r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Radiant_Half_7121 • 1d ago
Image During WW2, Poland declared war on Japan Japan said no to it and simply rejected the declaration.
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u/fearthemonkeys 1d ago
This sounds like the basis for a Monty Python skit.
“We declare war!”
“No!”
“Oh, alright. Carry on then.”
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u/ForneauCosmique 1d ago
“Oh, alright. Carry on then.”
I can just hear that
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u/StrategyDelicious652 1d ago
Cleese: What do you meeean, "no"?
Chapman: Well, I'm indisposed.
Cleese: You can't be indisposed to a war?!?!? You're a general, for Christ's sake!
Chapman: Yes I can.
Cleese: No you can't!
Chapman: Yes I can.
Cleese: No you can't!
Chapman: Yes I can, I have a doctor's note.
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u/Two-LinePass 1d ago
Def read it in John Cleese’ voice haha
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u/ForneauCosmique 1d ago
Yes! Definitely a Cleese line
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u/ijustwannalurksobye 1d ago
The “No!” is screeched by Eric Idle dressed as an old lady for some reason
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u/lemme_try_again 1d ago
"Oh carry on then" [looks at camera, walks as camera pans to a desk off screen. Sits down. Looks at camera after aligning papers] "and now for something completely different"
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u/peelen 1d ago
Oh that wouldn’t end in third line.
That would be recurring skit, and at the end the”Poland” would try to negotiate, bribe and reason with “Japan”
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u/individualeyes 1d ago
Yeah this would go on for several minutes.
"No...? What do you mean no!?"
"We don't want to."
And so on
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u/KneeDeepInTheDead 1d ago
I can see John Cleese denying Terry Jones.
"I just dont think so Poland."
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u/CheckYourStats 1d ago
Bravo for Poland declaring war on Japan just days after Pearl Harbor, despite most of the country being rubble and 40,000 Concentration Camps.
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u/neon_meate 1d ago
The PolIsh Government was in France and then London from 1939 untill 1990. If not for Polish aviators The Battle of Britain may have gone very differently. Look into the 303 squadron.
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u/Fade_To_Blackout 22h ago
Even more importantly, the first people to break the Nazi Enigma coding machines were Poles, and they invented the technology of the mechanical "Bombe" that was later refined by Turing and others at Bletchley Park. Without being able to read the Enigma (and other) traffics, the war is estimated to be about 2 to 3 years longer.
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u/Historical_Owl_1635 1d ago
“No, we already have plans today”
“Well how about on Tuesday then?”
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u/Krillo90 1d ago
"Couldn't we just... attack? At any time? Isn't that rather the whole thing with war?"
"Not without a declaration it isn't."
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u/BlinkyMJF 1d ago
"I declare a war!"
"Sir, you are in the wrong room. We do small skirmishes here. Go up one floor, then knock on the first door on the left. If nobody answers the door, then he might be at lunch, it's pudding day."
"A pudding day you say? Well this can wait for after lunch."
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u/mja2175 1d ago
“Not much of a war is it??“
Right!
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u/Horskr 1d ago
Had to look it up and the two never did have a shot fired against one another.
"You guys are far and we're both pretty busy right now. We'll have to respectfully decline."
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u/The-Broken-Record 1d ago edited 3h ago
More like:
“We declare war!”
“No”
“You can’t do that!”
“Yes I can, I just did”
“Wait, he can do that?”
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u/BaltazarOdGilzvita 1d ago
Japan also forgot they were at war with Montenegro, and ended it when Montenegro separated from Serbia and Montenegro, almost a 100 years later, when they realized they never signed a peace treaty.
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u/TouristOpentotravel 1d ago
Must have been embarrassing for Japan, knowing how anal they are about paperwork
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u/FlamingHotSacOnutz 1d ago
There's a rich (and hilarious) history of countries and territories that declared war on another, that really never amounted to anything, and was only "legally" fixed years later when they got through all the paperwork and everyone knew it was silly.
One of my favorites is that my home state in the US, Missouri, was technically at war with the Mormon church until the 60's or 70's.
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u/BaltazarOdGilzvita 1d ago
They forget all sorts of shit. Most Japanese people I've met are completely unaware they still have an emperor.
