on the 1st of September 1939 the German Army came rolling across the Polish Frontier and in just over a month they were victorious Poland was reduced to a small German Le rump State and the Germans then headed off West to protect their border with France history has written this Invasion as a long-planned Act of aggression some say that the only cause was a German false flag operation on a radio tower in fact very little of the buildup IS even discussed at all the blame is just entirely lumped on Germany and it's just left at that in this video I'll explain from beginning to end what actually happened why did the Germans invade who has to take some of the blame why did the Brits choose nearly 100% German Danzig as their red line after all we know every war has a buildup and it isn't always as simple as the aggressor being the sole party to blame before we begin though a very quick disclaimer this is of course one of the most controversial topics possible and so I must make it abundantly clear here at the beginning of the video that this is purely a work of history and is is not in any way shape or form political if one side or the other appears to deserve more of the blame for the outbreak of the war than the traditional narrative States then that is all I am saying for example if the English had a bigger hand in the leadup to the war than we are led to believe then this does not mean that I condone German war crimes during the war itself to equate the two things would be ridiculous so please use common sense thank you and finally a huge thank you to my patreon subscribe star and YouTube members who make these videos possible YouTube is my full-time job and by far the biggest contribution comes from those of you kind enough to subscribe on these sites so I cannot thank you enough as without these contributions I wouldn't be able to make these videos if you do want to support the channel join the Discord or our weekly Hearts of Iron 4 games then please do consider clicking one of the links in the description thank [Music] you in the late 1700s Poland was unraveling it was a corrupt shadow of its former self in previous centuries Poland had dominated the region but now those that they dominated and repressed were on the rise during this difficult time Poland would have to be incredibly careful if they wanted to survive and they did quite the opposite they won themselves no friends in the region and the foreigners would impose themselves more and more on polish Affairs after Decades of this charade Poland was partitioned not once but three times until it no longer existed Prussia Russia and Austria found Common Ground against the old enemy which was now just an unstable mess of a state separating them all they vowed together that the very idea of a Polish state must be removed for the next 123 years there simply wasn't a Poland in 1914 the two German powers and the Russians weren't getting along quite as well as they had all those years ago and they now found themselves on opposite sides when all hell broke loose in Europe by 1919 the Russian Empire no longer existed and the Zar was was dead the Soviet Union took its place Austria 2 had fallen now it's just a tiny bankrupt Republic and her Empire was independent and squabbling amongst themselves the German Empire had not collapsed but had sued for peace when things began to go wrong now it was time for the victors to decide what the New Frontiers of Europe's foremost Continental superpower would look like going forwards item number one on the agenda was figuring out what to do in regards to the new Polish state that the Allies had promised to create this was easier said than done however Margaret McMillan writes in her book peacemakers quote The Rebirth of Poland was one of the great stories of the Paris peace conference it also caused endless difficulties the commission on its borders had more meetings than any other at the conference should Poland's borders be drawn to punish Germany for past wrongs and its present defeat should there be a large Poland as a barrier against bolshevism what did it need for survival coal mines iron Railways a proper port on the Baltic Wilson had promised in the 13th of his 14 points that a reconstituted Poland should have free and secure access to the Sea like so many of his points the meaning was elastic he talked too of giving Poland territory indisputably polish finding territory that was indisputable in Central Europe was never easy the polls made matters worse by disagreeing among themselves over whether they wanted the borders from their widest extent in the past or the Polish Heartland or perhaps a compromise between the two and of course the peacemakers reaching out hundreds of miles from Paris to impose order on a protan world of Shifting allegiances Civil Wars refugees and Bandit gangs where the collapse of old Empires had left Law and Order trade and Communications in shreds end quote on the ground in Poland there was only one man who could possibly navigate Poland through the lawlessness that prevailed in Eastern Europe and this was Joseph pilsudski pilsudski was originally a socialist as were many opponents of the Russian Empire his overwhelming goal however was was always polish Independence which seemed like a pipe dream for most of his life now with the collapse of those giants who had swallowed up Poland all those years ago he would work his magic he dropped the socialism and set off to secure a future for his people when he was released from prison at the end of the war he was met by some old socialist friends and they greeted him by calling him comrade he replied quote gentlemen we both took a ride on the same red tra but whilst I got off at the stop marked polish Independence you wish to travel on to the station socialism bon voyage but be so kind as to call me sir end quote puski also had a more right-wing rival in Paris named Roman demovsky a devout Catholic with lofty yet different goals for Poland's borders pilsudski's task wasn't an easy one between 1918 and 1920 pilsudski fought six different Wars most polish territory was contested with others finally seeking Freedom too the lithuanians in the north the ukrainians in the East the Czechs and SL in the South and the Germans obviously wanted to keep their German lands in the West on top of all this he had to mesh the poles themselves into one state the poles have been split into free all those years ago and had over the past Century or so developed very differently the Austrian territories were a Backwater the Russian ones harsh and brutal the German territories were far more advanced and the poles there had developed somewhat of a superiority complex in the mood of the day polish egos were through the roof they finally had freedom and now many to take it to the extreme instead of just being happy with their mere Independence again one German reporter said just a month after the armus quote the polls are developing an appetite like a freshly hatched Sparrow end quote there was talk of the borders of 1772 returning where Poland controlled Lithuania Belarus and much of Ukraine this would have put the polls themselves at around 60% of their own State's population pilsudski who still had some insane ideas of grand federations was actually more moderate than the polls who were trying to work work things out at the peace conference in Versa pilsudski said quote all that we can gain in the west depends on the onon on the extent to which it may wish to squeeze Germany end qu of the East he saide here there are doors which open and close and it depends on who will force them open and how far end quote he was completely correct in both cases in the East the poles would fight many battles but most famous of all was their war against the Soviets they had pushed deep into the Soviet Union but they were pushed back right to the gates of War here however they managed to turn the tide Against All Odds and the Soviets were decimated Poland gained generous territorial concessions at the negotiating table in the west the polls wanted one thing Above All Else a port McMillan writes quote Danzig at the mouth of the Vistula was the obvious choice for a port it had once been a great free city under polish rule the Amsterdam of the East people had called it with its prosperous trade its Rich merchants and its elegant buildings since the 1790s however it had been under German rule in 1919 its population was over 90% German although much of the surrounding Countryside was heavily polish end qu ironically the Brits were the least enthusiastic to grant them this the Allies agreed before the peace conference that Poland should be independent the British however were not prepared to invest much to achieve this since they had little National interest at stake they also feared with some reason that Poland could become a liability who would defend it if its neighbors Germany and Russia in particular particular attacked moreover the British did not particularly care for either polish faction pilsudski had fought against them and was a dangerous radical domovi and the Polish National Committee were two right-wing in fact the prevailing opinion said a British Diplomat in Warsaw which to a great extent influenced me at the time seemed to be that to do anything the Polish committee asked for would be to fasten upon Poland a regime of wicked landlords who spent most of their time in rius living and established there a chauvinistic government whose object was to acquire territories inhabited by non-polish populations end quote the Britain question would be proved quite right 20 years later the French for their part were enthusiastic poona files in 1917 the French publicly declared their support for a post-war Poland and not just any Poland but a quote big and strong very strong Poland their support for Poland was multifaceted firstly the Russian void had to be filled France simply could not compete with Germany in terms of population and mil milary strength the French were deep in a decades long Decay whilst Germany was at the peak of their powers before the Great War the Germans were reproducing the French were not the French dealt with this in a number of ways one of course was the mass usage of colonial troops to make up the Manpower difference but these tended to be both extremely brutal and extremely ineffective the second way was using other nations as counterbalances recently this had been Russia but now the French had a bright idea why not create a strong Poland to keep Germany in check this idea didn't stop with Poland either French policy for the next two decades would focus on building up the Czechs the yugoslavs and the Romanians too in order to surround and trap Germany Poland also had other appeals to Frenchmen of all varieties the story of Poland rising from the ashes after a century in the wilderness appealed to liberals and the Po's Catholicism appealed to the religious prime minister clemo had grown up around polish Exiles in France decades later at the start of the Great War the old man would write quote Poland will live again one of the greatest crimes in history is going to be undone end quote the Americans sat somewhere in between the Brits and the French there were 4 million polls in the US and tales of German repression against the poles whipped up the American masses much as the invasion of Belgium had in 1914 Wilson however found the Polish leaders ridiculous and far too big for their boots quote I saw doski and peski in Washington and I asked them to Define Poland for me as they understood it and they presented me with a map in which they claimed a large part of the earth end quote the French seemed to hold far more Sway With the Polish issue and they were willing to make moves to get what they wanted in early January 1919 Marshall faul the Supreme germanophobia Danzig which was still German at this time he knew full well the polls would not just pass through Wilson said quote with the object of sending polish troops into Poland were going to prejudge the whole polish question end quote when the Germans found out about this plan they threw an absolute fit and such a storm was whipped up that the French had to cancel their scheme and the troops made their way by land instead even pilsudski didn't care as much about Danzig as the French did during the situation and there is no evidence that pilsudski cared much at all about the city in General on the 29th of January 1919 domovi was invited to explain the situation in Poland to the Supreme Allied Council here he quote took the opportunity to outline Poland 's claims or at least the ones he supported he was not he said going to claim everything Poland once possessed parts of Lithuania and the Ukraine no longer had a Polish character Poland was however quite willing to help them out since they were a long way from being able to manage their own Affairs on the other hand Poland should take possession of the eastern part of Germany true much of this land had never been polish but there was a great many polls living there far more than the German statistics indicated he said these polls were some of the most educ ated and highly cultured of the nation with a strong sense of nationality and Men of progressive ideas even the local Germans looked up to them Poland also needed the coold fields of cesia and tessin Lloyd George listened with obvious impatience and Wilson studied the paintings on the walls end quote McMillan goes on to explain the perception the Allies had of the polls at length quote the polls had a knack for irritating even their friends in Paris people joked that when an Englishman wrote a book on the elephant he dealt with its habitat and how to hunt it a German wrote a treaties on its biology but the poll started with the elephant is a Polish question even the French were alarmed by the extent of Polish demands in Russia which after all might be an ally one day the British and the Americans complained about the Rival delegations polish actions on the ground also raised suspicions the polls were using said Bal for the interval between the cessation of War and the decisions of the peace Congress to make good their claims to districts outside Russian Poland to which in many cases they had little right although in others their claims were amply Justified Wilson agreed moreover the Romanians the serbs and the hungarians were doing exactly the same thing pilsudski was moving troops into German territory around pen North into Lithuania and South into gesia the difficulty was how to stop him the Allies could withhold supplies but they had not sent much yet anyway they could threaten but they had very little real power in the center of Europe indeed they had been obliged to keep German troops in place along the front Frontier with Russia they also hesitated to come down too hard on the polls as Wilson said in May when the Council of four was considering yet again ways of getting the Polish Army to stop attacking the ukrainians quote if padki fails and we cut off Food Supplies to Poland won't Poland herself become Bolshevik pad's government is like a dyke against disorder and perhaps the only one possible if the Dyke went who could tell how far west the bevic current might flow end quote this dilemma pretty much explains why the Allies did nothing to stop the polls the Brits couldn't care less about polls or Poland but they did care about the spread of Communism ironically one of the most anti-communist Brits at the time was Winston Churchill his blood lust and