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The Battle of Berlin was a battle in Berlin, Germany's capital from April 16-May 2 1945. This battle was between Germany and Soviet and ended in the soviet's getting and unconditional surrender from Germany.
History.com

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From 1939 to 1945, the largest conflict the world has ever known raged on relentlessly. Beginning in Europe, before taking in Asia, Africa, America and the Pacific, World War Two saw over 60 million deaths and countless lives blighted. Bloodshed had never been seen on such a scale before. Even World War I - whose fatalities numbered 35 million - did not witness the same level of sheer destruction, meted out on all sides, throughout the early 1940s. What follows are the bloodiest battles of World War Two - a startling reminder, if one were needed, that war can indeed be hell.

10. Battle of Monte Cassino, 17 January-18 May 1944: 185,000 casualties

Waged between the Allies and the joint German and Italian troops in the early part of 1944, the Battle of Monte Cassino was one of the hardest fought battles of the Second World War. The main objective for the Allied forces fighting their way up from Southern Italy was to break through the Germans' Gustav Line - a series of military fortifications running across Italy - and gain control of Rome. Named after the 1,400-year-old monastery of Monte Cassino that stood at the center of the German defensive line (and which was controversially destroyed by American bombers during the battle), the fighting was made up of four smaller battles that took place in January, February, March and May, respectively. The eventual capture of Rome came at a high price, with at least 125,000 casualties on all sides - and as many as 185,000 by some estimates.

9. Battle of the Bulge, 16 December 1944-25 January 1945: 186,369 casualties

The Battle of the Bulge - so-called by the British because of the "bulge" in the map where the German forces broke the Allied line - was the last major German offensive on the Western Front of World War II. Also known as the Ardennes Offensive - named after the densely forested area of Belgium, France and Luxembourg - the aim of the operation was to split the Allied troops in two, capture Antwerp in the process, then destroy the remaining Allied forces. Fortunately for the Allies, the battle did not go to plan for the Germans. Despite catching an overconfident and unsuspecting Allied force unawares, superior numbers, timely reinforcements and improving weather conditions (which allowed the Allied air forces to take to the skies) sealed the Germans' fate. With around 840,000 men committed, it was the largest battle the American Army fought in World War II, as well as among the bloodiest.

8. Battle of Kursk, 5 July-23 August 1943: 257,125-388,000 casualties

A decisive victory for the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front, the Battle of Kursk saw the largest series of armored tank clashes of the entire war and the costliest single day of aerial conflict in history. Having been warned months in advance of the Germans' intention to eliminate the Kursk "bulge" - created in the aftermath of their devastating defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad - the Red Army was well prepared to take on the Nazis. Through a vast and brilliantly constructed network of minefields, anti-tank guns and defenses 155 miles deep, the Soviets wore down their attackers and then launched counter strikes, hemming the Germans back across a broad front. According to the Soviets, the Germans alone lost 500,000 men - killed, wounded or captured - though other estimates are more conservative. The Soviets went on to liberate most of Ukraine in what was to be a major turning point in the war.

7. Second Battle of Kharkov, 12 May-28 May 1942: 300,000 casualties

Kharkov was a strategically important city in the Ukraine that had seen fierce fighting in the autumn of 1941, when the Germans captured it. The following year the Red Army launched a major offensive to retake the prized city. Unfortunately for the Red Army, the Germans were still very much active in the area and were able to call upon forces to launch a strong defense and counter-offensive. The Germans encircled the three Soviet armies and effectively destroyed them. In a devastatingly effective operation, the Germans wiped out nearly 280,000 Russian men and 650 tanks. A disaster for the Soviets, the Second Battle of Kharkov pressed home the importance of staying on the defensive to the Red Army and inflated the Germans' confidence - which many saw as playing a part in their downfall on the Eastern Front.

6. Battle of Luzon, 9 January-15 August 1945: 332,330-345,330 casualties

Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines, was seen as being of great strategic importance to the United States. Despite General MacArthur's belief in value of the island, American troops would have to wait until 1945 to launch an attack on Luzon, which was taken by the Japanese in 1942. When the Americans did make it back to Luzon, the fighting - complicated by the Japanese use of the famous kamikaze pilots - was frenzied and fierce, with incredibly high numbers of casualties, particularly for the Japanese. By the 11th of February American troops had captured Manila; however Japanese resistance - from scattered forces making sorties from the mountainous areas of the island - continued for some considerable time afterwards.

