First Short Quiz – How/When Did World War II Start?

[johnkarls]

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1. Does the first sentence of “Half American” begin (Intro p. xi) – “Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941…..”?

2. Is this understandable in addressing an American audience which probably doesn’t know that Britain declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939 after its invasion of Poland?

3. Does “Half American” Chapter 1 (“Black Americans Fighting Fascism in Spain”) back track to the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939?

4. Who was Eric Arthur Blair who fought against fascism in the Spanish Civil War? [Hint – he was the author of, inter alia, “Homage to Catalonia” about his experience in that war – which, though true, is designed to lead you astray.]

5. But is there a “real” answer to how/when World War II started and aren’t there zillions of answers???

6. And don’t the zillions of answers depend on how closely one examines all the facts and what they, in turn, depend on??? Not to mention sifting out all the propaganda from pols and the media???

7. What about the so-called “Rape of China” by Imperial Japan which ALLEGEDLY began in July 1937?

8. “Allegedly” in Q-7 because Imperial Japan had already invaded Manchuria 9/18/1931 – 2/27/1932 with American historians conveniently forgetting that the Manchus had already captured and ruled China for FOUR centuries – by calling the Manchu Dynasty the Qing Dynasty?

9. But shifting back to Europe, did Hitler call his regime the “Third Reich” as American propagandists insisted on doing?

10. Didn’t Hitler always call his regime “The Thousand-Year Reich” which American propagandists thought might upset the American public who might think fighting Hitler would take 1,000 years – so they dreamed up “Third Reich” referring to the 1,000-year Roman Empire and the 1,000-year Holy Roman Empire so that they could hide the 1,000-year concept when speaking about the “Third Reich”?

11. And didn’t the American propagandists try to hide the fact that America during World War I was fighting the Holy Roman Empire by calling it the Habsburg Empire or the Austro-Hungarian Empire?

12. After all, didn’t World War I actually cause World War II?

13. Wasn’t it a Serb who assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, the Archduke Ferdinand who was the “Heir Apparent” of the Holy Roman Empire? Followed immediately by Russian Czar Nicholas II deciding to support a fellow Slav by declaring war against the Holy Roman Empire? Dragging into the war Russia’s two allies – France and England?

14. With France insisting at the conclusion of World War I that it was due reparations from Germany? Which led for more than a decade to periodic French invasions of Germany’s Rhineland where railroad rolling stock and anything else of value were seized by the French army and taken back to France? Which made Hitler a German hero when he militarized the Rhineland to prevent any further French pillaging?

15. And couldn’t one even make the case that Pax Britannica was the ultimate cause of World War II? After all, the British policy after the fall of the “French Hitler” (i.e., Napoleon) led to a century of Britain shifting its alliances during the ensuing century until World War I to support whichever continental alliance the Brits thought was weakest to ensure peace (since the rest of Asia/Africa/The Americas largely comprised European colonies)? Which worked until Czar Nicholas II supported the assassin of Archduke Ferdinand?

16. From a moral viewpoint, wasn’t the U.S. supporting the WRONG SIDE in World War I by bailing out Britain’s disastrous support for Russia and France?

17. And couldn’t U.S. President Woodrow Wilson be blamed for violating international law which prohibited countries claiming to be “neutral” from shipping munitions to a “belligerent” country?

18. Which Woodrow Wilson did by secretly putting munitions in the bowels of passenger ships such as the Lusitania so that when Germany sank them (which Germany had every right to do under international law), Woodrow could inflame American public opinion to jump into World War I on the side of the Brits?

19. And doesn’t this bring us back full circle to the person our author Prof. Matthew Desmond presumably would agree was the WORST AND MOST DESPICLBLE President the U.S. has ever had?

20. After all, didn’t Woodrow segregate the U.S. armed forces which had been integrated since the Civil War???!!!

21. And didn’t Woodrow also summarily fire all of the many African-Americans who had become U.S. Government civilian employees since the Civil War???!!!

22. And isn’t Woodrow’s mass firing of all African-American civilian employees the reason why America has long since been saddled with Civil Service Rules which make it virtually impossible to fire a U.S. government employee no matter what the offense???!!!

23. So hasn’t even Princeton University distanced itself from the “Gentleman From Georgia” whose father joined the Princeton faculty just in time for Woodrow to attend Princeton before returning to Georgia to practice law before becoming President of Princeton U and Governor of New Jersey on his way to the U.S Presidency?

24. Despite all this, hasn’t our author Prof. Desmond exhibited an infinite amount of “grace” (meaning UNDESERVED favorable treatment) by referencing Woodrow only once in Half American and, even then, vis-à-vis a matter having nothing to do with Woodrow’s sins against African-Americans or his sin of violating international law in order to “hoodwink” the American public into fighting the Holy Roman Empire?

25. Are any of these questions (except Q-1 through Q-4) relevant to Prof. Desmond’s microscope in Half American which focuses solely on World War II, in general, and the Black experience during World War II both at home and abroad, in particular?

26. Though wasn’t it fun nevertheless??? [And in answering, please exhibit some “undeserved grace” if you must!!!] [After all, there will be THREE more Short Quizzes before our Jan 22 Zoom meeting and they will hone in on Half American itself.]