wdr@wang.COM (William Ricker) (01/02/90)
From: wdr@wang.COM (William Ricker) <paraphrasing> >>"Didn't Benito grab it before WWII?" > "In 1935 if memory serves" Well, I suppose this becomes a semantics issue of when is "before WWII". Territory which was independent prior to annexation by a major beligerant of the war (Axis or Ally!) won't count as a separate belligerant unless they had either (a) recognized gov't in exile or (b) ally/co-belligerant/ collaborator status. Thus, on what little I know of Ethiopia, I don't think the country counts as a belligerant, although it should count as an indendent state *involved* as a victim. It is possible it had a gov't in exhile which would deserve counting as a silent ally; I know not. I would count both the Free Frech *and* the Vichy as bellignerants; Poland was a victim-state, but also had an active, if not armed, gov't-in-exhile which was working with the British secret services. So it all depends on how you define the experiment. (How long is the coast of a country? It depends on the length of your ruler.) -- bill ricker
zvs@uunet.UU.NET (Zev Sero) (01/04/90)
From: munnari!LOCAL.oz.au!zvs@uunet.UU.NET (Zev Sero)
In article <12692@cbnews.ATT.COM> wdr@wang.COM (William Ricker) writes:
Well, I suppose this becomes a semantics issue of when is "before WWII".
Territory which was independent prior to annexation by a major beligerant
of the war (Axis or Ally!) won't count as a separate belligerant unless
they had either (a) recognized gov't in exile or (b) ally/co-belligerant/
collaborator status.
A similar quibble: Does Australia count? We declared independence in
1942, backdated to 1 September 1939! (Statute of Westminster Act
Acceptance Act, 1942).
--
Zev Sero - zvs@bby.oz.au
As I recall, zero was invented by Arabic mathematicians
thousands of years ago. It's a pity it still frightens
or confuses people. - Doug Gwyndarragh%maths.tcd.ie@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Darragh Delaney) (01/08/90)
From: Darragh Delaney <darragh%maths.tcd.ie@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> In article <12692@cbnews.ATT.COM> wdr@wang.COM (William Ricker) writes: >I would count both the Free Frech *and* the Vichy as bellignerants; > Poland was a victim-state, but also had an active, if not armed, > gov't-in-exhile which was working with the British secret services. I think you might find that the polish government-in-exile was armed in the same vein as the Free French (and please note that they were considerable more legitimate than de Gaulle's 'government'), polish paratroopers were part of operation Market-Garden and landed with the british at Arnhem were they put up a very credible performance. hope this makes things clearer. ------- Darragh.