5. Battle of France, 10 May-25 June 1940: 469,000 casualties

The Battle of France marked the end of the so-called Phoney War - that strange, uncertain period of the Second World War which saw neither side commit to serious military action - and witnessed the German forces invade France and the Low Countries. Despite similar numbers in their respective forces, the Germans managed to overcome the French, bolstered by the British Expeditionary Force and Belgian and Dutch divisions. This was mainly due to superior German training and communication, and the Allies' wrongly held belief that the Maginot Line - the heavily fortified French border with Germany - would firstly hold; and secondly, that the Germans would concentrate their efforts on it. In the event, the Germans attacked through Belgium and Holland, thereby rendering the line an expensive mistake. The Germans devastated the inexperienced French (and other Allied) troops and took the entire country soon after.

4. Battle of Narva, 2 February-10 August 1944: 550,000 casualties

The strategically important Estonian county of Narva Isthmus saw ferocious fighting between the German army - bolstered by Estonian conscripts desperate to resist Soviet re-occupation - and Stalin's Red Army. Both sides were desperate to hold the valuable territory. Separated by historians into two distinct phases (the Battle for Narva Bridgehead and the Battle of Tannenberg Line), the fighting was amongst the most intense seen in the entire war. In the end, after months of terrible combat that left tens of thousands dead - particularly on the side of the Soviets, who suffered at the hands of German counterattacks - Hitler evacuated all troops from Estonia. The country was then largely free until the Soviets reoccupied it shortly after the war ended.

3. Battle of Moscow, 2 October 1941-7 January 1942: 1,000,000 casualties

Soviet Russia's successful defense of their capital against the German forces who sought to capture it in 1941 was a major turning point in the war. Hitler believed that if he could capture Moscow, the spirit of the Red Army war machine would be crushed and they would be at the Germans' mercy. However, due to a combination of fierce and strategically well-executed Russian resistance (bolstered by reinforcements from the east) and a terrible winter with temperatures down to minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit (-30°C) and colder, the Germans were destined not to take Moscow. Losses were massive on both sides. The Soviets suffered at least 650,000 casualties (perhaps many more) while in just twenty days of fighting the Germans are believed to have lost around 155,000 men - a mark of the devastation they suffered here.

2. Battle of Berlin, 16 April-2 May 1945: 1,298,745 casualties

The last major offensive of the war in Europe, the Battle of Berlin saw the fall of the German Army, the suicide of Hitler and the beginning of the end of the Second World War. The inexorable push of the Soviet army westwards saw them advance as much as 25 miles a day before stopping just 35 miles east of the German capital. The Red Army then proceeded to attack the city from the east and south, while a third group devastated German defenses from the north. The relentless Soviet army marched ever onwards, causing widespread panic in the already depleted German defenses (bolstered by inexperienced Hitler youth members) and, following fierce and bloody fighting, took the Reichstag on the 30th of April 1945, more or less signaling the conclusion of the war.

1. Battle of Stalingrad, 23 August 1942-2 February 1943: 1,250,000-1,798,619 casualties

The Battle of Stalingrad, which saw Hitler's major push for dominance on the Eastern Front, was marked by terrible losses on both sides. The Russians alone had over a million men wounded or killed. Barring their inability to conquer Moscow in the previous year, the war had generally been progressing well for the Germans up until this point, with valuable successes in North Africa and Europe. However, previously unseen brutality and crippling losses devastated the German offensive and severely dented their confidence. Once their Romanian and Italian allies had been eliminated, the Germans found themselves surrounded in Stalingrad, vulnerable and starving in the rubble to which the Luftwaffe had reduced the city. Some would argue that the Germans never fully recovered from this most destructive of battles - one of the bloodiest of all time.

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From 1939 to 1945, the largest conflict the world has ever known raged on relentlessly. Beginning in Europe, before taking in Asia, Africa, America and the Pacific, World War Two saw over 60 million deaths and countless lives blighted. Bloodshed had never been seen on such a scale before.

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Victory in Europe day or also known as VE Day was the day that Germany surrendered. On this day of Monday May, 8 1945 nations rejoiced when hearing that the war in Europe was over.
History.com

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Victory in Europe, first celebrated on May 8 in 1945, marks the end of the European phase of World War II. For much of the world, it was the end. For the United States, it was the last bank into the final stretch.

"It's the end of the most destructive and the bloodiest conflict in the history of our species," said historian Anton Fedyashin, professor of Russian history at American University in Washington. "Never before had humanity really descended to a level of mutual hatred and destruction as it did in the second World War."

The 70th may be the last big VE Day anniversary World War II veterans will see.