warmongering was a main stay in his career from galipoli to Dresden but even now at the end of the world war he was begging for a showdown with Lenin's Soviet Union with this issue in mind as well as the sheer confusion of central European ethnic boundaries the Allies simply threw their hands up and let the polls get on with the madness in the east they would simply deal with the German issue it was decided that ethnic lines must come first but even here there was some confusion as well as the ethnic lines other matters were taken into consideration including defensible borders railway lines and most importantly access to the Baltic in the end the expert Commission in Versa decided that 95% German Danzig should be handed over to the polls and East Prussia should be cut off from the rest of Germany in the end only two areas were allowed to pleite one was allenstein a Protestant polish area in East Prussia they voted 363,000 to 8,000 in favor to remain with Germany in the end over 2 million Germans were to end up in Poland when Lloyd George saw this suggestion he said quote was it necessary to assign So Much German territory together with the port of Danzig end quot McMillan writes of his thoughts he noticed that there was a district called Marian Vera about 50 m south of Danzig AB butting East Prussia which had a clear German majority surely it's inhabitant should be allowed to vote on the future the proposed Corridor was not fair he went on worse it was dangerous Germany might well decide not to sign such a treaty he feared that this demand added to many others which would have to be made on Germany would produce deplorable results on German public opinion the Allies should not run the risk of driving the country to such desperation that no government would dare to sign the terms would they not creating fresh Elsas Lin and the seeds of future Wars by leaving large numbers of Germans in Poland the polls he added unkindly did not have a high reputation as administrators the commission was told to reconsider its report end quote demovsky in France was sing and he called Lloyd George a quote agent of the Jews which didn't really make sense as Poland had the highest Jewish population by a landslide in Europe he went on to say that the British prime minister was the tool of sinister capitalist forces who were opposed to a strong Poland the reality was that Lloyd George could see the reality which the polls could not in their current Euphoria they were making a mountain of enemies they had attacked almost all of their neighbors already and now this treaty would undoubtedly enrage the Germans beyond belief he felt the Polish state would not survive he said in March quote my conclusion is that we must not create a Poland alienated from the time of its Birth by an unforgettable quarrel from its most civilized neighbor end qu Clement so replied to him let the Germans complain we remember the children whipped for having prayed to God in Polish peasants expropriated driven from their lands to make room for occupants of the German race end quote Wilson entered the conversation fairly neutral but he gradually began to see Lloyd George's Viewpoint as the far more logical one after the conversation the two fobbed off clemento and came to an agreement in a secret meeting between the two of them Wilson said that if he gave Danzig directly to the polls he would have to give fum to the Italians which he certainly didn't want the two came up with a compromise allenstein would be allowed as pleite like in the original plan and officially Danzig would be a free City not directly annexed by Poland for appearance's sake in reality the polls control danzig's foreign policy defense Customs Railway and postal services so how free really was it as a consolation to the Germans Marian Vera did indeed get his pleite to thanks purely to Lloyd George and they voted 93% in favor of remaining with Germany in order to persuade Clement so a week later they really had to stretch the truth McMillan writes quote on April the 1st they persuaded a reluctant Clemen Zo to agree Lloyd George was reassuring as danzig's economic ties with Poland strengthened its inhabitants would turn like sunflowers towards Warsaw in the same way he expected as the inhabitants of the Zar would eventually realize that their true interests lay with France and not Germany the polls were enraged when they heard this news Danzig is indispensable to Poland said padusi which cannot breathe without its window on the sea according to Clement so who saw him privately he wept yes said Wilson unsympathetically but you must take account of his sensitive ity which is very Lively the fact that our Troublesome friend the poles as Wilson described them were continuing to fight around lav despite repeated calls from Paris for a ceasefire did not help Poland's cause end quote as the polls continued to be a menace in the East Lloyd George punished them in the West in the silesian crisis he thoroughly backed the German cause and once again the Germans could solely thank him for what they managed to hold on to from that situation he claimed as did the Germans that without upper cesia they would simply not have enough coal to support themselves and fulfill their treaty obligations others apart from Lloyd George 2 had serious reservations about giving the polls So Much German territory the famous South African Yan smudz was even harsher quote Poland was a historic failure and always would be a failure and in this treaty we were trying to reverse the verdict of History end quote he also said privately that putting Germans under polish rule was as bad as handing them over to a lot of kafers a derogatory South African term for the blacks there he also said quote you may strip Germany of her colonies reduce her armaments to a mere police force and her Navy to that of a fifth rate power all the same in the end if she feels that she has been unjustly treated in the piece of 1919 she will find means of exacting retribution from her conquerors end quotee we cannot destroy Germany without destroying Europe we cannot save Europe without the cooperation of Germany end quotee under this treaty Europe will know no peace end quote other more moderate men like balfor agree that there must be more pites especially in Upper cesia the polls protested to no end they knew full well they would lose in most cases Lloyd George replied sharply to prime minister padki quote don't forget your Liberty was paid for with the blood of other peoples and truly if Poland in these circumstances should revolt against our decisions she would be something quite other than we had hoped end quote in the end the pites were held in cesia and Danzig did end up as a free City these tiny concessions however which were mostly just wrapped up to a appear better to the Germans didn't cut it in Silesia the mines were handed over to the poles even though the Germans retained the majority of the territory on paper and in Danzig the Germans knew full well how free this free city was the treaty was signed but the trouble had only just begun even Poland itself couldn't remain stable on top of this they made themselves pretty much no friends During the interwall period the polls hounded their own prime minister for not getting them everything they wanted and consistently attacked his wife in particular at the end of 1919 padki resigned as prime minister in disgust and he never lived in Poland again in 1926 pilsudski seized power in a military coup and he ran Poland along military lines until his death in 1935 Poland by this point was a mess of poles lithuanians Jews Germans B Russians ukrainians Czechs and slovakians pilsudski did his best to make sure the Jews in particular all three million of them would come to no harm as they were severely detested perhaps even more so than they were in Germany with his death however ethnic tensions boiled over it was during this quiet period that Poland almost invaded Germany almost immediately after Hitler came to power the world's Jews rose up to stop him from the US to China to South Africa to Lithuania almost every Jew was United in their opposition against Adolf Hitler only a very small group of zionists Saw another route in the early days of 1933 these Zion s could barely get their voices heard am miss the near unanimous anti-hitler movement their plan was to use the German Jews Misfortune as a way of making them move to Palestine usually those seeking to migrate were Eastern Jews who were looked down upon by the more integrated Western Jews especially those in Germany it was these German Jews that the zionists wanted to build their new homeland in Palestine ironically these goals placed the national socialists and the leading zionists in the same boat as they both attempted to navigate the insane tension of 193 33 obviously in 1933 there was no Israel the Jews had no Homeland there was only one way that they could have any impact on Hitler and that was via trade and finance spontaneous boycott movements sprung up all over the world which slowly began to unite in America especially the anti-hitler movement was gigantic in big cities most prominently New York the leading members of the boycott there tried to influence us policy and gained access to the president's ear however they could their goal was an official US boycott British Jews did the same many of these boycotts became very close to becoming official policy in each country but none quite managed to do the trick only Latvia banned these movements in their own Nation however even though there was no official policy supporting the boycotts individual government members Jewish or non-jewish ended up joining the cause and soon it could be classified as Jewish Le but not just a Jewish movement anymore Millions were whipped up by anti-german Propaganda whether it was the true stuff or the false stuff that was being pumped out of the radio television and newspapers alike at a million ion miles hour all over the world taking a pro-nazi stance at this stage would make you look like a lunatic against this frenzy of hate millions of all kinds of ethnicities ended up boycotting to crush Hitler and starve the import Reliance Germany that winter it was in this atmosphere that the Polish and CCH governments got some bright and lofty ideas with the entire world against Germany they could essentially do whatever they liked and no one would stop them the Germans strangled by the visai treaty could not hope to possibly oppose them with their tiny Army all of the following quotes are from Edwin Black's book the transfer agreement quote when the Nazis Consolidated power in early March polish officials openly reinforced troop strength along the Polish Corridor this was in response to the fur's belly Coast threats to seize the visai created territorial bridge in late March the anti-nazi boycott helped push Poland from a heightened defensive posture to a near hysterical Readiness to invade Germany on April the 7th Von nura shaed and other key officials briefed Hitler about the reiches perilous condition in the wake of the accelerating anti-nazi backlash emphasizing that various neighbors were actively contemplating a preventative war with Germany while she was still weak Von nura told Hitler the gravity of the dangers threatening us should not be underestimated foremost among the potential Invaders was Poland determined to preempt any territorial compromise other neighbors in the East Romania Yugoslavia Hungary Czechoslovakia would have to be kept on friendly terms principally through trade to preclude any anti-german Alliance with Poland end quote other ministers reminded Hitler of what happened in 1923 when the Germans couldn't quite make a Timber delivery as part of the Versa treaty the French knowing that Germans could not possibly oppose them simply occupied the RAR Germany's industrial Heartland worst of all they used Colonial troops who went on a spree of sexual crimes against the local population Germans could only watch on helplessly as their women were treated in this manner in 1932 Chancellor Bruning told a newspaper that Germany would consider stopping all reparations and the French immediately mobilized for an invasion now it seem that the French were getting ideas once again Edwin black continues on to write quote the situation deteriorated rapidly on April the 12th German ambassador mki in Warsaw reported that the anti-nazi boycott was inciting the Polish people and their leaders to military edginess everywhere the slogan is destruction of everything in Poland which is still German and boycott of everything which comes from Germany wrote a distress Moi everywhere Straw Men Hitler were being burned he added that the Polish government's open support for the boycott against German Goods as legitimate and useful was incontestable moreover reported mki the Polish foreign minister had warned him that any retaliation against polish Jews or any others of Polish extraction living in Germany would be met with dangerous polish counter measures the consequences of which were unforeseeable on April the 22nd German ambassador to Italy rri Von Hassel reported worst news from Rome in a one-sentence telegram Hassel relayed highly reliable information from circles close to Czech president Thomas maseri that Prague was planning to support polish intentions of preventative military action at the German eastern border no longer confined to preemptively occupying demilitarized zones in the Polish Corridor Poland's military threat now included an actual invasion of Germany proper and as feared Czechoslovakia was primed to join her Von nura passed hustle telegram directly to president Von Hindenberg end quote since war was inevitable polish leaders were convinced that they should conquer the East Prussian region of Germany at once while Germany was still weak and unarmed the arguments against such a preemptive Invasion were Poland's exaggerated fears of non-existent German weapon stop piling the financial cost and Poland's doubts about her own military capability in balancing the pros and cons mulki concluded that the chances of an invasion were even in an attached memo mulki listed proof that Poland was readying should the decision to invade be affirmed Poland's War Industry had increased production 100% since Hitler took office placing large orders for airplane engines Munitions field kitchens and the other Staples of War polish representatives were even then in France purchasing heavy artillery and anti-aircraft guns Reserve officers had been called up and the troops due to be discharged had been kept on for additional months of Duty in an ominous show of force the government had ordered the rapid deployment of 30,000 soldiers and artillery at vilner just the day before end quote in Czechoslovakia the story was much the same quote on April 25th at 12 45 p.m. German ambassador Volta Kosh in Czechoslovakia dispatched an urgent telegram to Berlin there is no doubt that a preventative war is being carefully considered at the Prague castle where the Freds of all International plots against Germany come together recently Master spoke of War as a matter of course I am convinced that Poland's influence here is constantly pressing for a preventative war and that the Czechs have the intention to intervene actively end quote 3 hours after the telegram was received Hitler called an emergency meeting with his entire cabinet they knew how serious the threat was Edwin black who is Jewish himself I must add before this concludes