071) it would enjoy after the initial wave of Muslim conquests in the mid-seventh century. U.S. Geographically, a "Viking Age" may be assigned not only to the Scandinavian lands (modern Denmark, and southern Norway and Sweden), but also to territories under North Germanic dominance, mainly the Danelaw, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Ireland. The Western Allies celebrated "V-E Day" on 8 May and the Soviet Union "Victory Day" on 9 May. The period of North Germanic expansion, usually taken to last from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, is commonly called the 'Viking Age.' The Vikings may be seen as late joiners in the Migrations period, and thus the period links Late Antiquity with the high Middle Ages. German forces in Italy were surrendered on 2nd May1945, those in northern Germany, Denmark, and The Netherlands on the 4th May1945, and the German High Command under Generaloberst Alfred Jodl surrendered unconditionally all German forces on 7 May in Reims, France.

See main article Viking Age. Admiral Karl Dönitz became leader of the German government, but the German war effort quickly disintegrated. Thus, our knowledge of the actual boats Vikings used is limited. Hitler and his staff moved into the Führerbunker, a concrete bunker beneath the Chancellery, where on 30 April 1945, he committed suicide. Nor has any "Viking" boat construction site, or harbour, been found or excavated. When this failed, Hitler went into delusion, imagining that everyone was against him and that he still had battalions of troops to send into battle. There is no evidence connecting any discovered longship to any particular classical Viking raid. As a final resistance effort, he called for civilians, including children, to fight the oncoming Red Army in the Volkssturm militia.

Scholars also debate whether or not Vikings had cooking fires aboard their ships. Hitler, however, was still alive, and was slowly going mad. It is suspected that most Viking ships had an average length/width ratio of 4.5:1. Most of the Nazi leaders had either been killed or captured. The term "Viking ships" has entered common usage, however, possibly because of its Romantic associations. By now, the German Army was in full retreat and Berlin had already been battered due to preliminary air bombings. These boats were identical to those used by the Scandinavian defense fleets, known as the ledung. The Red Army (including 78,556 soldiers of the 1st Polish Army) began its final assault on Berlin on 16 April.

There were no specific "Viking ships" or "Viking longships"; Vikings used any of the common Scandinavian longships. It resulted in an April meeting to form the United Nations: nation-states were created in Eastern Europe; it was agreed Poland would have free elections (in fact elections were heavily rigged by Soviets); Soviet nationals were to be repatriated, and the Soviet Union was to attack Japan within three months of Germany's surrender. They may even have been considered outlaws - several sources name Vikings in association with Jomsborg or Julin, which, according to modern history, was a refugee center for Slavic pirates, as opposed to the descriptions in the Norse saga. Roosevelt made arrangements for post-war Europe at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. Still, in Scandinavia, Vikings were not seen as an accepted part of society. Churchill, Stalin, and Franklin D. Numbers of them fled to Iceland and the Faroe Islands, but the Norse sagas are rather subjective in their descriptions, and hence the Vikings in those sagas are sometimes characterized as heroes, later shaping the attitude towards Vikings during the 18th century Romantic period. In that sense it is an absolutely exemplary tragedy for the horrors of 20th Century warfare..."[1].

King Harald I of Norway finally was forced to make an expedition to the west to clear the islands and Scottish mainland of Vikings. It also contained all of the worst from Germany during the Nazi period. The sagas state that the Vikings built settlements and were skilled craftsmen and traders. It was a wonderfully beautiful city and a symbol of baroque humanism and all that was best in Germany. Vikings in those sagas are described as if they often struck at accessible and poorly defended targets, usually with impunity. According to British historian Frederick Taylor: "The destruction of Dresden has an epically tragic quality to it. An overwhelming amount of the sagas were written in Iceland. The bombing of Dresden by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) between February 13 and February 15, 1945 remains one of the more controversial events of World War II.

However, the transmission of this information was primarily oral, and we are reliant upon the writings of (later) Christian scholars, such as the Icelanders Snorri Sturluson and Sæmundr fróði, for much of this. Throughout the war, the Soviet Union engaged roughly 80%^{[citation needed]} of all Germany's forces. Norse mythology, Norse sagas and Old Norse literature tell us about their religion through tales of heroic and mythological heroes. to open up a second front. The rune stones are important sources in the study of the entire Norse society and early medieval Scandinavia, not only of the Viking segment of the population (Sawyer, P H: 1997). On the other hand, some say that throughout the war Stalin called on the U.S. Other rune stones mention men who died on Viking expeditions, among them the around 25 Ingvar stones in the Mälardalen district of Sweden erected to commemorate members of a disastrous expedition into present-day Russia in the early 11th century. By this time the Soviet steamroller had become so powerful that some historians argue that the U.S., British and Canadian landing at Normandy was more to prevent a coast-to-coast Soviet block than to fight Germany.

Many rune stones in Scandinavia record the names of participants in Viking expeditions. By now, the Soviets had reached the eastern borders of pre-war Germany. By the next century piracy from Saracens superceded the Viking scourge. The offensive was defeated. Soon the dockyards at Seville were extended, it was employed to patrol the Iberian coastline under the caliphs Abd al-Rahman III (912–61) and Al-Hakam II (961–76). However, with the overcast skies clearing allowing Allied air supremacy to enter the equation, and with the German failure to capture Bastogne, as well as the arrival of General Patton's Third Army, the Germans were forced to retreat back into Germany. In the Islamic south, the first navy of the Emirate was called into being after the humiliating Viking ascent of the Guadalquivir, 844, and was tested in repulsing Vikings in 859. In addition, the weather during the initial days of the invasion favoured the Germans because the bad weather grounded Allied aircraft.

