On September 1st, 1939, Adolf Hitler ordered the German invasion of Poland. He did not think France and Britain would go to war over Poland, but he was willing to fight even if they did.

Who caused this war? The Great War is often blamed on Germany, although if you look closely,

you'll find plenty of blame to go around. This war, by contrast, offers no room for nuance. This war

was caused by an unprovoked German aggression against Poland, full stop, end of story.

And it will allow Hitler and his followers to remove their masks of reasonableness

and reveal their true faces.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music Welcome to the history of the 20th century. Episode 316, Nazism Unleashed.

So, here we are the Second World War.

In some ways, it's useful to think of the Second World War, not as a single war,

but as a collection of different wars, as many as five in all,

that expanded and overlapped until they became a single global conflict.

I would point to the Japanese War Against China, begun in 1937, as the first of these wars to start,

and maybe we should count the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1931 as the beginning of that conflict.

The second would be the Italian campaign for Mediterranean hegemony,

which began with the invasion of Albania in April 1939,

although arguably you could look to the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935.

The third would begin at the moment we're looking at today,

with the German invasion of Poland, which triggered war with France and Britain.

What are the Fourth and fifth wars?

Well, we aren't there yet.

Be patient.

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