Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2020 April 8

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April 8

German declaration of war on US

Looking at the German declaration of war against the United States, it doesn't really explain the sequence of events regarding the telegram and Hitler's speech. I found the telegram to be delivered to Cordell Hull in Washington at 3:30 pm "German summer time", the same message being delivered to Leland B. Morris in Berlin one hour earlier; but when was Hitler's speech to the Reichstag? Also, does anyone know the time difference between Washington and Berlin in December 1941? Alansplodge (talk) 11:40, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

Berlin was +2 on GMT in December 1941, and DC was -5. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆 𝄐𝄇} 15:06, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

Thanks [[User:Jpgordon|--jpgordon]starting], so 3:30 pm would be 8:30 am in washington? (I'm hopelessly confused by time zones!) Alansplodge (talk) 15:50, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

In searching out a reference for time zones using the figures above, I came across December 1941: Twelve Days that Began a World War which says that the Reichstag speech was at 3 pm. So the sequence was:- 2:30 pm Morris informed, 3:00 speech broadcast on radio, 3:30 Hull informed in Washington. Thanks again jp. Alansplodge (talk) 16:27, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

"German summer time" probably means "Sommerzeit," ie daylight saving time. Temerarius (talk) 18:47, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

Understood; we're in British Summer Time now. The UK also kept summer time through the winter during the war, and changed to "Double Summer Time" in the summer. Anyhow, the article has been amended now. Alansplodge (talk) 19:36, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

Germany fiddled with DST a few times during the war. [1] --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆 𝄐𝄇} 19:38, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

Resolved

• What sort of blinkered view of history thinks that World War II started in December 1941? September 1939 (!) is the commonly-accepted start date. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:26, 8 April 2020 (UTC)
  • It was the Pearl Harbor attack that triggered Hitler's declaration of war on America. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:11, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

    It took me a while to figure out Jack's point, but I'm pretty sure it's the title of the piece that Alansplodge linked above: December 1941: Twelve Days that Began a World War. WWII definitely did not begin in December 1941. You could possibly argue that it wasn't a world war until the Western Hemisphere was involved. --Trovatore (talk) 02:22, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

• The Western Hemisphere was involved as of September 1939. As best one might argue that it wasn't a world war until all the important countries were involved. No room for opinion there, not at all. --76.71.6.31 (talk) 06:30, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

• What if the USA never got invoved at all? Would it still have been called a "world war"? I suspect it was being called that well before Pearl Harbor. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 09:39, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

• It was already being called "Second World War", by some American newspapers, as soon as Hitler invaded Poland. (That from Newspapers.com, a pay site.) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 09:51, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

• There you go, then. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 09:59, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

• Kind of a stretch by that author. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:36, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

Some historians see the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 as the start of the Second World War. [2] [3] [4] Even excluding that, combatant nations included Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand and the fighting had extended as far away from Europe as Uruguay and Somalia by 1940. Alansplodge (talk) 15:11, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

Anton Sebastianpillai's books

Anton Sebastianpillai (Q89697563) sadly died on Saturday, of COVID-19.

Obituaries refer to his "books including An Illustrated History of Sri Lanka and History of Medicine", but I cannot trace these (in order to add details to his entry on Wikidata) - it's possible they're not written (nor titled) or credited in English. Can anyone help? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 12:41, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

The books are credited to Anton Sebastian. --Wrongfilter (talk) 13:09, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

Helpful and quick; thank you. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 13:16, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

Resolved

 – Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 13:16, 8 April 2020 (UTC)