The Commanders of World War II were for the most part career officers. They were forced to adapt to new technologies and shaped the direction of modern warfare. Some political leaders, particularly those of the principal dictatorships involved in the conflict, Adolf Hitler (Germany), Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union), Benito Mussolini (Italy) and Chiang Kai-shek (China), acted as supreme military commanders as well as civil commanders of their respective countries or empires.
Famous quotes containing the words world and/or war:
“Ah were she pitiful as she is fair,
Or but as mild as she is seeming so,
Then were my hopes greater than my despair,
Then all the world were heaven, nothing woe.”
—Robert Greene (1558?–1592)
“All war represents a failure of diplomacy.”
—Tony Benn (b. 1925)