Invasion of Poland

• For Hitler, German control over Poland was vital. He needed to secure his eastern borders in case of war against France and because controlling Poland was a useful step towards an invasion of the Soviet Union. The Poles had also been a major benefactor from the TOV as it had been granted access to the sea through the Polish Corridor which split Eastern Prussia from the rest of Germany. Poland had also been granted the important industrial region of Silesia.
• Hitler couldn't conceive why the British and French would risk war to prevent him securing German territories when they had not prevented his invasion of non-German Czechoslovakia.
• Politically, the Poles were not obvious friends of the West. They were an authoritarian dictatorship that introduced anti-Semitic policies, like the Germans.
• In his early years, Hitler had tried to develop a good relationship with Poland. In 1934, Germany had signed a non-aggression pact. After the Munich Conference, however, Hitler was convinced the Allies were weak and could be bullied without risking war. In October, the Polish ambassador met von Ribbentrop to discuss the revision of German-Polish borders. Germany hoped that Poland would join the Anti-Comintern Pact.
• After WW1, Poland was hoping to expand its influence. They were militarily strong and by the mid-1930s, they were spending approximately half its government expenditure on its armed forces. In 1932, Poland had signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. Having watched what happened to Czechoslovakia, they knew what a settlement with Hitler would entail, so they refused.
• On 31st March, British PM Chamberlain publicly pledged to guarantee Polish Independence. While the Nazi regime dismissed this as a bluff, the Poles took it seriously.
• Even though the British government sought to avoid war, they were not prepared to allow Germany to grow too powerful. Following the German takeover of Czechoslovakia, the British and French government signed the Polish Guarantee in March 1939, in which they pledged to support Polish independence. They hoped this would persuade Hitler to stop German expansion.
• Hitler didn't take the Polish Guarantee seriously. He viewed the British and French governments as weak, and failed to realise that, after the Munich Agreement, Britain and France were determined to stop further German expansion.
• In August 1939, the USSR and Germany signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact. This allowed Poland to be divided between the USSR and the Germans. This pact meant that Germany could attack Poland without fear of Soviet opposition.
• Once the Nazi-Soviet Pact had removed the threat that the USSR might attack if Germany invaded Poland, German authorities faked an incident on the Polish-German border to provide a pretext for the invasion. On 1st September 1939, Germany commenced its attack.
• Some claim that the policy of appeasement had convinced Hitler that Britain and France would not act against Germany. Therefore, Hitler misjudged the situation.
• On the same day that Germany launched its invasion of Poland, the British and French ambassadors in Berlin issued an ultimatum, stating that if German troops didn't withdraw from Poland, Britain and France would declare war against Germany.
• On the evening of 2nd September, Chamberlain told the House of Commons that he had received no response to his ultimatum and on the 3rd September he announced in a radio broadcast to the public that 'this country is at war with Germany'. Within hours, the French government had also declared war.