1036–66) repulsed a Viking foray and built the fortress at Torres del Oeste to protect Compostela from the Atlantic approaches. The Allied forces, largely unprepared for this sudden attack, suffered heavy casualties. Bishop Cresconio of Compostela (ca. At first, the Germans scored successes against the Americans stationed in the Ardennes. Ransom was a motive for abductions: Fletcher instances Amarelo Mestáliz, who was forced to raise money on the security of his land in order to ransom his daughters who had been captured by the Vikings in 1015. The mission was unrealistic to begin with, since German plans largely relied on capturing Allied fuel dumps in order to keep their vehicles moving with the goal of capturing the vital port of Antwerp, and thus crippling the Allies in the Battle of the Bulge. After Tuy was sacked early in the 11th century, its bishopric remained vacant for the next half-century. Thus, Hitler thought he could drive a wedge between the frequently feuding Western Allies, causing them to agree to a favourable armistice, after which Germany could concentrate all her efforts on the Eastern front and have a chance to defeat the Soviets.

Richard Fletcher attests raids on the Galician coast in 844 and 858: "Alfonso III was sufficiently worried by the threat of Viking attack to establish fortified strong points near his coastline, as other rulers were doing elsewhere." In 968 bishop Sisnando of Compostela was killed, the monastery of Curtis was sacked, and measures were ordered for the defence of the inland town of Lugo. In December 1944, the German Army made its last major offensive in the West, largely because even if successful in the east it would have had no effect on the massive Red Army rolling towards the Reich. By the reign of Alfonso III of León Vikings were stifling the already weak threads of sea communications that tied Galicia to the rest of Europe. Germany withdrew from the Balkans and held Hungary until February 1945. 1, note 51), there were Viking attacks on coastal Galicia in the far northwest of the peninsula, though historical sources are too meagre to assess how frequent or how early raiding was. The Warsaw Uprising was fought between 1 August and 2 October. [[By the mid 9th century, though apparently not before (Fletcher 1984, ch. Romania surrendered in August 1944 and Bulgaria in September.

As members of the leidang fleet, as well as farmers and fishers now and then, were attacked by Vikings, most Scandinavians probably saw Vikings as their enemies and fought against them with all their might. A decisive victory by the Canadian First Army in the Battle of the Scheldt secured the entrance to the port of Antwerp, freeing it to receive supplies by late November 1944. Though a common practice today, calling all northmen (Scandinavians) Vikings, rather than reserving the word solely for those involved in piracy, can lead to misunderstanding and confusion. Logistical problems were starting to plague the Allies' advance west as the supply lines still ran back to the beaches of Normandy. As the Scandinavian shores were attacked by enemy forces, they established the defence fleet called leidang, which was also used as protection against Vikings. Allied paratroopers attempted a fast advance into Germany with Operation Market Garden in September but were repulsed. They were farmers, fishers and hunters, as were most other people in Europe at the time. The Allies' armistice conditions included further territorial losses and the internment or expulsion of German troops on Finnish soil executed in the Lapland War, now as co-belligerents of the Allies, who also demanded the political leadership to be prosecuted in "war-responsibility trials", which the Finnish public perceived as a mockery of the rule of law.

Scandinavians, in general, were not Vikings. After the Wehrmacht retreated from the southern shores of the Gulf of Finland, Finland's defence was untenable. It should be noted, however, that no written sources, in the cases of Vinland, Rus', or Varyags, use the term "Viking.". Finland's defence had been dependent on active, or in periods passive, support from the German Wehrmacht that also provided defence for the chiefly uninhabited northern half of Finland. Early Scandinavian colonies in North America are also labelled as "Viking" by modern English speakers. Operation Bagration, a Soviet offensive involving 2.5 million men and 6,000 tanks, was launched on 22 June, destroying the German Army Group Centre and taking 350,000 prisoners. During the last century, speculations began about whether foreign traders, known as varyags who had trade posts along the Russian rivers down to the Byzantine Empire were of Scandinavian origin, and since then, the term has been interpreted also to refer to tradesmen from Scandinavia who established colonies in Russia. Shortly after Allied landings at Normandy, on 9 June, the Soviet Union began an offensive on the Karelian Isthmus that after three months would force Nazi Germany's co-belligerent Finland to an armistice.

As an adjective, the word is used in expressions like "Viking age," "Viking culture," "Viking colony," etc., generally referring to medieval Scandinavia. By early 1944, the Red Army had reached the border of Poland and lifted the Siege of Leningrad. During the 20th century, the meaning of the term was expanded to refer not only to the raiders, but also to the entire period; it is now, somewhat confusingly, used as a noun both in the original meaning of raiders, warriors or navigators, and sometimes to refer to the Scandinavian population in general. The clandestine French Resistance in Paris rose against the Germans on 19 August, and a French division under General Jacques Leclerc, pressing forward from Normandy, received the surrender of the German forces there and liberated the city on August 25. The word disappeared in Middle English, and was reintroduced as viking during 18th century Romanticism. Allied forces stationed in Italy invaded the French Riviera on 15 August and linked up with forces from Normandy. Indeed, when Scandinavian raiders left their boats, stole horses and rode across country, they were never referred to as "vikings" in English sources. An Allied breakout was effected at St.-Lô, and the most powerful German force in France, the Seventh Army, was almost completely destroyed in the Falaise pocket while counter-attacking.

Widsith, and the writings of Adam von Bremen), a viking is a pirate, and not a name for the people or culture in general. For months the Allies measured progress in hundreds of yards and bloody rifle fights in the Bocage. In medieval use (eg. The hedgerows themselves proved impossible to penetrate and if a Sherman attempted to run-over these walls they exposed their vulnerable underbellies to panzerfaust fire. In Old English, the word wicing appears first in the 6th or 7th century in the Anglo-Saxon poem, “Widsith.”. Troops also refered to the causeways as death-alleys because the Germans had the entire length zeroed in with mortars and 88's. In the Icelandic sagas, víking refers to an overseas expedition (Old Norse farar i vikingr "to go on an expedition"), and víkingr, to a seaman or warrior taking part in such an expedition. The narrow causeways of the hedgerow lanes caused great difficulty for tanks and made rotating their turrets difficult if not impossible.

