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At 4:45 a.m., some 1.5 million German troops invade Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with German-controlled territory. Simultaneously, the German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler claimed the massive invasion was a defensive action, but Britain and France were not convinced. On September 3, they declared war on Germany, initiating World War II.

To Hitler, the conquest of Poland would bring Lebensraum, or "living space," for the German people. According to his plan, the "racially superior" Germans would colonize the territory and the native Slavs would be enslaved. German expansion had begun in 1938 with the annexation of Austria and then continued with the occupation of the Sudetenland and then all of Czechoslovakia in 1939. Both had been accomplished without igniting hostilities with the major powers, and Hitler hoped that his invasion of Poland would likewise be tolerated.

To neutralize the possibility that the USSR would come to Poland's aid, Germany signed a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union on August 23, 1939. In a secret clause of the agreement, the ideological enemies agreed to divide Poland between them. Hitler gave orders for the Poland invasion to begin on August 26, but on August 25 he delayed the attack when he learned that Britain had signed a new treaty with Poland, promising military support should it be attacked. To forestall a British intervention, Hitler turned to propaganda and misinformation, alleging persecution of German-speakers in eastern Poland. Fearing imminent attack, Poland began to call up its troops, but Britain and France persuaded Poland to postpone general mobilization until August 31 in a last ditch effort to dissuade Germany from war.

Shortly after noon on August 31, Hitler ordered hostilities against Poland to begin at 4:45 a.m. the next morning. At 8 p.m. on August 31, Nazi S.S. troops wearing Polish uniforms staged a phony invasion of Germany, damaging several minor installations on the German side of the border. They also left behind a handful of dead concentration camp prisoners in Polish uniforms to serve as further evidence of the supposed Polish invasion, which Nazi propagandists publicized as an unforgivable act of aggression.

At 4:45 a.m. on September 1, the invasion began. Nazi diplomats and propagandists scrambled to head off hostilities with the Western powers, but on September 2 Britain and France demanded that Germany withdraw by September 3 or face war. At 11 p.m. on September 3, the British ultimatum expired, and 15 minutes later British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain went on national radio to solemnly announce that Britain was at war with Germany. Australia, New Zealand, and India followed suit shortly thereafter. At 5:00 p.m., France declared war on Germany.

In Poland, German forces advanced at a dizzying rate. Employing a military strategy known as the blitzkrieg, or "lightning war," armored divisions smashed through enemy lines and isolated segments of the enemy, which were encircled and captured by motorized German infantry while the panzer tanks rushed forward to repeat the pattern. Meanwhile, the sophisticated German air force-the Luftwaffe -destroyed Polish air capability, provided air support for the blitzkrieg, and indiscriminately bombed Polish cities in an effort to further terrorize the enemy.

The Polish army was able to mobilize one million men but was hopelessly outmatched in every respect. Rather than take a strong defensive position, troops were rushed to the front to confront the Germans and were systematically captured or annihilated. By September 8, German forces had reached the outskirts of Warsaw, having advanced 140 miles in the first week of the invasion.

The Polish armed forces hoped to hold out long enough so that an offensive could be mounted against Germany in the west, but on September 17 Soviet forces invaded from the east and all hope was lost. The next day, Poland's government and military leaders fled the country. On September 28, the Warsaw garrison finally surrendered to a relentless German siege. That day, Germany and the USSR concluded an agreement outlining their zones of occupation. For the fourth time in its history, Poland was partitioned by its more powerful neighbors.

Despite their declaration of war against Germany, Britain and France did little militarily to aid Poland. Britain bombed German warships on September 4, but Chamberlain resisted bombing Germany itself. Though Germans kept only 23 divisions in the west during their campaign in Poland, France did not launch a full-scale attack even though it had mobilized over four times that number. There were modest assaults by France on its border with Germany but these actions ceased with the defeat of Poland. During the subsequent seven months, some observers accused Britain and France of waging a "phony war," because, with the exception of a few dramatic British-German clashes at sea, no major military action was taken. However, hostilities escalated exponentially in 1940 with Germany's April invasion of Norway and May invasion of the Low Countries and France.

