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World War II - The Third Reich LEADING TO WAR | THE ALLIES | THE AXIS | MAJOR BATTLES | THE HOLOCAUST | LITTLE BOY & FAT MAN

The Allies  In 1938, Britain and France attempted to appease Nazi aggression and avoid another world war through the Munich Act. When it was clear that appeasement had failed and Germany invaded Poland, both France and Britain entered an alliance and declared war on Germany. France surrendered on June 22, 1940.

Stalin, trying to expand the USSR's power and keep it's own peace, signed a nonaggression pact with Hitler, but he could not avoid war with the Axis. On June 22, 1941, Germany invaded Russia and began Operation Barbarossa. Once Germany began it's attack, Italy and Romania declared war on USSR. In October, the U.S. started supplying USSR troops under the Lend-Lease Act. Two years later, Stalin met with Roosevelt and Churchill for the first time in the Teheran Conference. They agreed that the Western Allies would invade France in June 1944 - Operation Overlord - while the USSR would launch a new offensive from the east.

In the spring of 1941, American and British military started staff conferences to discuss U.S. participation in the war. They agreed that if the United States entered the war, the Allies would concentrate on the defeat of Germany first. However, Roosevelt was unable to directly enter the war, since neutrality and isolationism were still popular. Then, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, launching the United States into WWII the next day.