The first point to clear up is that the war did not begin in Europe in September 1939. Rather, it began in Asia at least two years earlier, with the escalation of the Sino-Japanese conflict at Luokouchiao

Although the only work of his that I have read, previous to this article, "The World's Banker: The History of the House of Rothschild," Harvard University's Niall Ferguson is clearly an excellent and well-respected historian.

His statement:

For the world historian, it makes more sense to conceive of the period from 1904 until 1953 as something more like a 50 years' war.

makes a great deal of sense, as well as:

The key issue of this period was not the ...

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The first point to clear up is that the war did not begin in Europe in September 1939. Rather, it began in Asia at least two years earlier, with the escalation of the Sino-Japanese conflict at Luokouchiao

Although the only work of his that I have read, previous to this article, "The World's Banker: The History of the House of Rothschild," Harvard University's Niall Ferguson is clearly an excellent and well-respected historian.

His statement:

For the world historian, it makes more sense to conceive of the period from 1904 until 1953 as something more like a 50 years' war.

makes a great deal of sense, as well as:

The key issue of this period was not the Anglo-German or Franco-German
relationships, for so long the focus of European historiography. The
key was the sustainability of western imperial power over the rest of
the world, and most importantly over Asia.

It's always been, is now, and will continue to be, all about the Game of Hegemony.

This is from the 1st World War:

In the middle of revolutionary troubles, the Germans seemed unable
to
realize the seriousness of defeat. They had been promised victory for
nearly
four and a half years, and in this hope they had endured a long, bloody
struggle, hunger, and massive human loss. Hardly a family had not lost
a father or son in the front lines. Ebert, for instance, had lost both
his sons in the war. My own grandmother lost three brothers on the
western
front (and a forth one returned handicapped), my grandfather one in the
east. It was hard to believe that all of these sacrifices now amounted
to nothing and that everything was much, much worse than when the war
had
started....

This is from the 1st World War:

In the middle of revolutionary troubles, the Germans seemed unable
to
realize the seriousness of defeat. They had been promised victory for
nearly
four and a half years, and in this hope they had endured a long, bloody
struggle, hunger, and massive human loss. Hardly a family had not lost
a father or son in the front lines. Ebert, for instance, had lost both
his sons in the war. My own grandmother lost three brothers on the
western
front (and a forth one returned handicapped), my grandfather one in the
east. It was hard to believe that all of these sacrifices now amounted
to nothing and that everything was much, much worse than when the war
had
started.

More: (The Treaty of Versailles)

In general, it has seemed that the treaty was either to harsh or too
mild. It was too harsh to reconcile Germany with its former war enemies
and to integrate it into a lasting peaceful postwar order, and it was
too mild to weaken Germany so as to make it impossible for it to ever
again become a great power. The picture that emerges today after more
intensive research is more complex and differentiated than that, but
Versailles nevertheless remains both a highly ambivalent and crucial
station in German history. The actual peace terms harshly disappointed
the Germans, who felt that they radically contradicted the promises
Wilson had made to the prerevolutionary German governments. The
Germans, for right or wrong, felt betrayed by Wilson and the United
States.

The peace conference:

On 18 January 1919 the leading statesmen of the victorious nations met
in Paris to decide about the future of the defeated Central Powers. The
choice of the opening date was a deliberate humiliation of Germany,
since it was the birthday of the German Empire in 1871. Negotiations
were conducted mainly between the heads of state of the United States,
France, Britain, and Italy, the so-called "big four." They had widely differing goals.

Without going on forever, it seems to me that Germany was never happy at the end of that war. I don't think it was over for them, but they were forced to give up. It also seems to me that that is a very la...

The peace conference:

On 18 January 1919 the leading statesmen of the victorious nations met
in Paris to decide about the future of the defeated Central Powers. The
choice of the opening date was a deliberate humiliation of Germany,
since it was the birthday of the German Empire in 1871. Negotiations
were conducted mainly between the heads of state of the United States,
France, Britain, and Italy, the so-called "big four." They had widely differing goals.

Without going on forever, it seems to me that Germany was never happy at the end of that war. I don't think it was over for them, but they were forced to give up. It also seems to me that that is a very large part of the reason that the 2nd World War started.

Here is the link to this long article: www.buzzle.com/articles/304249.html

The author's point was to look beyond the invasion of Poland and declaration of war by France and England against Germany.

2. The author makes a point about World War: w-o-r-l-d war.

3. The author asks what makes it, made it different than Other Typical European Conflicts.

For example, starting around 800 AD, the Vikings made conquests from St. Petersburg in Russia to Dublin, Ireland, but it's not called a 'world," war.

