View source for Great War II

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{{Infobox Military Conflict
| conflict     = Great War II
| width        = 350px
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| image        = File:Great War II collage.png
| image_size   = 320px
| caption      = 
| date         = {{start and end dates|1953|6|21|1957|9|5|df=yes}}<br>({{age in years and days|1953|6|21|1957|9|5|sep=and}})
| place        = Europe, East Asia, parts of Africa and the Pacific
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| result       = Allied victory 
*Fall of [[Derzhavist Russia]], [[French Fourth Republic]], and [[Empire of Japan|Imperial Japan]] 
*Allied military occupations of Russia, France, Japan and Indochina 
*Beginning of the {{W|Nuclear Age}} 
*Emergence of the [[Kingdom of Sierra]] and the [[United Commonwealth]] as rival {{W|Superpower|superpowers}} 
*Beginning of the [[Cold War]] (see [[Aftermath of Great War II|aftermath of Great War II]]) 
| combatant1   = {{Collapsible list
|expand=yes
|bullets=yes
|title='''[[Allied powers|Allies]]:'''
|{{flag|Germany}}
|{{flag|United Kingdom}}
|{{flag|Sierra}}
|{{flag|United Commonwealth}}
|''[[Allied powers|Others]]''
}}
| combatant2   = {{Collapsible list
|expand=yes
|bullets=yes
|title='''[[Axis powers|Axis]]:'''
|[[File:Flag of Philippe Pétain, Chief of State of Vichy France.svg|22x20px]] [[French Fourth Republic|France]]
|[[File:Flag of Russia (1953-1965).svg|22x20px]] [[Derzhavist Russia|Russia]]
|{{flag|Japan}}
|{{flag|India}}
|''[[Axis powers|Others]]''
}}
| commander1   = '''Main Allied leaders:''' {{nowrap|[[File:Flag of Germany (1867-1919).svg|22x20px]] [[Wilhelm III of Germany|Wilhelm III]]  <br> [[File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg|22x20px]] {{w|Winston Churchill}} <br> [[File:Flag of Sierra.svg|22x20px]] [[Franklin Tan]] <br> [[File:Flag of Sierra.svg|22x20px]] [[Henry Faulkner]] <br> [[File:Flag of the United Commonwealth.svg|22x20px]] [[Lysander Hughes]]}}
| commander2   = '''Main Axis leaders:''' {{nowrap|[[File:Flag of Philippe Pétain, Chief of State of Vichy France.svg|22x20px]] {{w|Jacques Doriot}} <br> [[File:Flag of Russia (1953-1965).svg|22x20px]] [[Vladimir Salkinov]] <br> [[File:Flag of Japan.svg|22x20px]]{{w|Hirohito}} <br> [[File:Flag of India.svg|22x20px]] [[Appuraj Nippukumar]]}}
| commander3   = {{nowrap|}}
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| casualties1  = {{nowrap|'''Military dead:'''<br />'''Civilian dead:'''<br />'''Total dead:''' }}
| casualties2  = {{nowrap|'''Military dead:'''<br />'''Civilian dead:'''<br />'''Total dead:''' }}
| casualties3  = {{nowrap|'''Military dead:'''<br />'''Civilian dead:'''<br />'''Total dead:''' }}
}}
'''Great War II''' or the '''Second Great War''', also called '''World War II''' or the '''Second World War''', was a global conflict that lasted from 1953 to 1957. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving 100 million people from over 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 which included the use of terror bombing, strategic bombing and the only use of nuclear weapons in war. The conflict was one of the deadliest wars in human history–tens of millions of people died, and unprecedented war crimes were committed against civilian populations.

The end of the [[Great War I|First Great War]] in 1938 had left many territorial disputes unresolved, and the [[Interwar period]] saw the rise of revanchist and militaristic political movements in [[France]] and [[Russia]]. France launched an invasion of {{W|Alsace-Lorraine}} on June 21, 1953, a region which was historically French but occupied by [[Germany]] since the end of Great War I. [[Russia]], France's main European ally, launched an invasion of German satellite states in Eastern Europe, including [[Poland]] and [[Romania]], before invading eastern Germany itself. This prompted declarations of war from the [[United Kingdom]] in support of Germany. Until 1955, the Franco-Russian axis controlled a large part of continental Europe. By 1954, France had conquered much of Western Germany, reaching the {{W|Weser}}, while the Russians had advanced into Eastern Germany, including Prussia, up to the {{W|Oder}}. With Germany forced to fight defensively on the home front, the war in Europe became mostly fought between the United Kingdom and the Axis powers, with protracted fighting in the Balkans, the Atlantic, and the Iberian peninsula. France planned a land invasion of the United Kingdom but was unable to overcome the latter's naval and aerial superiority, as well as being bogged down by the campaign in Germany, leading to a war of attrition. 

In the Asia–Pacific, Japan sought to consolidate its [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere|Co-Prosperity Sphere]] in Asia and the Pacific by ending European colonial presence. Japan, allied with an independent [[India]], supported the [[Decolonization of Asia|decolonisation of Asia]] and the various Asian wars of independence. In Indochina, the Japanese faced resistance by the Vietnamese, Cambodians, Cham, and Laotians. Japan renounced its military ties with Germany and the United Kingdom, and attacked their Pacific possession for occupation and annexation. The Second Pacific War escalated when Sierra declared war on Japan following the [[Gulf of Tonkin incident]], when a Japanese destroyer allegedly rammed and sunk a Sierran Royal Navy frigate on international waters. Sierra sought to regain its territories it lost in Great War I and joined the Allied forces by entering the conflict in Europe as well, pledging to support Britain and Germany in the fight against [[derzhavism]]. Sierran and British bombers were able to raid the Japanese home islands from the [[People's Republic of China]], which agreed to let them use its territory. India launched its own military campaign against China in the Himalayas. The [[Sino-Indian War]] would cost tens of thousands of casualties but led to virtually no changes, ending in a stalemate.

After France launched an invasion against the neutral communist [[Spanish People's Republic]], the [[United Commonwealth]] entered the conflict and the [[Anglo-America]]n powers became more involved to assist the United Kingdom. Russian setbacks in the Balkans, Germany defeating the Russian forces at the gates of Berlin and counterattacking into Russian Poland, as well as Allied offensives in the Pacific shifted favorability of the war from the Axis to the Allies. In 1956, the Western Allies invaded France while Germany and its Eastern European allies invaded Russia. During 1956 and 1957, Japan suffered major naval losses to Sierra's island-hopping campaigns. Following Japanese defeat in Manchuria and Guam to Allied forces, Japan surrendered to the Allies' conditions to withdraw its military presence in Southeast Asia, China, and Western colonial holdings in the Pacific, while it was allowed to keep the Korean peninsula and Formosa (Taiwan). It was also secretly promised the {{W|Kuril Islands}} and {{W|Sakhalin}} by Sierra through the [[Visalia Agreement]]. In 1957, both France and Russia surrendered unconditionally and their derzhavist governments were dismantled. Following the war, France and Russia were occupied and war crimes tribunals were held against French and Russian leaders. Russia was [[Partition of Russia|partitioned]], resulting in permanent territorial concessions to several Allied powers (such as [[Ussuria]] to Sierra and the {{W|Kola Peninsula}} to [[Finland]]), the establishment of multiple new independent states, and the temporary division of the Russian mainland between Germany, the United Kingdom, Sierra, and Romania. France came under Allied occupation as well.

