war movies

World War II  or the  Second World War , often abbreviated as  WWII  or  WW2 , was a  global war  that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved  the vast majority of the world's countries —including all of the great powers—forming two opposing  military alliances : the  Allies  and the  Axis powers . In a total war directly involving more than 100 million  personnel  from more than 30 countries, the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the  war effort , blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources.  Aircraft played a major role  in the conflict, enabling the  strategic bombing  of population centres and the only two uses of  nuclear weapons  in war. World War II was by far the  deadliest conflict  in human history; it resulted in  70 to 85 million fatalities , a majority being civ...