✓ The reasons for the German invasion of Poland in 1939 - RELATIONS UP TO 1936 (not incl notes)

Question 1

Why would G want to invade Poland?

Answer 1

• TofV gave land to Poland (Polish corridor) & abt 800,000 Germans lived there
• meant Poland had access to the sea & that was bitterly resented by the Germans
• had a 1925 mutual assistance pact w Fr made at Locarno BUT Fr had one w Cz & didn’t go to war (Br & LofN wouldn’t have supported)

Question 2

Was Poland a strong nation?

Answer 2

portrayed by allies as weak & struggling to survive once war began
- army wasn’t very mechanised (used horses to move heavy artillery & had cavalry regiments)

BUT

in reality was fiercely independent:
- went to war w USSR over land in the Ukraine in 1920 & took Teschen from Cz in 1938
- had a large army on proportion to pop.
- 1939 just begun to build & train crews for light tanks

Question 3

What unexpected agreement did H make w Poland?

Answer 3

1934 non-aggression pact w Poland
(despite many speeches abt reversing TofV)

Question 4

What do Nazi relations w Poland show?

Answer 4

show evidence of H’s long-term planning
+
fluctuating plans (devious manipulation)
+
acting opportunistically

Question 5

Why would H want a pact w Poland?

Answer 5

1934 H hadn’t been in power for long & wanted to make himself secure in G before doing anything aggressive
+
saw USSR as the biggest threat to G so Poland was a useful ally
+
Poland couldn’t join USSR in an attack on G
+
wanted the Danzig & Polish corridor back

(so important that H fought against outspoken opposition in the N party & the Reichstag)

Question 6

What did the pact w Poland divert attention from?

Answer 6

Nazi party very active in Danzig (1933 Nazis won a majority in the town government)
+
secretly rearming

Question 7

What did it mean that the Nazi party won a majority in the Danzig town government 1933?

Answer 7

not enough of a majority to allow them to change the city’s constitution & make it part of Germany
BUT
enough to establish Nazi control of the city
(control of the previously german trading port)

Question 8

Why was Danzig made a ‘free city’?

Answer 8

run by LofN (not Poland or Germany)

• the polish corridor connected Danzig to Poland bc a TofV aim = to give Poland access to the sea
• split East Prussia from G = inconvenient politically, religiously, socially

Question 9

What did Germany further want w Poland after the non-aggression pact?

Answer 9

wanted P as a satellite state
- rely on P not to attack G
- 1935+ claimed wanted an ally
- 1935-37 proposed alliance incl. military support
- proposed mutual war against the USSR & give P a chunk of Ukraine
- suggested all they wanted was the right to road & rail connections to East Prussia

BUT
P resisted bc knew G wanted as a satellite state & would damage relations w USSR
- wanted to maintain a balance of potential ally to both & so wouldn’t be attacked by either