The word viking appears on several rune stones found in Scandinavia. ² Hedgerows aided the defending German units by giving them perfect areas for MG-42 emplacemtents. "trading city" (cognate to Latin vicus, "village"). But the airborne divisions secured the rear, enabling the seaborne troops to break inland. A second etymology suggested that the term is derived from Old English, wíc, ie. German artillery batteries pounded the beaches. Later on, the term, viking, became synonymous with "naval expedition" or "naval raid", and a vikingr was a member of such expeditions. The allies suffered large casualties during the beach assault.

In Old Norse, this would be spelled vikingr. ^[9]On "D-Day" (6 June 1944) the western Allies invaded German-held Normandy in a pre-dawn amphibious assault spearheaded by American (82nd and 101st), British (6th) and Canadian paratroopers, opening the "second front" against Germany. One path might be from the Old Norse word, vík, meaning "bay," "creek," or "inlet," and the suffix -ing, meaning "coming from" or "belonging to." Thus, viking would be a 'person of the bay', or "bayling" for lack of a better word. Further south the main Japanese army in the theatre were fought to a standstill on the Burma-India frontier by the British Fourteenth Army (the "Forgotten Army"), which then counter-attacked, and having recaptured all of Burma was planning attacks towards Malaya when the war ended. The etymology of "Viking" is somewhat vague. ground troops cleared the Japanese forces from northern Burma so that the Ledo Road could be built to replace the Burma Road. Hey ALL!!!!. led and trained Chinese divisions, a British division and a few thousand U.S.

. U.S. The medieval Scandinavian population, in general, is more properly referred to as Norse. This forced the Allies to create a large sustained airlift, known as "flying the Hump". Today, somewhat controversially, the word is also used as a generic adjective, referring to the Viking Age Scandinavians. The Japanese had captured most of Burma, severing the Burma Road by which the Western Allies had been supplying the Chinese Nationalists. The word “Viking” was introduced to the English language with romantic connotations in the 18th century. Conflict between Nationalist and Communist forces emerged long before the war; it continued after and, to an extent, even during the war, though more implicitly.

This period of European history (generally dated to AD 793 - AD 1066) is often referred to as the Viking Age. The Nationalist Kuomintang Army, under Chiang Kai-shek, and the Communist Chinese Army, under Mao Zedong, both opposed the Japanese occupation of China but never truly allied against the Japanese. Vikings traveled to the west and Varangians, who were best known as the Varangian Guards of the Byzantine emperors, to the east. Marines captured islands closer to the Japanese mainland. The name Viking is a loanword from the native Scandinavian term for the Norse warriors who raided the coasts of Scandinavia, the British Isles, and other parts of Europe from the late 8th century to the 11th century. The effectiveness of this stranglehold increased as U.S. (1980) The Northern World. Allied submarines and aircraft also attacked Japanese merchant shipping, depriving Japan's industry of the raw materials it had gone to war to obtain.

Wilson, David M. The last major offensive in the south-west Pacific Area was the Borneo campaign of mid-1945, which was aimed at further isolating the remaining Japanese forces in South East Asia and securing the release of Allied POWs. (1970) The Vikings and their Origins. As the Philippines were being retaken in late 1944, the Battle of Leyte Gulf raged, arguably the largest naval battle in history. Wilson, David M. The rest of the Solomon Islands were retaken in 1943, New Britain and New Ireland in 1944. The Age of the Vikings. forces then undertook the prolonged campaign to retake the occupied parts of the Solomon Islands, New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, experiencing some of the toughest resistance of the war.

(1962). Australian and U.S. H. Mid-1943 brought the fifth and final German Sutjeska offensive against the Yugoslav Partisans before the invasion and subsequent capitulation of Italy, the other major occupying force in Yugoslavia. Sawyer, P. Rome was captured on 5 June 1944. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. Allied forces advanced north but were stalled for the winter at the Gustav Line, until they broke through in the Battle of Monte Cassino.

(1997). Italy surrendered on 8 September, but German forces continued to fight. H. Having captured Sicily, the Allies invaded mainland Italy on 3 September 1943. Sawyer, P. On 25 July Benito Mussolini was fired from office by the King of Italy, allowing a new government to take power. Medieval Scandinavia. Newly captured North Africa was used as a springboard for the invasion of Sicily on 10 July 1943.

(date?). Their intentions were known by the Soviets, and the Battle of Kursk ended in a Soviet counteroffensive that threw the German Army back. H. In July, the Wehrmacht launched a much-delayed offensive against the Soviet Union at Kursk. Sawyer, P. After the victory at Stalingrad, the Red Army launched eight offensives during the winter, many concentrated along the Don basin near Stalingrad, which resulted in initial gains until German forces were able to take advantage of the weakened condition of the Red Army and regain the territory it lost. Viking Age Denmark. On August 7, 1943, a combined American-Canadian force invaded the Aleutian Island only to find them abandoned.

Roesdahl, Else (date?). A substantial element of the Asian campaign was played out, starting in 1942, in the Aleutian Islands. Vikings!. On Guadalcanal, the Japanese resistance failed in February 1943. Magnusson, Magnus (1980). In late August and early September, while battle raged on Guadalcanal, an amphibious Japanese attack on the eastern tip of New Guinea was met by Australian forces at Milne Bay, and the Japanese land forces suffered their first conclusive defeat. A History of the Vikings. On 7 August 1942, the United States assaulted the island.

Jones, Gwyn (1984). forces began to attack captured territories, beginning with Guadalcanal Island, against a bitter and determined Japanese defense. The Viking World. Nonetheless, U.S. (date?). Even prior to the American entry to the war, the Allied leaders had agreed that priority should be given to the defeat of Nazi Germany. Graham-Campbell, J. This was one of the most significant victories in Australian military history.

