"it is 1938 and the pace of history is accelerating the continent of Europe spirals towards war with an ever increasing ratcheting tension twenty years previously World War one had ended the war to end all wars had been the product of deep tensions between the" "nations of the continent the new nation in Europe Germany the most powerful the most populous the most industrious jostle for its place as a great power the older great powers France Russia and" "Great Britain resented the newcomer rivalries and resentment burst into a terrible war Europe was to mourn the loss of an entire generation of the young of the best and the bravest" "when the war ended it ended not cleanly not finally not decisively but in a way that meant a major war would soon return to Europe Germany collapsed in defeat but remained the largest the strongest and the most powerful nation state in" "Europe Germany believed its army had not been defeated the German people had not seen their country invaded their cities their towns their countryside was not devastated Germany soldiers had marched home in good order not as pathetic defeated rabble the myth grew of a stab" "in the back of betrayal by enemies within Germany the peace Treaty of" "Versailles was not a peace settlement it punished Germany with loss of territory it punished with reparations tremendous sums of money that were to pay for the war pay to rebuild France pay the debt" "European countries owed to their" "American ally it punished Germany by destroying the nation's proud armed forces the German army was to be a fraction of its pre-war strength and deprived of the most modern weapons the settlement did not destroy Germany as a threat as a rival and it provided" "Germany with yet new grievances the new map of Europe created a patchwork of small weak countries on" "Germany's eastern border countries with which Germany now had scores to settle" "Versailles kept the war alive in the mind of every German in a Germany resentful of history in a Germany suffering endless economic crisis after economic crisis a movement and a leader arose that gave voice to those resentments and promised action a" "movement that promised rescue a leader who promised Redemption and renewal of" "German destiny Hitler and the Nazis rose to power through the structures of" "German democracy and then abolished those same freedoms Nazi Germany proceeded to systematically destroy the post-world War one settlement and the structure it defined for Europe all over the continent and all over the world the pace of change the flow of events" "accelerated" "Japan began on a path to militaristic rule based on a belief in Japanese racial supremacy the Second World War really beginning perhaps in 1937 with" "Japan's brutal furious and avaricious attack upon China war returned to Europe in Spain as the civil war toured the nation limb from limb the fires of war fueled by the extremes of fascism and communism with the democracies standing" "in impotent neutrality the second fascist power in Europe Italy embarked on a war of conquest annihilating the independent African country of Abyssinia the lesson to the world was that violence was the means to the end and would be unopposed" "Hitler unpicked Versailles rearming the" "German nation turning with hungry and aggressive eyes to his weaker neighbors" "Germany was united with Austria a move that made Germany even stronger" "the democracies were torn America retreated behind the oceans in isolation" "France in cynical defeatism built the" "Maginot Line as a shield against aggression but feared to renew the war" "Britain had no desire for war and sought justice in Hitler's demands the democracies aimed to resolve the problem of Germany without resort to war to use diplomacy negotiation and fair compromise the word history has come to use of these times is appeasement it is" "the autumn of 1938 and Hitler has turned his gaze to Czechoslovakia a conference of nations is called in Germany at" "Munich" "after the angelus all of Europe knew that something else was going to happen and knew that Czechoslovakia was going to be that something else in October" "1938 the leaders of the great powers of" "Europe gathered at Munich in Germany for what was perhaps the first modern summit meeting but this was no stately diplomatic conference held in a palace the leaders flew to a conference held before the newsreel cameras of the world under the gaze of the public eye" "the leaders speaking sound bytes for the media when I come back I hope I may be able to say as hotspur says in he'll either fall out of this little danger we black this flat taking they met to" "resolve the problem of czechoslovakia czechoslovakia was a democratic state a state allied to the french czechoslovakia was a thorn in the side of hitler's state physically thrusting into the reich politically challenging both the ideas and beliefs of netizen" "czechoslovakia was an isolated state with germany between her and her french ally and surrounded by states that were unfriendly if the conference failed if hitler and the nazis chose to act against Czechoslovakia there could be no half measures on the" "part of Britain and France no sanctions that would help no supply of arms to protect Czechoslovakia from Nazi aggression would need full general war in Europe" "the nation whose future