World War II lasted for so many years because the Axis powers were not stupid. They know how to take land by force and, as bad as it may sound, they knew how to keep the allies from coming in. It took the Allies so much time to end the war because the Axis defenses forced them to retake land bit-by-bit.
Did you know that in the Pacific Theater the United States military had to combat the Japanese Island-by-Island?
AnswerVery good point. The Japanese agressively expanded their territory and by 1942 they had occupied vast areas of the South Pacific. The US and its allies, such as Australia, had to re-capture these islands one by one. This took time. This gave the Japanese homeland a buffer area of protection so that we could not just go bomb or attack their homes the very first year.Germany also had acquired a vast amount of land. However, their main advantage was that they had conquered most of the well-equipped armies that were in the region. There was no country that was able to attack them directly. So, again as with Japan, the Allies had to fight the German armies at the extremities.
Finally, Hitler would not surrender on any terms. IF the Germans had surrendered with conditions, then things might have been different. Can you imagine a treaty that allowed Nazi Germany to remain in power over Germany and they were allowed to have some satellite countries such as Bulgaria, Yugoslavia or even Poland?? Only when the Russian troops were inside of Berlin did Hitler admit defeat and killed himself.
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No one country had enough military power to overcome the others, until the USA entered the war in 1917.
World War 2 lasted longer. The usual dates given are 1939-1945, and those for World War 1 are usually given as 1914-1918.
If you are asking how long it lasted it lasted about 6 years the end of 1939 to the begging of 1945
The next war after WWII was the Cold War, which lasted from around 1947 to 1991.
The First World War lasted for more than four years (28 July, 1914-11 November, 1918).
The war lasted 6 years
World War II lasted from 1939 to 1945. It was the deadliest conflict in human history.
World War II lasted for six years and one day, from September 1, 1939, to September 2, 1945.