Wilson (1970) The Viking Achievement. But amazingly, the outnumbered and untrained Australian 39th battalion defeated the 5,000-strong Japanese army. Foote, Peter G., and David M. This was met with Australian militia, many of them very young and undertrained, fighting a stubborn rearguard action until the arrival of Australian regulars returning from action in North Africa, Greece and the Middle East. Chapter 1 "Galicia" (on-line text). However, in July an overland attack on Port Moresby was led along the rugged Kokoda Track. Saint James's Catapult: The Life and Times of Diego Gelmírez of Santiago de Compostela (Oxford University Press). It was a complete victory for the Americans, and the Japanese Navy was now on the defensive.

(1984). The Americans lost one carrier and fewer planes. Fletcher, R.A. The loss of many planes and skilled pilots (many of them took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor) was also difficult to redress. ISBN 0049400495. American pilots sunk four Japanese carriers, which the Japanese industry could not replace swiftly. London: Allen and Unwin. naval leaders that Midway was the Japanese target.

The Viking Road to Byzantium. A month later the invasion of Midway Island was prevented by decoding secret Japanese messages, and hence alerted U.S. Ellis (1976). The two sides suffered roughly equal losses. R. This was both the first successful opposition to Japanese plans and the first naval battle fought only between aircraft carriers. Davidson, H. Had the capture of Port Moresby succeeded, the Japanese Navy would have been within striking range of Australia.

Baltimore: Penguin Books. In May 1942, a naval attack on Port Moresby, New Guinea, was thwarted by Allied navies in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. In April 1942, Americans succeeded in attacking Japan itself for the first time in the Doolittle raid, which boosted morale on the home front and caused Japan to shift some resources to homeland defense. Ellis (1964). Some 250,000 Axis soldiers were taken prisoner. R. Inevitably, advancing from both the east and west, the Allies finally defeated the German Afrika Corps on May 13, 1943.

Davidson, H. The withdrawing Germans continued to put up stiff defence, and Rommel defeated the American forces decisively at the Battle of Kasserine Pass before finishing his strategic withdrawal back to the meagre German supply chain. ISBN 0140204598. Ultimately, German and Italian forces were caught in the pincers of a twin advance from Algeria and Libya. New translation 1965. This lack of supplies and air support destroyed any chance of a large German offensive in Africa. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Rommel's Afrika Corps was not being supplied adequately because of the loss of transport shipments caused by Allied—mostly British—navies and air forces in the Mediterranean.

Kalle Skov. Hitler invaded and occupied Vichy France in response. The Vikings, trans. He was allowed to retain local control by the Allies, to the annoyance of Free French leaders. Brøndsted, Johannes (1960). The Vichy commander, Admiral Darlan, negotiated an end to hostilities, against orders from the Vichy government. Monty Python's "Spam Song". In Algiers, 400 members of the French resistance captured much of the city, though it was retaken before Allied forces could arrive.

Viking ship. In fact, resistance was stronger than expected but still sporadic. Viking Age arms and armour. It was hoped that the local forces of Vichy France would put up no resistance and submit to the authority of Free French General Henri Giraud. Hill forts, Viking ring castles. The first wave was almost entirely American troops, because it was thought that the French would react more favourably to Americans than British. Jomsvikings. The operation was launched on 8 November 1942.

Iceland. The aim of Torch was to gain control of Morocco and Algiers through simultaneous landings at Casablanca, Oran and Algiers, followed a few days later with a landing at Bône, the gateway to Tunisia. Greenland. Operation Torch was headed by General Dwight Eisenhower. Miklagard. The plan for landings in Africa was approved in July 1942. Serkland. Churchill put forward the idea of a small invasion in Norway or landings in French North Africa.

Gardariki. Only if Russia collapsed would they approve a main landing in France. Hjaltland. It was also thought that American forces were in a process of expansion, organization and exercise, not capable yet of fighting an experienced German army. Vinland. The British opposed this because of insufficient landing craft and logistical problems. Markland. The American Chiefs of Staff favoured a cross-channel (France) amphibious operation in the summer.

Helluland. This decision resulted in a long debate as to where and when to open a Second Front against Germany. Bjarmland. giving priority of knocking out Germany before Japan. Danelaw. This consideration led to the overall strategy "Germany First"; i.e. Visby lenses. During the Arcadia Conference from December 1941 to January 1942, the Allied leaders concluded that it was essential to keep Russia in the war.

Tollund Man. After the German defeat at El Alamein, Rommel made a successful strategic withdrawal to Tunisia. Temple at Uppsala. In addition, Rommel was getting little or no help by this time from the struggling Luftwaffe, which was now more tasked with defending Western European air space, and fighting the Soviet Union, than providing Rommel with support in North Africa. Old Uppsala. The western Allies had the advantage of being close to their supplies during the battle. Leidang. Commonwealth forces took the offensive, and although they lost more tanks than the Germans began the battle with, Montgomery was ultimately triumphant.

L'Anse aux Meadows. Erwin Rommel, German commander of the Afrika Korps, known as the "Desert Fox", was absent from the battle because he was recovering from jaundice back in Europe. Helgö. The Second Battle of El Alamein occurred between October 23 and November 3, 1942, after Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery had replaced Claude Auchinleck as commander of the Commonwealth forces, now known as the Eighth Army. Hedeby. However, they had outrun their supplies, and a Commonwealth defence stopped their thrusts. Birka. German forces had advanced to the last defensible point before Alexandria and the Suez Canal.

Snorri Sturluson. The First Battle of El Alamein took place between 1 July and 27 July 1942. Saxo Grammaticus. Some historians cite this as the European war's "turning point". Adam of Bremen. Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels responded with his Sportpalast speech to the German people. Skald. The results were the destruction of the city, millions of casualties, and the collapse of Wehrmacht's Sixth Army as a viable fighting force.

