50 Insane World War 2 Facts That Will Shock You!

Everyone knows about World War  II, but you don’t know everything.

Here are fifty insane facts about  the largest war in human history.

#50. The War Before the War

In the 1930s, the world was still  scarred by the brutal First World War,  

and few western nations didn’t want  any part of another future conflict.  

But they wouldn’t have a choice - because the  future Axis Powers were already brewing plans.  

Imperial Japan had been building its territory  for a while, and its biggest move came in the  

Sino-Japanese War of 1937. This war between China  and Japan went on until the end of World War Two,  

and raised many eyes around the world about  just how ambitious Japan actually was.

But it wasn’t the only Axis  power planning for wars.

#49. PR Offensive

Unlike Japan, Germany was in no state to  think about another war in the 1930s - not  

that it stopped them. The devastating economic  fallout after their loss in the First World War  

was used by the Nazis as a motivation. While  Hitler was rolling out the PR offensive to  

the world with one hand, including hosting the  Olympics, the Nazi leader was also arming up.  

The 1930s were a time of heavy investment  in the military for the Nazis - so when they  

started their march against Europe, everyone was  surprised by just how powerful they had gotten.

But the Nazis weren’t originally called that.

#48. Damn…Nasos?

By now, the term Nazi has become shorthand around  the world for a force of pure evil. But when the  

party first started pitching their gospel of hate,  they were simply called the National Socialist  

party. “Nazis” wasn’t even their preferred  nickname - they called themselves the Nasos.  

So where did the term “Nazi” come from?  It was coined by journalist Konrad Heiden,  

who derived the nickname from a Bavarian word  that was a synonym for stupid or simple-minded.  

Somehow, the Nazis didn’t notice.

But not everything about the  Nazis was originally evil.

#47. An Appropriated Symbol

As the Nazis waved it around Europe  and plastered it on their war machines,  

the swastika became a symbol of evil. Everyone  was horrified - including those for whom it had a  

very different meaning. Although it was usually  aligned differently, the swastika began as an  

ancient religious symbol that got its name  from the Sanskrit word for a hooked cross.  

It typically meant fertility and good fortune,  and was found in ancient civilizations around  

the world from Greece to India. Many  of those who used it in religious rites  

have since called for its removal due to  painful associations with the Nazi regime.

And as war grew closer, some  interesting experiments began.

#46. Unleash the Death Ray!

Robert Watson-Watt was a British engineer  who was a pioneer in radio technology,  

and when word got around of a Nazi  death ray being built, people went to  

him. Was it really possible to build a machine  that could down airplanes using radio waves?  

Watson-Watt looked into it and determined  the answer was no - but his research wasn’t  

all for nothing. In the late 1930s, Watson-Watt’s  research led to quantum leaps in radar technology,  

which made it easier for British troops  to identify German planes and U-Boats.

But another technique to  avoid war didn’t go so well.

#45. Pinky Promise?

The governments of Europe  were desperate to avoid war,  

so they made several concessions to Hitler. The  most significant were territorial concessions  

out of Czechoslovakia - whose leadership was  not even invited to the peace summit! Hitler  

promised to abide by the terms of the treaty -  up until the moment he didn’t. The last straw  

was when he went ahead and invaded Poland,  crossing the red line Britain had set. That  

was enough for Britain to declare war on  September 3rd, 1939, starting World War 2.

But did Britain itself have a hand in it?

#44. The Scapegoat?

For decades since, historians have debated the  legacy of then-Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain,  

whose name has become synonymous with  surrender. His detractors say he gave  

away the store to Hitler for no benefit.  His defenders say he was acting in good  

faith and everyone in Europe was  taken aback by just how ruthless  

Hitler was. But the verdict then was swift -  Chamberlain was ousted before the next general  

election by his party and he was replaced  as Prime Minister by Winston Churchill.

But Hitler had been planning  for war long before that.

#43. The Dark Pact

Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin couldn’t have been  more different. One represented a fascist regime,  

the other was the current leader of the  Communist revolutionaries who took over  

Russia. But they had one thing in common - a  dislike for the democracies of Western Europe.  

In the months before Hitler’s invasion of Poland,  

the two countries signed a non-aggression  pact that detailed how they would divvy up  

Eastern Europe. But like most things with  Hitler, it couldn’t be trusted for long.

But for the time being, the  war wasn’t much of a war.

#42. Overwhelmed

Poland fought hard at the start of the  war, but they were fighting two much  

larger, better-equipped nations that  were determined to overrun them.  

In September and October of 1939  alone, as the invasion began,  

Poland saw its forces devastated. Not only  were 70,000 soldiers killed and more than half  

a million taken captive, but the fight against  the Russians on the other front was just as bad.  

The Poles lost 50,000 men on their eastern front,  while the Russians lost less than a thousand.

But surprisingly, not everyone  was united in how to respond.

#41. War or Not?

Britain declared war on Germany after the  invasion of Poland, but the front was far away  

and the early moves of Britain were less than  inspiring. The Royal Air Force mostly dropped  

propaganda leaflets over Germany in what  would become known as the Phoney War. Both  

in Britain and in America - which was not  involved in the war yet - there were many