Page 1 of 5 12345 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 64
  1. #1

    Default World War II - 80 Years On

    A remembrance thread.

    September 1, 1939, from Wikipedia,

    "Nazi Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning the European phase of World War II."

    "Switzerland mobilizes its forces and the Swiss Parliament elects Henri Guisan to head the Swiss Armed Forces (an event that can happen only during war or mobilization)."

    "Adolf Hitler signs an order to begin the systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and disabled people."

  2. #2
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    29,974

    Default

    For many of here in the U.S., December 7, 1941 is a major date regarding the War since it was the attack on Pearl Harbor that officially caused our country to enter the conflict (though there had been aid to England and the Allied Forces prior to that).

  3. #3
    Boisterously Confused
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Posts
    9,434

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by MajorHoy View Post
    For many of here in the U.S., December 7, 1941 is a major date regarding the War since it was the attack on Pearl Harbor that officially caused our country to enter the conflict (though there had been aid to England and the Allied Forces prior to that).
    I think the Captain's rememberance appropriate. Fascism had been on the move aggressively since 1936 (especially in China and Spain), but 80 years ago today was when the isolated brushfires exploded into a global conflagration. (The Sitskreig not withstanding)

  4. #4
    Astonishing Member Electricmastro's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Posts
    2,671

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by MajorHoy View Post
    For many of here in the U.S., December 7, 1941 is a major date regarding the War since it was the attack on Pearl Harbor that officially caused our country to enter the conflict (though there had been aid to England and the Allied Forces prior to that).
    And led to much hostility against the Japanese in a way that wasn't completely justified, as evidenced by Japanese civilians getting bombed and the internment of Japanese Americans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intern...nese_Americans

    Even when keeping in mind atrocities such as the Rape of Nanking, committed by Imperial Japanese troops, the Japanese Americans still didn't deserve to be in internment camps, suffice to say: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_Massacre

  5. #5
    Boisterously Confused
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Posts
    9,434

    Default

    War never brings out the best in anything but arms manufacturers.

  6. #6
    Astonishing Member Electricmastro's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Posts
    2,671

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by DrNewGod View Post
    War never brings out the best in anything but arms manufacturers.
    It's hard for me see any sides I'm supposed to root for in war as winners when so much is lost, lives included. If anything, perhaps the only winners of war are those that get to live comfortably and peacefully.

  7. #7
    Boisterously Confused
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Posts
    9,434

    Default

    To the OP's point: these event shaped - and still shape - the world in which we live. Millions of lives were lost, and the future shaped by WWII's events. Remembering them, and their context is worthwhile.

    James T. Kirk: keep it up.

  8. #8
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    29,974

    Default

    It's also worth remembering that the term "World War I" didn't get used until we had World War II.

    The first conflict was often referred to as "The Great War", but that wasn't because it was a fun war. "Great" referred to the fact that it was "notably large in size".

  9. #9

    Default

    September 2, 1939, from Wikipedia,

    "Following the start of the invasion of Poland the previous day, the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed by Nazi Germany."

  10. #10
    Astonishing Member jetengine's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Posts
    2,990

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by MajorHoy View Post
    It's also worth remembering that the term "World War I" didn't get used until we had World War II.

    The first conflict was often referred to as "The Great War", but that wasn't because it was a fun war. "Great" referred to the fact that it was "notably large in size".
    It was actually coined officially several months prior to ww2 and probably was off handedly referred to as such by those discussing the future conflicts

  11. #11
    Extraordinary Member foxley's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Posts
    5,472

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jetengine View Post
    It was actually coined officially several months prior to ww2 and probably was off handedly referred to as such by those discussing the future conflicts
    That is the term 'World War One'.

    In English, the term "First World War" had been used by Charles à Court Repington, as a title for his memoirs (published in 1920); he had noted his discussion on the matter with a Major Johnstone of Harvard University in his diary entry of September 10, 1918.

  12. #12
    Jesus Christ, redeemer! The Whovian's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    In the Tardis reading X-Books
    Posts
    13,076

    Default

    I still find it incomprehensible that someone like Hitler was allowed to rise to power and how most Germans stood by him even when they knew what was going on. And saying "It was my job", doesn't make it right. They knew what was happening was wrong, and did nothing about it.

    BTW, I love your avatar Electricmastro.
    “Now faith, hope, and love remain, and the greatest of these is love.”--1 Corinthians 13:13

    “You had a dream; I have a plan”--Cyclops

    “There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes.”--The Doctor

  13. #13
    Astonishing Member jetengine's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Posts
    2,990

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by The Whovian View Post
    I still find it incomprehensible that someone like Hitler was allowed to rise to power and how most Germans stood by him even when they knew what was going on. And saying "It was my job", doesn't make it right. They knew what was happening was wrong, and did nothing about it.

    BTW, I love your avatar Electricmastro.
    Look at Britain or America

  14. #14
    Extraordinary Member Güicho's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Posts
    6,402

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by James T. Kirk View Post
    September 2, 1939, from Wikipedia,

    "Following the start of the invasion of Poland the previous day, the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed by Nazi Germany."
    26 April 1937 Aerial bombing of Spanish civilians in the town of Guernica, carried out by the Nazi German Luftwaffe's Condor Legion and the Fascist Italian Aviazione Legionaria, at the behest of Francisco Franco's Nationalist faction, under the code name 'Operation Rügen'.

    1937 - The United States chose to maintain strict neutrality and passed laws to support this official policy in regard to Spain. This response was controversial. A few American men and women were so compelled by the danger of Fascism in Europe, and the immediate threat to the Spanish Republic, that they chose to defy these laws.

    The Lincoln Battalion, Americans volunteers arrived in Spain as part of the XV International Brigade, served in the Spanish Civil War as soldiers, technicians, medical personnel and aviators fighting for Spanish Republican forces against the Nazi backed forces of General Francisco Franco and his Nationalist faction.
    The volunteer Lincoln Brigade was the first American military force to include blacks and whites, the first integrated army in American history.
    The U.S gov did not officially recognize them.
    Last edited by Güicho; 09-02-2019 at 05:45 PM.

  15. #15
    Astonishing Member Electricmastro's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Posts
    2,671

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by The Whovian View Post
    I still find it incomprehensible that someone like Hitler was allowed to rise to power and how most Germans stood by him even when they knew what was going on. And saying "It was my job", doesn't make it right. They knew what was happening was wrong, and did nothing about it.
    I'm having trouble finding reliable sources, but I was previously told that there were supposedly a considerable amount of Germans who were visited by Nazi officials at their homes and ordered them to join the German army, if they didn't join, they would kill them and their families. To my understanding, there were also a considerable number of German soldiers who only fought on the battlefield and never even set foot inside the concentration camps to help slaughter the Jews, and if at some point a German soldier who previously didn't know later found out about the core horror of the camps after they had joined, and proceeded to resist and leave, the Nazis would kill said soldier since they were that malicious.

    Again, I'm having trouble finding reliable sources and evidence on this, so I'm not sure what are the most reliable sources out there.

    Quote Originally Posted by The Whovian View Post
    BTW, I love your avatar Electricmastro.
    Thanks!
    Last edited by Electricmastro; 09-02-2019 at 05:00 PM.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •