answers.input_text: short
answers.span_text: 1 September 1939 -- 2 September 1945
questions: when did world war 2 officially start and end
name: World War II
contexts: World War II ( clockwise from top left ) Chinese forces in the Battle of Wanjialing Australian 25 - pounder guns during the First Battle of El Alamein German Stuka dive bombers on the Eastern Front in December 1943 American naval force in the Lingayen Gulf Wilhelm Keitel signing the German Instrument of Surrender Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad Date 1 September 1939 -- 2 September 1945 ( 1939 - 09 - 01 -- 1945 - 09 - 02 ) ( 7003219300000000000 ♠ 6 years and 1 day ) Location Europe , Pacific , Atlantic , South - East Asia , China , Middle East , Mediterranean , North Africa and Horn of Africa , briefly North and South America Result Allied victory Collapse of Nazi Germany Fall of Japanese and Italian Empires Dissolution of the League of Nations Creation of the United Nations Emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as superpowers Beginning of the Cold War ( more ... ) Participants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders and leaders Main Allied leaders Joseph Stalin Franklin D. Roosevelt Winston Churchill Chiang Kai - shek Main Axis leaders Adolf Hitler Hirohito Benito Mussolini Casualties and losses Military dead : Over 16,000,000 Civilian dead : Over 45,000,000 Total dead : Over 61,000,000 ( 1937 -- 45 ) ... further details Military dead : Over 8,000,000 Civilian dead : Over 4,000,000 Total dead : Over 12,000,000 ( 1937 -- 45 ) ... further details