What ended World War II?

On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allied Powers, and Japanese officials signed the surrender documents on September 2, 1945, ending the war. The Japanese boarded the USS Missouri, a United States battleship, to sign the surrender documents.

World War II spanned 1939 to 1945, and it was a global war. Most of the nations throughout the world had involvement in the war. The great powers of the world essentially took sides, resulting in the formation of two military alliances opposing each other. As the largest war in history, more than 30 countries and more than 100 million people took part in the war, using their full economic, scientific and industrial capabilities.