World War Two Timesp Much Longer Than Ever Believed

Mara Lamprey

HST 191

2/10/23

Assignment #1

World War Two Timespan: Much Longer than Ever Believed

The Second World War is one of the most well known wars in the world. With the infamous invasion of Poland by Germany in 1939, this jump started the war, and then with the atomic bombing of Japan by the United States the war supposedly ended in 1945. However in World War II in Global Perspective, 1931-1953, it is argued that the war began much earlier in 1931, and lasted much longer all the way until 1953. It truly began with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, and then finally ended with the end of the Korean War in 1953. The book, World War II in Global Perspective, 1931-1953, changes the originally proposed idea that the war only

This is a highly significant proposed change, as the new timeline is over three times the amount of time than the original timespan. The book, World War II in Global Perspective, 1931-1953, changed the perspective on the timespan of the war, expanding it to its true beginning in 1931 and its end in 1953.

World War Two began much earlier than the previous projected date of 1939. September 1939 is infamously known as the date of the start of the Second World War. However, in Buchanan’s textbook, this is contested and argued otherwise. As seen on the second page of World War II in Global Perspective, 1931-1953, “Here the outbreak of World War II is conventionally pegged to the Anglo-French declarations of war on Germany on September 3, 1939. But this is a very Allied-centric perception” (Buchanan, 2). It is clear that World War II did not begin in 1939, and this is only seen in a certain light. It is disputed that the war actually began with the invasion

As seen in the textbook, the second World War in no way ended in 1945. Despite the United States moving into Japan, alongside the surrendering of German and Italian forces, the war did not end. As the title for chapter nine states, “1945: The War Ends, Fighting Continues” (Buchanan, 181). These two statements easily contradict each other, but prove to be true. While technically the war ends in Europe, this is not the case for Asia. As noted on page 195, it was much more complicated: “In Europe, most space was directly occupied by one or another of the Allied armies, while throughout much of Asia and the Pacific over 3.5 million undefeated Japanese soldiers were still in control of extensive territory” (Buchanan, 195). In Europe, forces were crushed yet meanwhile in Asia and the Pacific, Japanese soldiers still held some power. Initially the United States planned on going in to assist, but with protests they pulled their soldiers out of the area. This left millions of Japanese soldiers in China along with parts of the country that continued to be under Communist control. Not only did conflicts continue in China but other areas in Asia as well. Arguably, these issues continued until 1953. Other areas of conflict include Malaysia, Indochina, and most significantly being Korea. In 1945, American and Soviet troops arrived, and took the North and South, respectively (Buchanan, 211). In 1948