When did WW2 start?

It is my contention that WWII started at 11:00 AM on Nov. 11, 1918. It just got off to a slow start because populations of young men had to be bred and raised to resume the battle.

 

True..But then it would be a continuation of WW1?

 

That would be the Second Sino-Japanese War, which remained undeclared until 9/12/41. It then became part of WW2.
www.britannica.com/event/Second-Sino-Japanese-War
Or as the Chinese call it-
The War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45)[2]|chinadaily.com.cn
Think we've established the Chinese, Americans, Russians and British all individually think they won the war single-handed.
Anyone know when the idea of WW2 starting in China was first mooted, and by whom? I've seen enough contemporary newspapers to know it didn't seem to be the European view.

 

Which one though? The Chinese now say the War of Resistance against Japan actually started with the invasion of Manchuria. So did WW2 start in 1931?
How China’s leaders changed the history of the War of Resistance to bolster Party prestige

 

Germany and Poland weren't exactly unpopulated in 1939.

A lot of us feel the same way with Americancentrism. Had an uncle who was in uniform from the Summer of 1939, but I grew up with US sources telling the war didn't actually start until Pearl Harbor.

 

Could be worth reading to find out why he thinks that's "perhaps the most compelling".

 

Good lad.

 

It is an interesting question, because first you have to define what a 'world war' is.

Simply back tracking to find the earliest date any of the eventual participants went to war is not thd same thing as the start of the world war. For example, Japan vs China was between 2 countries in the same continent, relatively close geographically and not involving any other nations. Simply because that conflict merged into the larger war doesn't make it the start of the larger war.

To me, the World War means that it is fought across multiple continents and involving countries from multiple continents (so not just European countries attacking each others overseas colonies)

Which basically means once Britain and Italy started fighting in Africa (liberation of Abyssinia / Ethiopia) it became a World War

 

That was why I posted that link of all the supposed world wars.
It depends what continent you hail from.

 

China could still get the nod. Germany, Russia, England and the United States were tied up in the beginnings of the Sino-Japanese War, in addition to Japan and China.



Notice anything familiar about the helmets and cartridge belts, suspenders? This is of Nationalist Chinese troops that faced Japanese troops at Wuhan China, taken in 1938.

 

But after Hitler decided to back Japan in 1937 shipments of M35s and other equipment were halted. And by the '40s the Chinese were wearing Allied helmets-
http://www.chinaww2.com/2014/11/07/a-helmet-for-the-chinese-ii/
And Franco's boys wore M35s too, amongst others-
Need help! M35 Helmet/Spanish Civil War
Because they offered more protection that the British Brodie or French Adrian.