According to the National World War II Museum, 60 million people died as a result of the second World War. Most of the deaths were civilians. The country that lost the most people by far was the Soviet Union, with 24 million dead, including 15 million civilians.

More than 400,000 Americans died as well; almost all were members of the military.

"It was at the time greeted with great jubilation throughout the allied countries," said Ronald Spector, a history and international affairs professor at George Washington University. "It's been taken to mean various things depending on popular memory, ambitions and objectives of various governments."

There were a number of factors that made the allied victory possible. On the Eastern front, the Soviet Union held off a majority of the German Army, Spector said. The United States provided most of the arms for the Allies and pushed in from the West.

"The actual achievement of the victory depended on the soldiers of those countries, they had to do the tough work of winning the war." Spector said.

There was no grand moment of surrender like that of Japan on Sept. 2, 1945 aboard the USS Missouri.

Instead, the surrender of the Germans occurred after back-and-forth negotiations between the Allies and the Germans, who were now led by Karl Donitz after Adolf Hitler committed suicide weeks earlier.

The Germans didn't want to surrender to the Soviets, Spector said. But the United States would accept only an unconditional surrender.

During those negotiations, the seeds of the Cold War were sown between the Soviets - who thought they'd lost the most in the war - and the West, who felt that they'd won it.

For many countries stuck in the middle, the Soviet army became both a liberating and an occupying force. Mixed feelings continue to taint relations today.

"In many ways it determined the future of the world for the next 50 years," Fedyashin said.

Ultimately, the Germans surrendered both to the West in Reims, France on May 7 and then to the East in Berlin. The terms took effect on May 8.

"I don't think people realize that there was this process that preceded, this last ditch negotiations that preceded the final surrender," Spector said.

Many leaders of the war didn't live to see VE day. President Franklin D. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, Hitler committed suicide on April 25 and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was executed on April 28. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was voted out of office by July.

VE was not, however, the end of the second World War. Celebrations in the United States were short lived compared to Victory in Japan day - the true end of the war - on Sept. 2, 1945.

The prospect of sending American troops from Europe over to the Pacific theater posed a tremendous psychological and morale problem for U.S. troops.

"That was one of the factors that motivated Truman to try to look for some way to end the war against Japan without an invasion - end it as soon as possible," Spector said.

VE Day was once a chance for East and West to celebrate victory together. Today, relations between Russia and the West are cold again.

While President George W. Bush attended 60th anniversary VE Day ceremonies in Red Square in 2005, President Barack Obama and most European leaders won't be attending.

"The Ukraine business has poisoned the waters," Fedyashin said.
Gavin Stern is a national digital producer for the Scripps National Desk.

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Victory in Europe: Old wounds ache 70 years after VE Day

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Victory in Europe, first celebrated on May 8 in 1945, marks the end of the European phase of World War II. For much of the world, it was the end. For the United States, it was the last bank into the final stretch.

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The Potsdam Declaration was the Japanese Surrender is a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II on July 26, 1945.
History.com

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Shinzo Abe refuses to acknowledge Potsdam Declaration - China.org.cn

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It seems Prime Minister Shinzo Abe still refuses to face history squarely, and has revealed recently that he is not familiar with the 1945 Potsdam Declaration.

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The separation of Berlin began in 1945 after the collapse of Germany. East Germany was split into 4 groups.
History.com

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Divided Berlin - Download From Over 58 Million High Quality Stock Photos, Images, Vectors. Sign up for FREE today. Image: 18070951

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On August 6, 1945, the American bomber  a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. On 1945, a second atom bomb is dropped on Japan by the United States, at Nagasaki, resulting finally in Japan's unconditional surrender.

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The Atomic Bomb: Hiroshima and Nagasaki | Teachinghistory.org

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Textbooks struggle with the portrayal of the American decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japanese cities in August 1945. Because the subject is both extraordinarily complex and sometimes controversial, textbooks have struck a number of compromises in an attempt to present the story accurately and fairly.

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On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan unconditionally surrendered to the Allies. This marked the end of World War 2 and overwhelming relief and excitement spread across the world since the war was finally over.

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The United Nations was founded in October 24,1945. It's main purpose is to maintain peace and security in our international society but also they help with humanitarian crises and other global issues.

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The Nuremberg Trials were a series of 13 trials between 1945 and 1949, for the purpose of bringing Nazi War criminals to justice. Defendants included Nazi party officials and high-ranking officials guilty of war crimes.
History.com

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On May 14, 1948 in Tel Aviv, the State of Israel is proclaimed, establishing the first Jewish state in 2000 years. Immediately in the distance, fighting broke out between Arab and Jewish forces.