Actually I was thinking of Norway. Poland was considered (wrongly, of course) a combatant and was, of course, invaded by Germany which started the war. Britain had not guaranteed their neutrality, but had said it would declare war if Germany invaded, which is what happened. Britain occupied Norway to forestall the Nazis invading it. All to no avail as we now know. Again, this is all just from memory and for fun, so I stand to be corrected.
Steven Montgomery wrote: > At 03:46 PM 11/9/2002, Marc wrote: > > >Trivia question: who first broke neutrality in WWII? > > Great Britain, September 3, 1940, ostensibly to guarantee the territorial > integrity of Poland. However after the war Poland was divvied up to the > Soviets--so what the heck was WWII fought for? > > Interestingly enough, President Roosevelt urged the military combatants on > both sides to refrain from bombing cities or civilian populations. > Churchill and the French promised that only strictly military targets would > be bombed by their air forces. > Hmm, which reminds me of my other trivia question that I'm not sure I phrased properly. I was trying to bring out that the French fleet had been taken to French West Africa (Algiers?) for protection when France was invaded. The British scuttled the entire French fleet at one fell swoop, to prevent them from falling into German hands and/or for fear that the Vichy French would use them in cooperation with the Germans, much to DeGaulle's consternation. All of this isn't for the purpose of defaming Churchill, incidentally. But it does show why secular history can be so confusing, and why "true" history sometimes has to be written differently. As Churchill himself put it, sometimes a truth is so vital that it has to be shored about with lies to protect it. In the end we rightly remember Churchill as a truly valiant figure, and choose to forget his foibles and his miserable disasters as a peacetime PM, and his crossing of party lines, the fact that the reason his famous speeches were given by an actor was probably because Churchill was too drunk, etc., etc. (The actor, incidentally, whose name escapes me, was best known at the time for a kind of Canadian connection, too, in a back-handed way -- he played the voice of Winnie the Pooh in a children's program on the BBC). My favourite portrait of him is by Karsh, who died this last year, incidentally. At the time he wasn't too well known -- just an Armenian immigrant living in Ottawa trying to make a go as a photographer. Churchill was running on a tight schedule and didn't like posing for portraits as it was. Karsh was nervous, he related in his memoirs, and was fussing with the camera, when Churchill started to growl a bit, in impatience. On impulse, Karsh snatched the omnipresent cigar out of Churchill's mouth and immediately opened the shutter -- and that's how he captured that famous scowl. -- Marc A. Schindler Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada -- Gateway to the Boreal Parkland �Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on� � Winston Churchill Note: This communication represents the informal personal views of the author solely; its contents do not necessarily reflect those of the author�s employer, nor those of any organization with which the author may be associated. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ==^^=============================================================== This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aaP9AU.bWix1n.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^^===============================================================