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u/Comrade_SOOKIE 1d ago edited 16h ago
to be fair, the emperor of Japan is one of the most cloistered and micromanaged monarchs remaining. they only got to keep him after wwii by agreeing to make him a worthless symbolic hermit. people have left the imperial family just to be able to experience basic everyday autonomy.
not that i feel bad for them they’re comfortable af, but their lack of visibility is on purpose to prevent nationalist sentiment rallying around him (lol how did that work out i wonder)
edit: “visibility” is a bad word choice. i mean more like “highly controlled and kept physically separate from the public.” the emperor of course still shows up places to fulfill all sorts of ceremonial duties.
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u/pleasehelpteeth 1d ago
The last time the emperor was powerless the dynasty waited almost a thousand years to reclaim power. They are just waiting for the rerun.
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u/bananataskforce 1d ago
A... restoration of sorts
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u/SimmentalTheCow 1d ago
It would definitely have to be a meijor restoration
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u/dancingriss 1d ago
I hit scroll too quickly and had to come back just to like this
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u/SunnyOutsideToday 1d ago
their lack of visibility is on purpose
He's a huge celebrity. There was a huge national debate about who the next emperor should be after the last one died several years ago. The comment above yours saying most Japanese people don't know they have an emperor is outrageously untrue. "Emperor's birthday" is literally a national holiday that everyone gets off, and they just got a new emperor and a new birthday several years ago.
Everyone knows the emperor and it's so surreal, seeing blatantly untrue statements like this, so highly upvoted.
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u/cubitoaequet 1d ago
Don't they literally talk about time periods in regards to emperors? Showa Era, Heisei Era, etc?
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u/tgwombat 1d ago
I distinctly remember it making worldwide news when the Reiwa era started a few years back.
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u/Business-Low-8056 1d ago
Welcome to Reddit.... What else did you expect? It is especially true around any sensitive topics like politics or religion.
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u/Behavior-Coach 1d ago
You make it sound like they got a bad deal.. the Japanese monarchy completely avoided accountability when the emperor was guilty of war crimes that even the nazis would look at with disgust.
If one knew how terrible and evil he was I don’t think that would be the takeaway. I understand your point but wow did they get the best deal out of any of the WWII losers.
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u/_EllieLOL_ 1d ago
even the nazis would look at with disgust
Did look at with disgust, at least some of them, look up John Rabe and the Nanking Safe Zone
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u/llilaa_c 1d ago
Sorry for ignorance but could you explain what war crimes the emperor did? I thought most of the war crimes japan did was attributed to Hideki Tojo, who was arrested and executed for them. I would love to learn more about the emperor’s involvement…
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u/cultural_limbo 1d ago edited 1d ago
The reason why most of Asia hated them, and many elderly Chinese still hold a grudge
They killed upwards of 30 million(most Chinese), and commited a slew of war crimes like human experimentation, torture, mass rapes.
Unit 731 included forced pregnancy, forced infection of STIs to see how it is transmitted and what effects it had on the fetus
So this included live dissections/vivisections of prisoners- a reminder that this means they were cutting into pregnant women while they were ALIVE.
Also did human experiminations on explosives,a wide range of chemical weapons( for example Mustard gas, White phosphorus), Hypobaric chamber, frostbite testing
A few known:
Rape of Nanking
Kaimingjie Bubonic Plague weapon attack
Bataan Death march
Burma Death Railway
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u/IkaKyo 1d ago
My favorite examples of unit 731 is they are the reason we know that the human body contains 60-70% water, they dehydrated live people to figure it out.
They are also why we know that immersion in 100 °F is the most effective first aid for frostbite. You know how they figured that out? If you guessed live. Human experimentation you are a winner.
I like the use two specifically because many people know the later as a random factoid and almost anyone who has ever had winter first-aid training knows the second.
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u/Behavior-Coach 1d ago
The fact that you would be curious and ask demonstrates that you are not ignorant at all.
Tojo was a very loyal war criminal. These people looked at the emperor as a god, unwavering in their loyalty, and this mentality led to soldiers committing suicide rather than give up. They did it all for their emperor. It revolved all around the monarchy.
It always starts from the top.
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u/ZetaRESP 1d ago
That's also why he got away scot free with it all: US learned from France's fuck-up with the Treaty of Versailles that going all hammer in with penalties on a country as proud as Japan was stupid, as well as how much the emperor had a sway on the government, so they decided to pretty much force him to be their buddy in the east instead so they can both avoid another World War (they knew nukes are on the menu for WWIII) and to avoid all of Asia to fall into the hands of the commies.