Great War II significantly altered the political and economic order of the world. The [[League of Nations]] was strengthened and the victorious {{W|great power}}s–[[China]], [[Germany]], [[Sierra]], the [[United Commonwealth]], and the [[United Kingdom]]–became [[Permanent members of the League of Nations Security Council|permanent members]] of the [[League of Nations Security Council]]. Among the capitalist world, Germany and the United Kingdom emerged as rival powers, with the former forming an alliance in Continental Europe while the latter formed an alliance with the [[Anglo-America]]n. Among the Landonist-communist world, [[People's Republic of China|China]] and the [[United Commonwealth]] became rivals with their own blocs. In the wake of destruction on the European continent, and the Allied Powers' Pyrrhic victory in the Pacific, decolonization occurred throughout Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Most countries underwent postwar economic recovery and expansion, and the foundations of the modern global economic system developed based on the [[Simi Valley system]].

==Background==
{{Main|Causes of Great War II}} 
===The Berlin system and "return to normalcy"===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R01213, Versailles, deutsche Verhandlungdelegation.jpg|thumb|The signing of the Berlin Treaty, in 1939]]
[[File:Mass demonstration in front of the Reichstag against the Treaty of Versailles.jpg|thumb|German victory celebrations in front of the [[Reichstag]]]]
The [[Treaty of Berlin]] that was signed in 1939 imposed terms which left many of the involved countries unsatisfied, created an ineffective and weak [[League of Nations]], and only partially solved the disputes that destabilized the pre-1932 balance of power and led to [[Great War I]]. The [[Interwar period]] of the 1940s was marked by the attempt of the leaders of the major powers to return to the world of 1932, the rise and expansion of new ideologies (namely [[Derzhavism]] and [[Landonism]]), the ongoing decline of British power, and the beginnings of anti-colonial nationalism in Asia and Africa. The Berlin Treaty was unequal and created a dynamic in Europe that could not remain permanent and had to be kept in place by force. German hegemony on the continent was recognized, as the victor of the Great War as well as the dominant economy and military, but at the expense of French power. The French elite always believed that France was a great power destined to lead Europe, and in the 1920s this drove their efforts to place France at the center of a network of alliances directed towards containing Germany, while also remaining a global power by expanding its colonial empire. After the war France was humiliatingly reduced to a position behind both the German and Anglo-American empires, a junior partner to the new hegemon on the continent, and on par with second-tier powers like [[Spain]], [[Italy]], or [[Russia]]. Treaty limits on the size of the French military, the loss of many French colonies, and making indemnity payments to Germany prevented France from achieving a status on the same level as either Germany or the [[United Kingdom]] under the conditions of the agreement. As the country that invented the concept of a sovereign nation-state and had made nationalism an important part of its culture, the French desire to be at the top of the European system and be a global power did not disappear, and the post-1938 conditions imposed on them by Germany created resentment. This made any true Franco-German reconciliation impossible, and as a consequence any long-term stability in the European system.

Germany emerged from the war as the undisputed leading power in Western and Eastern Europe as well as one of the top global powers. Kaiser {{W|Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II}} died a few years after the war, and his successor {{W|Wilhelm, German Crown Prince|Wilhelm III}} followed the same vision of his father as maintaining Germany's position – a continental system of economic cooperation with Germany at its center (known as [[Mitteleuropa]]). With France essentially under German control, Russia an ally and still too economically undeveloped to pose a threat, many smaller states in Europe dependent on trade with Germany, and Britain no longer focused on continental affairs, the main goal of German foreign policy in the Interwar years was to maintain those conditions. Russia was also on the winning side of the war, having gained a sphere of influence in the Caucasus to create a buffer between it and the general chaos of the Middle East to the south, and growing its economy through trade with Germany and the rest of German-dominated Europe. Although Russia was making advancements in improving its economy and military, the standard of living was still significantly below Western Europe, and to a degree even behind the independent states in Eastern Europe. The country's leadership only partially made an effort to change the systemic problems in the Russian economy and society that prevented it from forming a comparable social organization to the West, but these reforms were from the top down and limited in scope. The Russian political system was a personalized autocracy backed by the military, officially a republic with a strong presidency along the lines of the French constitution, but in practice a military dictatorship. The Russian Army saw itself as having a unique role in leading the nation. Because there was no official ideology besides a vague conservatism and patriotism, the 1940s saw the emergence of other political movements, including the [[Russian Derzhavist Party]]. The disparity between Russia's economic and military might and its traditional image of itself as a great power, its status of being relegated to a junior partner with Germany in the larger Mitteleuropa system, and no real direction from the country's military leadership about a larger Russian national idea created a void that would be filled increasingly by what would become referred to as Derzhavism.

In southern Europe, Italy and Spain became consolidated Marxist-Landonist states and worked to turn the Mediterranean into their sphere of influence. They stabilized their diplomatic relations with Germany and their dominant role in that region of the continent was recognized, in exchange for their acknowledgement of German interests north and east of the Mediterranean and the Western Balkans. Kaiser Wilhelm III and many of his conservative allies throughout the continent opposed the presence of Landonist states, but were willing to come to terms and cooperate with them to a degree, and this way the whole of Europe remained under some form of German influence. Britain found itself isolated from the continent after the war and increasingly turned to [[Sierra]] and Western Anglo-America as allies. With Germany's dominance and the emergence of powers in other parts of the world, the traditional international system with Britain at the top and other European powers following behind at varying levels of industrialization and technology was completely disrupted. "[[Transamericanism]]" became a leading school of thought among British politicians, pursuing a close alliance between the United Kingdom and the capitalist democracies in North America as a counterweight to both German hegemony on the continent and Landonism, as well as a continuation of the wartime alliance. The loss of India, parts of Africa, and most of its colonies in Asia was seen as a national humiliation and the spelled the beginning of the end for the British Empire. International economy and finance became more globalized due to the war accelerating economic trends that had begun by the 1920s, with the City of London losing its uncontested status as the center of the world's financial system. The creation of the {{W|Bank of International Settlements}} and the rise of manufacturing and financial centers such as Germany, Japan, and Sierra meant that Britain was increasingly falling behind its rivals and losing its advantages from the 19th century. Being isolated from Europe and unable to hold on to British colonies, some of its leaders concluded that Britain could only preserve its national power and what remained of the British Empire with economic and military assistance to be found in the capitalist powers of Western North America – namely Sierra, Superior, [[Astoria]], and [[Manitoba]]. 

[[File:Final Attack on Jinzhou.jpg|thumb|left|Chinese Communist forces in battle against the Nationalists, early 1940s]]
The Empire of Japan completed its conquest of much of the Far East, having gained most of the European colonies in the region and acquired an empire stretching across thousands of miles. The former Dutch East Indies became a Japanese territory, as did most of the Pacific islands acquired by Japan, while Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam gained their independence as Japanese puppet states. The political instability in those countries, whose local elites were divided between pro-Western, pro-Japanese, and neutral factions, as well as the rise of nationalism and communism, would create problems for the continued Japanese presence there. Japan had also acquired many of Sierra's colonies in the Pacific, though Sierran economic and cultural connections to Asia meant that the Sierran administration and  public still had an interest in regaining those territories. Even more troubling for Japanese military and political leaders, the [[Chinese Civil War]] that began almost immediately after the end of the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] left the question of China unresolved, and Japan would become increasingly drawn into the conflict, supporting [[Chiang Kai-shek]]'s collapsing Nationalist government against the [[Chinese Communist Party|Chinese Communists]]. Despite these continuing issues that created lasting conflicts, Japan had solidified its dominant position in East Asia. The end of the war and the demobilization of the army allowed the Japanese economy to prosper, now with direct access to the natural resources of southeast Asia, and Japan established itself as one of the world's leading industrial powers. Despite this rising prosperity, Japanese politics continued to be dominated by an oligarchy that included the military in cooperation with the {{W|zaibatsu}} corporations that controlled its economy. India emerged as an independent country in the 1930s and became a close ally of Japan, with the two countries seeing themselves as the bulwark against European colonialism and Landonism. Their alliance became stronger after the Communist victory in China in 1949. Furthermore, India, with its massive and extremely diverse population, large territory, and undeveloped transportation infrastructure, had a difficult time industrializing or approaching the Western level of living conditions, and therefore found in relatively modernized Japan a natural economic partner for investment and technical assistance. 

