Page "History of Europe" Paragraph 51

Over the next year the tide was turned and the Germans started to suffer a series of defeats, for example in the siege of Stalingrad and at Kursk.

Meanwhile, Japan ( allied to Germany and Italy since September 1940 ) attacked the British in Southeast Asia and the United States in Hawaii on 7 December 1941 ; Germany then completed its over-extension by declaring war on the United States.

War raged between the Axis Powers ( Germany, Italy, and Japan ) and the Allied Forces ( British Empire, Soviet Union, and the United States ).

Allied Forces won in North Africa, invaded Italy in 1943, and invaded occupied France in 1944.

In the spring of 1945 Germany itself was invaded from the east by the Soviet Union and from the west by the other Allies respectively ; After Red Army conquered the Reichstag in Berlin, Hitler committed suicide and Germany surrendered in early May ending the war in Europe.