What was the WW2 (Europe) about?

[Laurent Rizzotti]

I agree that most people were victims or unwilling actors of WWII but this is probably the war where the most people engaged for political or ideogical reasons. In most of Europe, at least a part of the right wing allied with Germans to fight the left wing forces. Another part of the right (the most nationalist and anti-German) went in exile or allied with the left more or less temporary. The civil Resistance movements were often politically oriented. At least for the non-German/Italian fascists and the non-Soviet communists, ideology was usually more important than national interests.

In Asia/Pacific, the political main subject was colonism. Britain, Netherlands and France tried to hold their territories, Japan to build an empire and USA and the Asian elits to liberate countries. In China, the struggle between communits and nationalists was more important than the fight against Japan for both leaders.