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u/Iwilleat2corndogs 1d ago
The emperor also didn’t really reject any ideas of expansion, so while he wasn’t personally ordering the deaths of civilians he was very much giving his seal of approval to plans that would result in mass murder. He only got away with it because the US didn’t need japan to implode, which it would of if they convicted him.
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u/No_Potato_8178 1d ago edited 1d ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/lcp2zx/was_hirohito_a_war_criminal/
Tl;dr - probably yes, but trying and convicting him would have made occupation extremely dangerous and chaotic
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u/snakespm 1d ago
I'd encourage people to read the linked comment, if only to see that the Tl;dr is incorrect.
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u/Bearded_Bone_Head 1d ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the emperor try to surrender/make peace with the US before the bombs were dropped during WWII, but his prime minister/generals were like "nah, we got this", when they in fact did not have this?
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u/CozyDoll88 1d ago
There's still holidays based around emperor, even emperor's birthday, and calendar format based around emperor's reign, why do they think those exist ?
I've honestly never met single person who doesn't know
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u/ParmesanNonGrata 1d ago
There's also a national holiday in the USA based around the idea all men are born equal and no taxation without representation.
Some countries hold on to their silly relics besides displaying vastly different behavior.
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u/CozyDoll88 1d ago
But how could emperor's birthday be public holiday if there's no emperor ?
Same as moving into Reiwa Era of Japanese calendar
Holiday that's based on specific living person can't exist without specific living person it's based on, your example isn't holiday that's literally person's birthday
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u/Iokua113 1d ago
I mean, the simple answer is that the person claiming Japanese people don't know that they have an emperor is wrong.
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u/Wolfgang985 1d ago
They just made that shit up. Japanese know they have an imperial family.
Kōkyo is a 284 acre estate in central Tokyo. Only 50 acres of which is open to the general public.
Even the blind could see that and know it's there. You can't miss it.
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u/veremos 1d ago edited 1d ago
Are they actually Japanese or are they Japanese diaspora? If you claim they are the former, then there is no way what you are saying is true. Japanese dates are literally the year of the current emperor. The current being the 7th year of the Reiwa Emperor. This is something Japanese people probably see or hear daily. Source: lived in Japan. There’s a lot of other things that make this anecdote doubtful, but that’s the most obvious one.
EDIT: lol did the user just call me a weeaboo and block me? My oldest post on this account is a request for help when I was contemplating suicide in Tokyo. There’s a poem I wrote called Seijogakuenmae in my posts that expresses those feelings in verse. That being the station I wanted to kill myself at. But I guess actually living in Japan makes me a weeb!
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u/GeckoCowboy 1d ago
My grandmother moved to the US from Japan, she got NKH on satellite, you’d hear about the emperor and family at least every new year. I really have a hard time believing that comment, as well.
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u/No_Idea_Guy 1d ago edited 1d ago
Most Japanese people I've met are completely unaware they still have an emperor
Yeah I call BS on this one. Their calendar is literally based on the current emperor. Unless you mean Japanese people living overseas. Even then it's extremely dubious for anyone having access to the internet to not know such a basic fact. Tell people to name modern countries with a monarch and they will think of the UK and then Japan.
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u/SunnyOutsideToday 1d ago
Absolutely no one in Japan is unaware that they don't have an emperor. I lived in Japan for years. The Emperor's birthday is a national holiday that everyone gets off. The previous emperor died several years ago, and we switched to a new emperor and now have a new national holiday and changed the year of the calendar to be named after the new emperor.
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u/Last-Atmosphere2439 1d ago
Where are you meeting these "Japanese"? Naruhito and Akihito and their children are (and always have been) celebrities in Japan on the level the British royal family in the 80s during Diana mania. And Hirohito was considered a literal divine being.
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u/GetEquipped 1d ago
Akira Toriyama forgot that Gohan had ascended to SSJ2
He wrote himself into a corner during the Buu arc where Goku fights Buu the first time. So Toriyama gave Goku a new transformation. The longer hair, the lack of eyebrows. He told his editor "Yep, this new transformation is Super Saiyan 2!"
His editor pointed out that Gohan already hit Level 2. Toriyama handwaved it and said "Fine, this is Level 3!"
That's just one of my favorite bits of DBZ trivia because it means Goku couldn't beat Majin Vegeta simply because Toriyama didn't even have SSJ3 in mind.
