Germany was defeated in World War I, and the Treaty of Versailles placed punitive conditions on the country, including significant financial reparations, the loss of territory (some only temporarily), war guilt, military weakening and

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Germany and the Soviet Union were sworn enemies, but following the Munich Agreement, which effectively handed over Czechoslovakia (a French and Soviet ally, and the only remaining

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Several other countries, however, were drawn into the conflict at this time. By 28 September 1939, the three Baltic Republics felt they had no choice but to permit Soviet bases and troops on their territory. The Soviet Union issued demandsto Finland in October 1939 that were

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The air war in the European theatre commenced in 1939.
Pre-war expectations that "The bomber will always get through" assumed that waves of bombers hitting

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The Mediterranean and Middle East theatre was a major theatre of operations during the Second World War. The vast size of this theatre included the fighting between the Allies and Axis in

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Initial Soviet retreat
On 22 June 1941, Germany launched the invasion of the Soviet Union, code-named Operation Barbarossa.

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On 10 May the Phoney War ended with a sweeping German invasion of the neutral Low Countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, and

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