world was two

[xxlisaxx]

how did world war two start and where?

[Cetti]

In its simplest form - Germany invaded Poland. Britain and France had a Defence Treaty with Poland so were obliged to declare war on Germany.

I'm sure the history buffs  will give you a fuller version.

[THECORBYLOON]

Following World War I some parts of Germany were transferred to Poland and the City of Danzig (Gdansk) was declared a Free City. As part of his desire to unite the ethnic Germans and land which used to be German Hitler demanded the return of land controlled by Poland. Germany invaded Poland on 1st September 1939 and our Prime Minister Chamberlain issued an ultimatum that if German troops were not withdrawn by 11 am on 3rd September war there would be a state of war between the two countries. At 11.15 am on the 3rd, Chamberlain broadcast to the nation to announce war had been declared. 

[Flurfl]

Some people consider the 1931 and 1937 Japanese invasions of China as the start of World War 2.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II

[JohnDTC]

how & i suppose why WW2 started can be put down to a few reasons. i dont agree that the japanese invasion of manchuria was the start of WW2, although it was a warning of expansionist japanese aggression. there were many smaller conflicts leading upto WW2 which could be seen as contributing factors to the general unrest in europe; fascist italy invading ethiopia, german/soviet involvment in the spanish civil war to name two notable ones. the final straw was obviously the german invasion of poland -neville chamberlain & his bit of paper, peace in our time & all that, but you could take the question 'how' or 'why' much further back than 1939.

after WW1 germany was left bitter & crippled with war reparations at the trreaty of versailles & as quite rightly mentioned had various territories ceded away, danzig, alsace etc. this created the oxygen neccessary to fuel radical politics such as communism & fascism in germany in the 20's & 30's, who were resentful of versailles & the initial 'weimar republic' set up by the allies soon crumbled, following a series of attempted coups from various extremist groups. hitler forced his way into power, followed expansionist, millitaristic policies, openly stated he would annex all of eastern europe & create a 1000 year reich. he invaded poland, japan followed a similar policy in the far east -wanting to reclaim territory from china, britain & the usa- & formed the axis alliance with germany & italy, and so the war started officially. although the yanks buried their head in the sand for another 3 years.

[SupaAbzyBall]

its worth noting that the empires of europe (british, french, dutch, german etc) were also clashing over territory and there was tention between them.

[xxlisaxx]

well sorry but i didnt ask people how old i was. i no the basics thanks v.much but as i was doing a essay i thought i had better check it out. Anyway thankyou 2 everybody who has posted answers they have helped a lot !

[magicbeatle]

World war two was really two separate wars, tied together by America's involvement in 1941. On the one hand you had the war in asia where japan invaded china in 1937, and on the other you had the european war that started when britain and france declared war on germany because of germany's invasion of poland in september 1939.  what made these two separate wars into a truly world war was japans attack on pearl harbour on 7 dec 1941. America declared war on japan,  and germany ( thinking she had a great ally in Japan) declared war on America. That tied the two separate wars together! From our point of view (British) the war started on september 3 1939, but ask a Japanese or an American and you may have a different answer!