^China had been fighting an
undeclared war against Japan since 1937, with various other conflicts since
1931. On December 9, 1941, they officially joined the war
^Yugoslavia was occupied after an
invasion, but there were prominent
partisan groups that continued fighting
^The emperor was the titular leader of Japan and had the final say on decisions, but his power was still (somewhat) limited. The
Prime Minister (
Fumimaro Konoe and later
Hideki Tojo for most of the war) held immense political power, and thus the emperor was not a dictator in the way Hitler or Mussolini were[2]
^Victor Emmanuel III was the Italian head of state and did overrule Mussolini on certain occasions (such as refusing to join the Second World War until
1940 and even
deposing him in 1943), but Mussolini used more de facto power and influence than the king
^China was fragmented at the time due to a halted
civil war and legacies of the
warlord era; thus, other leaders such as
Mao Zedong of the Chinese Communists and various warlords (such as
Li Zongren,
Yan Xishan and (initially)
Chang Hsueh-liang) had significant power. However, Kai-shek was the leader of the
nationalists which
allied with the communists and controlled most of China during the Second World War
^Undeclared from 1937 to 1941, this war merged into World War II in 1941
References
^Dunnigan, James;
Albert Nofi. Dirty Little Secrets of World War II: Military Information No One Told You About the Greatest, Most Terrible War in History, William Morrow & Company, 1994.
ISBN0-688-12235-3
The Second World War in Colour (1999) is a three episode documentary showing unique footage in color (
Imdb link)
Battlefield (documentary series) is a television documentary series initially issued in 1994–1995 that explores many of the most important battles fought during the Second World War.
The War (2007) is 7-part
PBS documentary recounting the experiences of a number of individuals from American communities.