lay on the table at Munich had a modern army but was not a fundamentally strong state politically" "Czechoslovakia was not a state of Czechs the modern democratic society contained minorities of Slovaks and Hungarians and above all Germans the sedating Germans a 3 million strong minority living in the areas adjacent to" "Germany the Austrian Angeles said these people of fire with excitement they were a flame uncover nerble stirred by a call of history destiny and blood the citizens of Austria abandoned democracy for nationals the Germans of" "Czechoslovakia went the same way Hitler did not ferment the nationalism in the" "Sudeten Germans he simply tapped into passion and desire that already existed of course Hitler sought to liberate his fellow Germans but he also wished to eliminate the Czech nation as an ally of the French and AD Czechoslovakia's modern industrial economy to Germany as" "the leaders gathered both sides had differing goals both Hitler and Czech president Benesch wanted matters brought to a head Hitler and Benesh did not want to compromise the Czechs knew that any concession to the German minority would bring demands from their other" "minorities Hitler wanted total success the French and the British wanted a compromise they did not want to risk war or humiliation in negotiation the" "British led by Chamberlain actually thought the sedating Germans we're a minority whose rights were ignored by the Czechs the French had an alliance with Czechoslovakia an alliance the" "French made for French benefit to threaten Germany with war on two fronts now they realized they were impotent to aid their ally and desperately needed to avoid the humiliation of breaking their promises to the jack" "Chamberlin reluctantly said if Germany did decide to destroy Czechoslovakia I do not see how this can be prevented the objective of Britain and France at" "Munich was not to restrain Germany not to counter Hitler's ambition it was to make the Czechs give ground to make concessions that would prevent a general" "European war the Czechs aggressively opposed concession at one point in the spring of 1938 they had mobilized their entire army and placed it against the" "German border terrifying Britain and" "France all throughout the summer of 1938 the great powers of Europe had circled round each other guessing each other's intentions then ash thought that by defined Li raising the states he could make Britain and" "France threaten war and so make Hitler back down Hitler knowing Britain and" "France's reluctance to go to war insisted on having his way rejecting compromise after compromise angrily accusing the Czechs of attempting to ethnically cleanse the Sudetenland and insisted that the sedating people would only be safe as part of Germany" "Chamberlain was certain of Hitler's good faith when the German promised that he had no further demands of Czechoslovakia than the liberation of the sedating" "Germans the issue came to head with the" "International summit meeting held at" "Munich on September 29th Hitler made no demands at this meeting he waited for the proposals to be offered the anglo-french offered to Hitler was everything he asked the Sudetenland to be incorporated Chamberlain firmly believed that the incorporation of the" "sedating Germans was the right thing to do and believed Hitler when he said that he had no desire to rule the Czechs the" "Czechs were told that if they did not accept they the Czechs would be responsible for the war and could expect no the check signed and the Sudetenland became part of the German Reich" "many years later as the war ended" "President Benesch was to look at Prague as a city that had remained intact throughout the war Benesh said is it not beautiful the only city in Central" "Europe not destroyed and all my doing the Munich conference is regarded in history as the definitive appeasement and has made that word synonymous with betrayal yet as we judge with the benefit of history would we have gone to war or" "would we have seen as did Chamberlain principle and fairness coming together with expediency perhaps the words for which the Munich crisis is most remembered are not those of the agreement reached over Czechoslovakia when that agreement had been made" "Chamberlain requested another meeting with Hitler he presented Hitler with the draft of the statement we are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other questions that may concern our two countries we are determined to continue" "our efforts to remove possible sources of difference and thus assure the peace of Europe" "Hitler happily and enthusiastically signed it was this piece of paper that" "Chamberlain proudly waved to the crowds in London it was of this that he was to say this is the second time that there has come back from Germany peace with honor I believe it is peace for our time if the French and British leaders had" "betrayed the Czechs if they had foolishly given into" "Hitler's lives it was a betrayal that was welcomed it was a set of lies that the populations of both democracies believed in the streets of London and" "Paris crowds reveled in the news that war was not to return to you in the Sudetenland the German population equally enthusiastically welcomed the advancing and occupying forces of the Third Reich the democracies thought Munich a new" "Versailles