Wars often seem to begin with a thunderclap. The Minutemen of Concord and Lexington, warned by the fevered midnight ride of one Paul Revere, plunged into the Revolution against the British as the sun rose on a spring morning in April of 1775. In the dark stillness in the wee hours of an April day some 85 years later Rebel cannons opened fire on Fort Sumter, igniting the American Civil War. On a December morning in December of 1941 (shooting wars always begin at dawn), an unlooked-for Japanese air fleet thrust a brand into the American tinder box. And 9/11 goes without saying.
I love how you threw in The Three Stooges joke.
Three Axis powers, three Stooges. The joke makes itself.
Thanks for your thoughtful perspective.