quote the Jewish question and the anti-nazi boycott were a common aggravating factor in Germany's intensifying economic and Military problems polish Jews had successfully inflamed Poland from defensive concern to war hysteria through their violent anti-german boycott and protest movement German officials were in fact astonished that the historically anti-semitic Polish people would allow Jewish persecution in Germany to become a pre text for war but it was happening the anti-nazi movement in Czechoslovakia was encouraging maser's government to join the opportunity masarik believed anti-Semitism to be an evil unacceptable to his Christianity the international boycott was frustrating every Reich effort to earn the foreign exchange needed to keep France at Bay events were fitting into the Nazi conception of War a cataclysmic conflict caused by Jews through economic and propaganda means but Germany simply was not ready end quote things were on a Razor's Edge Hitler's Germany had a a very real possibility of being crushed in its infancy the fate of Germany wasn't in Hitler's hands now it was up to World opinion and how long they could maintain their current feelings as we know news Cycles don't tend to last very long one week someone will care passionately about a topic and then the next they won't care luckily for Adolf Hitler this is kind of what happened the leadership of the various major boycotts were caught in their own selfish power struggles and in the end they were fighting each other more than they were fighting Hitler Egos and money got in the way and this gave time for the zionists to make their move after months of negotiation the German Reich and a group of zionists made a historic deal which would see large numbers of Jews move from Germany to Palestine their assets would be transferred with them in an extremely complicated deal involving German Goods which would fix Germany's current export problems in the end the deal killed the boycotts and they were never the same again the hype died with the boycotts the hype killed the justification to invade pilsudski was furious at the lack of clear support he received received from the west and in the end a non-aggression pact was signed with Hitler instead if France had shown the slightest interest in pilsudski's scheme then they would have marched right to Berlin and the Germans had no way to stop this Hitler for his part had always respected and admired pilsudski and was happy this issue was out of the way the zionists got their part of the deal and got thousands of Highly skilled German Jews who became the backbone of the future state of Israel Zionism had perhaps saved Germany and Germany lived to see another day the second world war in the history books began when Germany invaded Poland but the reality is this alone isn't a World War World War II actually began 2 days later on the 3rd of September when the British joined the war this was the one thing Hitler had wanted to avoid even before Poland became a factor right from day one Hitler wanted peace friendship and alliance with the British Empire there was no State he admired more on planet Earth the story of World War II cannot be told without telling the story of Hitler and the British Empire within that Empire he had many like-minded Brits The Daily Express argued that Hitler wanted Armament parity for Germany whilst the French wanted superiority many powerful Brits urged Common Sense on the other side there was men like Churchill who wanted war with Germany at any cost his motives would become apparent later there was an internal battle within London for the future of the British Empire they just didn't know it yet friendship or hostility with Germany hung in the balance the decision was mostly out of Hitler's hands but he tried his best to make the British see his idea of sense in January 1934 he made a Goodwill gesture to the British by returning seven Drums of the Gordon Highlanders which the Germans had captured in the Great War in 1935 Hitler signed the Anglo German Naval agreement which imposed restrictions on himself but not on the British Hitler gave an interview after coming to power with a Daily Mail quote on August the 4th 1914 I was was very distressed that the two great Germanic peoples who had lived at peace with one another throughout all the disputes and fluctuations in human history for so many centuries were drawn into war I would be pleased if this unfortunate atmosphere would finally come to an end and the two related Nations could ReDiscover their old friendship the assertion that the German people are enthusiastically preparing for war is for us a simply incomprehensible misinterpretation of the German Revolution we leaders of the German Nation had almost without exception served as Frontline soldiers I would like to see the Frontline soldier who wants to prepare for another war end quote back in Britain though the British had their age-old policy of the balance of power to keep up this policy dictated that they would always side with the underdog on the continent in order to prevent One Nation from becoming too powerful Hitler's Germany was on the rise and this would make them an antagonist in the centuries old policy which Britain rarely if ever deferred from there was other concerns too at the top of British Finance Germany's economic Revival created competition for the British abroad Hitler promoted utari whilst the British promoted free trade the German policy could exist on its own but the British relied on other nations also being open to free trade this caused an economic Rift between the two apart from this there was the social aspect the class system in Britain is ruthless and unlike anything else on Earth in these days it was even more pronounced and it was a very clear ruling middle and lower class this system had nothing to do with Merit and everything to do with your family name in Germany things were quite the opposite before the Great War Germany was far closer to Britain's way of doing things but the Brits had beaten Germany and the Kaiser was carted off into Exile his system went with him chaos reigned until Hitler brought in something new this something new was a social system based not on your family name but on your merits Germans at least on paper were all equal it was all about the Greater German hle not this or that little family and their fortunes and family estates the system wasn't perfect and there was bad corrupt apples guring being a shining example with his extravagance but nonetheless the idea was there this system threatened the Brits to no end the national socialists spent heavily on improving the lot of the average German worker every Factory had to abide by strict standards and certain facilities had to be provided to workers if they wanted to keep their business running even little things like window lighting and pretty Gardens were enforced to make the working life for the average G and more bearable when they had time off there was even state sponsored holidays abroad this kind of thing would filled the snobby British aristocracy with horror many took their stand on this issue alone this ideology would not be allowed to spread one German journalist wrote on the subject of the state sponsored holiday cruises quote just when the vacation cruises were about to begin a representative of the British conso general arrived at the Hamburg Office of the strength through Joy program he asked whether there was any plans to have German Workers vacation ships put in at English ports he was instructed to advise us that the British government regards putting in at British Harbors or even cruising within sight of the English Coast unwelcome end quote in 1936 Hitler realized that the relationship between the two countries simply wasn't improving and appointed ribbon trop as the ambassador to Britain to try to patch things up the two he placed the biggest blame on for this was Anthony Eden and Winston Churchill the truth was that both men were on payroll from a group called the focus figures such as Sir Henry stosh and Robert Wally Cohen put up millions of pounds to top of the Hitler regime and their main strategy was simply paying off British politicians the full list isn't even known today but it was perhaps over a dozen different government officials the man they chose to lead the charge was Winston Churchill his blood lust had always been insatiable he cared about no one but himself and his place in history no matter how many lives it cost now he was a bankrupt politician in the wilderness in 1938 Churchill put his country estate up on the housing market it was all he had left to pay off his debts stosh stepped in and paid off every penny in return Church would have to aim his crosshairs firmly at Germany and only Germany eventually this Click Of War provocators would weave a web all over Europe the checks most of all were in deep with them during the Munich crisis the Benz government paid 2 million to the focus in return they would try their best to top with the chamberling government and bring in the war party led by Churchill whilst the checks stooled for time Hitler caught wind of this move and delivered the information directly to Chamberlain to show him what was going on behind his back Chamberlain was livid he knew full well what kind of man churcher was but the was a step too far the issue was however that there was nothing Chamberlain could do and all he did do is bitterly complain to his sister and others about Churchill the Prime Minister who didn't know yet that he was dying of cancer was simply too weak to stand up to Churchill stosh and the warmongers in 1938 the warmongers would fail but in 1939 they had infiltrated both the government and public opinion to such a degree that peace never stood a chance in early 1937 Great Britain launched a massive reement program that the Hitlers the program would triple their military capabilities during the middle of the year however a miracle seemed to occur Neville Chamberlain came to power if there was one man on planet Earth who genuinely wanted peace it was Mr Chamberlain he was a man of deep Christian values amidst the Sea of snobby greedy Aristocrats and snakes Chamberlain detested War he lived through the mess of the Great War where his cousin died and didn't wish to send another generation off to die for someone else's problems he would do his best to find an amicable solution in 1937 and 38 Chamberlain would be dead set on his mission he was constantly racked by doubt but at this time he was strong enough to push on in a sea of hate paid warmongers and anger he stood up to make a last bid for peace regardless of the detractors at home like Churchill throwing dirt on him and his name whenever he tried Chamberlain was so honest about his mission that at first Hitler assumed he was like every other politician and was simply playing a game in November 1937 Hitler once more tried to lower the tempo by meeting with Lord Halifax and he told the German newspapers to not respond to their provocative English counterparts before this the situation had developed into a mudslinging contest back and forth and Hitler's own newspapers were causing trouble for his mission of Peace Halifax however was all over the place at the meeting he came off like an idiot he brought up all the usual points for the British papers he told Hitler that the National Socialist antagonism towards the church was wrong Hitler replied that the Communists were far worse yet England never objected Hitler's movement was pro-christian and so was Hitler yet they had trouble with the church itself not the religion Stalin Soviet Union actively persecuted Christians Halifax saw the logic and changed the topic next he moved on to Czechoslovakia Danzig and Austria Halifax was asked why this had anything to do with England he then continued to insist that these issues could be solved peacefully Hitler said that he never had any intention of doing otherwise Hitler said that England should take a neutral stance on European issues rather than quote creating difficulties for no reason at all Beyond pure malice end quote Halifax quickly moved on once more this time to Germany's Colonial Ambitions Hitler said that he would like Germany's colonies back one day which were now mostly all part of the British Empire and certainly not a vital part of the Empire at that Halifax tried offering him some of Portugal's colonies in return and as if that would be suitable he did the same thing with Belgium Hitler could barely believe what he was hearing as the Brits tried offering him up other nations territory it was clear the Brits were living on a different planet than he Halifax went home without anything much being achieved later it would come out that Halifax was one of the warmongers too in 1938 he openly stated his ultimate aim the minutes of a 25th of September 1938 cabinet session read that Halifax quote felt some uncertainty about the ultimate end which he wished to see accomplished namely the destruction of Nazism and followed up that if Hitler were quote driven to war the result might be to help bring down the Nazi regime end quote even Britain's dominions found her actions peculiar Jean smutz said that it was time to to stop treating Germany quote like a pariah in Europe end quot unanimously Canada South Africa Australia and New Zealand all agreed that the maritime powers like Japan and Italy were far bigger threats to Britain's Empire they told Chamberlain that the Brits couldn't count on Military Support if she pursued an armed conflict for no reason in Europe again Winston churcher was churning out belligerent War propaganda both before during and after the crisis on the 9th of May 1938 the New York Times reported on a speech by Church quot Churchill proposes encircling Germany end it was true and the German press immediately picked up on it and reported without a two front war against Germany a war is not winnable for England end quote in the first war this was the case and it was even more true Now France was a shell of its former self and even in the first war the Germans had almost marched right to Paris at the start Churchill knew full well what it would take to take down Germany War scares magically popped up out of nowhere between the Munich crisis and the daning crisis of the the following year the Church of cleek did all they could to push public opinion towards war in 1938 Chamberlain returned home like a Conquering Hero except instead of bringing home his enemies in a cage he brought home peace for a generation or at least that's what the public thought and hoped Chamberlain's fight was seen as the good fight why die for a belligerent Czech state that the Brits knew barely anything about in 1939 however things would be different Chamberlain was dying he was weak his doubts would swallow him up whole church and his warmongers trampled all over him on the sixth anniversary of his rise to power the 30th of January 1939 Hitler was singing the same tune despite the difficulties he made a national broadcast in which he said quote what conflicts of interest exist between England and Germany I have declared more often than necessary that there is no German and especially no National Socialist who even in his thoughts wants to create difficulties for the English World Empire it would be a blessing for the whole world if these two peoples could cooperate in full confidence with one another end quote the English were living on a different planet entirely Richard Tor writes in his