From the beginning of his political career Adolf Hitler had promised the German people that if he was elected leader of Germany he would take back German land that had been lost following the re-drawing of the country’s boundaries as part of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles 1919.
Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933 and immediately set about giving himself the powers to do the things that he wanted. By September 1934 Hitler had made himself Dictator of Germany.
In 1936 Hitler made his first challenge to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles when he sent troops into the Rhineland area of Germany. Two years later he sent troops into Austria and joined Austria to Germany (Anschluss).
In the Summer of 1938 Hitler began making plans to annex the German speaking part of Czechoslovakia, the Sudetenland. This prompted the leaders of Britain and France to enter into a negotiation with Hitler to try to curb his expansionist aims. The resultant Treaty of Munich allowed Hitler to take the Sudetenland region in return for a guarantee that this would be the end of his expansionist plans. Hitler willingly signed the document but six months later invaded and occupied all of Czechoslovakia.
In March 1939 Britain and France agreed to come to Poland’s aid if Germany invaded Poland and Poland raised an army to to fight against the Germans. By the Summer of 1939 it was clear that Hitler was intending to take Poland as living space (lebensraum) for his Greater Germany. On 1st September Hitler launched a ‘Blitzkrieg’ against Poland and invaded the country without warning. Britain immediately issued an ultimatum to Germany that they withdraw from Poland or face war with Britain. The ultimatum was ignored by Germany and on 3rd September Neville Chamberlain broadcast to the British people
“I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received and consequently this country is at war with Germany.”
By 8th September German troops had reached the outskirts of the Polish capital, Warsaw. Although Britain and France had declared war on Germany and had promised to help Poland, neither country sent troops to Poland and the financial aid sent was insufficient. Consequently, the Polish army were left to fight the Germans virtually alone and by the middle of September more than half the country had fallen to Germany. On 17th September Russian troops crossed Poland’s Eastern border in a manoeuvre that had been agreed between Hitler and Stalin. The Polish cause was hopeless and on 27th September Warsaw fell. On 6th October the remaining Poles surrendered and on 8th October Germany formally annexed the Polish regions of West Prussia, Poznan, Upper Silesia, and the former Free City of Danzig. Other areas of Poland that had been occupied by Germany including Warsaw, Krakow, Radom, and Lublin were to be governed by the newly established General Government.