In June 1941, Hitler attacked the USSR, breaking his nonaggression with the Soviet Union, and Germany seized all of Poland. During the German occupation, nearly three million Polish Jews were killed in the Nazi death camps. The Nazis also severely persecuted the Slavic majority, deporting and executing Poles in an attempt to destroy the intelligentsia and Polish culture. A large Polish resistance movement effectively fought against the occupation with the assistance of the Polish government-in-exile. Many exiled Poles also fought for the Allied cause. The Soviets completed the liberation of Poland in 1945 and established a communist government in the nation.

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At 4:45 a.m., some 1.5 million German troops invade Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with German-controlled territory. Simultaneously, the German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler claimed the massive invasion was a defensive action, but Britain and France were not convinced.

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"Greater Germany - the dream of our fathers and grandfathers - is finally created."
-German Armaments Magnate Gustav Krupp von Bohlen

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In keeping with the policy of appeasement, to avoisd waging war in Europe, the leaders in Britain and France, along with Hitler and Mussolini, signed the Munich Agreement

Having gained control of the Sudetenland without having to fight, Hitler began to set his sights even further on occupying the whole of Czechoslovakia

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"It is the last territorial claim which I have to make in Europe, but it is a claim from which I will recede and which, God willing, I will make good."
-Adolf Hitler, delivered during a speech covering the Sudetenland, 1938

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"Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist."
-Adolf Hitler

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"I saw my enemies in Munich, and they are worms."
-Adolf Hitler

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"Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin and Tokyo. And when we get to Berlin, I am personally going to shoot that paper-hanging son-of-a-%@&%# Hitler- just like I'd shoot a snake."
American  General George S. Patton, in a speech delivered to his troops before embarking for Operation Overload (D-Day).

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On November 1, 1936, Germany and Italy, reflecting their common interest in destabilizing the European order, announced a Rome-Berlin Axis one week after signing a treaty of friendship. Nearly a month later, on November 25, 1936, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan signed the so-called Anti-Comintern Pact directed at the Soviet Union.

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Played a major role in contributing towards the outbreak of World War II in Europe
Establish a Greater Germany

By acquiring lands such as Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland, and uniting all ethnic Germans living in these countries with those in Germany

Create Lebenstarum (living space)

To facilitate further German expansion, large areas in Eastern Europe, such as Soviet Union and Poland, must be conquered.

Establish the superior Aryan race

This would be done by rebuilding Germany's once-proud armed forces, and exterminating 'inferior races'.

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Re-militarization changed the balance of power in Europe from France towards Germany

Made it possible for Germany to pursue a policy of aggression in Eastern Europe that the demilitarized status of the Rhineland had blocked until then

Increased Hitler's confidence and popularity amongst the German people

League of Nations condemned Hitler's actions, but did nothing else

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A treaty to end one war, only to lead to another more terrible war.

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Nazi Germany took over the rest of Czechoslovakia

The incorporation of the Sudetenland into Germany left the rest of Czechoslovakia weak, and it became powerless to resist subsequent occupation

Neither the Czechs nor the Allies fought back

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain realised Hitler could not be trusted

Brittain and France warned Hitler accordingly that they would go to war with Germany if he invaded Poland

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Munich Agreement signed
A settlement permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia along the country's borders mainly inhabited by German speakers, for which a new territorial designation "Sudetenland" was coined

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Nazi Germany gained control of the Sudetenland

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Anschluss between Nazi Germany and Austria achieved
German unified with Austria

Was a violation of the Treaty of Versailles, but France and Britain again, did nothing

Their lack of will emboldened him toward further aggression

Austria's resources of gold and iron ore were now at Hitler's disposal, as were its army and weapons

Germany achieved Anschluss without any conflict

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In September 1937, Mussolini visited Germany. Hitler put on a major display of military power for Mussolini and by the end of the visit, Mussolini became convinced that Germany was the power he should ally with. He was sure that an alliance with Germany would lead to Italy becoming more powerful throughout Europe.

