<ins class="ice-ins ice-cts-1" data-changedata="" data-cid="2" data-last-change-time="1569352549303" data-time="1569352549303" data-userid="162" data-username="Author">World War&nbsp;II&nbsp;(often abbreviated to&nbsp;WWII&nbsp;or&nbsp;WW2), also known as the&nbsp;Second World War, was a&nbsp;global war&nbsp;that lasted from 1939 to 1945.&nbsp;The vast majority of the world&#39;s countries&mdash;including all the&nbsp;great powers&mdash;eventually formed two opposing&nbsp;military alliances: the&nbsp;Allies&nbsp;and the&nbsp;Axis. A state of&nbsp;total war&nbsp;emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from more than 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the&nbsp;war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War&nbsp;II was the&nbsp;deadliest conflict&nbsp;in human history, marked by&nbsp;70 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the&nbsp;Soviet Union&nbsp;and&nbsp;China. It included&nbsp;massacres, the&nbsp;genocide&nbsp;of&nbsp;the Holocaust,&nbsp;strategic bombing, premeditated death from&nbsp;starvation&nbsp;and disease, and the only use of&nbsp;nuclear weapons&nbsp;in wa</ins>