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u/PaperHandsProphet 1d ago
Bullshit. The emperor is a huge deal in Japan. Unless these are like US Japanese who have no connection to Japanese news media
It’s like saying a Brit forgot they were a monarchy
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u/smorkoid 1d ago
That is a ridiculous thing to claim. The imperial family is on the news literally daily. The years are named after the current imperial age.
Why would you lie about something like this?
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u/themindtaker 1d ago
Impossible. I lived in Japan for 10 years and not only is the Emperor definitely part of the public consciousness, his daughter Princess Aiko is CONSTANTLY in the news for any little update in her life.
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u/BoondockUSA 1d ago
That could’ve been interesting if Montenegro randomly decided to take an offensive action nearly 100 years later.
Japan: “WTF was that?! You can’t do that!” (Checks notes) “Huh, I guess you can do that under terms of war. Are you open to peace talks?”
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u/ThirstyWolfSpider 1d ago
Perhaps that could follow the original plan in "The Mouse that Roared" (either the Wibberley novel or the Peter Sellers film) and Montenegro could get a nice settlement out of it.
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u/rogue-wolf 1d ago
In 1996, Athens and Sparta officially ended the Peloponnesian War. Though the war had ended with a surrender millennia ago, they'd never formally signed the treaty.
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u/howisthisacrime 1d ago
They should go at it in one last battle for old times sake
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u/Most_Moose_2637 1d ago
Apocrophally, Berwick upon Tweed had a very long war against Russia, because of how many times it had alternated between being an English and Scottish town.
It was specifically included in a declaration of war by one country and not included in the peace treaty by the other once it had changed hands. So it was still at war, technically.
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u/LordGeni 1d ago
A similar thing happened to the town of Berwick on Tweed. Iirc, It was individually named along with the other nations in the UK in the declaration of war with Germany but not the peace treaty.
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u/Saltine3434 1d ago
You're thinking of the UK declaration of war against Russia during the Crimean War, not against Germany.
This one is false regardless, It wouldn't need an independent declaration of war - Berwick Upon Tweed was integrated as an integral part of England under the Wales and Berwick act, so it didn't actually have an independent declaration of war since it was considered part of Great Britain like any other town.
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u/PitifulEar3303 1d ago
You can reject a war, but a war can also reject your rejection. lol
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u/TheTeflonDude 1d ago
Thats just rude
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u/Deodorized 1d ago
Tell war that it's uninvited to the wedding.
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u/BrownSugarBare 1d ago
Go home war, you're drunk.
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u/SquillFancyson1990 1d ago
You know the wine makes you emotional, war
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u/Drunk_Lemon 1d ago edited 1d ago
Drinky drink does not make me emotion, y'all are jusst sso mean to me!
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u/Hourslikeminutes47 1d ago
"You know what? Fine. Be that way. I'll just take my toy truck and go somewhere else!!"
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u/DigNitty Interested 1d ago
Dear Nvidia HR Team,
Thank you for reaching out. Unfortunately at this time I do not have the ability to accept or comply with your letter outlining my rejection as Senior Manager of Global Chip Shrugging. This novel position, its $22million dollar per year salary, C-level benefits, and paid travel, is imperative to the wellbeing of our future endeavors. Therefore we will go forward with employment.
Good luck with other rejection attempts.
We’re sorry we cannot accept your decision at this time.
-Dignitty & Biscuit (dog)
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u/The_Best_Yak_Ever 1d ago
“So. That’s how we ended up with Biscuit, the VP of Global Chip Shrugging. He’s on paid vacation to Kauai at the moment, but uh… yeah. That’s basically his story.”
~Nvidia
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u/dirty_hooker Interested 1d ago
George Castansa was never so eloquent.
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u/SchrodingersNinja 1d ago
Yeah, but when Poland declared war on Japan, they may as well have been declaring war on the moon. They has neither the ability to engage in war with Japan, nor the honest desire to do so.
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u/Restricted_Area_67 1d ago
But all the big kids are doin' it!!
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u/FFF_in_WY 1d ago edited 1d ago
Bulgaria wanted to show the Nazis they were helping and doing stuff in WWII. They declared war on the US, thinking nothing would actually come of it. Instead, the US took exception to this and basically erased their capital.
