Remembrance

[Phil]

While not an historian I have long felt that WWII did not begin with the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 but rather with the Japanese rape if China in 1936

Many think that the humiliation of Germany by the Treaty of Vesailles after WWI greatly contributed to the rise of nazism along with the political vacuum left by the removal of the ruling elite and the runaway inflation in Germany where money was printed like confetti. Japan was simply following Germany's policy of "Lebensraum" and Italy's expedition into Ethiopia by trying to obtain territory and natural resources by force. You could say that WWII became inevitable when nations stood by and did nothing while atrocities occurred in Spain and Ethiopia followed by militarisation of the Rhineland, annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, and the invasion of China you mentioned. Hopefully we have since learned that the sort of thinking current in those days such as Chamberlain's dismissal of "that faraway country of which we know little" referring to Czechoslovakia shows that sticking your head in the sand does not make these problems go away.

[macwilkin]

Many think that the humiliation of Germany by the Treaty of Vesailles after WWI greatly contributed to the rise of nazism along with the political vacuum left by the removal of the ruling elite and the runaway inflation in Germany where money was printed like confetti. Japan was simply following Germany's policy of "Lebensraum" and Italy's expedition into Ethiopia by trying to obtain territory and natural resources by force. You could say that WWII became inevitable when nations stood by and did nothing while atrocities occurred in Spain and Ethiopia followed by militarisation of the Rhineland, annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, and the invasion of China you mentioned. Hopefully we have since learned that the sort of thinking current in those days such as Chamberlain's dismissal of "that faraway country of which we know little" referring to Czechoslovakia shows that sticking your head in the sand does not make these problems go away.

well said, Phil.

T.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Many think that the humiliation of Germany by the Treaty of Vesailles after WWI greatly contributed to the rise of nazism along with the political vacuum left by the removal of the ruling elite and the runaway inflation in Germany where money was printed like confetti. Japan was simply following Germany's policy of "Lebensraum" and Italy's expedition into Ethiopia by trying to obtain territory and natural resources by force. You could say that WWII became inevitable when nations stood by and did nothing while atrocities occurred in Spain and Ethiopia followed by militarisation of the Rhineland, annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, and the invasion of China you mentioned. Hopefully we have since learned that the sort of thinking current in those days such as Chamberlain's dismissal of "that faraway country of which we know little" referring to Czechoslovakia shows that sticking your head in the sand does not make these problems go away.

Could not agree more. Well said, indeed.

[Kiltedmusiclover]

Since this thread has drifted off topic and the original poster has requested it, the Mods have agreed to close this thread.