In particular British air defences were ready and prepared to fight, and in September 1938 Chamberlain had a situation where his air forces were underdeveloped compared with the German air force. Also due to the fact that the French rearmament program was accelerating and now that both France and Britain were ready this seemed the best time to go to war.
What Hitler failed to appreciate was that between September 1938 and September 1939 there had been a great change in the attitude of Britain. People now viewed Hitler as a dangerous man. After a series of speeches, in which Hitler aggressively boasted about his victory over the feeble allies at Munich, an these comments made Chamberlain look weak in the eyes of the world, this made Britain wary of Hitler. Also many of the British public and the media, and such as The Times, Daily Telegraph, were urging the British government to resist Hitler, and to reject his demands. The views that Britain had of Hitler were confirmed after he made a threatening speech in January 1939 “promising the destruction of the Jewish race in Europe.”
Chamberlain thought if you gave Hitler some of the demands, which he requested then he would calm down. However this wasn’t the case, as it soon became evident, that Hitler could only be appeased with until, he wanted another demand fulfilled, as he occupied Lithuanian port of Memal and the rest of the Czech states, Bohemia and Moravia in 1939. However this couldn’t be justified by Hitler as it wasn’t land confiscated after World War One and nor could Hitler claim he was trying to unite all the Germans. Therefore he had no justification to claim these lands. So when Hitler requested Danzig and the Polish Corridor in 1939 his demands had to be rejected.
Britain and France then guaranteed full support to Poland on March 31st 1939 and that if she was attacked that Britain and France would come to her aid. So when Britain had talks with USSR to discourage Hitler’s aggression in Europe failed, Britain had to into their own hands especially after the USSR-Nazis non-aggression pact was signed, which meant that Hitler could invade Poland without worrying about any interference. So when Hitler attacked Poland the British had to stick by their word and honor their obligations. However as Hitler had signed the pact he thought he could invade Poland and Britain and France would simply object and condemn his actions and actually do nothing. Also if Hitler got his way this time over Poland, he though this would have been a green light for him to take the rest of east Europe. However when Britain declared war he was astonished and furious that his plan hadn’t worked. This was the main reason why Hitler wasn’t prepared for a full-scale conflict, as he didn’t think that Britain would go to war over Poland. They were also worried where this was actually going to stop, it seemed Hitler was pushing his luck and the Allies felt it was time he was taught a lesson. However it has been argued that this could have been the last request of Hitler and that Britain should have persevered still kept the policy of appeasement, but we cannot know what Hitler might have done later.
So therefore Britain went to war over Poland in 1939 because appeasement had failed, Hitler had shown he couldn’t be trusted and now Britain was better prepared for a conflict. Plus Britain air defense were now ready and so was their military as whole, and if war was imminent, it was better to have war sooner rather than later as defense spending couldn’t go on indefinitely, as it would be a drain on the British economy. This also seemed the best opportunity that Britain would get to go to war, as the military was at a peak and Britain weren’t able to maintain their military to this high standard without seriously damaging the economy.
