WW II when did it really start?

Its not me Its u	Yep, the military action usually signals the declaration of war, ie, the invasion of Poland. Many things led up to the war, such as the Versailles Treaty, but the official start was the Declaration of War between Germany, Britain, France and Poland....

OldSage	The date that is considered to be the official start of World War II is September 1, 1939, when Germany began their invasion of Poland. Of course, as you pointed out, there were many events that occured preceding that date, but the German invasion of Poland was the proverbial last straw. One of the great "what ifs" of history is what if the Allies, primarily England and France, had taken a stronger stance against Nazi Germany earlier in the decade, and not allowed Hitler to break the Treaty of Versailles and not allowed Germany to "annex" Austria.

Veritatum17	Good points. The war was long in coming. The European war did begin with the invasion of Poland. You could say it began with the seizing of the Sudetenland. Well, it could have begun at that point, since a sovereign nation was effectively overtaken by a foreign power. Some consider this to be a litmus test - postulate that Hitler was trying to gauge European reaction to his advances. If I remember correctly, there were alarm bells sounding at this point, especially in Britain and France, although neither wanted to do much about it, especially since the previous war had been so utterly destructive. The invasion of Poland was really a "that's it" scenario. With an ally in Italy, a commitment of non-combatance from Spain (too busy fighting itself), and a tacit approval from Stalin, there weren't a lot of powerful allies left to keep the Axis in check. I'd argue it was a world war at that point. Besides, WWI was a world war well before the U.S. or the Ottoman Empire entered the fray.

Tarvold	yeah, sept. 1, 1939, when germany invaded poland, that was when the allies (minus USA) went to arms, thus signifying the start of WWII. personally, if i had to place a date on the start of WWII, it would be November 1937, when Hitler assembled the "Fuhrer Conference" because it was there that he publicly came forth with battleplans against Europe. or even 1933, when the Nazi Party came into majority power. but that's my take.

alsmithjpsnet	Yes, that's when it started formally, but you can make a case for it beginning back in 1936 when Hitler came into power in Germany. For the U.S., we didn't enter the war until Pearl Harbor.

Sam A	the war started on september 1st, 1939 when Germany invaded Poland.

áƒ¦à® Queen B à®áƒ¦	1937 or in 1939. The most commonly accepted date is either September 1st or 3rd, 1939.