Wars of the 20th Century

World War II remains the bloodiest and most destructive conflict in history. It also is the most wide-ranging, and many theaters of the war took place in different parts of the world. Wars of the Twentieth Century: World War II in Europe deals with the European theater of this colossal war, and brings together twenty subordinate wars and campaigns from the Italian Invasion of Albania in April 1939, to the outbreak of World War II in Europe in September 1939, and up to its end in May 1945. This book is sectioned into 24 chapters, with the first chapter detailing the events of the interwar period, notably the pacifism of the 1920s to the early 1930s and the rising tensions by the second half of the 1930s. The main body of the book then delves into the combat phases of the war, starting with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. In April 1940, Germany attacked Norway and Denmark to secure the iron-ore resources in northern Scandinavia. In May 1940, several months of combat inactivity at the Western Front, called the "Phoney War", was broken when Germany blitzed into Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and France. There followed the German air campaign on Britain, called the Battle of Britain, preparatory to a cross-channel sea and land invasion. The air attacks failed to force the British into submission, but Hitler believed that Britain was effectively knocked out of the war, and he was the master of Western Europe. By spring of 1941, Hitler had set his sights firmly to the east, to the massive invasion of the Soviet Union. The invasion was temporarily set aside, however, as Hitler intervened in the Greco-Italian War to extricate his beleaguered ally, Italian leader Benito Mussolini. With little preparation, Hitler also included Yugoslavia together with the invasion of Greece. Then later with the Balkans secured under German control, in June 1941, Hitler and his Axis partners attacked the Soviet Union with the largest invasion force in history. The offensive made spectacular gains initially, and the Axis seized large swathes of Soviet territory. But by summer of 1943, the tide of war had turned invariably against Germany and the Axis. The Soviet Red Army then began a juggernaut that would wrest back all lost territory and then push right through into Eastern and Central Europe and Germany. Meanwhile, the Western Allies of Britain, the United States, Free France, and their other partners joined the fray in Europe in May 1943 by invading Crete in southern Italy and then in September 1943 the Italian mainland. On June 6, 1944, otherwise known as D-Day, American, British, and Canadian troops, launching from southern England, landed at Normandy in northern France. From there, they liberated occupied Western Europe and pushed from the west into Germany. Some of the greatest battles in history occurred in the European theater of World War II, and are featured here, including the Battle of Stalingrad, Siege of Leningrad, Battle of Kursk, Battle of Moscow, 1940 Ardennes Offensive, Dunkirk evacuation, Battle of the Bulge, and the Battle of Berlin, among others. The chapter titles of this book are: Events leading up to World War II in Europe, Invasion of Poland, Winter War, Denmark and Norway, Invasion of Denmark, Norwegian Campaign, France and the Low Countries, Battle of the Netherlands, Battle of Luxembourg, Battle of Belgium, Battle of France, Battle of the Atlantic, Battle of Britain, Italian Invasion of Albania, Greco-Italian War, the Balkan Campaign, Invasion of Yugoslavia, Invasion of Greece, Invasion of the Soviet Union, Soviet Counter-attack and Defeat of Germany, Lapland War, Italian Campaign, Defeat of Germany in the West 1944-1945, and The End of World War II in Europe.