Europe
Germany launched a massive counterattack in Belgium, after the Allied forces had freed France. This later became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Although both sides took a lot of losses, the Germans only slowed down the Allied advance for six weeks. As this was going on, the Soviet army advanced from the east. In May 1945, the Soviet army captured Berlin and Germany surrendered. On May 8, 1945 the war in Europe officialy ended. Pacific In the early years of the war Japan had gained control of much of the Pacific. Using the "island-hopping" strategy, U.S. forces captured some Japanese-held islands whil skipping over others. This way, the Allies moved toward Japan. However, this stragety caused many casualties. In August 1945, America dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, because Japan didn't surrender. Over a 100,000 people were killed and Japan soon surrendered. After the War During World War II, over 50 million people died and large areas of Europe and Asia lay in ruins. The Allies decided to temporarily divide Germany into four zones that would be supervisioned all the time by the Allied forcers. They also formed a new world organization, called the United Nations. This way they try to avoid a new World War from occuring. |