Did many people know when WW2 started? I don't think so. It didn't start on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Nor did it start on September 1, 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. Most people in the know (like Winston Churchill) realized that WW2 started way before then. When the Allies refused to enforce the conditions of the 1918 Armistice and allowed Germany to rebuild its strength, the die was cast for another world war. By 1933, WW2 had begun and was inevitable and unstoppable. Yet it was still possible at that time for the Allies to prevent the mass carnage that eventually took place by defeating Germany before it could grow much stronger.
I believe September 11, 2001 set in motion the unstoppable events that are beginning to occur right now. If we act now, we can still prevent the worst of it. If we waffle and attempt to negotiate our way out of it, our enemies will grow stronger and we will only ensure a larger and more deadlier war later on.
Bingo! All this leftie crap about Germany being too harshly punished after the World War 1 is a bunch of garbage. I took a course about World War 1 in college, and I found out that the architects of the peace plan (especially France) said that Germany was not being punished enough and that the Treaty of Versailles was a peace plan that would last just 20 years.