In World War II, Germany, Italy, Japan, and other Axis powers fought the Allies, which included France, Britain, the Soviet Union, Canada, China, and the United States. The United States entered the war in 1941.<NP> The war began after Germany invaded Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. Germany was led by the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, who had promised to build Germany into a mighty empire. During the war, the Nazis killed more than 6 million Jews in an attempt to wipe out the entire Jewish population of Europe.<NP> The war in Europe ended with Germany's surrender in May 1945. In August 1945, U.S. planes dropped the first atomic bombs used in warfare on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The next month, Japan signed terms of surrender. At the end of the war, Europe lay in ruins, and Germany and Japan were occupied by Allied military forces.
