Povijest #17: Predvečerje rata i drugi svjetski rat

The global economic crisis of 1929 deepens political instability, fueling the rise of totalitarian regimes. Nazi Germany under Hitler, fascist Italy and militaristic Japan spread aggression. The Munich Pact (1938) and the policy of appeasement did not prevent the German annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland. The attack on Poland in 1939 starts the war.

The Second World War (1939–1945) was marked by global conflicts, the Holocaust and mass destruction. The Allies (USA, USSR, Britain) oppose the Axis Powers. Key battles, such as Stalingrad and Normandy, change the course of the war, which ends with the capitulation of Germany and the atomic bombing of Japan (1945). War brings millions of victims and changes the world order.

Culturally, the period is marked by propaganda art, while science advances through the development of nuclear weapons. In the Croatian context, the creation of the Independent State of Croatia (1941), collaboration with the Axis, the partisan movement led by Tito, and the liberation of Yugoslavia stand out.