book Hitler's Revolution quote the cabinet met on February the 1st 1939 Chamberlain stirred Switzerland into the pot remarking that a German invasion there would be clear evidence of an attempt to dominate Europe by force the cabinet discussed planning a war against Germany and Italy even though the two countries were not yet allies topics included involving the Dutch and Belgian General staffs in Joint Defense talks kadigan summarized in the meeting's minutes I agree that in the event of a German invasion of Holland resisted by the Dutch we should go to war with Germany there could appear some doubt about the position in the event the Dutch not resisting for my part I should say that in this case too we should go to war with Germany the attitude of the threatened Nation apparently played no role decisive was the fact that the foreign policy committee defined German military control over a Holland as a Peril to England security Kirk Patrick's Holland scare did not alarm the Dutch and Belgian governments Holland's foreign minister noted no German troop movements near the frontier his Belgian colleague declined London's offer for military talks replying that he cannot believe the Germans intended to invade Holland end quote the crisis was of course completely made up if the Brits even remotely researched the man who was in their minds their opponent then they would know he had absolutely no designs on Western Europe Hitler had in fact written off any Western Adventures over a decade ago and he reaffirmed this fact repeatedly what on Earth would Hitler have to gain in Holland it showed a sort of typically British naive where no one taking charge really took the time to actually look into who they were fighting everything was framed as good versus evil light versus dark Hitler was a mad man why bother understanding him they reasoned the Brits immediately ramped up their air defenses after this they genuinely believed the lies and Insanity Before Their Eyes Eastern Europe however wasn't quite on the table yet Britain stuck to their policy of avoiding conflict there in March however that would change with an even more ridiculous crisis tor writes of the Romanian War Scare at length quote in March Berlin negotiated a commercial agreement with Bucharest in exchange for favorable options to purchase grain and oil the Germans proposed sending Engineers to Romania to organize The Agrarian economy and build modern refineries to boost oil production the arrangement was advantageous to both countries it corresponded to Hitler's program to release Germany from dependency on overseas markets he himself stated I don't want free trade open borders that all sounds one ful but we've had it if everything depends on the Queen of the Waves if we're subject to a blockade then it is my duty to create the prerequisites for my people to provide their nourishment that's the real issue Chamberlain's cabinet discussed developments in Bucharest at the session on March the 18th 1939 the Prime Minister described Germany's economic talks as a threat to Romanian independence with military advisers present the cabinet speculated that German domination of Romanian trade would augment the reich's political influence in the Balkans this could spread to Greece and turkey endangering Britain's position in the Eastern Mediterranean and near East under these circumstances the cabinet had to decide whether Germany's economic advantages from the trade agreement with Bucharest warrant the need for Britain to take action the a de moir prepared for the meeting by the minister for coordination and defense stated that England's only recourse was to start a war in the west the cabinet weighed armed aggression as an option to block a harmless economic compact between two European states end quote at around the same time Virgil TOA a Romanian Diplomat in London suddenly rushed around like a headless chicken screaming that a German invasion of his country was imminent TOA said that Germany had issued an ultimatum to the Romanians that if Romania did not hand over complete control of Romania's Agriculture and Industry then they would invade there was no basis for this claim and Germany was 300 miles from Romania they didn't even remotely have a common border how Germany with invade was not considered the British Ambassador in Bucharest Reginald hore said that quote there was not a word word of Truth in it the Romanian foreign minister said that talks with Germany were quote on completely normal lines as between equals end quot regardless of all this the Brits believed him the London times and Daily Telegraph began to pump out stories talking of an imminent German Invasion evil Germany was about to steamroll neutral Romania on the 18th of March Chamberlain read out Hall's Telegram in that day's cabinet session despite the contents of this report the PM said that Romania was quote most probably the next victim of a German aggression end quot the permanent under Secretary of the foreign office Alexander kadigan said that TOA probably collaborated with advisers in the British foreign office to ensure that Panic was artificially raised end quot this could very well have been a man on the payroll of the focus like Churchill on the same week as the Romanian War scare there was another actual event but for this the British didn't seem to care British policy made no sense Czechoslovakia was about to implode as Czechs and slovaks reached the point of no return hasher signed over country to Hitler and the Czech side became a protectorate of Germany while Slovakia became an independent nation although closely linked to Germany on the 15th of March Halifax said the ribbon drop quote his Majesty's government has no desire to interfere in a matter with which other governments may be more directly concerned end quote in the cabinet session that day ministers agreed that quote this renewed Rift between the Czechs and the slovaks showed that we nearly went to war last Autumn on behalf of a state which was not viable end quote just days later however Halifax said that the cause of czechoslovakia's collapse was purely due to quote German military action end quot he also condemned the new Czech protectorate as quote devoid of any basis of legality end quot yet the bank of England remitted £6 million pound in Czech gold reserves to the German Administration during the cabinet session of March the 18th Tido writes what happened quote Chamberlain's ministers agreed that it would not be possible to protect Romania without an ally in the East with the checks neutralized the Prime Minister saw Poland as the key key to the situation he proposed asking the polls whether they were prepared to join ranks with the countries threatened by German aggression the minutes of the meeting 2 Days Later reveal the extent of the cabinet's trifling concern for Polish Independence the real issue was if Germany showed signs that she intended to proceed with her March for world domination we must take steps to stop her by attacking on two fronts we should attack Germany not in order to save a particular victim but in order to pull down the bully end quote on the 24th of March Halifax told the US ambassador Joseph Kennedy that he quote felt the inevitability of War sooner or later should be met right now end quot on the 24th of April the English and French General staffs met for a military conference in London here they debated quote Anglo French military cooperation in North Africa and Far Eastern colonies along sea lanes and in jalta Singapore and other strong points against Germany Italy and Japan the publicly announced purpose of the conference the defense of Poland was not discussed for the English it was a matter of preparing a global confrontation against commercial Rivals end quote there was many MPS who in every session would repeatedly ask what on Earth the government was doing frequent requests were made to actually just discuss things with Hitler to see what was going on but every time they were shot down for example Chamberlain once replied quote I have nothing to add and on another occasion on the 31st of March qu no negotiations are at present contemplated with the German government end quot Hitler meanwhile was begging to talk to the British government when the Brits made their promises to Poland the furer tried to talk directly to the English he knew that the new polish attitude was entirely reliant on the Brits Richard tidor writes quote Halifax received an embassy report on April the 23rd that Hitler wish to meet with an especially prominent British personality fluent in German for a man-to-man conversation to reach an understanding with England two weeks later Sir Francis freemantle a renowned physician and conservative MP unaware of Hitler's request suggested sending the former prime minister Stanley Baldwin to meet with Hitler Halifax replied to freem mantle at the moment unfortunately Hitler shows no disposition to receive an Englishman or even to discuss outstanding questions with us this was a plain lie end quote the Brits had fallen so far into the narrative that Hitler wanted to conquer the world that they had decided they should go to war for any reason at all real or invented and that they should not negotiate under any circumstances the world would never be the same again [Music] again over the last two chapters I've attempted to display the relationship between Germany and the British Empire or perhaps rather Hitler and the British Empire the relationship was very one-sided and a very frustrating one at that for Hitler but in the end this story isn't entirely about Hitler's love for the British but it's about the question of Danzig within which Germany and Britain were both involved from this point of the video onwards I will simply recount events as they occurred ever since Bai split J ger and two East Prussia had been in terminal decline there was an endless brain drain from east to west and the entire area was suffering as a result and could barely get off its feet all this came down to was the issue of the Polish Corridor East Prussia was as German as it gets but with how isolated they had become it was simply easier to just make a life in any other area of Germany that wasn't split off Hitler had attempted measures to reverse this phenomenon But ultimately until some kind of agreement was reached with the polls it was never going to work out this gave Hitler it another reason to open up the question of Danzig and the corridor the issue of Danzig itself had never really been forgiven every German government during the inter War period all across the political Spectrum felt immense anger about its loss and wished deeply for its return polish German relations could never quite get off the ground the antagonism would always be there and it was exactly as Lloyd George had said Thea had created an unsolvable issue Hitler swore from the moment he came to office that one day Danzig would be reunited with the Reich he would do anything to achieve it he called it the nurburg of the north he wore the Danzig emblem on his cuff Lings Danzig was the very symbol of what the Germans viewed as the unjust Treaty of asai the Germans in Danzig themselves were perhaps the most nationalistic Germans that existed in the world they were absolutely begging to be reunited with Germany meanwhile the Germans themselves within Poland not Danzig were being treated horrendously all 1.5 million of them were clamoring for a return home and tensions were bitter in late 1938 Hitler considered it high time that he make his move and reach out to hton to Poland before the conclusion of the Czech crisis in 1938 ruent trop offered the polls carpi and Ukraine in exchange for Danzig this region was highly coveted by the poles and by this time they created their own port nearby anyway they could survive without Danzig on top of this ribbon trop said that the poles could keep control of the economic and Railway facilities in Danzig Germany just wanted Danzig on paper as well as a quote extra territorial Motor Road and Railway line to connect the two halves of Germany if the polls would accept such a deal then ribbon trop told Ambassador lipsky that the two states could pursue a quote joint policy towards Russia on the basis of The anti-common Pact Hitler was offering the polls and alliance against Russia Hitler didn't share the Prussian bias against the polls for centuries the Protestant prussians and the Catholic polls had buttered heads this had nothing to do with Hitler from extremely Catholic Austria he respected pilsudski for stopping the Bolshevik push westwards and had nothing against his Eastern neighbor at least not yet the PO detested the Russians even more than the Germans did if the old rivalry could be put aside then they would be the most natural allies on Earth Patrick JB Canan writes in his book Hitler Churchill and the unnecessary War quote the role he had in mind for Poland was that of partner in his new order in Europe Italy and eventually Hungary and Romania would accept this role to Hitler's astonishment Poland refused end quote Hitler was bewildered it was like the Britain issue all over again whilst Hitler saw Europe as it was the polls lived in another realm much as the Brits did but in a different way the Poes were still high of the defeat they had inflicted on Russia nearly two decades ago they considered themselves a great power no one else did ajp Taylor wrote in the origins of the second world war quote they forget that they had gained their independence in 1918 only because both Russia and Germany had been defeated now they had to choose between Russia and Germany they chose neither only Danzig prevented cooperation between Germany and Poland for this reason Hitler wanted to get it out of the way for precisely the same reason Beck kept it that way it did not cross his mind that this might cause a fatal breach end quote Buchanan continues on to describe the general situation from all sides at least when everyone was thinking clearly quote indeed of all the German claims to Lost lands the claim to Danzig was strongest it had always been a German City its population was 95% German any pbde would have produced a 90% vote to return to the Fatherland and Britain had no objection to danzig's return as long as it came about peacefully through negotiation not violently through military force on Danzig the basic British and German positions were almost identical both wanted its peaceful return to Germany but the polls adamantly refused to negotiate end quote the issue was put to one side after this until the following year in January Hitler tried again polish foreign minister Beck was invited to the berhoff Beck was a strange man Poland at this time was a militaristic state led by a click of puffed up Army types high on their own egos logic was hard to come by Beck in particular was far from trusted William Manchester wrote quote no one questioned Joseph Beck's ability his remarkable diplomatic skills had led to his appointment at the age of 38 as Poland's foreign minister respected for his intellect and Powerful will he was also distrusted even detested for his duplicity dishonesty and in his private life depravity in Rome where he had spent an extended visit come vacation the princess of pedmont had said of him that he had the sort of face you might see in a French newspaper as that of a ravisher of little girls end quot and Richard oy wrote quote Poland was almost certainly the most disliked and her foreign minister the most