[[File:ALA i.jpg|thumb|Iraqi soldiers during the [[Iraqi-Hashemite War]] in 1940]]
The Arabic Near East emerged from the wreckage of the [[Ottoman Empire]] in a state of chaos and poverty. Similarly to China, Russia, and other less developed political units, the inability of the Ottoman rulers to create a viable social and economic model comparable to the West, or a unifying civic nationalism, led to their state being destroyed under the pressures of Great War I. By 1950 there were two relatively stable countries in the region with a level of development that began approaching the West: the [[Anatolian Republic]] and [[Iran]]. The [[Turkish War of Independence]] after the fall of the sultan led to {{W|Mustafa Kemal}} creating a secular republic and implementing reforms that modernized and Westernized the country under his leadership and that of his successors. The Anatolian Republic pursued a neutral foreign policy at the insistence of Kemal and because of having fought against both of the two main sides during the war. Iran had many of the same problems as the Ottomans but a stronger national and historic identity rooted in the ancient {{W|Persian Empire}}, and by the mid-20th century pursued similar modernization reforms to Mustafa Kemal under the leadership of the Shah, with financial assistance from Britain and the West in exchange for developing its oil reserves. While Iran and Turkey were able to break down tribal and feudal divisions to establish modern nationalist identities, the newly independent Arab states were unable to achieve this initially. Being tribal and having a personalized legal and political system, the leaders of Arab nations created dictatorships and there was no basis for parliamentary systems or real political parties. The borders between the new Arab nations were tenuous and their citizenry lacked a national identity. These factors, combined with them being a geopolitical crossroads between Europe, Asia, and Russia, meant that the Arab countries would remain unstable. The discovery and development of oil and gas in many of those states only created the beginning of economic development and prosperity in the region, and the rise to power of {{W|Gamal Abdel Nasser}} in [[Egypt]] in 1952 started to change the political and cultural situation. The spread and development of nationalism and anti-colonial political movements in Sub-Saharan Africa was less than those in Asia, but they were starting to emerge, especially after the changes in borders between the colonial powers in Africa because of Great War I and the resulting confusion leading to greater national consciousness. 

The one part of the world where the postwar situation approached a lasting peace was North America. The United Commonwealth created a ring of satellite states around it that created a barrier from its main rival, the [[Kingdom of Sierra]] (with the exception of [[Superior]], having a short border with the Commonwealth). Sierra accepted the loss of [[Brazoria]] and [[Tournesol]] to Continental influence and was more concerned about the Landonization of Latin America directly to the south of the kingdom, maintaining support for right-wing military dictatorships in Mexico and Central American countries while seeking to avoid provoking a conflict. Relations remained tense, but because both countries felt relatively secure, they were able to negotiate more effectively and resolve disagreements by diplomacy. Economic and technological advancements by 1950 remained the main focus of their governments, despite occasional military tensions. Overall North America experienced more stability and growth in economic prosperity than any of the other continents.

===Developments in France and Russia===
[[File:Jacques Doriot.jpg|thumb|left|Jacques Doriot, the dictator of France from 1944 to 1957 and leader of the National Republican Movement]]
French domestic politics had become unstable because of the Great Depression beginning in 1928, and although a sense of national unity had emerged at the outbreak of war in 1932, during the early years of the Interwar period (1938–1944) they became even more unstable than before. After being occupied by German forces since 1933 and having the Treaty of Berlin imposed on it in 1939, the {{W|French Third Republic}} was teetering on the brink of collapse. The liberal {{W|Democratic Republican Alliance}} and the social democratic {{W|Republic-Socialist Party}} administrations which carried out the failed defense of the nation and then signed the terms of the Treaty in Berlin were blamed for all of France's troubles and lost nearly all of their parliamentary seats in the [[1939 French legislative election]]. With the defeat of the center, the French public gravitated between the far left and far right. The [[French Socialist Party]] gained a slight majority and was able to establish a government, first headed by {{W|Vincent Auriol}}, while the presidential election was won by the conservative and retired fleet admiral, {{W|François Darlan}}. The burden of the indemnity payments to Germany was alleviated somewhat by the expansion of the French industry when military spending dropped, but overall the living conditions declined and there was higher unemployment. Germany specifically sought to prevent France from becoming more economically independent. The new government was hardly able to reach any agreements because of its deadlock between leftists and rightists, and scheming within the coalition government brought down the Vincent Auriol cabinet in 1942, replacing it with one led by the moderate conservative {{W|Georges Bidault}}. The new administration was not able to solve the cost of living crisis either, and the situation persisted until the [[1944 French legislative election]]. The reasons for the economic mismanagement and political gridlock stem from the fact that these governments were all influenced to large degree by the leading factions in French finance and industry. 

French economic development over the previous century was hindered by the fact that financial capitalism and industrialization occurred there much later and more slowly than in Britain. Around the time of the {{W|French Revolution}} and the {{W|Napoleonic Wars}}, the French banking system became dominated by a small number of families. These were divided during the 19th century into three main factions: the Protestant bankers led by {{W|Mirabaud Group|Mirabaud}}, who controlled the finances of {{W|Napoleon Bonaparte|Napoleon}}'s {{W|First French Empire}}, a newer group of Jewish bankers led by {{W|Rothschild banking family of France|Rothschild}}, who supported the {{W|July Monarchy}} and the Third Republic but opposed {{W|Napoleon III}}'s {{W|Second French Empire}}, and a group of Catholic bankers who allied with the rising forces of heavy industry during the Second Empire. These groups would have a rivalry among themselves and the Protestants would remain the most powerful, followed by the Jewish group (Mirabaud and Rothschild together controlled more assets than the others combined). In 1800, Napoleon created the {{W|Bank of France}} and placed it under the control of private banking families in return for having funded his rise, and over the next century it would function as an instrument of control over the French economy that the three factions wielded together in cooperation. The Rothschilds created the largest French investment bank, the {{W|Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas}} (Paribas), and in response to this the Mirabaud-led Protestants established the investment bank {{W|Banque de l'Union Parisienne|Union Parisienne}}. The Catholic industrial-bankers emerged during the Second Empire and Third Republic as an alliance of bankers and the steel industry, manifesting itself as the {{W|Comité des forges}} (the steel trust). The power struggle between Paribas and Union Parisienne paralyzed French economic and political development from 1880 until the defeat in 1933, and played the biggest role in France's inability to effectively defend itself against Germany during Great War I.

