Who Won WW2? Not an easy question, I know. But let's try to forget the uncountable movies we have all seen and stick to the facts to try to give it a reasoned answer.
Let's start with casualties.
Casualties
We can arguee that the weight of war carried is directly related with the number of casualties suffered. Obviously the Soviet Union carried the biggest weight. But not only that, the Soviet Union was the one that caused the highest casualties in the German army (as you can see in the "Main Battles" table).
Country
|
Military deaths
| Total deaths |
|---|---|---|
| Soviet Union (within 1946–91 borders) |
11.275.000
|
24.900.000
|
| Germany |
4.900.000
|
8.000.000
|
| China |
3.500.000
|
17.500.000
|
| Japan |
2.120.000
|
2.870.000
|
| United States |
407.000
|
420.000
|
| United Kingdom |
383.800
|
450.900
|
| Yugoslavia |
373.000
|
1.363.500
|
| Italy |
301.400
|
454.600
|
| Hungary |
300.000
|
580.000
|
| Romania (within 1939 borders) |
300.000
|
800.000
|
| Poland (within 1939 borders) |
240.000
|
5.720.000
|
| France |
200.000
|
550.000
|
| India (British) |
87.000
|
2.087.000
|
| Philippines (U.S. Territory) |
57.000
|
807.000
|
| Greece |
27.550
|
563.500
|
Timeline
The timeline also shows that the soviets were the first to stop the advance of the German army.
When the allies disembarked in Normandy, it had passed almost a year and a half since the Germans had surrrended in Stalingrad.
Date
|
Event
|
|---|---|
| 01/09/1939 | WW2 starts, Germany invades Poland, takes Danzig |
| 06/09/1939 | 1st German air attack on Great Britain in WW2 |
| 17/09/1939 | Soviet Union invades Poland during WW2 |
| 28/09/1939 | Soviet-German treaty agree on 4th partition of Poland (WW2) & gives Lithuania to USSR, last Polish troops surrender |
| 06/10/1939 | Last Polish army is defeated in World War II. 32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevel |
| 12/01/1940 | World War II: Soviets bombs cities in Finland. |
| 12/03/1940 | Finland surrenders to Russia during WW2, gives Karelische Isthmus |
| 09/04/1940 | Germany invades Norway & Denmark during WW2 (Denmark surrenders) |
| 10/05/1940 | World War II: The first German bombs of the war fall on England at Chilham and Petham, in Kent. |
| 05/06/1940 | Battle of France begins in WW2 |
| 09/06/1940 | Norway surrenders to Germany during WW2 |
| 10/06/1940 | Italy declares war on France & Britain during WW2 |
| 10/06/1940 | Canada declares war on Italy. |
| 14/06/1940 | German forces occupied Paris during WW2 |
| 24/06/1940 | France signs an armistice with Italy during WW2 |
| 20/11/1940 | World War II: Hungary, Romania and Slovakia join the Axis Powers. |
| 29/12/1940 | Germany begins dropping incendiary bombs on London (WW2) |
| 02/03/1941 | World War II: First German military units enter Bulgaria after it joined the Axis Pact. |
| 17/04/1941 | World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany. |
| 22/06/1941 | Germany invades Russia. Operation Barbarossa |
| 26/06/1941 | Finland enters WW2 against Russia |
| 30/06/1941 | World War II: Operation Barbarossa - Germany captures Lviv, Ukraine. |
| 07/07/1941 | World War II: Beirut is occupied by Free France and British troops. |
| 13/07/1941 | World War II: Montenegrins start popular uprising against the Axis Powers (Trinaestojulski ustanak). |
| 30/08/1941 | Siege of Leningrad by Nazi troops began during WW2 |
| 11/09/1941 | World War II: The U.S. Navy is ordered to attack German U-boats. |
| 08/12/1941 | US & Britain declare war on Japan, US enters WW2 |
| 07/12/1941 | The Japanese attack the USA Naval Base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii |
| 07/01/1942 | WW2 siege of Bataan starts |
| 15/01/1942 | FDR asks commissioner to continue baseball during WW2 |
| 22/02/1942 | World War II: President Franklin Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defenses collapse |
| 04/06/1942 | Battle of Midway begins; Japan's 1st major defeat in WW2 |
| 07/06/1942 | Battle of Midway ends: Adm Nimitz wins 1st WW2 naval defeat of Japan |