Norse art. It did not, and he surrendered completely on 2 February. Norse sagas. Hitler promoted General Friedrich Paulus, who was in charge of the German forces in the area, to Field Marshal in the vain hope it would deter him from surrendering because never before had a German Field Marshal surrendered. Norse mythology. By early February 1943, it was clear that the Sixth Army would have to surrender. Old Norse poetry. In November a Soviet offensive encircled the Sixth Army.

Blót. At night, the Soviet forces were resupplied from the east bank of the Volga, and the Wehrmacht forces were eventually ground down; especially after Hitler diverted the armour of the Sixth Army to the Caucasus. Pathfinder (In pn). The siege of Stalingrad continued for many months, with vicious urban warfare leading to high casualties on both sides. The Northmen (In production). In the Eastern front, an aborted German offensive was launched towards the Caucasus to secure oil fields, and German armies reached Stalingrad. Beowulf (In production). In May 1942, one of the most powerful Nazis, Reinhard Heydrich, was assassinated in Prague in the Operation Anthropoid.

Beowulf & Grendel (2005). Main articles: Battle of Stalingrad, Operation Torch. Ring of the Nibelungs (2004). Some historians mark this moment as another major turning point of the war with Hitler provoking a grand alliance of powerful nations, most prominently the UK, the USA and the USSR, who could wage powerful offensives on both East and West simultaneously. The 13th Warrior (1999). Roosevelt the pretext needed for the United States joining the fight in Europe with full commitment and with no meaningful opposition from Congress. The Viking Sagas (1995). Japan did not oblige him, and this diplomatic move proved a catastrophic blunder which gave President Franklin D.

Hvíti víkingurinn, (The White Viking) (1991). Hitler made the declaration in the hopes that Japan would support him by attacking the Soviet Union. Erik the Viking (1989). Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Germany declared war on the United States on 11 December 1941, even though it was not obliged to do so under the Tripartite Pact of 1940. Í skugga hrafnsins, (In the Shadow of the Raven) (1988). The British island fortress of Singapore was captured in what Churchill considered one of the most humiliating British defeats of all time. Ofelas, (Pathfinder) (1987). In a matter of months, all these territories and more fell to the Japanese.

Hrafninn flýgur, (Revenge of the Barbarians/ When the Raven Flies) (1984). Immediately following these attacks, Japan invaded the Philippines and also the British Colonies of Hong Kong, Malaya, Borneo and Burma with the intention of seizing the oilfields of the Dutch East Indies. The Norseman (1978). air bases in the Philippines. Island at the Top of the World (1974). Simultaneous to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan also attacked U.S. The Longships (1963). The same day, China officially declared war on Japan despite having been engaged in warfare for over four years (it had done so in order to receive military aid as to avoid neutrality complications).

The Vikings (1958). The following day, the United States declared war on Japan. The Viking World by Christine Hatt. The survival of these assets have led many to consider this attack a catastrophic long term strategic blunder for Japan. The Vikings by Neil Grant. However, the attack failed to strike targets that could have been crippling losses to the US Pacific Fleet such as the aircraft carriers which were out at sea at the time of the attack or the base's ship fuel storage and repair facilities. Going to War in Viking Times by Christopher Gravett. Japan lost only 29 aircraft and their crews and five midget submarines.

Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton. 2408 Americans were killed including 68 civilians; 1178 were wounded. The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavrieal Kay. This attack resulted in 8 battleships (including the California, the Utah, the West Virginia, the Oklahoma, the Arizona, and the Tennessee) either sunk or damaged, 3 light cruisers and 3 destroyers sunk as well as damage to some auxiliaries and 343 aircraft either damaged or destroyed. Thorfinn Karlsefni (colonizer of Vinland). The Japanese forces met little resistance and devastated the harbor. Styrbjörn Sterki (conqueror of Jomsborg). naval base in the Pacific.

Skagul Toste (the first Viking to exact the Danegeld). On 7 December 1941, Japanese warplanes commanded by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo carried out a surprise air raid on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the largest U.S. Rurik (founder of the Rus' rule in Eastern Europe). With a combined force of only 14,000, the Canadian Army, British Army and the British Indian Army, the vastly outnumbered Allied troops held out until the surrender of the British colony on Christmas Day (known to locals as 'Black Christmas'). Rollo of Normandy (founder of Normandy). On December 8, 1941 Japanese forces arrived at Hong Kong, which later led to the Battle of Hong Kong. Ragnar Lodbrok (captured Paris). Despite what warning signs remained, the attack on Pearl Harbor achieved military surprise and dealt severe damage to the American Fleet's battleships, though the primary targets, aircraft carriers, remained safely at sea.

Oleg of Kiev (conquered Kiev, founded Kievan Rus' and attacked Constantinople). It is hard to determine whether the Japanese intended to release an advance declaration of war, however, as means of coordinating secret directives with public communication, particularly during a weekend in the U.S., were limited. Leif Eriksson (discoverer of Vinland). Pacific Fleet while consolidating oil fields in Southeast Asia. Ingólfur Arnarson (settled in Iceland). With the United States and other countries cutting exports to Japan, particularly fuel oil, Japan planned a strike on Pearl Harbor on Sunday, 7 December 1941, to cripple the U.S. Ivar the Boneless (disabled son of Ragnar Lodbrok who, despite having to be carried on a shield, nevertheless conquered York). Over a seven-month period, Chennault's Flying Tigers destroyed an estimated 115 Japanese aircraft, sunk numerous Japanese ships, and had a notable participation in the campaign of Burma.

Ingvar the Far-Travelled (the leader of the last great Swedish viking expedition, which pillaged the shores of the Caspian Sea). military personnel to resign from the service so that they could participate in a covert operation in China: the American Volunteer Group, also known as Chennault's Flying Tigers. Harald Hardrada (king of Norway and member of the Varangian Guard). Roosevelt signed an unpublished (secret) executive order in May 1940 allowing U.S. Harald Finehair (founder and first king of Norway; some dispute, as part of the etymological dispute discussed above, whether he really merits the label "Viking" at all). By 1937, war had broken out as the Japanese sought control of China. Guthrum (colonised England). Japan had invaded China in 1931.

