3. Authorities & decisions: World War II: Occupation & Reconstruction

Decision-makers, laws and consequences

Germany invaded Poland in September 1939; Britain and France declared war. Adolf Hitler and Nazi commanders directed occupation and genocide, while Allied governments under Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin coordinated military strategy.

The 1945 defeat of Germany and Japan ended the war. Occupation, war-crimes trials, decolonization pressures and the United Nations reshaped international institutions, without eliminating later conflict.

Institutional consequences

The authorities identified above acted within institutions that determined who could govern, enforce decisions and challenge official power. The resulting changes to political participation, legal status, military control or property administration are part of the historical record of this specific event, rather than evidence that every later government followed the same path.