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When did WWII begin?
Topic Started: Dec 7 2011, 10:46 PM (303 Views)
Basil Fawlty
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Post Tenebras Lux
And now for an exercise in cultural relativism. ;)

Answer the simple question, when did World War II begin? Most sources date September 1, 1939 and the beginning of the European conflict as the start, but there are other possible dates. I've even seen some that place it as far back as 1931.

The most common are:

September 19, 1931
July 7, 1937
September 1, 1939
September 3, 1939
December 7, 1941

Each of these reveals a different emphasis to the question. "When did WWII begin" emphasizes literal origins; "World War II" on the other hand gets at the global nature of the conflict. Alternatively, accent on the "II" emphasizes the succession to the 1914 European war.

I suspect we'll all agree but nevertheless...
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Simon Darkshade
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Nefarious Swashbuckler
I'm a Eurocentric traditionalist and go for September 1st 1939, as it lead rapidly to action around the world and many belligerents. The Sino-Japanese War was not a global conflict, although significant.
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JBK
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October 1935.
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Simon Darkshade
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Nefarious Swashbuckler
The Italian invasion of Abyssinia did not bring on global combat. It was certainly one of the conflicts that lead to the eruption of general war, but it falls between the general signposts in my view.
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