The rise of heavy industry in France began slowly in iron and steel making, and experienced a boom during the government of Napoleon III (1852–1870), with the spread of railroads and increased demand for armaments manufacturing. Napoleon III favored certain industrial conglomerates which supplied arms to the French government and granted them monopolies. But the fall of the emperor after the defeat by the Prussians in the 1871 {{W|Franco-Prussian War}} meant that the industrialists lost their political influence. The French preference for private partnerships and family-owned companies made the public corporation less widespread as a business model in France, and the fraud committed by large credit banks from the 1850s until the early 1900s, resulting in massive financial losses, all worked to slow down industrialization compared to Germany or Britain. The third group, the Catholic bankers allied with industrialists, did not regain their prominence until after the defeat to Germany in the 1930s. Before that, the competition between Paribas and Union Parisienne was fierce in industry, with the former preferring shipbuilding, communications and transportation industry on the coast of the French west, while the latter preferred coal mining and iron making in the French east. In foreign investment, Paribas preferred the French colonies and the Middle East while Union Parisienne focused on France's allies in Eastern Europe. From the mid-1920s the two traditional blocs were weakened by a series of events: the [[Great Depression]] hit French industry hard, damaging the Protestant faction, while continuing ineffective monetary policies that prevented economic recovery weakened the Jewish faction. This created the opportunity for the rise of Catholic industrialist bloc, based primarily around {{W|Lille, France|Lille}} in the north and {{W|Lyons, France|Lyons}} in the southeast.

[[File:Vichy French salute.jpg|thumb|French conscripts giving a Roman salute, 1953]]
Because of the stalemate and rivalry between the two traditional economic blocs, France was in a weaker economic and military position compared to Germany and was defeated. This benefited the Catholic faction, which dominated the new pro-German government established in 1933. With German help, it began taking control of the entire French economy, minimizing the influence of its two bigger rivals. The implementation of more efficient financial policies by the Catholic faction and the end of the two-bloc rivalry allowed France to begin experiencing a recovery from the Depression, but this would not go into full effect until the mid-1940s, undermining the dominant political parties of the postwar Third Republic. The end of the war, a massive reduction in military spending, and restructuring of the French financial system (in part to facilitate indemnity payments to Germany) meant that signs of recovery were beginning to emerge, but the economy remained in a chaotic state during the early period from 1938 to around 1943. These economic shifts and the affiliation of the liberal-conservative and socialist parties with the defeat to Germany led directly to the [[National Republican Movement]] sweeping the 1944 election to dominate the French National Assembly. The movement had only been created in 1941 by {{W|Jacques Doriot}}, a former member of the [[French Communist Party]] who had been expelled and later embraced the French national identity, creating an authoritarian corporatist, anti-democratic, anti-Landonist, and nationalist ideology. Within two years the National Republican Movement dominated the French state and became a bureaucratic autocracy led by Doriot, in which he eliminated the parliamentary system of the Third Republic and ruled by decree. His alliance with the Catholic banker-industrialist cartel coincided with and assisted the rapid recovery of the French economy by 1947, boosting the party's popularity. At the same time Doriot secretly began increasing the size of the French military in violation of the treaty, and stopped making indemnity payments to Germany altogether in 1946 on the basis that the French economy could not sustain them. 

The rise of the French National Republican Movement increased tensions with Germany, but at the same time Jacques Doriot developed a good partnership with German Chancellor {{W|Duke Christian Louis of Mecklenburg}}. At that time the German government under the chancellor's leadership decided to reduce military spending significantly and focus on the economy, and so the new increase in the power of France was even welcomed as a partner to Germany in Europe. Kaiser Wilhelm III remained distrustful of the French premier, and especially after the rise of the [[Russian Derzhavist Party]] became concerned about the possibility of Germany becoming encircled by two rivals. However, the influence of the German industrialists, who were focused on domestic issues, meant that Germany initially did not realize the significance of the change in France, and soon the change in Russia. After the [[Russian Civil War]] ended in 1925, the Whites had emerged victorious over {{W|Vladimir Lenin}}'s {{W|Bolsheviks}} and various other groups, but were forced to recognize the independence of [[Poland]], [[Finland]], [[Armenia]], [[Georgia]], and [[Azerbaijan]]. A military dictatorship emerged with Admiral {{W|Alexander Kolchak}} as its Supreme Leader, with the purpose of restoring stability to Russia and bringing it to a level of development similar to the advanced industrial economies. The fall of the Russian Empire and the upheavals of the Civil War had swept away the old aristocracy and allowed a larger degree of reform than what had been possible under the tsarist system. Kolchak's Minister of Finance {{W|Ivan Shipov}} began implementing a new economic plan, which allowed enterprise and trade with minimal regulation, exchanged the old overinflated paper rubles for new gold-backed rubles, granted more authority to the {{W|zemstvo}} local governments, and gave peasants more ownership of their land. Investments and technological assistance from Germany and Japan in western and eastern Russia helped it more effectively exploit its natural resources. These policies were so successful that the Russian economy experienced a remarkable recovery by the mid-1930s, with agricultural and industrial production surpassing [[Russian Revolution|pre-1923]] levels.

The economic recovery coincided with Great War I, during which Russia provided its allies Germany and Japan with resources and further contributed to the economic boom. The standard of living for the peasantry and the urban laborers also rose. However, the government remained a police state that arrested dissidents, spied on the few political parties that were tolerated, and banned Landonist- or Bolshevik-leaning movements. There was no constitutional law and the Supreme Ruler claimed authoritarian powers "temporarily" in an open-ended way to "restore order after the Civil War." After Kolchak's death he was replaced by {{W|Andrey Vlasov}} in 1939, and the increasingly prosperous Russian middle and working class became more politically active. A paralysis of the system emerged similar to the late Russian Empire by the mid-1940s, and in April 1948, the [[April 14 revolution]], a revolt by army officers, led to Vlasov ending the dictatorship by organizing elections for a {{W|Russian Constituent Assembly}}. The new democratic Russia lasted for several years, dominated by the {{W|Kadet Party|Constitutional Democrats}} and the {{W|Socialist Revolutionaries}}. The government became indecisive as there were too many disagreements between the two major parties. In 1951, the Russian Derzhavist Party was elected with [[Vladimir Salkinov]], on the basis of restoring a stronger government and making Russia's foreign policy more aligned with its new economic power. The new party introduced measures similar to those in France: a combination of authoritarian corporatism, nationalism, anti-democratic and anti-Landonist policies, and establishing a dictatorial police state within a year. 

===Creation of the Axis powers===
[[File:Cronstadt Paris Louvre DSC01386.JPG|thumb|Commemorative flag of the Franco-Russian Pact of Steel, referencing the original Franco-Russian Alliance of 1891]]
Despite the initial attempts to cooperate with Germany by Jacques Doriot's [[French Fourth Republic]], it began changing this position by 1949. The practical consideration driving Doriot's policies were the territorial dispute over the historic French province {{W|Alsace-Lorraine}} then controlled by Germany, the lack of German support for French policies in the Mediterranean against Socialist Italy and (after 1952) {{W|Gamal Abdel Nasser}}'s [[Egypt]], and his belief that any Franco-German partnership would be temporary as it would depend on the chancellor that is in office and on the whims of Kaiser Wilhelm III. As such, Doriot's French State began aligning itself with the new [[Derzhavist Russia]] in 1951, which itself publicly opposed the German domination of eastern Europe, and in particular the German-aligned governments in Poland, Finland, and Romania. The November 1951 "Moscow Protocols" created a basis for cooperation between France and Russia, and, Doriot hoped, would discourage Germany from pushing its anti-French policies too far knowing that it could find itself encircled by two powerful nations. He planned to leverage a tactical Franco-Russian entente to gain more concessions from Germany in reversing the measures of the Berlin Treaty. Instead it had the opposite effect, setting off alarm bells in Berlin and giving credence to the hardline faction in the [[German Army]], which wanted to focus on Europe, as opposed to the industrialists that wanted to focus on maritime trade and Germany's overseas colonies. From 1951 the two groupings of powers would become drawn into confrontation. In August 1952, as Germany began the process of expanding its army, France and Russia signed the Pact of Steel during Doriot's talks with Salkinov in {{W|Kronstadt}}, a military alliance that was directed against Germany. The Pact would later include Japan in November 1952, as France's relations with the United Kingdom soured. 