an epoch-making event that would establish a new order in Europe a new system of security and peace throughout the continent a settlement that killed Versailles for good removing the tensions the mistrust and the resentment replacing a European order" "directed at Germany and German ambitions with one that was based upon fairness and justice hindsight knowledge of what follows makes us see the whole affair as a fraud the events at Munich were logical they followed on from events which had gone" "on before the French had abandoned each clause of Versailles without a fight the French did not fear military defeat they had absolute faith in the Maginot" "Line but they saw no point in going to war over minor issues and abandoned their ally when it threatened to bring war the United States was not present at" "Munich in later years America would congratulate itself at having had no part in the affair and condemn the other democracies the lesson America drew in the medium term when Munich went quickly sour was that they should withdraw even more from world affairs yet Roosevelt's" "words on the agreement made by" "Chamberlain were simple good man it's a pointless speculation to wonder what if" "America had let its way to the cause of democracy at Munich the Russians resolved that Britain and France could not be trusted as allies against Nets" "ISM and that the USSR should seek an understanding with Hitler Britain worked from a moral position Britain's position was that Germany did have a moral right in the SU Dayton territory they saw the" "Europe that Munich created as a safer more stable place once the authority of the Czech government was broken by the transfer of the Sudetenland the state of" "Czechoslovakia fell apart along its own fracture lines the Slovak minority came up with its own demands for independence and autonomy the Nazis supported and patronized the Slovaks the Czech government in Prague proposed occupying" "Slovakia with troops Hitler promptly recognized the independence of Slovakia the Czech state was destroyed unviable" "Hitler summoned President Hatcher banishes successor and instructed him to sign away the independence of Bohemia the rump of Czech lands which on March" "15th 1939 became a German Protectorate britain's government did not see the German occupation of Prague as a break in the new order supposedly established at Munich as" "German troops brought Nazi rule to the" "Czechs the British government held that the events simply proved that the Czech" "State was unviable fractured by nationalities and that Europe was made a safer place by its absence where the events really shifted where history took a new path was in a groundswell of public opinion perhaps in reaction to the joy of Munich British attitudes in" "the streets the views of ordinary people changed" "Hitler would never be trusted again the" "British media turned against appeasement and called for Hitler to be opposed if we seek a pattern a rationale for the way history unfolded in the 1930s we can see that all Hitler's ambitions looked to the east not to the West Germany had" "lost territory to France in the West" "Alsace and Lorraine but there was no clamor for these areas to come under" "German rule in the South Germans lived in Italy but there was no demand for a return of these lands there was no call for southern Germans to return to the homeland all the avarice all the ambition was directed east to Austria" "and Czechoslovakia Hitler believed it to be the destiny of the German people to expand eastward the peculiar Nazi view of the world envisaged a future world that was largely agricultural and saw a" "German Aryan territory spreading out eastwards into living space Leoben from" "this spreading of Germany would displace other people's Hitler saw this expansion as eastward into the vast spaces of" "Russia and the Ukraine when the Nazi troops completed the annexation of" "Czechoslovakia on March 15 1938 within days German diplomats renewed demands of Poland that the city of Danzig be returned to" "Germany and that Germany be given a rail and road link to East Prussia a German corridor across the Polish corridor" "Danzig was a German city the corridor was German land lived in by Germans given to the new state of Poland at the end of World War one the poles rejected the German demands out of hand the British government almost" "immediately offered Poland and Alliance previously Britain had avoided making formal promises and commitments against the Nazis the alliance though committed" "Britain restricted the options open to the British government France had made alliances in order to threaten Germany but found itself in danger not safer" "Britain made its alliance as a gesture as a warning to Hitler it was a complete reversal of British foreign policy since the first world war however to what sort of country had Britain joined France in alliance" "the lands which were occupied by Poland where territories fought over shared and re shared by German states Austria and" "Russia the Polish government was not a democracy in the same mold as Britain or" "France the Polish government was dominated by the military the ruling party the cleansing movement attempted to dominate all aspects of Polish life" "Poland was an aggressive country that sought to punch above its weight it refused to