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World War Two in Europe began on 3 September 1939 when Britain and France declared war on Germany after Hitler had refused to abort his invasion of Poland, the territorial integrity of which had been guaranteed by Britain and France in March 1939. Following several months of \"phoney war\", Hitler invaded France and the BeNeLux countries, which fell to him in June 1940. Britain endured the Blitz and feared invasion until the Battle of Britain in September 1940 secured superiority of the skies. In June 1941, Hitler extended the war to the east by invading the Soviet Union, thereby making war on two fronts. The war further escalated on 7 December 1941 when America declared war on the Japanese after they bombed the American naval base at Pearl Harbour. Hitler\'s declaration of war on America proved to be his undoing.
With American entry into the war, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill felt certain of ultimate victory.During 1942 Britain fought the Germans and the Italians in North Africa for control of the Eastern Mediterranean, oil and the Suez canal, achieving victory at El Alamein in October 1942. Thereafter, the British and Americans fought their way through Italy and drove the Germans out of the Balkans.On 6 June 1944, a second Western front was opened with the invasion of Normandy - D-day. Soon the Russians had control of Eastern Europe and were on the outskirts of Berlin and the Western Allies had driven the Germans back into Germany. The war in Europe ended on 8 May 1945 when Admiral Doenitz surrendered (Hitler having committed suicide a week earlier on 30 April).
In August 1945 the Japanese surrendered after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The losses of World War Two were as horrendous as its earlier counterpart - out of a total of 60,000,000 dead - at least 20,000,000 Soviet citizens alone - Britain and her Empire escaped relatively lightly with less than 500,000 Imperial troops killed (of which 144,000 were from the United Kingdom).
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