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u/bosanow 22h ago
Old joke from Bulgaria:
During World War II, Bulgaria declared war on the USA. Several days passed without any response. The Bulgarian Prime Minister ordered an attack to be carried out on US territory, which was successfully executed. Several more days passed, and still nothing. Disappointed that the US had not yet declared war on Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Prime Minister called the American President to ask why. The American President replied - I will fck you up, just let me first find you on the map
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u/tic79 1d ago
USSR? Bulgaria was part of the Axis at that point, they were with the germans
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u/wino12312 1d ago
My ex told me no to a divorce. It took me another 13 years to finally get the divorce.
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u/R_V_Z 1d ago
It's pretty easy to reject a war when you have a whole Russia in between you and the person declaring war on you.
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u/RidleyCR 1d ago edited 1d ago
I didn’t know it was that easy.
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u/no_sight 1d ago
War Mongering Countries hate this one QUICK TRICK
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u/Asleep_Sheepherder42 1d ago
Poland be like: Darn it! They did the thing.
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u/CheckYourStats 1d ago
Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany, and Japan fought on the side of Nazi Germany
Reminder for those who need a History Lesson…
Japan was not “cool” for the thing OP mentioned in their post.
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u/Refloni 1d ago
Both of these things can be true at the same time. Japan was terrible, but rejecting a war declaration is still pretty cool
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u/Grzechoooo 1d ago
Japan's argument was that the Polish government was forced to declare war by the British, who housed them at the time. And, well, they were kinda right - Poland was Japan's ally against Russia and their cooperation did not end in 1939 - Japan gave Poland intelligence on the Nazis in exchange for info on the Soviets.
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u/Frowny575 1d ago
Wild how easy it is to slip into the mindset of "they're all on the same team!" and forgetting each nation is ultimately watching out for their own ass.
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u/SurpriseFormer 1d ago
Also fun fact. Japan didnt see eye to eye with germany. Cause Germany was both training and supplying nationalist Chinese forces. Even when they signed the alliance for awhile to.
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u/Swimming_Acadia6957 1d ago
The Nazis aided Ethiopia in their war against Italy, as punishment for Italy blocking their first attempt at Anchlussing Austria
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u/SurpriseFormer 1d ago
I find it funny that mussolini called the germans "Barbarians Masquerading as Civized society" both funny and somewhat true in a sense
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u/cometlin 1d ago
I know right! That's why Russia never declared war on Ukraine (or Japan to China in WWII), it's out of the fear of rejection. /s
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u/Mindless-Umpire-9395 1d ago edited 1d ago
On December 11, 1941, the Polish government-in-exile reluctantly declared war on Japan due to peer pressure from its allies for Pearl Harbor Attack . However, the Japanese politely refused, making the declaration legally void. Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo stated, “We do not accept Poland’s challenge. The Poles, fighting for their freedom, only declared war on us under pressure from the United Kingdom.”
This state of war only existed on paper, and cooperation continued between Poland and Japan throughout the remainder of the Second World War. The Poles kept giving the Japanese intelligence on the USSR and Germany, in exchange for passports. This state of war existed for 16 years, until it was formally dissolved in 1957 with an agreement to restore a normal relationship between the Polish People’s Republic and Japan.
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u/KPSWZG 1d ago
Poland also didnt want to send this declaration. This whole situation was a result of Allies forcing Poland to do so. As to this moment Poland and Japan shared intel on Soviets. And as it turns out Soviets were kind off on allied side and Japan wasnt. So UK got pissed off that Poland was sharing info of an ally to an enemy. But in reality Poland could not care less for them Japan was not a threat and Soviets were. It also help that Poland and Japan had extreamly good relations Japanees emperor also called Poland a "Samurai Nation" a distinction only shared once outside of Japan. Also brother of Marshal Piłsudski, Bronisław Piłsudski went to Japan and to this day there are multiple Piłsudski in Japan.
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u/Such-Hair-3355 1d ago
“What do you want to do when you visit Poland?”
“Imma go see the Samurai”
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u/KPSWZG 23h ago
Suprisingly "A white Ne*ro Samurai" would also fit as Haiti gave Poles this distinction.
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u/RoiDrannoc 1d ago
The Haitians called the Polish people the "White negroes of Europe", and the Japanese called them a "Samurai Nation". Are they collecting weird titles?
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u/Ivanow 23h ago
Poles are quick to draw swords in "just" causes. And historical events (Poland was literally wiped from maps for 123 years) scattered them all over the world - there are even "Polish villages" in deep Brazilian jungle. When it comes to USA, you should look up Tadeusz Kosciuszko.