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Italy joined Anti-Comintern Pact, forming the Axis Powers with Nazi Germany and Japan
The Anti-Comintern Pact was an anti-communist pact concluded between Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan

The treaty stated that the three countries would respect each other's "leadership" in their respective spheres of influence and would assist each other if attacked by an outside party

The purpose of the Pact, directed against an unnamed power presumed to be the United States, was to deter that power from supporting Britain, thereby not only strengthening Germany's and Italy's cause in the North African Campaign and the Meditteranian theatre, but also weakening British colonies in South-East Asia in advance of a Japanese invasion

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Nazi Germany entered the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Nationalists
Hitler sent soldiers, equipment and warplanes to support the Spanish Nationalist forces

Hitler's involvement in Spain was designed in part to divert British and French attention from his plans for expansion into the Eastern Europe

Gave him opportunity to test his army and air force while fight against alledged communists

The war provided combat experience with the latest technology for the German military

Posed the risk of escalating into a world war for which Hitler was not ready

Lack of intervention from League of Nations strengthened Hitler's view that Britain and France were weak, which in turn made him even more aggressive

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Hitler militarized the Rhineland
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact by sending German military forces into the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone along the Rhine River in western Germany. Hitler ordered German troops to cross the Hohenzollern Bridge and militarize the Rhineland

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Treaty Of Versailles signed

Germany was to pay repercussions for the World War I she apparently started

Germany had restrictions on their army and firearms

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Hitler resumed conscription and rearmament in Germany
Hitler wanted to restore Germany's pride and strength after the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles and therefore planned a massive rearmament programme to build up Germany's defenses

The League did not manage to disarm Germany to prevent another world war and to establish peace

Germany now had the respective manpower and arsenal of weapons to start another war

By March 1935, Germany possessed a 2,500 plane Luftwaffe and a 300,000 strong army

The build up of Germany's military capabilities and machinery would later enable Hitler to put his expansionist plans into action

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Aftermath of Polish Invasion

Poland was divided between Germany and the Soviet Union. Slovakia gained back those territories taken by Poland in autumn 1938

65,000 Polish troops were killed in the fighting, with 420,000 others being captured by the Germans and 240,000 more by the Soviets (for a total of 660,000 prisoners)

Led Britain and France to declare war on Germany

Civilian losses of Polish population amounted to about 150,000–200,000

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"Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination. This is the war of the future.
-Adolf Hitler

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Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live.
-Adolf Hitler

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Hitler withdrew from the League of Nations and the Geneva Disarmament Conference

Allowed Hitler to pursue his aggressive foreign policy without having to regard the objections and threats from the League

Allowed Hitler to step up Germany's secret rearmament programme

Hitler then took concrete action to increase Germany's military capabilities towards achieving his expansionist aims

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Description

Sixty countries sent delegates to the Disarmament Conference that convened in Geneva in February 1932 to consider reductions in armaments, with particular emphasis on offensive weapons. Germany, whose army and navy already were limited by the Treaty of Versailles, demanded that other states disarm to German levels and, in the event they refused to do so, claimed a right to build up its armed forces. France, which feared the revival of German power, argued that security must precede disarmament and called for security guarantees and the establishment of an international police force before it would reduce its own forces. Deadlocked, the conference adjourned in the summer of 1932. It reconvened in February 1933, only days after Adolf Hitler had assumed power in Germany. Determined to rearm, Germany rejected all proposals that did not accord it immediate military parity with the Western powers. On October 23, 1933, Germany announced its withdrawal from both the Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations, ostensibly in response to the Western powers' refusal to meet its demand for equality. Prior to its withdrawal, Germany was represented at the conference by Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, who can be seen in this group portrait of the delegates (seated, at center). The photograph is included in the archives of the League, which were transferred to the United Nations in 1946 and are housed at the UN office in Geneva. They were inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World register in 2010.

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Sixty countries sent delegates to the Disarmament Conference that convened in Geneva in February 1932 to consider reductions in armaments, with particular emphasis on offensive weapons. Germany, whose army and navy already were limited by the Treaty of Versailles, demanded that other states disarm to German levels and, in the event they refused to do so, claimed a right to build up its armed forces.

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Britain and France declared war on Germany

Initiated the World War II

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Germany Invaded Poland

Last straw that triggered World War II

Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion

Appeasement abandoned - Britain and France made good on their promise to aid Poland if it was attacked by Germany