The Habsburg Dynasty covered a wide spread over Europe.

The Napoleonic Wars also engulfed all of Europe.

Re: World War II you must be aware that the United States did not enter World War Two until it was attacked by Japan.

One of the author's questions he seeks to ...

The author's point was to look beyond the invasion of Poland and declaration of war by France and England against Germany.

2. The author makes a point about World War: w-o-r-l-d war.

3. The author asks what makes it, made it different than Other Typical European Conflicts.

For example, starting around 800 AD, the Vikings made conquests from St. Petersburg in Russia to Dublin, Ireland, but it's not called a 'world," war.

The Habsburg Dynasty covered a wide spread over Europe.

The Napoleonic Wars also engulfed all of Europe.

Re: World War II you must be aware that the United States did not enter World War Two until it was attacked by Japan.

One of the author's questions he seeks to explain is how Japan (J-A-P-A-N) and the United States (A-M-E-R-I-C-A) were involved in this conflict.

Sorry, i'm confused. Are you addressing me or Steve? Or are you just adding to your original post?
My original post was just to your statement (not the article) about "why did the 2nd world war begin?"
I see that the author of that article is a Harvard Professor of History, and has even written a book, but it seems too simple to me to say that the war, " began in Asia at least two years earlier," I'm not arguing that, i'm just saying that,
a) the war did not start because Japan looked around and saw foreigners all over (sorry, trying to
keep it short)
b) as i've already shown with a clip above, there were many, many issues for Germany from the 1st World War (and end of it) that p...

Sorry, i'm confused. Are you addressing me or Steve? Or are you just adding to your original post?
My original post was just to your statement (not the article) about "why did the 2nd world war begin?"
I see that the author of that article is a Harvard Professor of History, and has even written a book, but it seems too simple to me to say that the war, " began in Asia at least two years earlier," I'm not arguing that, i'm just saying that,
a) the war did not start because Japan looked around and saw foreigners all over (sorry, trying to
keep it short)
b) as i've already shown with a clip above, there were many, many issues for Germany from the 1st World War (and end of it) that prompted them to start a second war.
And in fact, that article is labeled (at least partially)
"C.1. German Responsibility for the Outbreak of the War"
So anyway, i personally was addressing your statement--i did not even originally read the article (my bad)
I think it's good that you posted this article though, to get people thinking about it. Really that war wasn't so, so long ago, and it seems there is war all over the world right now.

@lollipop10 - The first sentence of this clip asks: Why did WWII start?

The second (2nd) sentence reads: "we need to look beyond the familiar story of Hitler's rise to power."

My comments are fine. The article was about colonialism of Western powers.

I also have read other others, watched videos, read books, talked to vets (that was pretty easy....my Dad and uncles). Because You say you've talked to people doesn't mean you know what you're talking about...and it misses sight of the fact that others also read, write and talk to people.
(um...including German and Japan folks who had fathers involved in the wars)

You're missing the point. If you want to "get the point," start a sentence wit...

@lollipop10 - The first sentence of this clip asks: Why did WWII start?

The second (2nd) sentence reads: "we need to look beyond the familiar story of Hitler's rise to power."

My comments are fine. The article was about colonialism of Western powers.

I also have read other others, watched videos, read books, talked to vets (that was pretty easy....my Dad and uncles). Because You say you've talked to people doesn't mean you know what you're talking about...and it misses sight of the fact that others also read, write and talk to people.
(um...including German and Japan folks who had fathers involved in the wars)

You're missing the point. If you want to "get the point," start a sentence with: "Japan attacked the USA....."

Maybe WWII started for you or your family on Sept. 1, 1939 --- but WWII did not start for me and my family till more that two (2) years later.

The clip seeks to talk about THAT.

The start of WWII for the United States was not any act of Germany (um...directly).

The point of the clip is that the USA got involved in the war due to an attack by Japan...and the author seeks to discuss the reasons for Japan's attack.

In general, btw, the USA was Totally Against getting involved in Europe's WWII. There were mass movements of people against getting involved, the noted president FDR clearly said we would not get involved.

Of course, he actually did mention one exception: If we got attacked.

So, we got attacked. By Japan. The clip presents the idea that this was NOW more of a true WORLD war, rather than just another nasty European conflict...because it involved Asia and other continents.

An oil embargo was a big part of that, reason for Japan upset...but also it was colonialism of Western power surrounding it on all sides but when it said: ok, I'll be a a colonial power too....it got all the "holier than thou," talk we're familiar with today: a double standard, the West can invade where ever it wants - But Japan got hit with oil embargo.