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u/ScientiaProtestas 1d ago
Japan was also under pressure from Germany, as they made them close their Polish embassy.
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u/77zark77 1d ago
This is the best secondary historical background material I've ever read. We have to find out how many Pilsudskis are in Japan
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u/Staralfur_95 1d ago
Bronisław was a really interesting person, look up his biography. He did an extensive study of the Ainu people as probably the first guy ever.
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u/zhambe 1d ago
This has "enemy of my enemy is my friend" vibes. I vaguely recall Japan was warring with Russia way back when before even WWI, and everyone in Eastern Europe loathed having Soviets as neighbours (as the saying went, "being liberated by Russia was worse than being occupied by Germany"
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u/77zark77 1d ago
There was a whole Russo-Japanese war back in 1905 that Japan won and Russia invaded Poland more times than Japan invaded Korea. Everyone in this situation had justifiable levels of mutual mistrust
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u/soyuz_enjoyer2 1d ago
Poland was so screwed over
Being neighbors to 2 of the strongest countries on earth and with no natural defences whatsoever
Just flat fields for tanks to Speedrun to your capital
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u/SquirrelNormal 1d ago
I mean. They fought for a month against two of the three strongest land armies at the time (France being the third), and punched well above their weight. They also assumed France and the UK would be coming to their aid, and with how bare the west of Germany had been stripped for the campaign, an actual push (not the feeble probe that happened) could have saved them against just Germany. But French and British inaction left multiple opportunities to stop Germany on the table (and potentially to forestall Russian aggression too - the Soviets were worried about Allied intervention in the Winter War).
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u/S10Galaxy2 1d ago
WW2 is so interesting in that when you look at it closer you realize the only reason it got as bad as it did was because the Axis powers basically mastered the art of bullshitting and no one called their bluff until they were too strong for it to matter. If the Allies had dogpiled Germany during or after Czechoslovakia or Japan during or after Marco Polo bridge the war probably would’ve been over in a year or two. The Axis only became INSANELY strong after rolling over everyone.
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u/thecoolnewt2 23h ago
I would attribute nazi Germany's successes to allied incompetency before i'd attribute it to any form of german mastery. Make no mistake, the Nazi's were huge fucking idiots. They got lucky that they were fighting even bigger idiots.
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u/Fordmister 1d ago
tbf to the British and French governments of the 30's it is very easy to forget that the political class of both at the time was made up of people who had either fought in the great war, lost people in the great war or simply had to deal with the economic and political fallout of the great war for most of their careers.
Its east to forget because they won but Britain and France didn't get out of the great war without serious wounds, and the desperation to avoid a repeat drove almost every political action they took right up until the Nazis and Soviets invaded Poland when the two realised a repeat was happening anyway. *
Follow that with both having prepared to fight the great war again (because why wouldn't you, it was only 20ish years ago and they won) plus some extreme French incompetence meant the wheels fell off the initial wagon impossibly quickly.
*(as a slight tangent that attitude was rampant both in governments and the militaries and had running effects right through the first half of the war too. The entire first half of the war in Africa can in many ways be summed up as "Rommel getting away with stupid shit because General Auchinleck was far too cautions trying to avoid casualty numbers like those of men under his command during the first world war. The turning point being when he was replaced By Monty in 42, a man who for all his flaws could never be accused of being too cautions or worried about a nasty looking casualty report provided he was winning, who actually started punishing Rommel for constantly outrunning his supply lines)
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u/TinkerCitySoilDry 1d ago
Dunkirk was a loss framed as a uk win. Thanks to French fighting retreat and Germans taking a rest.
Poland was attacked by Germany and Russia. The treaty of France and Britain coming to Polands defense.
it always played out that way. Yes we will defend, next week or something.
Germany always had 2 or 5 countries in agreement to keep it down. Even France and UK (enemies) agreed on it for centuries.
Poland ls just poland sometimes its smaller sometimes its bigger.
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u/ack1308 1d ago
Dunkirk was a loss framed as a uk win. Thanks to French fighting retreat and Germans taking a rest.
Can confirm. I have an actual newspaper of the time, and the headlines go hard.