Gardar Svavarsson (discoverer of Iceland). A war had begun in Asia years before World War II started in Europe. Erik the Red (discoverer of Greenland). Australian and other Allied troops in the city resisted all until relieved, but a renewed Axis offensive captured the city and drove the Eighth Army back to a line at El Alamein. Egill Skallagrímsson (popular icelandic warrior and skald, see also Egils saga). Meanwhile, Rommel's forces advanced rapidly eastward, laying siege to the vital seaport of Tobruk. Björn Ironside (pillaged in Italy and son of Ragnar Lodbrok). In June 1941, Allied forces invaded Syria and Lebanon, capturing Damascus on 17 June (see Syria-Lebanon campaign).

Askold and Dir (legendary Varangian conquerors of Kiev). The Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union began with Soviet air attacks shortly after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, on 25 June, and ended with an armistice in 1944. Beowulf. Some historians identify this as the "turning point" in the Allies' war against Germany; others identify the capitulation of the German Sixth Army outside Stalingrad (modern-day Volgograd) in 1943. Voluspá. Soviet counter-attacks defeated them within sight of Moscow's spires, and a rout was only narrowly avoided. Having pushed to occupy Moscow before winter, German forces were delayed into the Soviet Winter.

German armies pursued a three-pronged advance against Leningrad, Moscow, and the Caucasus. Industries were dismantled and withdrawn to the Ural mountains for reassembly. Soviet forces came to fight a war of scorched earth, withdrawing into the steppe of Russia to acquire time and stretch the German army. The "Great Patriotic War" (Russian: Великая Отечественная Война, Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voyna) had begun with surprise attacks by German panzer armies, which encircled and destroyed much of the Soviet's western military, capturing or killing hundreds of thousands of men.

Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the largest invasion in history, commenced on 22 June 1941. The Allies, on the other hand, came to the conclusion that every major invasion should be supported by paratroopers. General Kurt Student would later say, "Crete was the grave of the German parachutists". So heavy were the losses that Hitler decided never to launch an airborne invasion again.

The German invasion troops suffered 6,200 casualties (with almost 4,000 dead) out of 14,000 used. However, over 10,000 Greek and 500 Commonwealth troops remained at large and caused problems for the German occupiers. After a week it was decided that so many German troops had been flown in that there was no way to defeat them, and about 17,000 Commonwealth soldiers were evacuated. Their invasion on two of the airfields failed, but they successfully captured one, which allowed them to reinforce their position by landing reinforcements.

The Germans attacked the island simultaneously on the three airfields. Crete was defended by an group of about 43,000 Greek, New Zealand, Australian and British troops, not all of them fully equipped. On 20 May 1941, the Battle of Crete began when elite German Fallschirmjäger and glider-borne mountain troops and some 539 aeroplanes launched a massive airborne invasion of the Greek island of Crete. British troops were diverted from North Africa to assist with the defence but failed to prevent Greece's capture.

With these new troops the Axis succeeded in driving the Greek forces back. Hitler reluctantly sent forces to assist Mussolini's forces in their attempt to capture Greece, principally to prevent a British build-up on Germany's strategic southern flank. Hitler's forces then invaded Greece and Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941. This was followed by anti-Axis demonstrations in the country and a coup which overthrew the government and replaced it with a pro-Allied one on 27 March 1941.

Europe: ^[8]Yugoslavia's government succumbed to the pressure of Italy and Germany and signed the Tripartite Treaty on 25 March 1941. These actions intensified Japan's conflict with the United States and the United Kingdom, who reacted with an oil boycott. In 1940, Japan occupied French Indochina (Vietnam) upon agreement with the Vichy Government and allied with the Axis powers, Germany and Italy. While Gibraltar was never under direct attack, Alexandria and to a deadlier degree Malta were hit repeatedly by Axis attacks: the thrusts towards the Suez Canal for the former, and the 1940/42 Blitz for the latter, making the island of Malta the most heavily bombed place on earth.

On the other hand, the Italian declaration of war challenged the British supremacy of this sea, a supremacy hinged on Gibraltar, Malta and Alexandria. Italian troops invaded and captured British Somaliland in August 1940. However, German forces (known later as the Afrika Korps) under General Erwin Rommel landed in Libya and renewed the assault on Egypt. British, Indian and Australian forces counter-attacked (see Operation Compass), but this offensive stopped in 1941 when much of the Commonwealth forces were transferred to Greece to defend it from German attack.

The aim was to make Egypt an Italian possession, especially the vital Suez Canal. The North African Campaign began in 1940; Italian forces in Libya attacked British forces in Egypt. By mid-December they had occupied one-fourth of Albania. Greek forces successfully repelled the Italian attacks and launched a full-scale counter-attack deep into Albania.

Italy invaded Greece on 28 October 1940, from bases in Albania. President Roosevelt announced a shift in the American stance from neutrality to "non-belligerency". The U-Boats reduced shipments considerably; however, the United Kingdom refused to seek peace, with Prime Minister Winston Churchill stating that "We shall never surrender". In a long-running campaign, German U-Boats attempted to deprive the British Isles of necessary Lend Lease cargo from the United States.

Similar efforts were made, though at sea, in the Battle of the Atlantic. The Luftwaffe was not successful, and Operation Sealion, the proposed invasion of the British Isles, was abandoned. The Luftwaffe initially targeted RAF Fighter Command but turned to terror bombing London. Fighter aircraft fought overhead for months as the Luftwaffe and Royal Air Force fought for control of Britain's skies.

Not having secured a rapid peace with the United Kingdom, Germany began preparations to invade with the Battle of Britain. In June 1940 the Soviet Union occupied Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, and annexed Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina from Romania. While some units from the French army were still fighting, a number of top politicians and military leaders decided that it would be better to surrender given the situation; France signed an armistice with Germany on June 22, 1940, leading to the establishment of the Vichy France puppet government in the unoccupied part of France. German forces then continued the conquest of France with Case Red, advancing behind the Maginot Line and near the coast.

Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands fell quickly against the attack of Army Group B, and the British Expeditionary Force, trapped in the north, being encircled, was evacuated from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo. In the first phase of the invasion, Case Yellow, the Wehrmacht's Panzergruppe von Kleist bypassed the Maginot Line and split the Allies in two by driving to the English Channel through northern France. The Allies had hoped to establish a static continuous front and were ill-prepared for the German Blitzkrieg tactics. France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were invaded on 10 May, ending the Phony War and beginning the Battle of France.

All Allied forces had been evacuated and what remained of the Norwegian Army surrendered. By late June, German forces were in complete control of Norway. Norway fought back, with British, French and Polish exile forces landing to support the Norwegians at Namsos, Åndalsnes and Narvik. Denmark was occupied without resistance.

Germany invaded Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940, in Operation Weserübung, ostensibly to counter the threat of an Allied invasion from the region. The Soviet Union invaded Finland on 30 November 1939, beginning the Winter War, which lasted until March 1940 with Finland ceding territory to the Soviet Union. The Tripartite Pact was signed between Germany, Italy, and Japan on 27 September 1940, formalising their alignment as the "Axis Powers". The Kriegsmarine pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee was sunk in South America after the battle of the River Plate.

There were isolated engagements during the "Phony War" or "Sitzkrieg" period, including the sinking of HMS Royal Oak in the anchorage at Scapa Flow and Luftwaffe bombings of the naval bases at Rosyth and Scapa Flow. remain neutral in the war, a position that the majority of Americans, reluctant to join in what they saw as "someone else's war," welcomed. Indeed, the Soviets had their agents in the U.S., working alongside German sympathisers, advocate that the U.S. The Soviet Union honoured the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and did not fight the Germans: Stalin was happy to have those he felt were his natural and true enemies—the capitalist West and Nazi Germany—fight each other.

A prominent example was the assistance of Polish pilots during the Battle of Britain. Polish forces continued to fight the Axis powers after their country fell. The "Sitzkrieg" lasted until May 1940. Germany paused to regroup as the British and French waited for them at the frontline during a period that would be jokingly termed "the Phony War", or the "Sitzkrieg", because no actual fighting was taking place.

As Poland fell, the British and French were either caught unaware of German intentions or had not allowed themselves to believe that Germany would invade Poland. The last Polish Army unit was defeated on 6 October. Hours later, the Polish government escaped to Romania. In accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Red Army invaded Poland from the east on 17 September, so the Polish Army was completely surrounded by the German and Soviet forces.

Only partly mobilized and with troops inadequately equipped with largely outdated weapons (which included large numbers of horse-mounted cavalry), and without the anticipated support of French or British forces, Poland was overrun by the Wehrmacht's superior numbers and "blitzkrieg" tactics. Canada followed a week later, on 10 September. Australia and New Zealand declared war the same day, although through the quirk of the international date line, New Zealand then Australia were the first to declare war on Germany. France and the United Kingdom honoured their defensive alliance of March 1939 by declaring war two days later on 3 September.

War broke out in Europe on 1 September 1939, with the German invasion of Poland. Surprised by the unanticipated level of resistance from China, the Japanese forces committed brutal atrocities against civilians and POWs when Nanking was occupied (see Nanjing Massacre), killing as many as 300,000 civilians within a month. The city eventually fell to the Japanese and in December 1937, the capital city, Nanking (now Nanjing), fell and the Chinese government moved its seat to Chongqing for the rest of the war. The Japanese made vast initial advances, but were stalled in Shanghai for months in the Battle of Shanghai.

Rather than retreating swiftly, as in previous engagements with the Japanese, the Chinese government began a war of resistance, marking the official start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which would soon become part of the World War. ^[7]On 7 July 1937, Japan, after occupying northeastern China as Manchuria in 1931, launched another attack against China near Beijing (see Marco Polo Bridge Incident). There are some other historians that argue the war started on the Manchurian Incident on 18 September 1931. Some historians argue that the Italian attack on Ethiopia (The Second Italo-Abyssinian War), which lasted seven months in 1935-1936, was the actual start of World War II.

Other candidates include the Japanese invasion of China on 7 July 1937, (the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War), or the entry of Hitler's armies to Prague in March 1939. The most common date used is 1 September 1939, marking the German invasion of Poland, which resulted in the British and French declarations of war two days later. ^[6]The date on which World War II started is a debated subject; historians do not all agree on which event signified the start of the war. Main articles: European Theatre of World War II, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II, Pacific War, End of World War II in Europe.

Such situations allowed neutral countries to become hotbeds of espionage. For example, neutral Switzerland was generally considered to be "Allied-friendly", while neutral Spain was considered "Axis-friendly", despite the fact that neither country openly proclaimed any alliances. Sovereignty was difficult to maintain, as many countries that did not directly participate in the conflict nevertheless held vested interests in seeing a particular side prevail. Countries that attempted to remain neutral in the conflict were often viewed with suspicion by the participants, and pressured to make contributions to the most influential power in their neighbourhood.

Many other countries, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Greece, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Thailand and Yugoslavia are also considered important Allies, although some of these were conquered and occupied by Axis forces or even officially joined the Axis as a result of coercion. entered the war after, first, Japan and, then, Germany declared war on it and launched direct attacks on its navy, shipping and other interests. But the U.S. would not interfere in European affairs.

Similarly, the US had the (much older) unilateral Monroe Doctrine, which stated that Europe should not interfere in the Americas and, in turn, the U.S. But Germany violated the pact when it invaded the USSR in 1941. On August 23, 1939, just before the war broke out, the USSR and Germany signed the non-aggression Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which, among other things, divided Eastern Europe into regions of influence. China had been at war with Japan since 1937.

