1939

Main event of 1939 from the Timeline

- Hitler invades Poland on 1 September.Britain and France declare war on Germany two days later.
Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1st 1939 is considered the start of World War Two. Two days after the invasion,Britain and France declared war on Germany. The polish invasion was not Hitler’s first breach of the Treaty of Versailles, so why did this event lead to war?

From the mid-20s until the invasion of Poland, Britain and France had followed a policy of appeasement to deal with Japan, Italy, and Germany’s breaches of the Treaty of Versailles. Britain and France did not have the resources and were not militarily ready for war. So, in order to avoid the outbreak of war and ensure peace in Europe, they made concessions for these breaches. These concessions lead to the German remilitarization of the Rhineland, German rearmament, the annexation of Austria and the German occupation of the Sudetenland. The Allies believed that by doing this they had avoided war. In fact, they had encouraged Hitler to strive for ‘lebensraum’ as he believed that no-one would intervene.

When Hitler broke the Munich agreement and started to seize non-German territory, there was a change in attitude amongst the appeasers as they could no longer justify Hitler’s actions.

On the 24th of August 1939, Germany signed a non-aggression pact with the USSR. This included the secret agreement to divide Poland up between the two powers. Hitler thought that with Soviet neutrality guaranteed, France and Britain wouldn’t intervene in his invasion of Poland. This was a gamble that failed. Britain’s promise to help Poland ‘in the event of any action which clearly threatened Polish independence’, meant that on the 3rd of September,Britain declared war onGermany. They were soon followed byFrance.

Significant developments in air, land and sea tactics or strategies.
__Arms Race (Late)__

Germany - Hitler’s Four-Year Plan (implemented by Goring) – its aim was to prepare Germany for war by 1940 - Raised taxes, government loans and cutting consumer expenditure = military expenditure quadrupled between 1937 – 1939

__Blitzkrieg (Early)__

- Invasion of Poland

**Slovakia**: 3 divisions **Soviet Union**: 33+ divisions, 11+ brigades, 4,959 guns, 4,736 tanks, 3,300 aircraft
 * **Strength** ||
 * ** Germany ** : 60 divisions, 6 brigades, 9,000 guns, 2,750 tanks, 2,315 aircraft
 * Joined on 17 September: **

** Total ** : 1,500,000 Germans, 466,516 Soviets, 51,306 Slovaks **Grand total: 2,000,000+** || ** Poland ** : 39 divisions (some of them were never fully mobilized and concentrated), 16 brigades, 4,300 guns, 880 tanks, 400 aircraft **Total: 950,000** ||

- ‘lightning war’ – used to describe successful tactics of WWI used by Germans - Hitler learned from WWI – wanted to avoid trench warfare / remembered success of Ludenorff’s stormtroopers during 1918 Spring offensives - Based on two weapons – aeroplane and tank. Depended on surprise, speed and weight of forces. Followed pattern –
 * Enemy airfields/communication centres attacked by bombers – preventing enemy aircraft resistance and slowed enemy reinforcement
 * Parachutists – dropped behind enemy lines to capture bridges/important targets – further disrupt communications
 * Dive bombers – moved ahead of tanks and attacked enemy strong points
 * Tanks – broke through weak points in enemy lines/travelled fast across country and outflanked enemy lines
 * Motorised infantry

Successful because: - new and unexpected tactic – (Allies (esp. GB and France) believed it would be war of attrition like 1914-1918 – so, they remained on defensive in early months of war) - was carried out quickly – did not give enemy a chance to recover

Germans used tanks in large groups in a few places as a spearhead for attacks GB and FR divided tanks into small groups and spread around their lines

French felt safe from attack by Germans because of the Maginot Line – fortifications French believed it was impossible to be broken through