World War II
1939–1945 global war "The Second World War", "WWII", and "WW2" redirect here. For other uses, see The Second World War (disambiguation) and WWII (disambiguation). World War II (clockwise from top left) Chinese forces in the Battle of Wanjialing Australian 25-pounder guns during the First Battle of El Alamein German Stuka dive bombers on the Eastern Front in December 1943 American naval force in the Lingayen Gulf Wilhelm Keitel signing the German Instrument of Surrender Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad Date 1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945 ( 1939-09-01 – 1945-09-02 ) (6 years and 1 day) [a] Location Europe, Pacific, Atlantic, South-East Asia, China, Middle East, Mediterranean, North Africa, Horn of Africa, Australia, briefly North and South America Result Allied victory Collapse of Nazi Germany Fall of Japanese and Italian Empires Dissolution of the League of Nations Creation of the United Nations Emergence of the United States and the Soviet...