distrusted Poland's pursuit of an independent line left her bereft of any close friends by the end of 1938 the Western Powers saw Poland as a greedy revisionist power illiberal anti-Semitic Pro German Beck was a menace arrogant and treacherous end quote this time at the burkoff Hitler had a new offer he explained once more that Danzig could remain under polish control and he made sure to stress that a connection with East Prussia was quote as vital as a matter for the Reich as to connection with the seawalls for Poland end quote ribbon trop and Hitler tried to sweeten the deal from last time and they hinted incredibly strongly that polish concessions over Danzig could be compensated at Slovak 's expense Beck refused so Hitler tried to sweeten the deal even more Poland was offered permanent control of the corridor and Hitler offer a guarantee of Poland's borders if the poles would let the Germans construct a very thin Rail and Road Route across the corridor Beck once again refused the issue was put on ice again during the impending second Czech crisis and it was this crisis which changed a lot of mindes in Britain the German occupation of bohemia and Moravia was hardly black and white hasher had in fact asked Hitler to step in and protect his country from the impending disaster that was inevitable at this point the state simply wasn't functioning at the end of the day however Hitler had invaded and occupied a foreign country and to Outsiders this was horrifying regardless of the context Hitler's upbringing helped him with the Polish issue but hampered him with the Czech one Czechs were absolutely detested in Austria Hungary and Hitler was no different when the checks had their own state it was almost criminally belligerent against Germany and Hitler as a result relished the opportunity to smash the checks in the end he would never get the satisfaction but he did occupy them and this must have pleased him to no end despite this hatred he was happy to place his feelings to one side and he did deeply respect and admire the Czechs new leader hasher who did actually try to turn around the anti-german sentiment back in Britain however things were reaching a point of no return MP Harold Nicholson wrote in his diary that the quote feeling in the lobbies is that Chamberlain would either have to go or completely reverse his policy unless in his speech tonight he admits that he was wrong they feel that resignation is the only alternative all the tadpoles are beginning to swim into the other Camp end quote the other Camp was Churchill and the paid warmongers Hitler couldn't have given them a better opportunity and he had in fact given them something real for once around the same time as this the Romanian War scare happened and with it Eastern Europe was opened up to British intervention anyone hoping to oppose this policy with the current feeling in Parliament would have been been deemed insane Chamberlain now dying was racked by doubt he didn't know what to do it didn't matter though as around now it was as if Halifax took charge the same Halifax who had openly stated that he wanted war with Germany on any pretext Buchanan wrote quote Halifax now began to take control of British policy towards the Reich he informed the Prime Minister that his speech of March the 15th would no longer do end quote the very next day the Romanian War scare happened Chamberlain was finished to the Romanian who ran around like a headless chicken screaming about war was actually the one who suggested that Poland might join as a third Ally Halifax found this proposal appealing within a week the Brits were reaching out to France Russia and Poland to act together against German aggression the four of them were able to agree quote immediately to consult together as to what steps should be taken to offer joint resistance to any action which constitutes a threat to the political independence of any European State end quote the polls torpedoed this offer polish Marshal Smiggle Reeds one of the click running the country said quote with the Germans we risk losing our Liberty with the Russians we lose our soul end quote the poles chose to S with neither the Germans nor the Russians they chose the third option the third option was a thousand miles away on an island and couldn't care less about poles or Poland on the 22nd of March things heated up even more when Lithuania agreed to hand over the German city of meml to Germany which they had seized almost two decades prior on the 25th the Polish partially mobilized their army Hitler was taken back and simply couldn't understand what on Earth the poles were doing on the same day Hitler had taken the opposite step Hitler issued a directive to his army commanderin-chief quote the furer does not wish to solve the Dani question by force he does not wish to drive Poland into the arms of Britain by this end quote on the 27th Ambassador lipsky returned to Germany where he stunned Hitler even more he told the Germans that if they continue to try to negotiate over Danzig then the polls would go to war with Germany on the 29th of March a 26-year-old news Chronicle correspondent in Berlin came to London with quote hair raising details of an imminent frust against Poland end quote this was a false alarm just like the Romanian scare Halifax and Chamberlain believed the correspondent Chamberlain wrote to his sister stating that he decided then and there that they decided to guarantee Poland Poland was a nation they saw as belligerent right-wing unstable and anti-semitic themselves and they were about to guarantee them over a fake on the 30th of March the British Ambassador in Poland asked an astonished Colonel Beck where the Poland would object if Britain gave the polls an unconditional guarantee of Independence Beck quickly accepted that same day Hitler left the berhoff and returned to Berlin where he was shocked for the third time in days David Irving writes in his book the war path quote in Berlin a rude shock awaited him the next morning news arrived from London that Neville Chamberlain was about to announced in Parliament that in the event of any action which clearly threatened polish Independence and which the Polish government accordingly considered it vital to resist his Majesty's government would feel themselves bound at once to lend the Polish government all support in their power this was the first of a sheath of ill-considered guarantees to be uttered by the British its effect was not what Chamberlain had hoped for at 12:45 p.m. Hitler sent for kitle whatever the origins of England's guarantee by the time Hitler left Berlin that is by 8:47 p.m. on March the 31st he had given the okv orders to make all due preparations for war with Poland under the code name white at willam's Haren the next morning he launched a second 35,000 ton Battleship the turits it is to be emphasized that he had still not issued any actual instruction for war the new okv directive on white ised on April the 3rd merely outlined a political situation which might make an attack on Poland necessary on or after September the 1st meanwhile the okv ruled that friction with Poland was to be avoided a difficult injunction since the polls had certainly not behaved kindly towards their own ethnic German minority during April and again in May 1939 explicit directives went out to every Nazi editor not to draw comparisons between what was happening in Poland and what had happened in 1939 in Czechoslovakia end quote there was still some common sense in Britain these men were absolutely flabbergasted Ernst May wrote of British policy quote a government that a half year earlier had resisted going to war for a far away country with Democratic institutions well-armed military forces and strong fortifications now promised with no apparent reservations to go to war with a dictatorship with less than modern armed forces and Wide Open Frontiers end quot William Manchester wrote quote Englishman who possessed strategic vision were with few exceptions appalled end quote Lloyd George who saw this issue coming 20 years earlier had similar opinions Buchanan writes quote we are undertaking a frightful gamble said Lloyd George told by Chamberlain the PCT with Poland with deter Hitler the former prime minister burst out laughing if the British army general staff approved this said Lloyd George they ought to be confined to a lunatic asylum end quote lle har said that the guarantee was quote foolish futile and provocative an ill-considered gesture that placed Britain's Destiny in the hands of Polish rulers men of very dubious and unstable judgment end quot Hart also wrote quote the Polish guarantee was the shest way to produce an early explosion and a World War it combined the maximum Temptation and manifest provocation it incited Hitler to demonstrate the futility of such a guarantee to a country Out Of Reach from the West while making the stiff necked Poes even less inclined to consider any concessions to him and at the same time making it impossible for him to draw back with without losing face end quote little hard duly resigned as military correspondent of the times and protest Duff Cooper perhaps the arch warmonger after Churchill was getting cold feet he wrote in his diary quote never before in our history have we left in the hands of one of the smaller Powers the decision whether or not Britain goes to war end quote the retired Secretary of the committee of Imperial defense sir Maurice hanky wrote to Ambassador fips in Paris quote the whole point is that we cannot save these Eastern Nations end quot none of these men understood the point the idea was that it was insane Halifax and Chamberlain for a time had already decided on war it was as if they were sleepwalking and no longer realize the gravity of the situation they were simply resigned to a World War they were making no attempt to stop it they put the fate of the British Empire as well as millions of lives all over Europe in the hands of a click of deranged polish Colonels there was one man however who was over the moon about the latest news and that was the man who was being paid a fortune to push for war with Germany Winston Churchill said in Parliament quote the preservation and integrity of Poland must be regarded as a cause commanding the regard of the world end quot n years later Winston Churchill would lie through his teeth in his Memoirs qu and now Great Britain advances leading France by the hand to guarantee the Integrity of Poland of that very Poland which with hyena appetite had only six months before joined in the pillage and destruction of the czechoslovak state moreover how could we protect Poland and make good our guarantee here was a decision taken at the worst possible moment and on the least satisfactory ground which must surely lead to the slaughter of tens of millions of people end quot these words are so disingenuous that it's hard not to go off on a 10-minute tangent in response but in short we know full well that churcher was the very man who had been absolutely hounding Chamberlain and making his life hell for months to draw a line in the sand and threaten War Churchill in the 1948 Memoir was trying to lump all the blame for the war on the now dead ex- prime minister Chamberlain for doing exactly what Churchill was telling him to do what Churchill was actually saying at the time was Far different he said in Spring 1939 quote if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without Bloodshed if you will not fight when your Victory will be sure and not too costly you may come to the moment when you have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival there may even be a worst case you may have to fight when there is no Hope of Victory because it is better to perish than to live as slaves end quote as those watching this video will know if you compare this quote with Hitler's actual thoughts on the British then it is almost hard not to laugh the Brits were in no way shape or form in danger of becoming slaves Churchill was just warmongering as for the guarantee however regardless of blame war was now nearly inevitable the fate of the world rested with Poland Luigi valari wrote quote it rendered the second world war almost inevitable for a quarrel between Germany and Poland even if capable of a peaceful settlement might now be converted into Armageddon at the Caprice of whoever happened to be in power in Poland at the time Chamberlain by no means a warmonger had evidently been driven into this act of Madness by the followers of Churchill and the labor rites whose program was to make war inevitable end quote Chamberlain of course wasn't the only man responsible after all Halifax was running the show now his motives were mainly economic he felt that if Germany could sign deals with the rest of Europe like she had with Romania then the British blockade would be useless and the British would be finished as a great power he feared that Poland would be next to sign such a trade agreement and this was partly his motive when he pushed for the guarantee with them yes the foreign minister of the British Empire was willing to send millions of British men to fight and die in Europe and around the world just so that Germany could not become more economically self-reliant if Germany managed this then Britain could no longer have the ability to enforce starvation blockades on Germany like they did in the first world war Halifax said that the guarantee was necessary to the cabinet in the following terms the real issue was Germany's attempt to obtain world domination end quot yet he also admitted that quote there was probably no way in which France and ourselves could prevent Poland and Romania from being overrun end quote Poland was simply an excuse there was never any attempt to save Poland there was no plan no money sent no support Poland was just an excuse to go to war with Germany Buchanan wrote quote rather than see Poland return Danzig to the Reich Halifax preferred that Poland fight Germany to the death in a war Halifax knew Poland could not win because the British could not help to Halifax Poland's suicide was preferable to having Hitler chalk up yet another bloodless coup the holy Fox appears to have had No Reservations about pushing Poland to his death in front of Hitler's war machine to exhibit his willingness to fight for the great moralities such as the moralities of great Powers end quote there was one thing the Brits failed to take into account when they made this guarantee of Poland however in the East there was a great power that was far more powerful than any of them the Brits had been buttering up the Soviet Union for months now but Stalin took the British negotiators for a joke Stalin was a politician firmly rooted in cold brutal realities the Brits were offering him nothing solid and their little games bounced right off him he knew full well they just wanted him to do all the fighting for them whilst the Brits sat back and defended the Brits had nothing realistic to offer to Stalin he asked for the Baltic States the Brits hesitated they couldn't take such a step no other solid counter offers were made the Brits had not secured the East when they took the plunge and guaranteed Poland while the Brits continued to negotiate like amateurs another leader stepped in who was entirely serious and Stalin himself began to look for a better [Music] deal shortly after the British guarantee there was only one option left to the Germans the British were attempting to encircle Hitler Poland's cause was now Brit Britains there