| 11/06/1942 | US & USSR sign Lend-Lease agreement during WW2 |
| 23/07/1942 | World War II: Operation Edelweiss (a German plan to gain control over the Caucasus) begins. |
| 21/08/1942 | Battle of Stalingrad begins. |
| 12/10/1942 | US navy defeats Japanese in WW2 Battle of Cape Esperance |
| 23/10/1942 | During WW2, Britain launches major offensive at El Alamein, Egypt |
| 08/11/1942 | 1st WW2 American expeditionary force lands in Africa (Gold Coast) |
| 11/11/1942 | During WW2 Germany completes the occupation of France |
| 19/11/1942 | Stalingrad: Uranus offensive begins |
| 04/12/1942 | US bombers struck Italian mainland for first time in WW2 |
| 16/12/1942 | Stalingrad: Operation Little Saturn |
| 02/02/1943 | German 6th Army surrenders after Battle of Stalingrad, turning point in Europe during WW2 |
| 14/02/1943 | World War II: Rostov-on-Don, Russia is liberated. |
| 16/02/1943 | World War II: The USSR reconquers Kharkov. |
| 14/03/1943 | World War II - The Kraków Ghetto is 'liquidated'. |
| 06/04/1943 | British & US armies link up in Africa during WW2 |
| 10/07/1943 | US, British and Canadian forces invade Sicily in WW2 (Operation Husky) |
| 28/07/1943 | World War II: Operation Gomorrah: The British bomb Hamburg causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians. |
| 01/10/1943 | Allied forces captured Naples during WW2 |
| 22/01/1944 | Allied forces begin landing at Anzio on the Italian mainland |
| 06/06/1944 | D-Day: The first of nearly 3 million Allied soldiers arrive in Normandy, on the northern shores of France. |
| 18/10/1944 | Soviet troops invade Czechoslovakia during WW2 |
| 12/01/1945 | The Soviets liberate Warsaw and Krakow in Poland. |
| 13/02/1945 | Bombing of Dresden bu the US and the UK begins. Around 23000 people are killed. |
| 13/02/1945 | The Soviets capture Budapest, capital city of Hungary. |
| 14/02/1945 | World War II: Mostar is liberated by Yugoslav partisans. |
| 05/03/1945 | World War II: The Battle of the Ruhr begins. |
| 09/04/1945 | World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, East Prussia, ends. |
| 16/04/1945 | The Soviets launch their final offensive, encircling Berlin. |
| 16/04/1945 | US troops enter Nuremberg, Germany |
| 26/04/1945 | World War II: Battle of Bautzen - last successful German tank-offensive of the war and last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht. |
| 09/05/1945 | World War II: The Soviet Union marks Victory Day. |
| 05/07/1945 | World War II: Liberation of the Philippines declared. |
| 06/08/1945 | Bombing of Hiroshima by the US |
| 08/08/1945 | USSR declares war against Japan in WW2 |
| 09/06/1945 | Bombing of Nagasaki by the US |
| 14/08/1945 | V-J Day; Japan surrenders unconditionally to end WW2 (also August 15 depending on time zone) |
| 02/09/1945 | V-J Day; formal surrender of Japan aboard USS Missouri (WW2 ends) |
Stalingrad
"Stalingrad has been described as the biggest defeat in the history of the German Army. It is often identified as the turning point on the Eastern Front, and in the war against Germany overall, and even the greatest turning point in the Second World War. Before Stalingrad, Germany had gone from victory to victory, with a limited setback in the winter of 1941-42. After Stalingrad, they won no significant battles, even in summer. The Red Army had the initiative, and the Wehrmacht was in retreat. A year of German gains during Case Blue had been wiped out. Germany's Sixth Army had ceased to exist, and the forces of Germany's European allies, except Finland, had been shattered. In a speech on 9 November 1944, Hitler himself blamed Stalingrad for Germany's impending doom."
Source: Wikipedia.
Post scriptum
Usually when this issue is discussed, several cliches are brought into the discussion:
- The Lend-lease program.
- The "way" the URSS won the war.
- The crimes commited by the Red Army.
Although this topics may be related to the discussion effects and developement of the war, they are not related to the fact of this entry: who won the war.
The Lend-Lease program.
