When Germany invaded Poland on September 1 1939 Britain and France responded by declaring war. When the USSR invaded Poland on September 17 1939 they did nothing. A double standard if ever there was one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_Poland
Pragmatic.
shareDeclaring war on both countries would have been insane. Stalin knew this, which is why he let Hitler invade first.
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"Surrender Dorothy!"
And Nazi Germany signed a pact and conducted military exercises and maintained massive trade deals with the Soviet Union.
"Someone has been tampering with Hank's memories."
Where are you from? I bet your american you do know the US was never going to get in the war. Germany declared war on US yet you come on here and say we should have declared war on russia when we didn't even have the resources to fight germany. At least we tried to stop germany unlike some.
shareThe British and French governments both publicly stated that if the USSR invaded Poland they would declare war. They did not. Britain went to war over Poland claiming to be fighting for that country's independence yet at the end of the conflict allowed Stalin and the Soviet Union to take over and install a communist dictatorship. And you just try to shrug it off. No matter how much you try to whitewash it the fact is the British betrayed Poland. In 1939 apart from declaring war they let the country be overrun. And in 1945 they stabbed the Poles in the back and let Stalin have his way.
1939 The War That Had Many Fathers is the name of a book which objectively looks at each country involved and the causes of the outbreak of the conflict. It is a good antidote to the British can do no wrong propaganda espoused by THE WORLD AT WAR. One of the many interesting facts contained in the book is that after Poland surrendered in 1939 the British government asked Stalin if he would change sides and attack Germany. This just 2 months after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact! The British government well earned its nickname of Perfidious Albion. There is a thread on 1939 The War That Had Many Fathers here - http://forum.codoh.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=7456
So where are you from? what did your government do?. Your a complete idiot if you think Britain or France was able to do anything to help Poland, maybe if the rest of the world got involved but not alone. If you had your way Europe would be under nazi and soviet control today as together with Japan and Italy they would have destroyed UK and France.
Britain couldn't even control it's own empire after ww2 but was somehow supposed to save Poland.
Of course, France and Britain could not have intervened directly into Poland, but what is certain, France had 500,000 troops facing only 200,000 Germans during that first week in Sept 1939. Had the French and British determined to stop the Germans, they could have been more effective on that western German Border. The Saar Offensive might have been more decisive if the French High Command had been more determined. And this could have been accomplished before the Soviet invasion on Sept 17th. It might have even caused Stalin some degree of pause, had the Allies been more aggressive. And yes, I know they were ill prepared for war, but timing is everything in war. And good timing, and a strong determination could have defeated the Germans and possibly even prevented the German occupation of Poland and the later Soviet invasion. Remember, the Germans were in no position to fight "Hard" on two fronts in Sept 1939. Hitler was certain that France and Britain would do nothing. This time he was wrong. BTW, I'm an American, if that matters. My mother is English and my Grandfather served in both world wars in the Royal Navy (WWI) and Army (WWII).
shareSo what?
What is the point of the OP other than some poor attempt at a dig at Britain? Are you a Nazi sympathiser?
If Britain and France had declared war on the Soviets, what were they going to do? March through Germany (upon whom the UK already declared war) and Austria to take on the Soviets (historical allies of both Britain and France), or forfeit what was blindingly obvious at the time i.e. an eventual and essential alliance against Nazi expansionism?
In 1939, Britain and France countries were ill-prepared for war with Germany let alone the Soviet empire.
This person is clearly deranged.
I am a four eyed evil genius.
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Britain went to war because Poland was invaded. The British public endured bombing, rocket attacks, long range shelling (eg Dover), wartime shortages of food, alcohol and tobacco with the resultant rationing (which didn't fully cease until the early 1950's). Are the British people really happy that they went through all that for Poland? Especially when at wars end Churchill signed that country over to Stalin through the Yalta agreement. Churchill and the other warmongers played the British public for fools!
http://forum.codoh.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=7456
Prior to the German invasion of Poland England and France both issued ultimata to Germany referencing their defense treaties with Poland. They had to declare war to maintain their credibility. In addition, they needed to make it official and start preparing their own countries.
Neither England or France were ready for war. The secret that nobody knew, or they knew the facts, but failed to make the analysis, was that Germany wasn't really ready for a larger European war, either. So, after making their declarations, they stalled for time and delayed any direct action. That may have been a huge mistake, but it's a little late to correct it now.
Stalin was pretty cagey in delaying his seizure of the eastern portion of Poland until England and France were committed. I am sure it occurred to him that the Europeans would focus on the European threat, and put off confronting the USSR.
As for President Roosevelt or Prime Minister Churchill "handing over" Poland to the USSR, that is a wild and unsupported canard. They agreed to allow the USSR to occupy the Eastern European countries and foolishly (or cynically) accepted Stalin's assertions that his occupation would be as benign as the western occupation of Germany.
I trust that you are aware of that 45 year (or so) block of history known as the Cold War.
The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.
‘England’ didn’t go to war. It’s the United Kingdom. You do a massive disrespect to the other member nations the welsh, Scots, and Irish who fought and died.
shareOperation Pike.
Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.
In 1939 France and England were fighting off German invasion forces. They were in no position to leap frog over Germany armies in Poland and help to fight Russia. Russia was tying up German armies that would have invaded and occupied England like they did France.
England and others could deal with Russia after the Nazis were defeated which took until 1945.
I don't know everything. Neither does anyone else
Again, like above, it wasn’t England, it was the United Kingdom. Try learning the basics.
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