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In regards to Japan's lengthy war in China, which eventually got them into a world war, that was launched on a false pretext too. The Japanese claimed that they Chinese army had attacked them at a bridge between Japanese and Chinese-controlled areas on the mainland.

The Japanese charge was untrue. It was they who had initiated the fighting, but they blamed the Chinese for doing it. Millions of people died on account of that trumped-up excuse for war, and it's typical of the way aggressive empires arrange excuses for going to war. The vast majority of their people always believe the excuses, and always believe that the war is an act of self-defense.

Hitler arranged a false "Polish" attack on a German radio station just before the Germans invaded Poland. Same basic deal...an attack that was not made by the people who were blamed for it. And the German people believed the official story, of course.