Before the World War II the British government was led by Conservative Party. Its leader was A. N. Chamberlein (1937 - 1940). It was very pacifistic sate at that time. They didn't oppose Hitler's threats in Monachium. What is more, they didn't argue when Hitler declared the Austrian Anschluss. Great Britain reacted finally when Germany attacked Poland. So on the 3rd September Poland declared the war. Unfortunately, the country didn't manage to defend for a long time.
At that time Great Britain couldn't help Poland. British decided to send troops to help in help defending France and Norway. However, those troops couldn't help too much. Soon it turned out that Great Britain was the only one independent country in the Western Europe. However, Great Britain became the next target of the Nazis. On 8th August 1940 began the Battle of Britain. Firstly, the Germans tried to knock down Royal Air Forces with using of their air force. The first air ride was consisted bombing every British airport. Germans used their tactical bombers. However, England managed to defend. When Germans hadn't chance to destroy British airports, they started to concentrate on British factories. It might cause the lack in British military resources. Those days were very critical for Great Britain. They didn't have enough planes to defeat Germans. It seemed that England had to surrender. Then Hitler considered his planes with Goring. Hitler demanded only the immediate effects. Since 6th of September the condensed attacks on London and bigger English city started. That gave British troops some time to strengthen Royal Air Force. The greatest German air raid took place on 15th September. Hitler decided to send to the British capital about 500 airplanes. However, on 31st October the German attacks stopped.
In August 1940 the British troops were driven off from Libya and from western Egypt. British soldiers were defeated only in Tobruk. Germans attacked Greece and Yugoslavia in April 1941. They also managed to conquer Crete, which was the most important British force base in Mediterranean Sea. In June, when Germans attacked Soviet Russia (the operation was called Barbarossa), Great Britain got a new ally. The ally was quite powerful. The alliance allowed Montgomery who was the main British general to launch the huge offensive in Northern Africa. The most decisive battle was in El-Alamen (since 23rd October to 4th November 1942). After that successful battle, Montgomery victory was just the matter of time. To May 1943 the whole northern part of Africa was governed by Allies.
In the Far East Japan declared the war with China. On 7th December 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. That day was the day when the United States, Great Britain and Holland declared war with Japan too. Firstly, British colonies were taken over, but after the long battles taken place on Coral Sea and Midway British soldiers managed to take some of them. However, the fights in Birma and Indonesia were continued till the end of the war.
On 10th July the Allies' forces landed on Sicily. Just two weeks later regime of Mussolini fell down. On 3rd September a new government was established in Italy. They decided to sign the armistice. That day Allies troops landed in the southern part of Italy. Germans occupied the rest of Italy. The Allies soldiers stooped along the Gustav Line. It was the beginning of the year 1944 when the united troops of British, American, Canadian and Polish soldiers broke the German deface in Monte Cassino. On 4th June the Allies soldier managed to take over Rome and at the beginning of April 1945 the whole Italy was free.
On 6th July 1944 started the operation "Overlord". It was the greatest seaborne attack that has been ever planed. Landing troops consisted of about 150 000 soldiers. Within about 90 days almost 1 400 000 soldiers were taken on 4000 sea ships. There were also sent about 32 000 planes. Despite of the numerous casualties, the whole operation was a great success. Allied troops landed also in southern part of France. On 19th August the capital of France was free and till 28th the whole France was librated. In September the Allies troops should stop along the Zigfrid Line. Market-Garden operation was a British failure, when British general Montgomery didn't manage to break the German defense. In the middle of December German lunched a completely surprise attack in Ardennes. However, they were stopped by the end of January. Soon the Allied soldiers were offensive once more. On 1st April Allies troops crossed Rhine and then reached Łaba. They managed to meet Russians on 25th April. Then Germans capitulated and the war ended.
