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Germany broke the Munich accord not too long thereafter, by annexing most of the rest of Czechoslovakia (Poland, Hungary, and Romania also got slices). This put the British and French on their guard, and they decided to not allow any further Nazi aggression. Unfortunately, the Soviets, feeling that they could not count on the democratic West for support, came to an agreement with Germany. The Soviets supplied large amounts of valuable natural resources on very favorable terms, hoping to become indispensible as a trading partner and therefore safe from Germany. Stalin probably saw Nazi Germany as controlled by the rich elite, as Communism dictated, and thought that he could buy safety from such folks. This, as it turned out, was a grave misjudgement. After Czechoslovakia, Germany demanded German-speaking areas of Poland, and Britain and France gave warning. Hitler did not believe these warnings, as these countries had passed up much better opportunities to oppose him in the past. The Germans staged raids and atrocities allegedly commited by Poles against Germans, and used them as a pretext to attack. Much to the German surprise, Britain and France did declare war on Germany.
Not much happened at first in the West, as Britain and France were well behind Germany in war preparations. In the East, the Polish army was fairly large and very brave, but smaller than the German army and considerably worse-equipped. Further, the Poles attempted to defend both their capital, in the East, and their main industrial areas, in the West, despite being surrounded by Germans on three sides. The Poles were in a hopeless position, even before the Soviet Union attacked, having made a previous agreement with Germany to divide that country up. Since there was no massive attack on Germany from the West, Poland fell quickly.
Go backward to Steps Toward Conflagration
Go forward to German Blitzkrieg
All contents of these pages Copyright 1997, 1998 by David H. Thornley.