WORLD WAR II, the name commonly given to the global conflict of 1939-1945, was the bloodiest conflict in world history, claiming over 30 million lives in six years.

Whereas military operations in World War I were conducted primarily on the European continent, World War II included gigantic struggles not only in Europe but in Asia, Africa, and the far-flung islands of the Pacific as well. World War II spread death and devastation throughout most of the world to an extent never before experienced.

The loss of life can be only generally summarized; an attempt to express the value of property and livelihoods destroyed in terms of money is futile: the resulting sums reach astronomical figures that have little if any practical meaning.

World War II ended on September 2, 1945 with the formal surrender of Japan aboard the U.S. battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.