contemplate a compromise the" "Polish government was headed by men with the same appetites for bluff who gambled on intimidating opponents as did Hitler world war two was the unfinished business that remained from World War one much of that unfinished business lay between Germany and her former enemies" "and between Germany and the smaller countries in the East Poland and its own unfinished business with Russia or rather the Soviet Union the eastern border between Russia and Poland was not defined and in the end was established in a series of armed confrontations in" "the early 1920s if Hitler had ambitions in the east it would be true that Poland equally looked to Soviet territory with envy the climate of aggression was hardening all over the continent of" "Europe in the spring of 1939 Italy invaded and occupied Albania Mussolini always keen to emulate Hitler always driven by envy of Germany and resentful of the success of dominance of what he thought the junior fascist power in" "Europe mounted an attack on his neighbor across the Adriatic the victory of the" "Italians was easy Albania with a population of barely 1 million was the most primitive state in Europe politically a tribal monarchy riven by feudal clans and factions the country was taken over in days with almost no fighting annexed to become Italian" "territory the king of Italy declared the king of Albania" "Mussolini intended that Albania be used as a stepping stone on a path of conquest throughout the Balkans in southern Europe to enable Italy to dominate the Mediterranean in an attempt to head off war with Germany over Poland" "Britain and France recognized and accepted the Italian action" "in the steps to war in these last months of peace the Soviet Union so distant and removed from much of European affairs throughout the decade became increasingly involved if Hitler was the prime mover of war the originator of the" "events that impelled the continent to conflict it was Stalin that opened the door for Hitler to walk to war with the conflict over the Polish corridor in" "Danzig" "Hitler's aggression and ambition finally began to impinge on Stalin and the" "Soviet Union Britain and France saw the" "Soviet Union as the key to deterring war against Hitler British Prime Minister" "Chamberlain and French premier de la da knew that if Hitler chose to fight in" "Poland their alliances with Poland would be of little practical help Poland was as isolated as had been Czechoslovakia they could not move forces into polish territory they could only threaten war from the West Hitler might once more play a game of dare with Britain and" "France challenging them to start general" "European war in order to save a faraway country whom they could not directly help Britain and France know that the" "Soviet Union could directly help Poland and so war be averted but Poland saw the" "Russians as bad if not worse than Hitler they rejected any move that would bring" "Soviet troops into their terror the pols thought that the Red Army once inside Poland would never leave and there was no inducement no incentive that Britain and France could offer too often histories used the language of the gambler in describing the actions of" "leaders in Hitler's case nothing could be truer with the benefit of history it is hard for us to remember that the leaders of all the powers in 1939 had little idea of what each other thought to tell what we today called spin" "propaganda from what was truth all through the summer of 1939 Hitler was involved in negotiations with Stalin the negotiations were about nothing were going nowhere neither Hitler or Stalin would say what they wanted both mistrust of each other both knew they represented" "political systems which were incompatible and could not coexist in peace then Hitler gamble he revealed his ambition to attack the polls and offered" "Stalin half of Poland" "Stalin picked up the offer" "Stalin was obsessed with territory and saw the extension of his border westward as a resolution of old scores and in his paranoia an insurance against invasion a non-aggression pact was signed between" "German foreign minister Ribbentrop and his Soviet equal Molotov on August 22nd this news shocked the world and at a stroke all strategies of the British and the French were in ruins no one knew of the secret clauses built into the fact that in the event of war" "between Poland and Germany the USSR would attack in the east and take the eastern half of the polish nation Poland was falsely confident it knew nothing of the secret agreement Poland thought that" "Britain and France would attack in the" "West causing Hitler to split his forces in fact when war broke out the French did nothing and sat behind the Maginot" "Line making small attacks slowly mobilizing calling up strength" "the British were organizing the movement of their army across the sea" "Hitler gambled the French would not act in time and strip the west of troops to bring overwhelming strength against the poles he planned a campaign so fast the" "French and British would be forced to watch helplessly as Poland was destroyed" "Poland's army was outnumbered outflanked and obsolete in equipment the Polish cavalry still used horses there were virtually no tanks mostly obsolete aircraft had to counter a state-of-the-art Luftwaffe on August" "31st Poland attack