Talk:World War II

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[edit] Date

I note that the article says that WW2 started in 1937, not 1939.

Are there any references for this date? I've never come across anyone or read anything that says that the Japanese invasion of China was the start of WW2, only the German invasion of Poland. D-Notice 08:31, 3 June 2008 (EDT)

Call me Eurocentric and politically incorrect, but for me it started September 1, 1939. And for my grandfather a few months later thanks to Stalin. But as long as it doesn't coincide with Pearl Harbour, anything goes for me. (Editor at) CP:^{no intelligence allowed} 09:16, 3 June 2008 (EDT)

I might have the same problem (I'm a Limey) D-Notice 09:27, 3 June 2008 (EDT)

It's Pearl Harbor ;) and, yes, as long as people don't think WW2 started in 1941 we're doing ok... ħuman^{ly possible} 15:01, 3 June 2008 (EDT)

There are people (it might be in the article, I've not checked) who consider the Spanish Civil War a trial for WWII. Susan^{Am I the Anti christ?} 15:13, 3 June 2008 (EDT)

I was going to mention that as we're including the Sino-Japanese war. Oddly Wikipedia's article also says it started in 1937 D-Notice 15:16, 3 June 2008 (EDT)

Periodization is just a big mental construction anyway. You could make a pretty strong case for lumping both WW1 and WW2 plus the interwar period together in one big World War Period - or even the whole period 1905-1945, for that matter. --AKjeldsen^{Potential fundamentalist!} 15:24, 3 June 2008 (EDT)

Nice point re: the two WWs. Or you could just say that the second half of the second millennium was the Battle for Global Domination (unfinished, while the US makes a mess of things). Someday perhaps historians will just cut the 20th into two parts - Hot World War and Cold World War, ignoring the post-USSR-collapse decade. I predict the 21st century will be the struggle between India and China for global dominance, while the Western nations struggle to stay warm. ħuman ^waste 00:48, 4 June 2008 (EDT)

Eric Hobsbawm has written a book about "the short twentieth century" (1914-91) so that process could continue. Despite Japan vs China, the conflict only became a world war with the invasion of Poland - from this point there were combatants from more than one continent. I think this is why the Napoleonic wars aren't called a World War, despite various Caribbean and Indian Ocean engagements - all the combatants (France, Britain, Russia, Prussia etc) were European. Totnesmartin 19:14, 26 July 2008 (EDT)