World War 2

World War II, also called the Second World War, the Patriotic War, (PROSE: Oblivion) the Hitler war (TV: The Time Monster) and the Pacific War in the Far East (COMIC: 4-Dimensional Vistas) was a major conflict fought on Earth in the 20th century. It began in Europe in September 1939 after a breakdown of the peace settlement implemented after World War I. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus, AUDIO: Neverland, et al.) War also broke out earlier in Asia in July 1937, following a period of unrest which began in 1911 and escalated in 1931. (PROSE: The Shadow of Weng-Chiang, Log 384) Worldwide hostilities formally ended in September 1945. (COMIC: Sky Jacks, PROSE: Base of Operations) Apart from a handful of neutral countries, it involved the whole of the Earth.

The Doctor stopped several groups from interfering with the war as Earth was distracted by its own chaos, including the War Lords, (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus), the Players, (PROSE: Players), the Cybermen, (PROSE: Illegal Alien) and the Valbrects. (PROSE: Base of Operations) Eileen Younghusband also defended Earth from alien attacks during the conflict. (PROSE: The Last Duty)

In the words of the Seventh Doctor, the war was comprised of many terrible events that could be considered "crimes against the universe itself." Auschwitz, Pearl Harbour, Stalingrad, Dresden, Coventry, Hiroshima and Kwai were all locations which witnessed dreadful suffering during the course of the conflict. (PROSE: Just War)

In 1903, after receiving a wealth of information from the future, Grigori Rasputin foresaw, among other things, the Second World War, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. (AUDIO: The Wanderer)

Captain Archibald Hamish Lethbridge-Stewart encountered the First and Twelfth Doctors after he was displaced in time while fighting in Ypres in December 1914. The Twelfth Doctor accidentally referred to the conflict as "World War One", leaving the Captain contemplating the upsetting implication that there would eventually be another. (TV: Twice Upon a Time)