Allied forces liberate Paris, with colonial soldiers central to the campaign

British, American, and Canadian forces began Operation Husky, invading Sicily. The campaign weakened Mussolini’s government and opened the route to mainland Italy. Sicilians experienced bombing,...

New Viceroy Archibald Wavell visited Calcutta as famine devastated Bengal. War priorities, colonial procurement and shipping policies, inflation, crop disruption, and unequal access to food...

Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met in Tehran to coordinate the defeat of Nazi Germany and discuss the postwar order. Their negotiations focused on great-power strategy and borders. Colonized...

The Normandy landings opened a major western front against Nazi Germany. Allied forces included soldiers from occupied and colonized societies, while French resistance networks supported the campaign....

Delegates from 44 Allied nations agreed to establish the International Monetary Fund and World Bank at Bretton Woods. The institutions aimed to shape postwar exchange and reconstruction, but voting...

U.S. and Filipino forces landed at Leyte, beginning a campaign to retake the Philippines from Japan. Filipino guerrillas had gathered intelligence, rescued Allied personnel, and resisted occupation...

Soviet forces entered Auschwitz-Birkenau and Monowitz, finding thousands of prisoners left behind after the SS forced many others on death marches. Survivors faced illness, grief, and uncertain...

Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin agreed on plans for Germany’s occupation, a new United Nations, and postwar arrangements in Europe. The conference also left millions in territories whose political...

Aung San’s Burma National Army turned against Japan, the power it had once joined to fight British rule. The uprising was coordinated with the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League and other resistance...

Germany’s unconditional surrender took effect, ending the war in Europe. The victory was made possible by a global coalition that included millions of soldiers, workers, and resistance fighters from...