Britain and France cooperated in the Mediterranean to both oppose the Landonist influence of Italy and the rise of Arab nationalism in Egypt, which put in danger French Algeria and the British Suez Canal Zone, as well as their economic interests in the Middle East more broadly (reliance on oil from Arab kingdoms). However, the rise of derzhavism in France made British public opinion turn against the new government there, and Prime Minister {{W|Winston Churchill}} refused to get dragged into a continental confrontation with Germany by giving military support to France. In East Asia, Japan was increasingly opposed to [[Sierra]]n and [[Anglo-America]]n meddling in its [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere]] that it had acquired in Great War I, and Britain emerged as one of the biggest allies of Sierra during the 1940s. British forces based in [[Australia]] provided assistance to the [[Sierran Royal Navy]] and allowed the Sierrans to have a presence in the region, especially as Sierran Prime Minister [[Franklin Tan]] became more involved in the [[First Indochina War]] that broke out between Japan and Vietnamese insurgents. These factors combined to make Japan a member of the Pact of Steel in August 1952, which would become known as the "[[Axis powers]]." In the meantime, Germany's rearmament after allowing its army to have been downsized during the Interwar period posed a threat to France, and German leaders became increasingly hostile to the French Fourth Republic, publicly blaming it for violating the conditions of the Berlin Treaty. By October 1952 Doriot gave orders to the Grand Quartier Général (the French general staff) to plan for an attack on Germany that would allow France to occupy the {{W|Ruhr Area}} and potentially break up the country, similar to Napoleon's creation of the {{W|Cisrhenian Republic}} on the left bank of the Rhine. This would be coordinated with a Russian invasion of Poland before invading eastern Germany itself. At the same time plans were also drawn up for a French occupation of British Libya, Malta, Cyprus, and potentially Egypt. The French Army and Navy had been undergoing a rearmament program of their own since 1945. Salkinov and Doriot came up with plans for spheres of influence in Europe after a Franco-Russian victory over Germany and the reorganization of the continent on the basis of Paris–Moscow axis.

==Prelude==
===Alsace-Lorraine conflict===
As part of its goal for a "New Order in Europe," the Pact of Steel contained an article that gave France a free hand in the west and Russia a free hand in the east. Doriot's intentions were to established a French client state in the [[Rhineland]] and bring back Alsace-Lorraine to France. The French lost that region during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and failed to retake it during the First Great War. Part of the National Republican Movement's agitation and propaganda was the goal of restoring French control over that historic province. Within Alsace-Lorraine itself, there was a significant minority of French-speaking Alsatians who were resentful of what they perceived as German occupation. The German Empire feared that the region would descend into political unrest if French nationalism was allowed to propagate there. Following the {{W|Saverne Affair}} and the {{W|Strasbourg}} incident, the Germans took increasingly putative measures against the local French population by suppressing the French language and customs, Germanizing French family names, and imprisoning French nationalists and sympathizers through their Germanization policies, which angered the native population and France. In the place of French, Standard German and the Alsatian dialects were promoted instead. In 1951, Alsace-Lorraine witnessed protests and civil disobedience after German police arrested two French Alsatians for promoting the French language through community plays. While the two Frenchmen were in the custody of German authorities, they were accidentally beaten to death during their interrogation, which caused public outcry. The ''{{W|Francs-tireurs}}'' and other French partisans quickly gained support among the French-speaking Alsatians and tensions emerged between them and the German government and German Alsatians. 

The National Republican Movement began sending its agents into the province and provided covert support for local French nationalist groups. The Franco-German tensions over Alsace-Lorraine would continue to get worse over the next two years, until reaching a boiling point in the early summer of 1953. The increasing civil unrest also helped convince both French and German leaders that a war was inevitable, and the Berlin Treaty that was meant to limit French power was practically no longer being observed by France. In accordance with this, the Germans began militarizing the province and deploying additional troops to the region in the spring of 1953. Negotiations between the two countries dragged out from April to early June. Different proposals for deescalating tensions while addressing the interests of both sides in Alsace-Lorraine were ultimately not accepted, as both Doriot and Wilhelm III were convinced of their own military superiority and that a permanent resolution to the problem could only be achieved by war. France made the decision to strike first after completing its mobilization of around two million troops in its northern region, and decided to invade in a similar way to Germany's {{W|Schlieffen Plan}} in 1932: by passing through the southern [[Netherlands]] to enter western Germany and the rear area of the German defenses in Alsace-Lorraine. It was believed by the French General Staff that they had enough tank divisions, combined with air power, to achieve a quick victory over the German forces scattered throughout western Germany. 

===Tensions in eastern Europe===
[[File:Carol_II,_King_of_Romania,_Prince_of_Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.jpg|thumb|175px|[[Charles II of Romania]], the erratic head of the [[Carlist dictatorship]]]]
The end of Great War I saw the creation of several new independent states in the Balkans, including [[Croatia]], [[Serbia]], and [[Montenegro]], while Romania annexed the former Yugoslav, Serb-majority {{W|Timok Valley}} (''Timočka Krajina''). Ethnic and sectarian tensions remained high as the region experienced political volatility from the aftermath of the First Great War's effects and ramifications. The Muslim-majority region of [[Bosnia]], which had previously been part of the unified [[Yugoslavia]], was transferred to independent Croatia after the war. Bosnian nationalism became widespread due to the cultural and religious differences between the Bosnians and Croats, while the Bosnian Serbs sought to join Serbia. The accumulative territorial losses which [[Bulgaria]] incurred as a result of the [[Third Balkan War]] and the First Great War left tens of thousands of ethnic Bulgarians living outside Bulgaria's borders and had greatly reduced the Bulgarian nation-state's prestige. Irredentist and nationalist movements gained traction within the Bulgarian populace, and fears of a Romanian hegemony in the Balkans pushed the country towards derzhavism. In 1948, the Bulgarian Ratniks, a pro-derzhavist movement, deposed the monarchy of Tsar [[Simeon II of Bulgaria|Simeon II]], forced his regent {{W|Kiril, Prince of Preslav|Prince Kiril}} to sign the young tsar's abdication, and established an authoritarian regime led by President {{W|Bogdan Filov}}. Albania's Landonist government remained hostile to its neighbors Greece, Croatia, and Serbia, as it hosted communist exiles from surrounding countries. Serbia also came to be led by a derzhavist dictatorship led by {{W|Dimitrije Ljotić}}, head of the {{W|Yugoslav National Movement}} (Zbor), having been elected in large part due to the Serbian public perceiving threats from Croatia, Albania, and Romania. Filov and Ljotić signed what would become the "[[Balkan Pact]]" in March 1950 and would align with France, which saw it as an opportunity to undermine both German and Italian interests in the Balkans. The Serbo-Bulgarian alliance began plotting against Romania, where both had territorial claims, and against Croatia, which was in both the Italian and German sphere of influence. 