"The Lend-Lease policy, formally titled "An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States", (Pub.L. 77–11, H.R. 1776, 55 Stat. 31, enacted March 11, 1941)[1] was a program under which the United States supplied Free France, Great Britain, the Republic of China, and later the USSR and other Allied nations with food, oil, and materiel between 1941 and August 1945." [Wikipedia]
Nobody can deny that the Lend-Lease program helped, but that's the word, it "helped", it didn't decide anything. To see from an economic point of view, according to Wikipedia, the amount of help from the US to the URSS was 11B$, from a total cost of the war for the URSS of 192B$. This means the economical importance of the Lend-Lease program for the URSS was about 5,73%.
The "way" the URSS won the war.
It's often argueed too, that the Soviet Union won the war, because it's leaders didn't care about humans lives, and the Western Nations did. Well, we could discuss long about it, but the thing is, the "way" they won the war doesn't change the fact that they did it, does it?
The crimes commited by the Red Army
Again, we can arguee about this point, but it doesn't change the fact that they did won the war.
Besides, all contenders commited what we would nowadays qualify as war crimes. The nazis, obviously, the Japanese Empire, the italians, the Red Army, but also the US and the UK, or what were the bombings of Dresden, Hamburg, Hiroshima or Nagasaki?
Post scriptum II: Soviet–Japanese War (1945)
Despite having been told recurrently that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war with Japan, the truth is not as simple:
"Tsuyoshi Hasegawa's research has led him to conclude that the atomic bombings were not the principal reason for Japan's capitulation. He argues that Japan's leaders were impacted more by the swift and devastating Soviet victories on the mainland in the week following Joseph Stalin's August 8 declaration of war because the Japanese strategy to protect the home islands was designed to fend off a US invasion from the South, and left virtually no spare troops to counter a Soviet threat from the North. This, according to Hasegawa, amounted to a "strategic bankruptcy" for the Japanese and forced their message of surrender on August 15, 1945. Others with similar views include The "Battlefield" series documentary, Drea, Hayashi, and numerous others, though all, including Hasegawa, state that the surrender was not due to any single factor or single event." [Wikipedia]
ANNEXES
Table of casualties
Country
|
Total population 01/01/1939
|
Military deaths (average)
|
Total deaths (average)
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Soviet Union (within 1946–91 borders) |
168.524.000
|
11.275.000
|
24.900.000
|
| Germany |
69.850.000
|
4.900.000
|
8.000.000
|
| China |
517.568.000
|
3.500.000
|
17.500.000
|
| Japan |
71.380.000
|
2.120.000
|
2.870.000
|
| United States |
131.028.000
|
407.000
|
420.000
|
| United Kingdom |
47.760.000
|
383.800
|
450.900
|
| Yugoslavia |
15.400.000
|
373.000
|
1.363.500
|
| Italy |
44.394.000
|
301.400
|
454.600
|
| Hungary |
9.129.000
|
300.000
|
580.000
|
| Romania (within 1939 borders) |
19.934.000
|
300.000
|
800.000
|
| Poland (within 1939 borders) |
34.849.000
|
240.000
|
5.720.000
|
| France |
41.700.000
|
200.000
|
550.000
|
| Finland |
3.700.000
|
95.000
|
97.000
|
| India (British) |
378.000.000
|
87.000
|
2.087.000
|
| Philippines (U.S. Territory) |
16.000.000
|
57.000
|
807.000
|
| Canada |
11.267.000
|
45.400
|
45.400
|
| Australia |
6.998.000
|
39.700
|
40.400
|
| Albania |
1.073.000
|
30.000
|
