In January 1939 Hitler had made a speech in the Reichstag, which was talking about eliminating the Jewish race in Europe and this worried many people in Britain if Hitler was the man that he had appeared to be and some people started wondering if appeasement was a great idea because Hitler’s respectable image was destroyed. This was followed by the night of the broken glass (Krystallnacht), where several Jewish shops and buildings were attacked and vandalised at the orders of Hitler.
Hitler seized Memel and Bohemia-Moravia, a part of ‘rump Czechoslovakia’, which made more likely in the future, because he had broken the Munich Agreement and Chamberlain distrusted Hitler more than ever and was questioning if his policy of appeasement was working anymore.
Hitler didn’t want to go to war with Britain and France, but after the taking of the Sudetanland, which is known as ‘The Rape of Czechoslovakia’ British public opinion changed and there was a hardening of attitudes towards Hitler.
It was Britain and France who declared war on Germany, when Germany invaded Poland. They knew that appeasement had failed because Hitler had kept making new demands and he looked as if he would carry on with his aggressive policies, and if the allies had appeased over Poland they would have looked like fools. Hitler had boasted that he had overcome the allies and so he thought that they wouldn’t honour their guarantee of supporting Poland, which was issued on March 1939 and was support if Polish independence was threatened. Hitler took a gamble over Poland because he relied on his past experience when dealing with the allies and as they had appeased him he had decided to take Poland as well.
Germany and the USSR had not managed to sign a an alliance in the summer of 1939, as neither of the countries trusted each other and this made Poland very anxious about the motives of Britain and the USSR. Now there was the threat of Germany attacking from the West and the Russians from the East, which would leave Poland to be caught in the middle.
On the 24th August 1939, the Nazi-Soviet Pact or Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed and this meant that Germany would only have to fight on one front, as they didn’t have to fear a Russian invasion and Hitler had more confidence about attacking Poland. Also the British Ambassador to Berlin, Neville Henderson who was pro-German, gave Hitler the impression that the allies would not intervene and would follow their policy of appeasement.
On September 1st 1939, Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland and Chamberlain requested that the Germans withdraw from Poland, because he was desperate to keep European peace in his time. As no withdrawal took place on the 3rd September 1939 Britain declared war on Germany, although many people such as Chamberlain were hoping would comply as they didn’t want another war.
Appeasement had failed but had been a realistic policy for Britain to follow because before 1939 there was little Britain could do to stop Germany and now they had a very good chance of defeating Germany. The navy of Britain of France put together outnumbered the German navy, which showed that if there was to be a war the year 1939 was a good time. Also now public opinion had turned from being anti- war to anti-Hitler and many people considered war as an option.
The USA was now more involved and had been trading with Britain a lot so that Britain would have the right supplies and equipment for war, although it did not officially join the war until 1942. Germany and Russia were a terrifying combination and it was a good idea to declare war on Germany because that way the allies could see if the Russians would intervene, even though they didn’t and it wasn’t until Germany invaded Russia, that the Russians and allies considered about an alliance.
By Hyder Mushtaq