was only one power on planet Earth who could possibly put a check on Britain's guarantee and make them think twice ging's Aid Lu vaa General Carl Bowden shatz dropped this hint right in the poll's lap he said that if Germany appeared to be getting encircled then Hitler would be more than happy to make a deal with the devil himselfe and you and I are well aware of who that devil is end quote initially Hitler used this idea purely his diplomatic leverage against the polls but Stalin was actually genuinely interested the Soviet war minister was dropping hints to the German ambassador he said that Stalin and Hitler should revise their opinions of each other no matter how much the two men were ideologically opposed they both had a begrudging respect for the other and they certainly had their similarities at around the same time a high Soviet Embassy official remarked that Germany and the Soviet Union could pursue a great policy side by side at the end of April Hitler's usual rhetoric against the Soviet Union had stopped the usual anti-communist tydes were furiously absent those dreaded so-called judeo Bolsheviks had disappeared overnight on the 3rd of May Stalin made an obvious concession to Hitler he fired his Jewish foreign minister Maxim litvinov who would obviously have been a serious th in the side of any deal with the extremely anti-semitic Germany the now Infamous Molotov was hired in his place Hitler immediately got the hint and called back several Moscow Embassy officials to report directly to him about the mood there Hitler also ordered feelers to be put out to the new foreign minister in regards to trade negotiations and a possible reapo M on the 5th of May propaganda Minister Geral ordered all anti-bolshevik agitation to cease at around the same time back in England Neville Chamberlain was going through his usual periods of self-doubt this time in the opposite direction or perhaps he had been in control this entire time and was just being trickier about it on the 3rd of April Chamberlain wrote a letter to his sister it reads that the guarantee was quote unproved in tone firm clear but stressing that the important point that we are concerned with is not the boundary of States but a tax on their independence and it is we who will judge whether this Independence is threatened or not end quote the claim by Chamberlain here is that the guarantee of Poland was literal the guarantee was of Poland's Independence not her borders during the letter to his sister he references that the Times newspaper was the one and only newspaper to pick up this important detail Chamberlain had often used newspapers as a way of secretly talking to Hitler in the past he would always get someone to inform Hitler of this on his behalf Graham Steven tries to explain quote the Polish guarantee was not intended to make war with Germany inevitable on the contrary the commitment was intended to give Britain leverage in forcing Poland to come to terms with Hitler's demands over Danzig and coridor questions in this way Hitler could be satisfied without Poland being subjected either to a full-scale Invasion or succumbing to a treaty that reduced her to vassel status end quote when this came out with the article in the time times churcher went absolutely ballistic in Parliament and once more essentially accused Chamberlain of appeasement Manchester explains what Jeffrey dwson of the times actually wrote in this important article quote dwon had written the new obligation which this country yesterday assumed does not bind Great Britain to defend every inch of the present frontiers of Poland the key word of the statement is not Integrity but Independence the Prime Minister statement the editorial continued involves no blind acceptance of the status quo this country has never been an advocate of the encirclement of Germany and is not now opposed to the extension of Germany's economic pressure and influence nor to the constructive work she may yet do for Europe end quot Buchanan writes quote dwon had either been privately informed or had fered out the truth appeasement was not dead Chamberlain had not declared that Britain would fight to keep Danzig from Germany only that Britain would fight for Poland's Independence Chamberlain was signaling Hitler that the return of of Danzig was not opposed by Britain and she would go to war only if he tried to destroy Poland as an independent nation the British war guarantee had not been crafted to give Britain a pretext for war but to give Chamberlain leverage to persuade the polls to give Danzig back end quote this fact if true wasn't understood by Hitler immediately he had slammed his fists down on the table when he first heard the news of the guarantee and shouted I will Brew them a devil's drink end quot the polls too did not Chamberlin guarantee in this way either from the day of the guarantee the polls refused to even discuss the question of Danzig with Germany the polls felt Invincible they now had the backing of the Great British Empire surely the nation known as perfidious albian wouldn't have ulterior motives how far you read into this narrative regarding the tricky wording is up to you Chamberlain's policy is confusing and hard to pin down he seemed to be playing every single side at once every historian seems to have a differing opinion on the 23rd of April Hitler said to Geral at lunch the Chamberlain had put out fers to Berlin he was up against stiff opposition back in Britain however and the newspapers were having a fielded day almost all of them were pushing for War as if they had forgotten the Bloodshed of the last one many of these papers were owned by Churchill's friends or pay masters with this immense pressure Chamberlain had to implement conscription 3 days after he put these feers to Hitler out he did make sure to get word to Hitler beforehand and tried to assure him that conscription wasn't aimed against Germany but this can't have been very reassuring to Hitler another man like Churchill who desperately wanted War more than anything was Franklin Roosevelt over in the US he was trying to work propaganda wonders to whip up feelings against Germany the American people were stly isolationist at this point and it was this fact that Roosevelt wanted to change neither he nor Church were fans of Chamberlain they were diametrically opposed to each other Chamberlain was a devout peaceloving Christian who shivered at the very for cour of Bloodshed both Roosevelt and Churchill were atheists who detested Christianity both were also high level Freemasons with very very sketchy connections their moral codes simply did not line up with chamberlains Irving sums up Roosevelt's involvement at April 1939 quote Hitler H here to had felt able to ignore President Roosevelt's forray into European politics he blamed Roosevelt's posturing on Jewish influences and believed that isolationism was still a powerful for in the United States in April 1939 Hitler was the recipient of an open letter from Roosevelt appealing to him to give public assurances that he would not attack any of 31 specific countries wire Taps on the US Embassy in Berlin revealed that staff there regarded this appeal as a gaff Hitler gave these assurances in a sarcastic right stag speech on the 28th the crawl Opera House rocked with laughter as he added sardonically his own personal promise that the Reich was not planning to invade the USA either the fa fire Taps noted that US Embassy staff conceded that the fura had won the match in the same right stag speech he revoked the 1934 non-aggression pact with Poland and the 1935 Naval agreement with Britain too in private he justified his stiffer attitude towards Britain by the secret documents now found in Prague archives one day we'll publish them to all the world to prove Britain's dishonesty Bowden shouts to a French diplomat end quote Irving continues on to describe Chamberlain and Stalin's feelings at the time quote a month earlier the USSR had opened talks with Britain and France but Stalin knew that Hitler had more to offer on May the 25th the fa wi Taps on the times correspondent in Berlin Mr James hurn showed that he had learned well in London that Chamberlain did not have his heart in an alliance with Stalin he still hoped one day to resume his direct contacts with Hitler on May the 17th the Soviet charge in Berlin aov had hinted that on present form the talks were going against the British 3 Days Later Molotov himself declared to Hitler's Ambassador that TR trade talks with Germany could be resumed just as soon as the necessary political basis had been established Ruben trop discussed at length with Hitler how this vague remark might be interpreted the outcome was that vaka was instructed by Hitler to put his carefully worded message to akhatov you can be our friends or our enemies the choice is yours end quote meanwhile it appeared as if Hitler wasn't set on war or anything of the like just yet he still wanted the corridor question solved peacefully according to howder he said at the time quote I would have to be a complete idiot to Slither into a World War like the nink poops of 1914 Over The Wretched polish Corridor end quote meanwhile ribbon trop was guaranteeing the Italians that peace could be assured for at least a few more years he saw no imminent danger just yet in fact whilst all this fuss about Germany had been going on melini had struck out like a hyena whilst the world was distracted and occupied Albania whilst anyone could see some sense in Hitler's claim in the corridor nobody could see any sense in melin's current strategy Albania had never been a part of Italy there was nothing linking the two states for the past two decades the albanians have been pushed around and accepted concession after concession from musolini and now he simply occupied their nation and sent King Zog packing Chamberlain was livid he wrote to his sister that musini had behaved quote like a sneak and a cad he had not made the least effort to preserve my friendly feelings end quote Churchill then rushed out as usual and demanded immediate action he requested an immediate invasion of the Greek island of kfu yes a Greek island not an Italian one Churchill assumed it to be melini's next move this way the Brits could keep the Italians in the Adriatic and preempt musolini they would be violating a nation's neutrality and the Greeks were especially enthusiastic about theirs around this time the French began to receive fake War scares much as the British had earlier a German invasion of Romania was supposedly imminent the French then said that guarantees should be issued and chamberling went along guarantees were then handed out all over Europe on the 13th of April Greece and Romania were guaranteed a month later a treaty of mutual assistance was signed with turkey Lloyd George was livid and couldn't understand the policy either make a deal with the devil and jump into B with Stalin or don't he said there was no way Britain who had any two divisions ready for combat in France could save Eastern Europe if it came to it now they were only provoking what they were seeking to stop quote without Russia these free guarant to Poland Romania and to Greece are the most Reckless commitments that any country has ever entered into these are demented Madness did the general staff advise the government before they entered into these commitments if they did they are to be removed from the war office and confined to a lunatic asylum end quote on April the 6th Lord Halifax and Churchill who is now gaining ever more influence decided that Yugoslavia would be a good recipient of a war guarantee days later the Liberian Ambassador turned up seeking a guarantee too on the 18th of April the world was hit with a shock Adolf Hitler for the first time openly stated his offer to the polls Alan bulock describes the offer quote with Poland too Hitler declared he had been only too anxious to reach a settlement polls and Germans had to live side by side whether they liked it or not and he had never ceased to uphold the necessity for Poland to have access to the sea but Germany also had legitimate demands for access to East Prussia and the return of the German city of Danzig to the Reich to to solve the problem Hitler had made an unprecedented offer to Poland the terms of which he now repeated with the careful admission of the German invitation join a block directed against Russia end quote essentially it was the offer he had given the polls previously but it was now public the world would know the truth dozens of British MPS were taken back what on Earth had they been supporting Hitler wasn't out to conquer the world after all the British Ambassador in Berlin Neville Henderson a pretty fair man who genuinely wanted to patch things up with Germany although he wasn't the fan of national socialism wrote To Sir Horus Wilson Chamberlain's closest adviser quote I must admit that I regard Hitler's proposals as a fair basis of negotiation and in my innermost heart I regard the polls as exceedingly unwise to make enemies of Germany and as dangerous allies for us the Prague coup has affected our whole outlook towards Hitler but it has not altered the merits of the Danzig Corridor case in themselves I may be wrong but I am personally convinced that there can be no permanent peace in Europe until Dan has reverted to Germany the polls cannot be masters of 400,000 Germans in Danzig Ergo Germany must be I am sure that I feel that way but I fear that we are again on a bad Wicket as we were over the sedan end quote Buchanan writes quote Beck would refuse to even discuss Danzig with the Germans and the British would refuse to press Beck to negotiate Hitler thus concluded that Britain was behind Poland's intransient and that Britain was committed to war to prevent danzig's return the conclusion is understandable the conclusion was wrong for Chamberlain still believed Germany's case for Danzig was her strongest territorial claim and favored the return of the city if only Hitler would go about it peacefully which was exactly what Hitler at that point was still trying to do end quote whilst the Brits regretted their decision to tie themselves to Poland they simultaneously tried to plunge themselves deeper into the hole they had dug the courting of staling continued although thanks to Chamberlain most would say correctly this was dead in the water his issues were as follows firstly from Chamberlain quote I must confess to my most profound distrust of Russia I distrust her motives which seem to me to have little connection with our ideas of Liberty and to be concerned only with getting everybody else by the ears moreover she is both hated and suspected by many of the smaller States most notably Poland Romania and Finland end quote secondly the Brits actually agreed wholeheartedly with the German demands this is Churchill on the 13th of April 19 1933 before he was a paid warmonger quote many people would like to see or would have liked to see a little while ago I was one of them the question of the Polish Corridor adjusted for my part I should certainly have considered that to be one of the greatest practical objectives of European peacekeeping diplomacy end quote thirdly an alliance with Russia made little practical sense as they would have to be allowed to March through Poland and Romania to assist neither state would ever allow this as both States detested Russia far more than they detested Germany both Nations have witnessed the horrors of Stalin's rule so far Millions had died just over their