Romania at the end of Great War I emerged as one of the victorious parties of the [[Triple Alliance]], but the Romanian government remained unsatisfied with the minimal territorial concessions it received from the Treaty of Berlin, gaining only Timok Valley. Under the erratic, volatile reign of [[Charles II of Romania|Charles II]], Romania pursued an aggressive expansionist foreign policy. After Great War I, the Russian territory of {{W|Bessarabia}} saw the rise of [[Inochentism|Inochentists]], a schismastic splinter group from the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Incohentists, under the leadership of [[Gheorghe Zgherea]], declared King of Romania [[Charles II of Romania|Charles II]] as the "Saviour of all Romaniahood," an action which left the king deeply moved. As Inochentism spread throughout Bessarabia, Charles II felt that the presence of Romanian community living between {{W|Dneister}} and {{W|Southern Buh}} in the Russian province served as a pretext to acquire more territory to compensate Romania's military efforts during Great War I. He decriminalised Inochentism in Romania, to the chagrin of the Romanian Orthodox Church, which strongly opposed the decision. This contributed to worsening relations between Romania and Russia, especially after the rise of Vladimir Salkinov in 1951. Romania remained aligned with Germany and continued to be one of its major suppliers of oil, and as Derzhavist Russia became opposed to German hegemony in Poland and elsewhere in eastern Europe, it created more hostility between Romania's pro-German government and Russia. The original German–Romanian alliance was renewed and strengthened in January 1952, as the Romanians perceived themselves as being surrounded by derzhavist hostile governments in Russia, Serbia, and Bulgaria. 

Italy's interests were mainly limited to the Western Balkans, and it became more drawn into the region in the early 1950s because of the spread of derzhavism. Russia was seen as the ally of the new regimes in Serbia and Bulgaria, while Albania was a client state of Italy and Croatia was a {{W|Condominium (international law)|in two spheres of influence}} between Germany and Italy. The "Rome Protocols" in 1945 signed between the Germans and Italians established their spheres, in which the Western Balkans was recognized a special Italian area of interest while the Eastern Balkans were a German area (mainly due to Romania). Kaiser Wilhelm had no interest in being drawn into the Balkans or the Mediterranean beyond defending the Romanian oil fields and containing the spread of Landonism, while Italy wanted to control the entire {{W|Adriatic Sea}} coast and maintain Croatia and Albania as buffer states. Greece initially tried to remain neutral, but after the derzhavists came to power in Bulgaria and also facing pressure from Albanian and Italian funding to the [[Communist Party of Greece]], it entered an agreement with Romania to provide a security guarantee.  

===First Indochina War===
[[File:Flag of the Struggle Group of the Trotskyist League of Vietnam, Saigon (21-08-1945).jpg|thumb|left|Vietnamese communists during the takeover of Hanoi]]
The Japanese offensives of 1932–1933 during Great War I had established a Japanese empire stretching thousands of miles, including over the triangular region of southeast Asia, which served as the gateway between the Indian and Pacific Oceans as well as a major source of tin, rubber, and oil. Before 1932 there was only one independent country in southeast Asia that was not part of one of the European empires: [[Thailand]]. By the end of the war it was clear that the Western powers lacked the strength to restore their control there and drive out the Japanese. With the extension of Japanese control over the area, by 1938 the Japanese created puppet governments in [[Vietnam]], [[Laos]], [[Cambodia]], [[Tondo]], and [[Myanmar|Burma]], cooperating with newly independent [[India]] in the latter case. [[Indonesia]] and the Malay States were placed under direct Japanese rule, with autonomous local governments created by local nationalists and leaders. The Japanese administration lacked bureaucrats necessary for managing the Indonesian archipelago of islands, and so the Japanese entered into cooperation with Indonesian community and nationalist leaders. Because most of the population was not directly affected by the Japanese authorities, and the standard of living increased as the local economy developed from Japan's investment in infrastructure and resource extraction, the Indonesian and Malay territories remained relatively stable during the 1940s. Tondo also cooperated with Japan. Communist revolts in those areas, mainly by left-leaning anti-colonial nationalists,  were limited to small numbers of jungle fighters that were quickly put down by the pro-Japanese local authorities and the [[Japanese State Army|Imperial Japanese Army]].

The main problem arose in Indochina. In 1934 the Japanese military command worked with local nationalists to established independent governments in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, as client states of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. In Vietnam, Emperor {{W|Bảo Đại}} was placed on the throne and he appointed the historian {{W|Trần Trọng Kim}} as his prime minister, who began instituting new policies to strengthen the independent Vietnam and reunify the entire territory (it had been divided by the French into separate territories), which the Japanese agreed to support. However, in 1940, as the [[Chinese Civil War]] intensified to the north, the Vietnamese communist leader {{W|Ho Chi Minh}} and his movement seized control of {{W|Hanoi}} and several northern cities. Weapons and advisors from China began to pour across the border into [[North Vietnam]]. The Vietnamese Imperial Army was unable to restore order by itself, and in response the Japanese took direct command of the war effort against the Communist rebels by establishing a new headquarters in {{W|Saigon}}. The country was too important economically for Japan to lose. The low-level insurgency in Vietnam increased to a large-scale war of maneuver by 1942, with 200,000 Japanese and 300,000 Vietnamese Imperial Army troops tied up by 335,000 Viet Minh soldiers and guerrillas, and the fighting continued because of skillful leadership from the Viet Minh commanders. The Communists took control of most of North Vietnam and began threatening Laos. As the situation in Indochina continued to heat up, the Kingdom of Sierra (which still wanted to restore its Pacific islands lost to Japan) increasingly sought to get involved by calling an international conference to negotiate over the situation in January 1943. Even though the rebels were communist, Sierran Prime Minister [[Poncio Salinas]] wanted to undermine Japanese hegemony in the Pacific.

The [[Far Eastern Manila Conference]], held in Tondo, failed to a reach any agreement because the Japanese refused Sierran proposals to divide Vietnam between a Communist North and an Imperial South along the 17th parallel of latitude. The [[Royal Intelligence Agency]] began covertly supporting anti-Japanese factions in Indochina, and the Japanese also became concerned to increased instances of Sierran Royal Navy warships entering the {{W|South China Sea}}, where they were in fact carrying out surveillance missions around Vietnam. In 1949 the [[People's Republic of China]] was established after the fall of the Japanese-backed Chinese Nationalist government, and the appearance of a Red China both changed the balance of power in East Asia and emboldened the North Vietnamese Communists to launch an attack on neighboring [[Laos]]. The Laotian monarchy of King {{W|Sisavang Vong}} was established by Japan, but the true power behind the throne was Prince {{W|Phetsarath Ratanavongsa|Phetsarath}}, who tried to maintain a balance between Japanese interests and the leftist-communist {{W|Pathet Lao}}. A rigged parliamentary election in 1952 served as the official justification for the North Vietnamese intervention, in support of a revolt by pro-Pathet Lao elements of the [[Laotian Army]]. The Japanese did not react quickly enough and the fall of Laos endangered their position in [[South Vietnam]] (Emperor Bảo Đại's government) as well as in Cambodia. Amidst the increase in tensions, the presence of Sierran warships in the {{W|Gulf of Tonkin}} was in effect a tripwire as Prime Minister Franklin Tan's administration wanted a more direct confrontation with Japan. The [[Gulf of Tonkin incident]] occurred in May 1953 when Japanese destroyers tried to escort a Sierran frigate doing reconnaissance out of the Gulf, but instead ended up causing a skirmish that led to the Sierran vessel being sunk. The incident triggered a diplomatic crisis, where the Japanese initially wanted to avoid a war with Sierra while the Sierrans wanted to undermine the Japanese. The eruption of the war in Europe in June changed the dynamic. Japan, believing it had the support of Axis, decided to fight a war with Sierra and remove the remaining Western presence in the region from Australia.