Germany in fact" "German SS troops faked an aggression" "by the end of the next day the Polish" "Air Force had been destroyed and the" "German army was deep into Poland on" "September 3rd France and Britain demanded Germany withdraw from Poland war broke out and British Prime Minister" "Chamberlain made an announcement that revealed a bitter disappointment that he had failed to prevent war from returning to Europe I am speaking to in the community" "you" "Germany" "the attack on Poland saw the first use of blitzkrieg by the Germans a new type of war using rapidly moving all mechanized and armored columns with coordinated air support smashing through and around slow-moving old-fashioned" "Polish forces the Polish army were rapidly surrounded and cut off the myth of the war is of Polish cavalry charging tanks yet military theorists in many countries including Britain and France believed that horse soldiers were seriously capable of defeating Armour" "Britain and France ignored the lessons of Poland" "by October 6 all Polish forces had surrendered cynically the Russians waited until it seemed certain that" "Germany would triumph and finally moved on September 17th" "the German victory was stunning in less than one month at a loss of less than 14 thousand dead the poles were defeated" "Britain and France were shown as impotent" "in the United States President Roosevelt induced Congress to repeal an arms embargo but the supply of arms was limited to cash-and-carry arms had to be paid for in hard cash and could not be exported in American ships American public opinion was anti-nazi and" "suspicious and fearful of Japanese ambitions in the Pacific yet equally anti-war the feeling of the ordinary" "American mirrored by the majority of" "Americans in public life Charles" "Lindbergh aviator and national hero was an outspoken opponent of America having anything to do with a European war" "America quietly hoped that Britain and" "France would somehow contain the Nazis and that some compromise could be worked out with Japan in the tangle of events spreading out from Hitler's decision to attack was a single page letter from" "Albert Einstein to Franklin Roosevelt" "Einstein the most eminent scientist of his day German and Jewish a refugee from" "Nazi was the only scientist who could write directly to the President and be taken seriously" "Einstein warned Bruce part of Germany's plans to investigate the military uses of uranium of the newly discovered atomic energy he warned that in taking over Czechoslovakia Germany had secured a rich uranium mine this single letter was to bear fruit five years later over" "the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and" "Nagasaki" "Germany's Ally Italy stayed out of the war remaining neutral in March 1939" "Italy in Germany had finally made a formal alliance what Mussolini grandiosely called the pact of Steel the pact declared that either country was to come to the aid of the other if attacked and gave Italy a free hand to direct strategy in the" "Mediterranean as the pact was put into writing the Italians signed on the verbal understanding that war would not come until 1943 it is a fact of history commonly lost that the pre-war relationship between Italy and Germany was not strong Mussolini resented Hitler" "the Germans thought Italy's imperial adventures ill-advised Hitler had hoped that a war might start between Italy and" "France alone which might distract and weaken France the British and the French hoped from time to time to prize Italy and Germany apart the two dictatorships had differences over the Angelus with" "Austria had Mussolini offered an alliance to the democracies they would have accepted" "Hitler and Mussolini did come to have a strong personal regard for each other but this was not something shared by the respective military and naval commanders nor by the ordinary Italian and German it lays strategic interests lay in expansion and control of the" "Mediterranean the Lebensraum of the" "Italians what Mussolini referred to as marenostrum our sea war came as a surprise the pace of events overtaking world leaders no country on either side was ready to fight in 1939 and all were taken unawares by the outbreak of war" "Germany worked to a long-term plan" "Hitler had come to power in 1933 and looked for a period of ten years before rearmament was complete and the Austrian and Czech territories absorbed Italy was not ready for war and saw in the pact of" "Steel a guarantee of five years peace with the British and French declaration of war the fighting spread across the world both countries were the center of worldwide empires Britain was to call upon soldiers from Australia New Zealand" "Canada and South Africa the Dominions self-governing members of Britain's family these countries willingly and unhesitatingly declared war in Germany at the same time as Great Britain from the colonies of the Empire Britain was to summon Indian African and" "Caribbean soldiers French forces contain soldiers from Africa and Indochina presently some of France's toughest fighters were from Vietnam the first week of the war did in fact see a French offensive in the West remarkable in the fact that its effect was so limited" "small numbers of French soldiers pushed eight kilometers inside Germany too within sight of the Siegfried line a line