Bizarre Aspects of World War II

World War II was a bizarre conflict. Beyond its enormous scope and size, World War II had many strange aspects.

Indeed, the strangeness of World War II often exceeds the conflict’s vast size. An example of this strangeness is World War II’s reputation as a struggle for freedom.

For example, the Allies included two of history’s worst dictators, the murderous Soviet tyrant Joseph Stalin, and the corrupt Chinese nationalist boss Chiang Kai-sek. Moreover, the nation, Britain supposedly entered World War II to protect from tyranny, Poland, endured 40 years of Soviet occupation and Communist dictatorship after the war.

The Battle for Freedom mythology is only the beginning of World War II’s strangeness. Some other bizarre aspects of World War II include:

British soldiers died for an empire their government planned to abandon

For example, around 27,000 British Empire troops (including 5,000 Britons) died in the brutal Burma Campaign to protect India from Japanese invasion.*

Yet, the British Parliament had promised, but not delivered, independence with the Government of India Act in 1935. In detail, the act promised India (and an independent Moslem state) dominion status.