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Poland, The Allies, And World War II

© Scott Hegerty

On September 1,1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland--and for the next six years, the country would be completely subjugated. World War II was started, basically, for Poland's sake, and Poland would remain in the war longer than any country besides Germany. The West, however, played a vital role in World War II, and entered the war to save Poland. Whether or not the West was successful, however, is questionable.

Other Eastern European nations fell under Hitler's rule without a shot being fired. In 1938, Germany forcibly annexed Austria, which many in both countries had felt actually belonged together with its fellow German-speaking state. While this was supposedly done democratically--a bogus referendum was held--Hitler had bullied Austrian leaders into making conditions favorable for the German takeover.

Later that year, Czechoslovakia fell victim to the Nazis. Again, Hitler used political force to take over the Sudetenland, the part of Bohemia and Moravia in the western region of the country, outlined by the Sudeten Mountains, that was inhabited mainly by Germans. Before the Austrians had lost World War I, they had controlled the Sudetenland, and many Germans had remained. Hitler justified this invasion, like the Austrian one, as merely bringing all ethnic Germans home to the Greater German Reich. At the infamous Munich conference in September of that year, Britain and France acquiesced to Germany's demands, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain thought he had brought "peace in our time." The Nazis, however, soon extended their rule to all of Czechoslovakia, showing that their aggression could not be contained so easily.

Britain and France were determined not to make the same mistake again. Poland was considered an ally, not only because of its democratic history, but also because of its anti-Nazi and -Soviet role that it played after World War I. The West guaranteed Poland's security, vowing to fight for Poland's independence. When Hitler finally invaded, the Western Allies would not appease Hitler as they had in the past--even though it involved nearly six years of war.

The West was unable to help immediately upon the German invasion of Poland. Logistically, it was impossible--Poland didn't border either Britain or France, and Germany (with the help of the Soviets, who invaded western Poland two weeks after the Nazis did) was too powerful at the time to be beaten. Nonetheless, Britain and France declared war on Germany almost immediately after the invasion of Poland. But help would have to wait until later in the war.