of German fortifications the match of the Maginot Line and there they stopped the professional predictors and theorists men who look into the future" "and attempt to foretell the future wars often fail to see accurately miss reading the lessons of the past in the summer and late autumn of 1939 much of" "Europe lived in a state of febrile panic fearing attack from the air with bomb and poison gas futuristic theories of war predicted mass aerial assaults on the city centers it was commonly held that no defense was possible against attack by bombers everywhere shelters" "were dark sandbags were piled around the doors and windows of shops and public buildings the people of Britain had been issued with 38 million gas masks no citizen was meant to be without his mask at any time this was a time when the" "life of the civilian descended into black comedy and farce the distinctive cardboard boxes and bags in which the gas mask was carried was too often turned into a useful shoulder bag and contained a workers lunch a market in sandbags developed with" "speculators having bought up supplies in advance of war new ranks of officialdom appeared air raid wardens patrolled the streets they were to warn of gas attack by using children's rattles they enforced a strict blackout at night ensuring no light show that could guide" "enemy aircraft an immediate reaction to the outbreak of war and the fear that aerial attack was imminent was the mass evacuation of children from cities to safe areas by the evening of September" "3rd nearly one and a half million children mothers of infants and pregnant women had been moved to safety in fact fear of reprisals by chemical weapons meant that neither side in" "Europe was to risk their use at any time in the war Britain and France below having done all they could to avoid conflict we're in fact able to look to a coming war with confidence not with fear the subsequent history collapse and" "route that filled the following years clouds are judgment to the fact that as britain and france mobilized called up their reserves marshaled and equipped their troops the numbers made war in" "1939 appear a risky undertaking for germany if the leaders of Britain and" "France laid out their relative strengths on paper they could sleep easily counting the armies already in the field" "Britain and France could more than match" "Germany strength when fully mobilized with all reserves called" "Britain and France combined could count on a total of 3 million to Germany's two and a half million even though Poland's two million strong army had crumbled and Germany could now bring all its strength to the Western" "Front Britain and France could feel comfort the British Royal Air Force and the French Air Force combined were the equal in number to the Luftwaffe of course Britain liked to see itself traditionally as a great naval power the concept of the alliance with France was" "that the Royal Navy would impose a naval blockade upon Germany while the bulk of the fighting on land was to be performed by the French army the Royal Navy was then the largest in the world the" "British Navy's core of decisive weapons were fifteen large armored battleships and battle cruisers seven aircraft carriers and over 50 submarines France" "Britain's traditional naval enemy had a fleet of nine battleships and over 70 submarines Germany's Navy was small five battleships and fifty u-boats in World War one the war at sea had played a hidden part in the war the" "German submarine campaign had nearly forced Britain from the war destroying the imports of food from the Empire which Britain needed to feed its population in the later years of World" "War one a fierce blockade by the Royal" "Navy had caused famine amongst the" "German population" "Britain was vulnerable because so much of her food and materials came over long extended sea lanes Germany because her coastline was so small easily blockaded a few ports that could easily be closed shut as the Navy's prepared for war it" "was thought the war would be played to the same script as ever" "the pride of navies everywhere was the battle fleet a fleet of large fast heavily armored and heavily gunned battleships the number and size of these vessels was taken as a measure of the virility of each nation on these measures the cards were stacked heavily" "against Germany in World War one the battle fleets of" "Britain and Germany had met for only a few hours no lesson had been learned as to the value of the big gunship in between the wars the size of the fleets and the size of the ships in those fleets were limited by international" "treaties the coming war was to show that the battleship was no longer the capital ship the decisive weapon of naval warfare aircraft were to make these ships too vulnerable to attack a few cheap aircraft made on the production line in weeks could easily destroy a" "major warship that could take years and massive sums to rebuild but this was not clear in 1939 only some navies realized the true value of aircraft and the aircraft carrier in the long term plans of Germany a series of large warships" "such as the Bismarck were built to threaten Britain aircraft carriers were built for some future war against the USA" "the submarine was regarded as so potent a weapon that it had been banned by the" "Versailles Treaty the submarine