living conditions, but also from ill-treatment at German hands in the occupied areas. There were about million civilian deaths during the war, and about million members of the armed forces were killed. All together over one-tenth of Russia’s population died. Yet the people remained loyal to the government, despite Hitler’s hopes of an anti- Stalin revolution.
They successfully defended the city of Stalingrad. Battle of El Alamein In the early years of the War, German forces under General Rommel were remarkably World War II successful in occupying North Africa rapidly, leaving the British with only Egypt. The Allied forces under General Montgomery counter- attacked and defeated the German and Italian forces at El Alamein in North Africa. The German army was chased across the desert, out of North Africa.
This provided the base for the Allied forces to invade Italy. Surrender of Italy Mussolini had been thrown out and the new government of Italy surrendered to the Allies in . However, the Germans set Mussolini up in a puppet regime in the north. Mussolini was killed in April , by Italian partisans.
End of Hitler The Allied forces under the command of General Eisenhower invaded Normandy in France. Slowly, the German army was forced back. But the Germans fought back and the War continued for nearly another year, and finally ended in May . Hitler committed suicide in April .
From , the Russian army began to attack Germany from the East and captured much of Eastern Europe and Poland. In , they occupied parts of Berlin, so that Germany was divided into two sections after the War. War in the Asia-Pacific Region Japan had entertained visions of a glorious empire, very much on the same lines as Hitler. The Japanese army invaded Manchuria in .Though China appealed to the League of Nations, this act of aggression did not attract the attention of the United States or Britain.
In , Japan invaded China, and seized Beijing (Peking, as it was then known) which had traditionally