Why 36

[Dichologos]

Essentially, as others have said, the start date seems to be for two reasons.

First: starting in 36 gives you some time before the historical start of the "major" part of the war (around 39) to shape your nation and prepare for the coming storm, as well as to plan out things differently so that the war unfolds in a way that did not happen in history (as starting too late would give you too little time to change things by building up or alliances or policies and such, only by warfare).

Second: starting in 36 prevents you from having a MASSIVE amount of time to build up your forces and change the course of the world. If you started in, say, 33 - World War 2 could be long over by the time 39 even rolled around, and it would be an entirely different war with different nations having different levels of power and territory (despite only a 3 year difference).

So in short - it is a good mix between starting early enough to changew things, and not starting so early that it makes it being based around World War 2 meaningless.

 

[Invictus5966]

Amongst published historians in the pages of history, the two dates I listed Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and the German invasion of Poland in 1939 are the two widely accepted. Like I said the German invasion is the most accepted but the Japanese invasion is much talked about in this sense.

I have never heard any history professor state 31 was the start of WW2 nor read it in any history book so I do not feel its widely accepted. I do agree hostilities started in 31 but not WW2. W.W. stands for World War.

 

[Corner79]

I have never heard any history professor state 31 was the start of WW2 nor read it in any history book so I do not feel its widely accepted. I do agree hostilities started in 31 but not WW2. W.W. stands for World War.

It is referred to as such because it was the first military action (Key words here being military action) with direct links to World War 2 in the interwar period. The invasion of Manchuria was the first step of the invasion of China (eventually Marco Polo Bridge Incident) which broke into world war in the Pacific by late 1941. It was also the first failure of the League of Nations to prevent war like it was supposed too.

 

[BBBD316]

I have been one that has openly pushed for an earlier starting date, I think a number of players (myself included) will struggle to get the min/maxing of changing production lines, research, NF's and PP that is in the game to be a real threat, offensively or defensively.

Now normally this would not be an issue, in DH I can play on easy or use a mod, heck I can use events to provide greater IC or more resources, but now there is Ironman and unlike EU which is very forgiving HOI is not. So I am know hesitating to purchase, though I think the game will be great, the inability I feel to develop a big enough IC to really challenge.

So I understand the decision at least base game, but I hope that there is a chance for a Rise DLC.

 

[Invictus5966]

It is referred to as such because it was the first military action (Key words here being military action) with direct links to World War 2 in the interwar period. The invasion of Manchuria was the first step of the invasion of China (eventually Marco Polo Bridge Incident) which broke into world war in the Pacific by late 1941. It was also the first failure of the League of Nations to prevent war like it was supposed too.

Vietnam, Korea and others were a military action too but not a world war as was Iraq in recent history.

which broke into world war in the Pacific by late 1941.

How can a world war that started in 31 break into a world war in 41?

 

[Corner79]

How can a world war that started in 31 break into a world war in 41?

The invasion of Manchuria was step 1 for Japan, a military action THAT LED to WW2 in asia (against China and eventually USA). There are a lot of factors that led to WW2 without a doubt, but military actions which provoked the democracies into world war is where ultimately the war began.

The Roman invasion of Parthia by Crassus was a military action too but not at all related to WW2. The Japanese invasion of Manchuria is a directly related military action of WW2, the first of the eventual world war that is directly linked. Vietnam and korea were military actions of the cold war and had nothing to do with the beginning of WW2.