is u-boat is forever associated in mythology as the definitive Nazi weapon yet as with all navies the Submariner was regarded as a second-class sailor by big ship Admirals and had to face a struggle to establish their worth in" "1939 as war broke out the British Navy was placed by Chamberlain in the hands of Winston Churchill as the grandly titled First Lord of the Admiralty amazingly Churchill had held the same job in the First World War" "Churchill had been the sternest critic of the government in the pre-war years as a maverick in the political wilderness calling for more arms and a military response to Hitler Churchill had lost office in World War 1 through strategic adventure impulsive wild" "schemes particularly in Turkey that had cost many thousands of lives in a failed operation returning to office these traits re-emerged he showed tremendous energy in organizing and preparing the" "British Navy for war but a series of wild schemes began to emerge again to draw Turkey into the war two incredibly place mines in Germany's rivers to attack neutral shipping and ports particularly those of Norway and Sweden who were supplying important raw" "materials to Germany early on in taking office" "Churchill received a personal letter from American President Roosevelt" "Roosevelt invited Churchill to keep me in touch personally with anything you want me to know about the personal relationship between these two men bypassing the administration's and structures of their respective countries was to be of crucial importance in the coming years as the" "poles succumbed to defeat and occupation" "Hitler offered Britain and France peace he claimed to have no quarrel with" "France and desired active friendship with Britain he called the war in the" "West a senseless waste of life and proposed a conference of the great powers that would create a new system of peace and security he was rejected we are so used to the story of world war a globally consuming conflict that" "spread across the world that the fact is lost that in 1939 the war was comparably small and could be reasonably assumed to be soluble in Europe in October 1939" "Britain and France were at war as were" "Britain and Frances overseas colonies" "Germany was at war Poland an occupied defeated country sliced up and lost the" "Balkans were peace some were Pro German like Romania and Hungary some were pro" "British like Yugoslavia and Greece Italy" "Germany's Ally remained neutral Spain a supposed fascist power was neutral" "Belgium and the Netherlands were neutral all of Scandinavia was neutral yet were key suppliers of raw materials to the" "Nazis Soviet Russia trusted implicitly in the new relationship with Nazi" "Germany and believed itself safe from attack and was neutral America was neutral far away in China another set of tensions and envy not related to" "Europe's problems had brought a savage war that had been raging for two years these wars were yet to join up into a world war in Poland a new order rapidly came into force the map was redrawn the" "Soviet Union moved West Germany moved east in holy polish lands those occupied by Germany and Russia a fearful night of occupation descendant Sevilla forces imposed a communist rule all those prominent in the old regime disappeared over 4,000 of Poland's army officers" "died in a bloody massacre by the Soviets in german-occupied Poland a brutal regime lay across the land" "Nats isms racial theories held the poles as subhuman Poland's large Jewish communities became the victims of the" "Aisne stats group on special SS squads designed to solve the Jewish problem" "freed of any fear of attack from the" "East German will and forces turned to the West and began to assemble its might against the democracies yet as the war settled into its third month as strong calm descended in Britain and France the shark of Poland's defeat receded the" "aerial devastation by gas and bomb did not materialize history was too named this period with supreme irony as the phony war next time on World War 2 the complete history the war is fought in remote and distant places at sea huge ships engage" "in conflict the British Navy corners the" "German battleship grafts pay and forces her captain to scuttle his ship rather than face certain destruction in the winter snows of Finland the Soviet Union takes advantage of the new situation invading seeking to conquer the smaller state the tiny Finnish army runs rings" "round the Russians amidst the forests and lakes to the people of Britain and" "France the war seems far away it is the unreal war the phony war in the fields of northern France a new British" "Expeditionary Force in name and appearance so like its predecessor of 1918 takes its place alongside the French it is the army that fought the song eat and" "Passchendaele reborn to the south the" "French man and reinforce the Maginot" "Line their new Verdun an impregnable fortress which the Germans shall not pass the world awakes from the dream of the phoney war to the nightmare of reality a bold strategic occupation of" "Norway brings Britain and France into direct contact with German forces for the first time the result is fiasco as" "British forces fall back in retreat as a result the British government Falls and is to be headed by a man of destiny whose time has come" "Winston Churchill" "you"