As AJP Taylor notes in his famous The Origins of the Second World War (1961), there are a number of events that someone might point to as the start of the Second World War: the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, and even the German invasion of Poland in 1939 (at the time of the publication of his book, many historians labeled the British declaration of war on September 3 as the start of WW2, and not the German invasion which began September 1). But why stop there? We could also include in this list the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 or the German and Italian invasions of Czechoslovakia and Albania, respectively, which both occurred in March of 1939.

The reason historians consider the invasion of Poland as the start of the Second World War is simply because it is the event that guaranteed that the numerous conflicts scattered around the globe would escalate into the single global conflict that was WW2. Had the Axis stopped its expansionary policies in March of 1939, there may have been no war between the Great Powers of Europe. Britain and France drew a line with Poland, and when Germany crossed that line they declared war on Germany, which, coupled with the activities of the Soviet Union in Poland and Finland as well as Japan further east, spawned the Second World War.

Even this interpretation is rather British-centric, however, as neither France nor Britain actually came to Poland's defense. Britain and France had declared war on Germany, but none of the Great Powers of Europe actually attacked one another until the German invasion of France in 1940. The period between the British and French declarations and the German invasion is known as the "Phoney War," an odd place to mark as the start of the Second World War to be sure. By the end of 1939, the only two major powers actually fighting each other were Japan and China, but this conflict had been ongoing for two years.

In short, there are perhaps half a dozen events one could point to as the "start" of the Second World War. The Italian invasion of Albania, however, is probably not one of them. It was a relatively small in scope and had little effect other international events that led to the full blooming of the Second World War. It was certainly overshadowed by German activity that year (the invasions of Czechoslovakia and Poland), and, in historical memory, it is even overshadowed by the Italian invasion of Ethiopia that ended three years earlier.