WWII quiz thread

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by temujin77

... I grew up in Taiwan, and the Taiwanese students are taught that WW2 started in 1937; Sino-centric definition, if you will.

That's interesting. I mentioned in another thread that while most American students are probably taught the September 1, 1939 date, of those who can actually name an occasion that started World War II most will more than likely mention Pearl Harbor. That, of course, is as much a comment about education as about how Americans think about the world.

[Ingsoc]

Originally Posted by Jim O

That's interesting. I mentioned in another thread that while most American students are probably taught the September 1, 1939 date, of those who can actually name an occasion that started World War II most will more than likely mention Pearl Harbor. That, of course, is as much a comment about education as about how Americans think about the world.

It's intresting that the German themself started calling it a world war only after the US join the war until then they refer to it as a European war.

[gao_yixing]

Our history books tell us that World War II started in July 7, 1937, Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Even some say that it started in Sept 18, 1931. So....It's still hard to say. But in my opinion, most people on this planet regard Sept 1, 1939 is the starting date.

[gao_yixing]

Maybe I didn't make myself clear. First of all, the country was independent before the breakout of the World War II. Second, the country never lost its independence in the war. Only part of its territory was occupied.

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by gao_yixing

Maybe I didn't make myself clear. First of all, the country was independent before the breakout of the World War II. Second, the country never lost its independence in the war. Only part of its territory was occupied.

Egypt became indepent in 1936 but by treaty British soldiers were stationed there to protect the Suez Canal, and also were allowed to use it as a base of operations in wartime. Parts of western Egypt were occupied briefly by Italian troops in 1940 and later by Rommel's Afrika Korps in 1942.

Egypt remained officially neutral throughout the war.

AfricaMap4.jpg

[gao_yixing]

OK, my question sucks.
Maybe I should exclude the puppet countries. Egypt was a de facto alliance of Allied.

It's a country which is de jure and de facto neutral throughout the war.
It's a fully independent country.

[temujin77]

I suppose my original guess of Sweden was not correct... This is a tough one! I definitely don't think the question sucked, it's sure stumping all of us!

[Lancer44]

I maybe silly, but I think that Finland satisfy all conditions of your question.

Finland, independent only since 1917, does not have a long tradition of neutrality. In the interwar period, it declared itself neutral, but its foreign policy was not neutral enough to satisfy the security concerns of the Soviet Union, and Finland was drawn into World War II.
Finland was partly occupied by USSR and it lost part of it's territory.

[gao_yixing]

Originally Posted by Lancer44

I maybe silly, but I think that Finland satisfy all conditions of your question.

Finland, independent only since 1917, does not have a long tradition of neutrality. In the interwar period, it declared itself neutral, but its foreign policy was not neutral enough to satisfy the security concerns of the Soviet Union, and Finland was drawn into World War II.
Finland was partly occupied by USSR and it lost part of it's territory.

So Finland wasn't neutral throughout the war. After June, 1941, Finland declared war on Soviet Union, which is until 1944, when Finland signed a truce with Russians. So Finnish was not neutral in fact.

Maybe it's time for a hint:
The country lost her territory because an Axis country declared that some Allies armies were there. And the territory was kinda modest that it couldn't be remembered by most of us.
Actually, there were few neutral countries during the war. I have no doubt that you can find her out.

[temujin77]

So you're not gonna give us the answer yet?