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Many Americans date the start of WW2 to Dec 7, 1941. Others at least recognize that Britain and France were in the fight earlier. But Poland was the first to feel the blitzkreig attack of the facist state on its western border.
Nazi Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, shelling a Polish garrison at Gdansk. Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later.
The rest is history.
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Technically the Anschluss was the start. 1938.
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The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
On August 23, 1939, four days after the economic agreement was signed and a little over a week before the beginning of World War II, Ribbentrop and Molotov signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. (The pact is also referred to as the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact and the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact.) Publicly, this agreement stated that the two countries -- Germany and the Soviet Union -- would not attack each other. If there were ever a problem between the two countries, it was to be handled amicably. The pact was supposed to last for ten years; it lasted for less than two.
What was meant by the terms of the pact was that if Germany attacked Poland, then the Soviet Union would not come to its aid. Thus, if Germany went to war against the West (especially France and Great Britain) over Poland, the Soviets were guaranteeing that they would not enter the war; thus not open a second front for Germany.
In addition to this agreement, Ribbentrop and Molotov added a secret protocol onto the pact -- a secret addendum whose existence was denied by the Soviets until 1989.
The Secret Protocol
The secret protocol held an agreement between the Nazis and Soviets that greatly affected Eastern Europe. In exchange for the Soviets agreeing to not join the possible future war, Germany was giving the Soviets the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). Poland was also to be divided between the two, along the Narew, Vistula, and San rivers.
The new territories gave the Soviet Union the buffer (in land) that it wanted to feel safe from an invasion from the West. It would need that buffer in 1941.
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Rolando wrote:
[quote=cbelt3]
Technically the Anschluss was the start. 1938.
I think the Chinese might
disagree!
That was two nations at war, just Japan and China - no other nations were involved beyond lodging diplomatic protests. It could have continued for years and not drawn any other parties into it. So doe not yet qualify as a world war.
The German invasion of Poland drew in France, England and Russia within a few weeks. Anschluss did not involve any combat, so while it was a step towards war, it did not involve hostilities beyond some localized protesting.
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On this page you can hear a recording of the beginning of World War II. The historical implications are chilling.
"Seit 5:45 wird jetzt zurückgeschossen" is a well-known phrase among Germans. (Since 5:45 there has been return fire.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28cbwWvsM2M
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Ombligo wrote:
[quote=Rolando]
[quote=cbelt3]
Technically the Anschluss was the start. 1938.
I think the Chinese might
disagree!
That was two nations at war, just Japan and China - no other nations were involved beyond lodging diplomatic protests. It could have continued for years and not drawn any other parties into it. So doe not yet qualify as a world war.
The German invasion of Poland drew in France, England and Russia within a few weeks. Anschluss did not involve any combat, so while it was a step towards war, it did not involve hostilities beyond some localized protesting.
Actually, for many Americans, the German invasion was considered the start of yet another European war.
