World War II was the largest and most destructive war in history. Some 100 million people fought as combatants across Europe, Africa, and West and East Asia. This series describes why and how the war was fought, and explains its impact on those who lived through it. The seeds of World War II lay in the peace settlements that followed the end of World War I in 1918. This book explains how extremism grew in Europe and Japan, and tells the story of Adolf Hitler's rise to power and his territorial ambitions for Germany.