The nations, which declared war on Germany in September 1939, included Britain and the Commonwealth, France, and Poland. Among the Allied powers, what emerged to be the Big Three were the United Kingdom (from September 3, 1939), the Soviet Union (from June 1941) and the United States (from December 1941), though some consider smaller countries like Australia and Canada to be part of the Big Five as it is called. As discussed below, the Soviet Union remained an ally of Germany, as a supplier, until Germany ended that relationship on June 22, 1941 by invading that country. The Soviet Union provided supplies to Germany, while the United Kingdom and France were attempting to fend off Germany's successful 1940 advance into Western Europe.

The Soviet Union was actually an ally of Germany at the beginning of the war, sharing with Germany the division of Poland and Baltic states. Spain's fascist government never joined the Axis but signed the Anti Comintern Pact of 1941 with Germany and sent volunteers to fight on Germany's Eastern Front. Smaller countries participating on the Axis side were Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia and Finland. The Axis Powers consisted primarily of Germany, Italy, and Japan, which split the earth into three spheres of influence under the Tripartite Pact of 1940, and vowed to defend one another against aggression.

Some nations participated on different sides at different times. A number of smaller countries participated in the war, some of them under occupation or as proxies of one of the large powers. The belligerents of the Second World War are usually considered to belong to either of the two blocs: the Axis and the Allies. This was a significant contributing factor in the outbreak of World War II in 1939.^[5].

The League commissioner in Danzig was unable to deal with German claims on the city. The League of Nations was powerless and mostly silent in the face of many major events leading to World War II such as Hitler's re-militarisation of the Rhineland, annexation of Austria, and occupation of Czechoslovakia. Japan also sought to secure additional natural resources, such as oil and iron ore, due in part to the lack of natural resources on Japan's own home islands. In Asia, Japan's efforts to become a world power and the rise of militarist leadership (in the 1930s, the government in Japan was undermined as militarists rose to power and gained de facto totalitarian control) led to conflicts first with China and later the United States.

Roberts[4]. The two conflicts are also described in this way by Duke University's J.M. The London School of Economics has gone so far along its route that its history department now teaches a course entitled "European Civil War 1890 to 1945"[3]. Some academics have gone so far in linking the Treaty of Versailles directly to the conflict as to claim that the European theatres of World War I and II actually constitute a single conflict with a 22-year ceasefire (much as the 1337-1453 Hundred Years War is treated as a single conflict).

They led Germany through a chain of events: rearmament, reoccupation of the Rhineland, incorporation of Austria Anschluss, dismemberment and occupation of Czechoslovakia and finally the invasion of Poland. In Germany, there was a strong national desire to escape the bonds of the World War I Treaty of Versailles, and eventually, Hitler and the Nazis assumed control of the country by calling for a heroic mass effort to restore past glory. ^[2]The causes of World War II are naturally a debated subject, but a common view, particularly among the allies in the early post-war years, ties them to the policy of appeasement, which was directed by Britain and France after the First World War and expansionism of Germany and Japan: Germany had lost wealth, power and status following the First World War and the main purpose of the economic, military, and (eventually) territorial expansion was to give Germany a place as a world power again and, in addition, to obtain resource rich land at the expense of Poles and Ukranians. There was a fundamental shift in power from Western Europe to the new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, with significant boundary changes and displacement of people as the Soviet Union's borders shifted westwards.

China's civil war continued through and after the war, resulting eventually in the establishment of the People's Republic of China. In Asia, the United States' military occupation of Japan led to Japan's democratization. Western Europe largely aligned as NATO, and Eastern Europe largely as the Warsaw pact countries, alliances which were fundamental to the ensuing Cold War. This partition was, however, informal; rather than coming to terms about the spheres of influence, the relationship between the victors steadily deteriorated, and the military lines of demarcation finally became the de facto country boundaries.

After World War II, Europe was partitioned into Western and Soviet spheres of influence, the former undergoing economic reconstruction under the Marshall Plan and the latter becoming satellite states of the Soviet Union. The vast outcomes of the war, including new technology and changes to the world's geopolitical, cultural and economic arrangement, were unprecedented in human history.^[1]. It is estimated to have cost about 1 trillion US dollars in 1945 (adjusted for inflation; roughly 10.5 trillion in 2005), not including subsequent reconstruction. It was the first time that a number of newly developed technologies, including nuclear weapons, were used against either military or civilian targets.

Atomic weapons, jet aircraft, rockets and radar, the blitzkrieg (or "lightning war"), the massive use of tanks, submarines, torpedo bombers and destroyer/tanker formations, are only a few of many wartime inventions and new tactics that changed the face of conflict. Few areas of the world were unaffected; the war involved the "home front" and bombing of civilians to a greater degree than any previous conflict. This figure includes acts of genocide such as the Holocaust and General Ishii Shiro's Unit 731 experiments in Pingfan, incredibly bloody battles in Europe, North Africa and the Pacific Ocean, and massive bombings of cities, including the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the firebombing of Dresden and Pforzheim in Germany and the blitz on British cities such as Coventry and London. Approximately 62 million people died as a result of the war, almost half of which Russians (at the decisive Eastern Front).

The war ended in 1945 with an Allied victory. China, which had been engaged in war with Japan since the mid-1930s, also fought with the Allies. In the same year, the United States of America entered the war on the Allies' side after having been attacked by Germany's ally Japan. The Soviet Union had enabled German attack on Poland by signing a pact with Germany, but, in 1941, Germany also invaded the Soviet Union, driving it into the Allies' camp.

Some of the nations that Germany conquered also sent military forces, particularly to the Eastern front, while others joined the Allies. Germany was later joined by Italy, jointly known as the Axis Powers, and Japan. The war was initially fought between Germany and the Allies, at first consisting of the United Kingdom (with the British Empire), France and Poland. .

It engulfed much of the globe and is accepted as the largest and deadliest war in human history. World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a military conflict that took place between 1939 and 1945.
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