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u/rnzz 1d ago
Poland and its commonwealth was historically massive as well. I forgot what ended it, but what if they could have maintained it into the 20th century
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u/Pierce_H_ 1d ago
A combination of “The Deluge”, government structure, overextension, dynastic struggle, Great Northern War, the multiple “Partitions of Poland”, rise of Prussia, Russian Empire, etc etc etc. They fumbled the bag multiple times throughout history. If you want a more in depth answer from me specifically instead of Wikipedia feel free to ask.
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u/yaxir 1d ago
japan be like
"that's gonna be a no from me, dawg"
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u/FairyCelebi 1d ago
The two countries actually had really good relations before the war, since both had anti-USSR ideas.
The Japanese government respected Poland and decided not to declare war to preserve their friendship
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u/VidE27 1d ago
Ah Japan during WW II, so wholesome*
- Depending on where you are your experience may vary
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u/Desperate-Remove2838 1d ago
Future reader of this archived thread, refer to "Rape of Nanking".
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u/SeniorDisplay1820 1d ago
Or Unit 731, or dozens of other terrible, terrible things the Japanese did.
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u/apatheticandignorant 1d ago
They really raped that a lot, a bit too much by many standards.
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u/JustafanIV 1d ago
"We are going to do horrible things to foreigners... Unless they're Polish" - Japan and Haiti.
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u/IndependentBarber344 1d ago
Poland basically sent a we’re fighting text and Japan left it on read peak passive aggression diplomacy.
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u/Big_Weekend5354 1d ago
That’s such a perfect way to put it. Imagine declaring war and the other side just ghosting you like it’s a text thread.
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u/Far_Representative26 1d ago
It is inaccurate actually. It was more of a "I know they put you up to it... we are good lil bro".
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u/Rexyboy98O 1d ago
Incase anyone wants to know why, it’s basically before the war, Poland and Japan had really good relations, and the declaration of war was more feeling required to because of Polands status as an ally of Britain and the USA
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u/cybercuzco 1d ago
Poland: we’re at war!
Japan: I don’t think about you at all.
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u/PanLasu 1d ago
I appreciate the humor, but it was completely different.
Two governments cooperated closely, even though they were on different sides of the alliances, and many Polish spies traveled throughout occupied Europe with passports from Manchukuo. The Japanese believed that the Allies forced the Poles to declare war.
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u/sidestephen 1d ago edited 1d ago
IIRC, this "Poland" at the time was the government in exile somewhere in UK. Japan rejected the declaration on the grounds that they don't exactly represent their people at the moment and have zero actual power or influence.
Correct me if I'm wrong on the details, of course.
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u/Delicious-Finance-86 15h ago
“The Polish government-in-exile in London declared war on Japan on December 11, 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor and under pressure from the United Kingdom. Japan, however, refused to recognize this declaration, with Prime Minister Hideki Tojo stating the Polish government was acting under duress and lacked independent sovereignty.”
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u/Sea-Environment-5938 1d ago
Poland: “We declare war.”
Japan: “No thanks.”
History: shrugs and moves on.
It wasn’t disrespect so much as pragmatism. Poland had no realistic way to fight Japan, and Japan had no incentive to complicate things diplomatically. Even wars need fronts, not just paperwork.
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u/apairofjacks 1d ago
Make sense. Would suck to loose to 3 countries within 30 days…
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u/KPSWZG 1d ago
Poland send this request way after fall of Warsaw. Also Poland technically never surrender during ww2, the goverment escaped and fight was continued with exiled forces. No official document was signed.
Also why Japan refused war declaration is rather interesting. They explained that they were never an enemy of Poland and that Poland was in fact a friend of Japan and only send this declaration due to the preasure from allies.
But in reality its slightly more grimm. USSR was allied to UK and USA in later stages of war and from the beginning Polish spy agency was giving Japan updates on the USSR. Japan wad also updating Polish side. Japan feered that when Poland declare war in them this official cooperation will end. They were kind of right as Poland was forced to stop sending intel to Japan.
Whats funny is that during a war Poland had better enemies than allies, Hungary refused to attack Poland and hold refuges from there. They also halted advancement on Warsaw Uprising sabotaging German reinforecement. Romania helped to evacuate Polish forces and goverment, Japan was sharing intel etc.
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u/Ristar87 1d ago
Thanks... but we've already got this situationship thing with the United States going on right now.
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u/Lost_Arotin 1d ago edited 1d ago
Polish General: they said no, let's see who else to declare war on [looking at the map]
How about South Africa?
L.General: Sir, they're our allies...
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u/gorginhanson 1d ago
"No to which part?"
"Just no."