So by the end of 1944, the Allies were advancing from the west, and the Russian Red Army was advancing from the east, and then the last-ditch German offensive at the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944 and 1945 failed. Mussolini was executed in April of 1945, Hitler committed suicide at the end of that month, and on May 8, 1945, the Allies declared victory in Europe after Germany surrendered unconditionally. Three months later, the United States dropped the only two nuclear weapons ever deployed in war, Japan surrendered, and World War II was over. The war had a definite cause, unbridled military expansion by Germany, Japan, and to a small extent Italy. Now, it's easy to claim that Hitler was crazy or evil, and in fact he was certainly both, but that doesn't explain the Nazis' decision to invade Russia, and it sure doesn't explain Japan's decision to bomb Pearl Harbor. And there are many possible explanations beyond mere evil, but the most interesting one, to me, involves food. Hitler had a number of reasons for wanting to expand Germany's territory, but he often talked about Lebensraum, or living space, for the German people.