30.000
|
| Greece |
7.222.000
|
27.550
|
563.500
|
| Czechoslovakia (in Nov. 1938 borders) |
10.400.000
|
25.000
|
325.000
|
| Bulgaria |
6.458.000
|
22.000
|
25.000
|
| Burma (British) |
16.119.000
|
22.000
|
272.000
|
| Netherlands |
8.729.000
|
17.000
|
301.000
|
| Belgium |
8.387.000
|
12.100
|
88.000
|
| New Zealand |
1.629.000
|
11.900
|
11.900
|
| South Africa South Africa |
10.160.000
|
11.900
|
11.900
|
| Thailand |
15.023.000
|
5.600
|
7.600
|
| Ethiopia |
17.700.000
|
5.000
|
100.000
|
| Norway |
2.945.000
|
3.000
|
9.500
|
| Denmark |
3.795.000
|
2.100
|
3.200
|
| Guam |
20.000
|
1.500
|
1.500
|
| Brazil |
40.289.000
|
1.000
|
2.000
|
| Iraq |
3.698.000
|
500
|
500
|
| Mongolia |
819.000
|
300
|
300
|
| Iran |
14.340.000
|
200
|
200
|
| Turkey |
17.370.000
|
200
|
200
|
| Australia Papua and New Guinea (Australian) |
1.292.000
|
0
|
15.000
|
| Portuguese Timor |
500.000
|
0
|
55.000
|
| Austria (German-controlled) |
6.650.000
|
0
|
120.000
|
| Cuba |
4.235.000
|
0
|
100
|
| Dutch East Indies |
69.435.000
|
0
|
3.500.000
|
| Estonia (within 1939 borders) |
1.122.000
|
0
|
50.000
|
| French Indochina |
24.600.000
|
0
|
1.500.000
|
| Iceland |
119.000
|
0
|
200
|
| Ireland |
2.960.000
|
0
|
200
|
| Korea (Japanese Colony) |
23.400.000
|
0
|
430.500
|
| Latvia (within 1939 borders) |
1.951.000
|
0
|
230.000
|
| Lithuania (within 1939 borders) |
2.442.000
|
0
|
350.000
|
| Luxembourg |
295.000
|
0
|
2.000
|
| Malaya (British) |
4.391.000
|
0
|
100.000
|
| Malta (British) |
269.000
|
0
|
1.500
|
| Mexico |
19.320.000
|
0
|
100
|
| Australia Nauru (Australian) |
3.400
|
0
|
500
|
| Nepal |
6.000.000
|
0
|
0
|
| Newfoundland (British) |
300.000
|
0
|
100
|
| Belgium Ruanda-Urundi (Belgian) |
4.200.000
|
0
|
150.000
|
| Singapore (British) |
728.000
|
0
|
50.000
|
| Empire of Japan South Pacific Mandate (Japanese) |
1.900.000
|
0
|
57.000
|
| Spain |
25.637.000
|
0
|
0
|
| Sweden |
6.341.000
|
0
|
600
|
| Switzerland |
4.210.000
|
0
|
100
|
| Approx. Totals |
2.000.000.000
|
26.000.000
|
72.500.000
|
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#Total_deaths
Main Battles (More than 100.000 casualties)
Operation
|
Year
|
Casualties (average)
|
|---|---|---|
| Operation Barbarossa | 1941 |
3.200.000
|
| Dnieper Campaign | 1943 |
2.031.000
|
| Battle of Moscow | 1941 |
1.000.000
|
| Operation Bagration | 1944 |
979.000
|
| Battle of Narva | 1944 |
550.000
|
| Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive | 1944 |
485.424
|
| Battle of France | 1940 |
469.000
|
| Battle of Luzon | 1945 |
338.830
|
| Battle of Kursk | 1943 |
322.563
|
| Invasion of Poland | 1939 |
310.000
|
| Second Battle of Kharkov | 1942 |
300.000
|
| First Jassy–Kishinev Offensive | 1944 |
195.000
|
| Winter War | 1939–40 |
188.500
|
| Battle of the Bulge | 1944–45 |
186.369
|
| Battle of Monte Cassino | 1944 |
185.000
|
| Battle of the Kerch Peninsula | 1942 |
176.000
|
| Battle of Gazala | 1942 |
148.000
|
| Battle of Malaya/Battle of Singapore | 1941–42 |
143.800
|
| Falaise Pocket | 1944 |
140.000
|
| Battle of Okinawa | 1945 |
136.160
|
| Operation Iskra | 1943 |
129.332
|
| Greco-Italian War | 1940–41 |
100.000
|
Sieges and urban combat
|
Year
|
Casualties (average)
|
|---|---|---|
| Siege of Leningrad |
1941–44
|
2.808.500
|
| Battle of Stalingrad | 1942–43 |
1.524.310
|
| Battle of Berlin |
1945
|
1.298.745
|
| Battle of Kiev |
1941
|
700.544
|
| Siege of Budapest | 1944–45 |
422.000
|
| Warsaw Uprising |
1944
|
200.000
|
| Nanking Massacre | 1937–38 |
175.000
|
| Siege of Odessa |
1941
|
133.813
|
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