==Course of the war==
===War breaks out in Europe (1953–1954)===
{{Main|European theatre of Great War II}} 
[[File:Somua tank with explosion.png|thumb|A French {{W|Somua}} SM on the battlefield, 1953]]
[[File:East German soldiers dismount from BTR.jpg|thumb|Russian soldiers dismount from an {{W|armored personnel carrier|APC}} during the Baltic Campaign.]]
On 21 June 1953, France invaded the German region of {{W|Alsace-Lorraine}} after French Alsatian partisans staged a false flag border incident as a pretext for invasion. The initial French attack was targeted against German fortifications and defenses in {{W|Bar-le-Duc}} in {{W|Meuse (department)|Meuse}}. Germany immediately recognized a state of war with France, while its allies the United Kingdom and Romania issued an ultimatum of 72 hours for France to withdraw its troops immediately. After France ignored the demand, the two declared war, while the Commonwealth nations of [[Astoria]], [[Manitoba]], and [[South Africa]] followed suit. 

As a Pact of Steel member, Russia declared war on Germany and Britain to support France on 27 June. Following mobilization, the Russian military began amassing in Belarus under their union agreement. On 16 July, the Belarusian government fell due to internal disagreements over the union treaty with Russia and was replaced by a new government that wanted to declare neutrality. Russian forces deposed the authorities in Minsk and declared an annexation. On 7 July, Russian troops had entered Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, on 14 July Russia invaded Ukraine following the Ukrainian government's refusal to allow Russian troops passage through its territory. With the fall of the Baltic states by 25 July and the occupation of most of Ukraine by 20 August, Russia turned its attention to the German, Polish, and Romanian fronts.

To avoid getting bogged down in the heavily fortified {{W|Saarland}} and {{W|Rhineland-Palatinate|Rhineland}} regions, the French Army believed it had to strike northwestern Germany, and in order to do that, on 31 August 1953 an invasion of the [[Netherlands]] was launched. The French Army advanced quickly through {{W|Waloonia}} and {{W|Flanders}}, approaching the pre-[[Great War I]] former Dutch-Belgian border by late September. The German Army had mobilized the majority of its troops initially to the Western Front and stopped the French advance near the Franco-German border, and the initial breakthrough in {{W|North Rhine-Westphalia}} from the Netherlands was also stopped at the [[Battle of Cologne]], which became bogged down in urban warfare.

The Dutch Army formed a defensive line mostly being along the former Belgian border, with the land to the south under French occupation. There was limited fighting as the French 10th Army was given orders to keep the northern flank secure, not to go on the offensive against the Dutch. As the Franco-German front stabilized with fighting around Cologne, in the south all of Saarland and parts of southern Rhineland were overrun by the French Army. The Germans executed a fighting retreat, forming a new line from {{W|Koblenz}} to {{W|Neustadt an der Weinstraße}} by 9 September. 

Russia went on the offensive from the Baltic states by 4 September, under pressure from the French to join the fight. The Germany Army was concentrated mainly in the west to oppose France, and the German high command was surprised by the quick fall of the Eastern European states between Germany and Russia. Russia's advance, bolstered by its tank forces using the new {{W|T-54}}, quickly overran much of Germany's East Prussia. The Battle of Königsberg ended with a Russian victory on 24 September 1961 While the Franco-German front was at a stalemate, Russia advanced quickly through East Prussia.[[File:German helicopters gw2.png|thumb|German helicopters over the [[Netherlands]], 1954]]

During the early months of the war, France was able to gain superiority in Western Europe, with the UK [[Royal Air Force]] plane and missile attacks against France mostly being intercepted or stopped. The German and French Air Forces continued fighting over Western Germany, Belgium, and Alsace-Lorraine, with both sides losing large numbers of aircraft. Only on the Eastern Front did the German Air Force maintain its air superiority.

===War breaks out in the Pacific (1954)===
{{Main|Pacific campaign (Great War II)}}
[[File:SH-3A_Sea_King_hovers_over_the_damaged_USS_Liberty_(AGTR-5)_on_8_June_1967_(USN_1123118).jpg|thumb|180px|HRMS ''Glasgow'' pictured in April 1954, prior to being sunk]]
[[File:Japanese Soldiers Philippines-1200x480.jpg|thumb|Japanese soldiers in [[Tondo]] during the Battle of Luzon]]
The [[First Indochina War]] broke out between mostly Vietnamese nationalists and the Japanese, who had been in the region since their occupation of French Indochina during Great War I. Sierra and Japan switched sides in the international diplomatic web in what came to be known as the [[Second Diplomatic Revolution]] as they realigned themselves with former enemies. Nonetheless, Sierra remained neutral over the wars of independence in British Malaysia and the Dutch East Indies, and did not object to Japanese interference, reflecting Sierra's desire to remain uninvolved in overseas conflicts. 

Sierra remained neutral, offering trade to nations and dependencies on both sides of the conflict in the Pacific until April 1962. During that month, a Sierran Royal Navy frigate, HRMS ''Glasgow'' traveling through international waters in the {{W|South China Sea}} was allegedly rammed and sunk by a hostile Japanese Imperial Navy destroyer. Over 150 onboard crew members died, while the rest were captured and detained by the Japanese. The naval confrontation, which became known as the [[Glasgow incident]], sparked national outrage. Sierran policymakers and military leadership, hoping to recoup the territories lost in Great War I and to restore Sierran prestige in the Pacific, rallied to declare war on Japan. Without the worry of a two-front war that Sierra had in the previous global conflict, Sierra was able to concentrate the majority of its military projection and war effort in the Pacific. On April 21, 1962, Parliament declared war on Japan, bringing the country officially into the global conflict.

Sierra launched a naval sortie into the South China Sea, raiding Japanese positions in Taiwan and Vietnam, as well as the former Sierran territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Retaking control over the latter two islands was deemed a matter of both strategic and symbolic importance, as  the islands provided command over the North Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, Sierran forces were given access into the independent Republic of Tondo which anticipated a potential Japanese invasion. The Sierran moves took Japan by surprise, which had not anticipated a full-scale Sierran offense. Sierra also conducted an air raid on Tokyo, which inflicted minimal physical damage but produced significant psychological damage to the Japanese public psyche. Concerned by the serious threat Sierra posed and its resolve to fight a potentially protracted war, Japan sought to bolster its defenses. The Japanese naval commanders entertained the idea of attacking Pearl Harbor in Hawaii but reasoned that Sierra's land-based airpower there had increased considerably since Great War I.

===Western Europe (1954)===
===Mediterranean and Eastern Europe (1954)===

===Axis attack on the United Kingdom (1954)===
[[File:London Blitz 791940.jpg|thumb|Smoke rising from fires in the London docks, following bombing on 7 September 1954]]

===Axis wanes (1955)===
Anglo-Continental forces staged an amphibious landing in [[Portugal]] near {{W|Coimbra}}, opening a second front in Western Europe. In late 1955, the [[Siege of Königsberg]] was finally lifted, having lasted two and a half years. These events marked a turning point in the war.

