Why did Britain and France declare war on Germany in September 1939? Flashcards
Introduction:
Britain and France declared war on Germany following the German invasion of Poland on 1 September. The immediate reason for this action was that Germany had ignored an ultimatum demanding that its army be withdrawn from the invaded areas. But the real reason behind the declaration of war went beyond what was happening in Poland. It had become clear that Germany was making a bid for European domination. Not to have declared war would have been an acceptance of this domination
Why did Britain and France regard this action as a sign of Germany’s intention to dominate Europe?
Hitler had already shown that his ambitions went beyond achieving a Greater Germany with his actions over Czechoslovakia in March 1939. Until then it had been just possible to interpret Germany’s territorial expansion in Austria and the Sudetenland as in line with the principle of self-determination for German-speaking peoples. The events in Czechoslovakia showed that Hitler’s real agenda was the domination of Europe by force
The invasion of Poland was regarded by Britain and France as a continuation of this process even though Germany had legitimate grievances over Danzig and access across the Polish Corridor
Why was Hitler not deterred by the British-French guarantee to Poland?
When Britain and France declared war on Germany in September 1939 Hitler was taken by surprise. He did not think they would take this action despite their guarantee to Poland. This was partly because once the Nazi-Soviet Pact had been signed, Hitler could not see how Britain and France could give effective help to Poland. In his mind this made a declaration of war quite pointless. It was also because Hitler was aware of how Britain and France had reacted to his previous violations of the peace settlement. He had decided that it would be out of character for them to go to war over a territory over which Germany had such strong claims
Britain and France were possibly to blame, having behaved in such a way that allowed Hitler to draw this conclusion. They had done little more than protest over issues such as German rearmament, the remilitarization of the Rhineland, and the Anschluss. When Hitler had demanded the Sudetenland Britain and France found a way for it to be transferred to Germany. None of this looked like the behaviour of countries that would eventually make a firm stand
So, in one sense, war broke out because of a miscalculation on Hitler’s part. Yet there seems to be little doubt that European war would have broken out sooner or later. All Hitler’s rearmament plans were geared towards a war in the near future and he was set upon demonstrating Germany’s new-found strength
In addition, the patience and tolerance of Britain and France had run out in early 1939 and after the events of March there was a general acceptance that war was just around the corner
