Why is Sept 1st 1939 considered the start of WWII and not the invasion of Manchuria?

Question

Manchuria was invaded before Poland. A lot more happened before the Polish invasion. Why is that date considered the start of WWII and not an earlier one?

Answer 1

It is because that was when Britain and France declared war on Germany hence bringing most of the World Super powers at war. As usual the USA was a couple years behind before they entered physically with troops on the Allied side.

Manchuria was indeed invaded but war by the nations of the world was not declared, neither were they when Hitler took the Sudatenland and Austria.

It may have stayed that way too had Japan not turned its eye on Pearl Harbor Dec 7 1941 bringing the US at war against Japan and Hilter declared war on the USA honoring his pact with his Axis ally. This was a bad mistake for Hitler for we had only declared war on Japan not Germany and now we were at war with both and that proved to be Germany's undoing as it had in WWI.

That is why Sept 1 1939 is the historical date because that invasion caused Nations of the world to declare war on each other where before they were still bad invasions but no Nations on mass scaled declared war.

Answer 2

Because the western powers never recognized China as having national sovreignty and Poland was a creation of Versailles, in other words Poland was an artificial construct enforced against the Germans through the same military powers that were the triple entente. Although Stalin and Hitler signed a non-agression pact prior to the invasion, Britain and France still believed that they were enforcing the terms of Versailles. Conversely, there was no recognized national entity in China, whatever warlord or emperor that a western or japanese government was backing was the legitimate power according to the respective interest. The Emperor for the Japanese, Chiang Kai Shek for the US and Britain, Mao for the Russians. It was the same partitioning as Shanghai, but on a national scale. Japanese penetration into Manchuria, was thus largely viewed as colonization rather than invasion, it was not liked by other powers because it limited their influence in China, but it was nothing to go to war over, since they were all guilty of the same. It has taken the last three hundred years for China to overcome the "sick man of Asia" stigma. What will happen when the west coast is partitioned?

Answer 3

Because the whole rest of the world didn't start declaring war on each other (and eventually as it turned out really meaning it) until the invasion of Poland. You might as well ask why WWII didn't start with the 1936 occupation of the Rhineland--or Mussolini's adventures in Ethiopia. It took quite a lot of mischief for a post Great War, battle-weary world to finally become fed up (again).

Answer 4

When Manchuria was invaded it was just between China and Japan. When Poland was invaded, it was against the Treaty of Versailles and involved all the Allies who signed the treaty in 1918, making it a world conflict.

Answer 5

a critical mass was not reached by just looking at the manchurian conflict, ie, majority of the earth's countries in different continents were not involved.. up till then, the Manchurian campaign was a regional conflict between two countries. The polish invasion involved brit, frnc, USSR, and counting the asian war, the polish invasion crossed the line to World War status.

Answer 6

Because most westerners focus on the war in Europe more than the war in Asia, but when I went to school my teacher always insisted on Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia as being the earliest act of aggression,and others point to the Annexing of Austria even though it was not a violent take over.

Answer 7

Because our history is told from a Western slant. The Japanese invaded Manchuria first, but that wasn't yet considered a part of the larger war that was named WWII.

Answer 8

Until then, it was only a local Asian conflict. The other powers really had no interest if Japanese and Chinese were killing each other. Then the invasion of Poland by the Nazis, made it into a world war.

Answer 9

Because that was what brought all the European powers, England and France, foremost among them, into the war against Germany. When it was an obscure war in Asia, nobody gave a rats' @ss!

Answer 10

I think Petey is right. But more historians agree with you now that the war really started in 1937.