===Allies gain momentum (1956–1957)===
[[File:Finnish soldiers carrying anti-tank gun.jpg|thumb|240px|Finnish soldiers carrying a {{W|Lahti L-39}} anti-tank gun at the [[Siege of Petrograd]]]]
[[File:American soldiers in Saipan colorized.png|thumb|240px|Sierran soldiers at the [[Battle of Saipan]]]]
[[File:China Crosses Yalu.jpg|thumb|Chinese forces cross the frozen {{W|Yalu River}} into Korea, 1957]]
By 1956, the war began to swing decisively in the Allies' favor. 

[[United Commonwealth|Continental]] intervention pushed the French out of Spain, while the Germans recaptured most of their lost territory and began a slow, steady push west of the {{W|Rhine}}. A surprise British landing in Normandy opened the way to Paris. After a [[Battle of Paris|last-ditch defense effort]] commanded by [[Jacques Doriot]] (who perished in the fighting), the city fell in mid-August of 1956 and was occupied by Allied. 

On the Eastern Front, Allied forces pushed into Russia proper. The German and Finnish armies captured {{W|Saint Petersburg|Petrograd}} after a brief siege. Finland also made advances in {{W|Karelia}}, retaking historical lands that had been held by Russia since the 18th century. By late 1956, German troops were at the gates of Moscow, but the harsh winter slowed their advance and led to a Russian counterattack, which was ultimately repulsed in February 1957. 

In East Asia, the [[People's Republic of China]] went on the offensive, invading Japanese Korea through [[Manchu People's Republic|Manchuria]].

===Axis collapse, Allied victory (1957)===
In 1957, the Axis crumbled. German troops entered [[Moscow]] in March, and the Derzhavist government relocated toward the {{W|Ural Mountains}}. China officially declared war on Russia (although a ''de facto'' state of hostility had existed between the two nations since 1953), invading {{W|Yakutia}} and the area around {{W|Lake Baikal}}. Despite losing ground on all fronts, the Derzhavist Russian government planned to fight to the death. It wasn't until the atomic bombing of TBD and the subsequent [[August Coup]] that Russia finally capitulated.

==Aftermath==
{{Main|Aftermath of Great War II}}
The immediate postwar order between 1957 and 1959 came out of the [[Raleigh Conference]] of January 4–12, 1957. Held in {{W|Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh}}, United Commonwealth, the meeting included the Big Four leaders of the Allied powers: Sierran Prime Minister [[Henry Falkner]], British Prime Minister {{W|Winston Churchill}}, German Emperor [[Wilhelm III of Germany|Wilhelm III]], and Continental General Secretary [[Lysander Hughes]]. Despite the rivalries and divisions that were beginning to appear among the four countries, the tone of the conference was one of optimism and cooperation. Victory in Europe was already seen as a foregone conclusion, because German troops were outside of Moscow, while in Asia the situation was less clear, as Japan still held on to many of its territories, although Japanese troops remained isolated and cut off from their homeland on scattered Pacific islands. An [[Allied Control Commission]] was establish to manage the various occupation zones in Russia, while the occupation of France was controlled by British and German authorities. It was agreed early on that France would remain intact, as Germany insisted on it, wishing to contain Landonism within southern Europe, and Spanish and Italian forces were expected to withdraw. In Russia the situation was more complex due to the vast size of the territory. Preliminary agreements were made about a potential [[partition of Russia]] among smaller states, but it was decided that the future borders and new states would be discussed later, and for the time being the conference finalized the approximate occupation zones. An idea to make the [[League of Nations]] more effective as an international forum for solving disputes was offered in the form of creating a [[League of Nations Security Council|Security Council]], consisting of the victorious powers (the Big Four and China) as permanent members, which would have broad authority to make and enforce decisions on conflicts. The Sierran delegation in particular sought to revitalize the LN in the aftermath in the war. In general, these proposals were accepted without significant disagreements.

There was less agreement on questions regarding Japan and the Far East. At that time, the [[People's Republic of China]] had entered the war with an [[Korean War|invasion]] of [[Korea]] after Prime Minister Falkner had visited {{W|Beijing}} and met with {{W|Mao Zedong}} in later November 1956. The Sierrans wanted to put maximum pressure on the Japanese militarists to persuade them to surrender rather than having to fight an invasion of the home islands, for which the fanatical Japanese leadership was arming its entire population. The United Commonwealth sought to aid its Communist Chinese ally while Sierran leaders, who had reacted with horror at the Communist victory over the [[Chinese Nationalist Party|Nationalists]] in 1949, were already considering a secret peace negotiation with Japan by which they would allow the Japanese to preserve some of their territories and military strength to balance the spread of Marxism-Landonism in Asia. The earlier policy of siding with communists to fight derzhavism was already being reconsidered. Because of this and China's late entry into the war, Mao was not invited the Raleigh Conference, but his foreign minister was invited to attend as the Chinese representative instead. China's [[Sino-Indian War|border conflict]] with [[India]], which was the main reason India sided with Japan in the war, was settled with returning to the countries' pre-war border. By the end of the Raleigh Conference only a vague declaration was made that Japan's dominance in Asia had to be put to an end and its occupied territories had to be liberated. After the Conference, in May 1957, Sierra would sign the [[Treaty of Manila]] with the Japanese, permitting Japan to keep Taiwan, the outer islands, and to regain Sakhalin Island (Karafuto) from Russia, but forcing it to renounce its ambitions to dominate the rest of East Asia (the Co-Prosperity Sphere), and grant independence to the rest of its colonies or return captured territory. In return for this, the treaty made no changes to Japan's internal political structure. This would cause a downturn in [[China–Sierra relations|relations]] between China and Sierra once the deal was made public, as the Chinese saw it as preserving the essence of Japanese militarism. 

The principles adopted by the Raleigh Conference, aside from establishing the LN Security Council, were so broad and vague that it would lead to the formation of a three-bloc world: Germany would continue to dominate most of Europe north and east of the Mediterranean, creating a north-south divide on the continent between German Mitteleuropa and the Communist governments of Italy and Spain; the United Commonwealth and the PRC emerged as the leading nations of the Landonist world, while Sierra and Britain emerged as the leading nations of the capitalist Anglo-American sphere. There could have been a two-bloc system if not for differences between Germany and the Anglo-American powers. German militarism and authoritarianism were seen with suspicion or even hostility by many in Sierra and Britain, and Germany wanted to control the economic and political systems in Europe (later culminating in the [[Anti-Landintern Pact]] and what would become the [[European Community]]), which meant blocking out the only major rival, Britain. They would still cooperate at times against Landonism, a common enemy. The United Commonwealth would increasingly become hostile to both blocs, as the leader of the Landintern, and a scientific and technological race would break out between it and Sierra. Lysander Hughes and Falkner only briefly discussed nuclear weapons testing, as both countries in 1956 detonated their first atom bombs. This nuclear rivalry and the three-bloc geopolitical arrangement would form the basis of what would become the [[Cold War]].

==Impact and legacy==

===Casualties and war crimes===

===Genocide, concentration camps, and forced labour===
{{Main|Chitska}} 
===Occupation===
{{Main|Allied-occupied Russia|Allied occupation of France}} 
===Home front production===

===Advances in technology and warfare===

==See also==
*[[Great War I]]

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{{En-WP attribution notice|World War II}}

[[Category:Great War II]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1953]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1954]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1956]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1957]]
[[Category:Global conflicts]]
[[Category:Wars involving France]]
[[Category:Wars involving Germany]]
[[Category:Wars involving Japan]]
[[Category:Wars involving Russia]]
[[Category:Wars involving Sierra]]
[[Category:Wars involving the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Wars involving India]]
[[Category:Wars involving China]]
[[Category:Wars involving Poland]]
[[Category:Wars involving Romania]]
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