Overview of the World Wars
World War I
World War I was an international struggle that involved much of Europe, as well as Russia, the United States, the Middle East, and other countries, from 1914 to 1918. The Central Powers—primarily Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey—were against the Allies—primarily France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy, Japan, and, beginning in 1917, the United States. The Central Powers were defeated. In terms of blood, suffering, and damage, the conflict was nearly unparalleled.
World War I was a landmark moment in twentieth-century global history. It brought down four great imperial empires (Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey), sparked the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, and created the basis for World War II by destabilizing European civilization.
World War II
World War II, often known as the Second World War, was a struggle that spanned nearly the whole globe from 1939 to 1945. The main combatants were the Axis countries (Germany, Italy, and Japan) and the Allies (France, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, China). After an unsettling 20-year break, the conflict was, in many ways, a continuation of the problems left unresolved by World War I. World War II was the deadliest and biggest war in history, with an estimated 40,000,000-50,000,000 fatalities.
World War II was a pivotal event in twentieth-century global history. It resulted in the Soviet Union extending its dominance to nations in Eastern Europe, allowing a communist movement to eventually gain power in China, and signaled a major change in global power away from Western European governments and toward the United States and the Soviet Union.