Border in Ukraine in the for starvations there fourth was the Baltic issue Stalin wanted to at least impose protectorates over the Baltic states and at most he wanted to fully Annex them perhaps the former would have made the latter inevitable there was no way the Brits could agree to this at least not under Chamberlain fifth was an obvious one the Brits wanted Stalin to declare war on Hitler if he attacked Poland Stalin quite rightly proposed that the opposite should be part of the deal too if Hitler attacked Stalin then Stalin wanted the Brits to come to his defense this was something the Brits couldn't bring themselves to do they literally had nothing to offer Stalin yet they had opened negotiations with him they wanted something for nothing Stalin was many things but stupid wasn't one of them William Henry Chamberlain writes quote whether the Soviet Union would have entered the war even if demands had been granted is doubtful but it was politically and morally impossible to aced to those demands for this would have amounted to conceding to Stalin that very right of aggression against weaker Neighbors which was the ostensible cause of fighting Hitler such glaring inconsistencies may be tolerated in war as the records of the tyan and Yola conferences testify but the coercion of friendly powers to part with sovereignty and territory was impossible in time of Peace end quote Buchanan writes of the Endless contradictions quote nor could Britain commit to war to defend a Bolshevik state whose very reason for existence was the destruction of Christianity and Western Civilization why should a single British soldier Die to Save A stalinist regime whose departure from the Earth all decent men would celebrate yet in a supreme irony of the 20th century Britain's greatest champion of an alliance with Stalin turned out to be that same Churchill who had championed the Allied intervention to strangle bolism in its crib and who had been England's most ferocious and eloquent anti-communist in a September 1936 column enemies to the left written after the show Trials of the bolik Old Guard Churchill wrote what is the meaning and effect in this oppressive scene of the Moscow executions Churchill answered his own question Stalin's regime he wrote had taken on the same anti-semitic and nationalistic features as Hitler's he said many people unable to be shocked at the experation of these Misan who have bloodly sent uncounted thousands of good men to their Doom were nonetheless sickened at the elaborate fce of of their trial its technique throws a gleam of intimate light upon the mysterious nature of a communist state we see the gulf between communist mentality and The Wider world the second point to notice is that these victims were nearly all Jews evidently the Nationalist elements represented by Starin and the Soviet armies are developing the same prejudices against the chosen people as are so painfully evident in Germany here again extremes meet and meet on a common platform of hate and cruelty end quote yet in 1939 churcher was once again lying through his teeth quote the loyal attitude of the Soviets to the cause of peace and their obvious interest in resisting the Nazi Advan to the Black Sea impart a feeling of encouragement to all the eastern states now menaced by the maniacal dreams of Berlin end quote if Churchill were to head to the streets of Ria Helsinki or Bucharest and told the people of these eastern states this they would have laughed in his face at the very least end quote if Churchill were to head to the streets of Ria Helsinki or book arest and told the people of these eastern states this they would have laughed in his face at the very least just a couple years later all of them would choose to side with Hitler when made to pick a side the polls continued with their refusal to negotiate and Hitler bided his time the Soviets continued to put out stronger and stronger hints that they would be happy to negotiate they were sick of the British and their abysmal offers Hitler knew however that time was on his side in fact he headed off to the buroff for the summer there was nothing the Allies could offer Stalin and the offer would still be there if he needed it after all an alliance with Stalin was the last thing Hitler would have hoped for six years ago when he came to power it was more of a last resort Irving writes of the situation by July quote whilst Hitler stayed at bayu in July 1939 the foreign clamor mounted Ambassador Herbert von Duron reported from London that the British press had been crying rape ever since the annexation of Austria what interested Hitler LaMore was that authoritative voices could now be heard from London indicating that Chamberlain was casting around for ways of divesting himself of the awkward guarantee given to Poland Hitler had mentioned to wol F hu as recently as June after King George I 6 had replied warmly to Hitler's condolences on the loss of the submarine feus that if only he could meet some Englishman of standing with whom he could talk with in German he could soon settle their country's remaining differences by Late July the signs were that Chamberlain and his advisers were preparing for a second Munich on a British initiative there had been talks between sir Horus Wilson one of the main appeasers among Chamberlin's advisers and one of ging's economic staff Dr helmouth volvat Wilson had proposed a sweeping political economic and Military agreement with Hitler in return for certain assurances perhaps I'm too much of an optimist the Englishman said and perhaps the solution does not seem unrealistic to many observers in the present situation but I have had the opportunity of studying the fura and I believe that the fura acting as a Statesman for peace can manage even greater achievements than he has already in his construction of G do land end quote what was Hitler to make of this however the polls were not budging and the situation within Poland itself was getting worse Hitler had to prepare for the worst no matter how much Chamberlain appeared to be changing his mind at the end of the day it seemed as if Halifax was actually the one in charge now and Churchill was getting more and more influence by the day which would guarantee War firstly there was the matter of War itself after after intense discussing with all aspects of the German armed forces and the security services a plan was hashed out the Army said that the 25th of August should be the day to make the move if mid-september came around then the weather could potentially make life difficult for any Panzer operations it had to be late August otherwise Germany would be taking huge risks Hitler was given until the 15th of August quite a while away to make up his mind after then the cogs would be in motion and it would be extremely hard to bring things to a stop last time Hitler almost had to drag his generals into a war with the checks now Hitler's generals were itching to go to war with the much hated Poes and Hitler was the one holding them back at this point the Soviet and German diplomats were still just teasing each other there was one man who simply just wanted to get on with it however and it was his name that would go down in the history books for his efforts John toand writes of the situation that summer in his book Adolf Hitler quote on the political front ruent trop authorizes resumption of talks with ashikov on the day Hitler was enjoying Tristan at Bay roof although the results delighted the foreign minister Peter K warned him not to let Stalin see that Germany was in a hurry and above all not to negotiate any special offers merely to conclude a paack they should wait and probably within 6 months reach an agreement that would satisfy both parties ribben trop laughed they could signed a Packa within a fortnite he ignored K's advice to be patient and then his eagerness to complete the treaty that would Checkmate England instructed schulenberg to meet Molotov again and proposed serious political talks at this meeting on August the 3rd the German ambassador got the impression so he reported that the Soviets were determined to sign with England and France if they fulfill all Soviet wishes this was certainly the impression Molotov hoped to make both he and Stalin had noticed the eagerness in the vham stress and were tempting the Germans while leading on the British end quote Hitler too was getting impatient the Brits were doing nothing to rectify their guarantee which they themselves viewed as a mistake on August the 9th the situation got worse Germans in Danzig told the Polish Customs official that they could no longer carry out their normal duties because of the way the polls were acting at that moment Poland demanded that the Germans in Danzig cancel this action to which the Senate of the free city of Danzig denied that such an order had ever been issued and claimed that Poland was just looking for a pretext to threaten Danzig and claim the city for themselves the polls then directly threatened Germany and told them that if Germany attempted to intervene with this mini Danzig crisis then it would be seen as a German Act of aggression AKA we will consider an act of war and utilize our guarantee with the British meanwhile Chamberlin made his greatest gamble yet so Horus Wilson Chamberlain's closest Confidant met with Fritz Hess ribbon trop's undercover representative here hes was told by Wilson that the Prime Minister was prepared to offer Hitler quote a defensive Alliance for 25 years that could include economic advantages for the Reich and the return of German colonies by stages in due course in return Hitler must promise to take no more aggressive action in Europe end quote Hess was taken back and asked Wilson to repeat himself surely he had misheard Wilson Julie did so and hes was not mistaken Neville Chamberlain Prime Minister of Great Britain had actually just offered Hitler an alliance Wilson personally typed up this offer and gave it to Hess who then returned home to the foreign office in Berlin ribon trop was immediately impressed however he struggled to believe the seriousness of it after all this was just a sheet of paper where was the public offer was this just deploy to get Germany to not attack Poland quote when Hitler first heard the proposals so an eyewitness informed Hess he was transported with joy it's the greatest news I've had for a long time he exclaimed and began Romancing like a child the dream of his life and alliance with Mighty England was coming true but almost immediately he had misgivings and accused Wilson of laying a trap to save the polls from a well-deserved freshing end quote elsewhere the Brits contined to make fools of the El in front of Stalin the Anglo French delegation had taken 6 days to arrive on a slow cargo passenger ship and train when they could have just flown in a day this was a stark reminder of what a joke the British negotiations were during actual negotiations the Soviets offered to provide 136 divisions for a common defense against Hitler in return the British offered to provide one mechanized and five infantry divisions it was a joke Beyond description on the 50 15 of August it was time for the Germans and the Soviets to finally talk Chamberlain had shown himself willing to play all sides and hadn't made a concrete offer with this so-called Alliance Hitler was most likely correct in the assumption that this was a ploy to stop him attacking Poland as opposed to a serious suggestion Ambassador schulenberg and Molotov met and they hashed out their issues the Soviets were particularly interested in the Germans ability to change Japan's attitude towards them as well as the German stance on a possible non aggression pact between the two Nations ribbon trop almost hysterically urged schulenberg to hurry these negotiations along he just wanted things to get moving so he himself could come to Moscow and get the deal done time was running out on the 25th it was Invasion day and there a miracle happened and the polls actually began to negotiate things moved along and a trade agreement was first signed before the main event the Germans were in a rush and essentially we're just accepting whatever Stalin asked for within reason 200 million Reich marks were loaned immediately at a 5% interest rate for the Soviets to purchase machine tools and Industrial installations things like Optical supplies and armor plate among other technical Armament was supplied in smaller amounts the credit would in return be liquidated by Soviet raw materials which Germany desperately needed as well as grain and cattle the Brits would not be starving the Germans out of a war this time around things weren't all sorted however the Soviets for one reason or another weren't willing to receive ribbon trop until the 6th or 27th of August 2 days after the planned Invasion at the news of this Hitler took a risk and personally interjected he wrote a note to Stalin asking him to meet ribbon trop no later than 3 days from now Hitler spent the next day horribly nervous and he was caught in two minds he almost couldn't believe what he was doing a deal with Stalin of all people if Stalin said no now it would be highly embarrassing the next day however approval came Hitler immediately shouted out now I have Poland just where I want her on the 22nd ribbon trop set off with Hitler's pilot Hans Bower the flight Hitler took to Berlin to greet ribbon trop for his return would be the one and only time Hitler ever flew with a pilot that wasn't Bower he trusted no one else he set off with instructions to yield to pretty much every Soviet demand at the same time a small handful of Brits were genuinely trying for peace above all they were sir Horus Wilson and Ambassador Henderson Wilson had even told the British press atache in London he was willing to come secretly to Germany if need be if it meant they could make an agreement with the Germans he was searching desperately for any way to get Danzig back into the Reich bloodlessly meanwhile Henderson felt like he was banging his head against the wall nothing solid was coming from his government back in London whilst he was trying his best on the ground he found Hitler incredibly uncooperative in the last days of August though quote he is entirely uncompromising and unsatisfactory but I can't say anything further until I've received his written reply roughly the points made by him were Poland has been warned that any further action against German Nationals and any move against Danzig including economic strangulation will be met by immediate German action if Britain takes further mobilization measures General mobilization will take place in Germany I asked whether this was a threat his reply was no a measure of protection end quote Henderson met Hitler a second time after reporting this on the 23rd of August Irving writes quote in their second conversation that afternoon hend argued that it was proof of Chamberlain's good intentions that he was still refusing to take Churchill into his cabinet the anti-german faction in Britain mainly consisted of Jews and anti-nazis he said after he left the berhoff visaka caught Hitler briefly alone and warned that Italy was only lukewarm about war while the British were the captives of their own foreign policy Britain and France are bound to declare war they aren't people you can deal with logically or systematically they're laboring under a psychosis a kind of whiskey intoxication to tomorrow Chamberlain will rally the whole Parliament behind him the moment he talks of War