This was the largest war the world has ever seen, both in the number of casualties and the amount of territory that was fought over.
The seeds of the Second World War were sown at Versailles in 1919. The treaty that France and Great Britain forced on a defeated Germany combined elements of Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points with a Carthaginian peace that stripped Germany of her military, much of her territory, and her national pride. The communist revolution in Russia caused a shift in power in Western Europe towards more reactionary governments. Italy in 1922, Japan in 1928, Germany in 1933, and Spain in 1936 adpoted a new form of government: facism.
Japan invaded Manchuria in 1936 then turned against mainland China. The Japanese fleet expanded the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere throughout the Pacific ocean. Japan's expansionist warfare led directly to a clash against Great Britain and the United States of America
Adolf Hitler's message of German superiority required a war of expansion. German armies, rebuilt on a new model, crushed the armies of Poland, Norway, France, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union.
In the end, the industrial capacity of the Allies overwhelmed German military might. The United States again acted as the arsenal of democracy. This time around, she also contributed a significant part of the allied armed forces. Soviet troops, rallying to defend the Rodina, pushed German armies all the way back to Berlin. Anglo-American armies conquered Africa and Italy, liberated France, and drove into southeastern Europe.
In the Pacific theatre American and British warships severly mauled Japanese fleets. Short ground campaigns destroyed isolated Japanese armies. The war ended with the complete destruction of both Germany and Japan.
Figure manufacturers have paid special attention to the Second World War. More figure sets are available for this than for any other conflict. Every manufacturer has released several sets.
The Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis
| German Infantry |
| German Waffen S.S. Infantry |
| German Fallschirmjager |
| German Afrika Korps Infantry |
| Italian Infantry |
| Japanese Infantry |
The Allies
| French Infantry |
| British Infantry |
| British 8th Army Infantry |
| British Paratroopers |
| British Commonwealth Infantry |
| Soviet Infantry |
| Siberian Infantry |
| American Infantry |
| American Marines |
| American Airborne Infantry |
This page last modified
on 17 March 2003
This page created on
03 March 2001 using Netscape Composer
