PG 134-140 SUMMARY
Ali Mourad
I. The Anglo-French Guarantees and Attempts to Construct a Peace Front
II.
III.
IV.
V.
A. March, 1939 - Britain & France commit to guaranteeing Poland against a German attack
a. Realistically, neither Britain nor France had the military strength to defend Poland, but
Germany’s occupation of the Czech province of Bohemia, exposed Hitler’s aggressive ways,
and showed that Hitler would not stay loyal to any treaty or agreement.  Posed a threat to
the balance of power.
b. Four Power Pact: is completely disregarded when Germany attacked Lithuania on March 23.
B. April 7- Mussolini invaded Albania; wave of panic occurred in Eastern Mediterranean  Britain
and France quickly guarantee Greece and Romania sovereignty as well.
C. Britain agrees on mutual assistance with Turkey in the event of war in the Mediterranean area.
The German break with Poland
A. Note 1934: Germany signed a non-aggression pact with Poland
B. Poland’s rejection to be a German satellite state, convince Hitler that Poland would have to be
“eliminated”
C. His main motive was “ not Danzig, but to expand living space to the east”, Lebensraum
The Russian Factor
A. Nazi-Soviet Pact, 23 August: committed both powers to benevolent neutrality also secretly outlined
the German and Russian spheres of interests in Eastern Europe (pg.137)
B. Seemed unbelievable that Hitler could negotiate an agreement with a power he was committed to
destroy
a. USSR benefits from the treaty:
i. Would keep the USSR out of a European war while they were fighting in the Far
East of Asia against the Japanese
ii. Was the best military option considering Poland
iii. B, F, and G fighting a European war would relieve pressure of USSR and would
open the door to the spread of communism.
iv. Got rid of any potential wars with Germany
b. Germany benefits with the treaty:
i. Ensuring the support of USSR or at least neutrality, would make victory against
Poland easier, and force B and F to re-think intervention.
C. Britain and France’s unwillingness to compromise and their untruthful approach to the USSR
pushed Stalin towards an alliance with Hitler.
The outbreak of war
A. Hitler suspected Britain and France would be to “cowardly” to attack, “they would not go beyond a
blockade”.  They feared they would start a war against Germany and potentially Russia.
B. 1939, March: Pact of Steel: Italy agreed to support Germany militarily in the event of war, (but
would need a lot of military supply from Germany, if they were to fight.)
C. While still standing by Poland neutrality, UK and France were surprisingly willing to revise
frontiers and the status of Danzig, in order to avoid a European war.
a. Britain: “any of Germany’s claims are open to consideration round a table”
b. France: “France should push Warsaw into a compromise”
D. Britain reacted to Soviet-Nazi Pact by ratifying its guarantee of Poland
E. Germany offered UK a guarantee of the sovereignty of the Royal Empire if they did not interfere.
a. London responded by affirming Polish independence
F. However, Hitler still determined to crush Poland and expand living space, ordered the invasion of
Poland on September 1 1939.
a. Peace efforts still continued, by Hitler’s determination overturned all attempts.
G. On September 3, Britain and France remain loyal to Poland and declare war on Germany.
Assessment
 Were Hitler’s decisions just a reaction to Versailles? Did the Allies bring another war upon
themselves?
 The mistake of the ex-allies was to tolerate Hitler’s expansionary policy for to long. When the
time came to call a halt, the only possible solution was a major war
 Britain and France believed that they had no option but to oppose Hitler if they wished to
“maintain any influence” and the “status of great power” in Europe.
 Similar to the First World War, this was a campaign aimed at maintaining the balance of power.