Hitler disagreed though evidently without conviction because vaker noted that day he still thinks he can localize the war but he's also talking today at any rate of being able to fight a general War as well until recently his view on this was very different end quote the Brits were slumbering towards War but apparently so was Hitler he had talked of Bluffs all the way up until recently but now this changed he was coping there was no strategy for invading France never mind Great Britain he kept telling himself that the Brits were bluffing but at the back of his mind he knew the most realistic outcome he just chose not to accept it or plan for it on the 24th ribbon trop called home from Moscow there was one detail to be ironed out it was Stalin's greatest demand the thing the Brits could not give him in good faith the Baltic states Stalin specifically requested the ports of leopi and vents pills or liau and vindow in German Hitler reluctantly agreed he had told told Molotov to give Stalin whatever he wanted he wasn't going to change his mind now later that evening and another phone call came The Pact was signed the terms as we now know split Poland into two Hitler and Geral stayed up until the night to take in what they had just done it was agreed that the invasion of Poland should go ahead at 4:30 a.m. on the 26th Hitler didn't want to waste any more time the press in Poland was whipping up an absolute storm against their 1.5 million strong gimma minority because of current events and they were feeling the full brunt of Polish anger it seemed as if every day more and more Germans were dying each time one of these reports reached him it was as if a family member of his had died each and every dead German weighed heavily on his soul and he vowed to take revenge and prevent more massacres the following day the Brits reaffirmed their commitment to Poland despite the Moscow pact the Brits had brought Stalin into the game but Hitler had won him over to his side it wouldn't be the last time the Brits would attempt to escalate the conflict only for Hitler to react more decisively on the 25th of August the world woke up expecting this to be it early the following morning Hitler was supposed to be marching in that same day he met Ambassador Henderson quote for over an hour speaking with apparent sincerity Hitler put to the Ambassador the Folly of Britain's throwing away her Empire for Poland's sake he followed with his now familiar offer after he had settled the Polish problem he was willing to conclude agreements with Britain which would if necessary assure the British Empire of German assistance regardless of where such assistance should be necessary he offered partial disarmament and even hinted that if Britain waged a sham War to preserve face he would not begrudge it end quote 3 p.m. was meant to be the deadline for the Army after they got started the wheels would be in motion if there was to be any attempt to stop the war it had to be now the previous day Hitler sent a letter to molini requesting his official stance on the going on instead of replying melini read it didn't reply and went off to the beach with his foreign minister where both of them refused to conduct any business the 3 P.M deadline came and melini did not respond Hitler pushed on without him at 3:02 p.m. a pale-faced Hitler told his generals that the invasion was on at 600 p.m. musolini finally bothered to reply but it was just another speech begging for a equipment and raw materials Hitler was angry but not surprised musolini and the so-called Italian Empire appeared to be no more than a bluff now things actually got serious musolini was all talk Hitler was having second thoughts too however he really really didn't want to fight the English after all this was his dream Alliance he loved the British Empire he loved the British people perhaps he had been too hasty perhaps he could convince them that Poland wasn't the hill to die on one last chance he wanted to pump the brakes just temporarily quote brich arrived at Hitler's Residence at 7:00 p.m. sober and unexcitable he agreed that white could be postponed in fact he welcomed the delay as it would shift the emphasis to a properly planned mobilization he now told Hitler give me a week to complete mobilization as planned and you'll have over a 100 divisions available besides this way you gain time for your political maneuvering he promised I can hold the Army before it hits the frontier at 4:30 a.m. at 7:45 p.m. Morman was dispatched by car to rush the written halt order personally to hold her when Hitler telephoned ging the field Marshal asked him how long he intended to postpone white Hitler replied very significantly I'll have to see whether we can eliminate this British intervention guring was skeptical do you really think four or five days would change things much end quot the halt order reached all but one German Patrol who ended up marching into Poland and attacking on their own and they suffered accordingly on the 26th a letter arrived from meline he was begging again quote a telegram had arrived during the night from the German ambassador in Rome it described vividly melini's response at 3:20 p.m. the previous day on reading Hitler's first letter the DU had emphatically stressed that he would stand unconditionally at Hitler's side that tallied with the first version of his reply as intercepted by the fa Italy's attitude had however dramatically changed at 11:52 a.m. the fa intercepted count chano's telephone call from Rome to atalo in dictating what he described as melin's demands from Germany 150 Flack batteries millions of tons of coal steel and oil and impossible quantities of Molly denim tungsten zonum and titanium at noon kitle brich and ging came kitle confirmed that the okv saw no prospect whatever of meeting the Italian demands at about 130 p.m. atalo brought the list new was ato's demand that all the material must reach Italy before the beginning of hostilities atalo complacently assured Hitler that all the Figures were correct at 2:30 p.m. hu founded Ambassador Von mackinson in Rome to verify the figures with chano chano also insisted that there was no possibility of error mckinson was an instructor to team melini and show him the figures an instruction he found puzzling since the Figures were supposed to have emanated from the DU chain the first place controlling his anger Hitler began drafting it another letter to musolini he said he would do what he could to meet the demands endot later in the day the situation continued shortly before lunch General milch arrived from Karin Hall it was he who candidly suggested that Italy's benevolent neutrality would be far better during white Hitler slapped his F and brightened the letter that was finally telephoned to Rome at 3 p.m. reflected this change of emphasis Hitler asked only that Italy should make sufficient military clut to contain some of the West's forces who needed Italian military assistance anyway musolini confirmed that evening that since Germany could not supply the materials he had requested Italy herself could not actively participate Hitler replied with two lame requests he asked his friend not to give the world any clue to Italy's disappointing attitude and he asked for Italian industrial and agricultural workers for the Reich musolini readily agreed end quote on the 27th Hitler received a report from the propaganda Ministry that suggested that the German people were unanimously against War at first he was Furious surely this couldn't be true but then there was another from the Gusto which said the exact same thing the people trusted that their Fury would take them right to the brink and then pull off a miracle much like at Munich war was the last thing they wanted Hitler too wasn't nearly as War hungry as betrayed reports would reach him of the Brits wanting a peaceful settlement and he would barely sleep should he postpone the danig question was it worth it one of the only things driving him forward at this point was the knowledge that Germans were being horribly mistreated and massacred just over the Border there was no way he could abandon them still he wanted it solved peacefully if possible there was only days remaining on the 28th of August food rationing was introduced and Hitler immediately implemented the restrictions on himself too for the rest of the war he would live in Spartan conditions this was immediately obvious at The Breakfast Table that morning despite the peasants breakfast Hitler was over the moon that morning word had come back from a Swedish intermediary of gings who is one of many pursuing a peaceful solution with the Brits Hitler boasted as we now know wrongly that he knocked the Brits out of the game he postponed The Invasion for another and final time the new date was 1st of September 4:30 a.m. he was sure he could come to a peaceful arrangement with the British by then what happened next would be memory hold by history quote when braich reported to him Hitler made no bones about his strategy he would demand Danzig right of Transit across the Polish Corridor and SAR type pite there Britain would probably accept these proposals Poland would reject them and the split would then be wide open Hitler instructed the foreign Ministry to draft a set of formal proposals along these lines for the British government to study the proposals 16 in all was so moderate that one of his diplomats termed it a real League of Nations document he read them out the kitle in the conservatory the general naively replied I found them astoundingly moderate and quote the men weren't exaggerating the Brits quite agreed when they heard them later Duff Cooper one of the paid warmongers like Churchill said he was horrified by how moderate the terms were they were mild enough to completely turn things on their head and ruin his pay Master's plan Churchill and his warmongers would look like the aggressors and Hitler like a benevolent negotiator Cooper immediately telephoned the editors of the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph and asked them to make the 16 points look as negative as possible but what were these terms I will actually link the complete document in the description but this was roughly what the deal was was Danzig would return to the German Reich non-negotiable pleite in the Polish Corridor which would be overseen by a four power Commission of Britain France Italy and the Soviets the port of Ginia and the area around it would remain polish no matter what Hitler respected the Polish right to the Sea During the period in which the pleite was being set up the Germans must be allowed to set up transport through the corridor between Germany itself and East Prussia a fair population exchange would be set up if necessary any special rights given to Germans in Ginia or Poes in Danzig will be replicated in the other both ports will be demilitarized and extremely in-depth minority rights agreement would be set up for those who didn't transfer to their respective nation state immediate demobilization of both Nations Armed Forces depending on the result one side or the other would most likely end up with land separated from the bulk of their people in this instance a strip of land the size of a road and Railway would be established in the poll's case this would connect through the corridor up to Ginia in the Germans case this would cross the corridor this was the gist of it but I do recommend you read the whole thing the Brits couldn't believe their eyes when they first heard it this was what they had been fighting over it was one of the fairest offers they had ever heard for now though Henderson turned up at 10:30 p.m. on the 28th and stated that the Brits had received definite assurances from the polls that they were willing to negotiate Hitler had his doubts that the polls meant this but regardless he said he was more than happy to negotiate with them meanwhile even Halifax was getting cold feed he was desperately calling the polls telling them to stop firing on German minority protesters and to stop the massacres the radio propaganda too had to stop the mood in Poland was extreme it was a state sponsored genocide the government was deliberately whipping up hell against the Germans and turning a blind eye to the massacres they themselves were encouraging on the morning of the 29th Hitler woke up and decided to accept the British proposal he would negotiate with the polls not that he hadn't been willing to this whole time he told the British that he expected a poll to arrive the next day with full rights to negotiate it was time for the polls to stop messing around now or never in return for the polls coming now to negotiate Hitler agreed that together with the Soviet Union both nations would guarantee Poland's New Frontiers after the acceptance of Hitler's 16 points on the 30th Hitler had little hope that the polls would actually send anyone all afternoon was spent talking to his generals making plans for what was to come the polls had clearly made up their minds the Germans were listening to British telephone conversations and it appeared that the Brits much agreed they were Furious the polls were just being their usual selves the Brits were begging them to negotiate but the polls were being deliberately difficult and trying to avoid reality instead of negotiating the polls mobilized their reserves the Brits war that this would make it appear to the International Community that Poland was set on War the polls didn't care The Daily Telegraph pointed out that the polls hadn't honored their Express willingness to negotiate with Germany and had instead mobilized more of their army the British government immediately confiscated this entire Edition and the next day's paper left out the part about Poland mobilizing that evening ribbon trop met Ambassador Henderson again and Henderson was directly read out all of the 16 points for the first time Henderson like every other Brit was taken back by how benevolent the terms were and he asked for a copy of them to take home but ribbon trop refused this offer was for the polls and they had not yet sent anyone time was running out and the Germans had essentially given up trying by this point the polls wouldn't even talk to them after this Henderson asked to see Hitler but he was refused the only option for peace was with Poland Hitler had given up on trying to talk through the Brits the polls either had to turn up now or they would be at War early on the 31st of August Henderson was sharing the same sentiments he telephoned the polish Embassy and warned them that he had information from an unquestionably accurate source that unless the polls did something in the next two or 3 hours then War would come John toand describes the mood of that morning quote the last day of August was a frantic one for many of Goodwill delarius got permission from Henderson to telephone London and a little afternoon was telling sir Horus Wilson that Hitler's proposals were extremely liberal according to guring he said the furo had put forward such terms with the sole intention of showing the British how anxious he was to secure a friendly settlement with the English as delaris was speaking Wilson heard a German voice repeating the words realizing the phone was tapped he instructed delaris to give his information to Henderson but the amateur Diplomat did not get the hint nor did he sto when Wilson warned him that he should not get ahead of the clock finally Wilson told dois in plain language to shut up and when he did not slam down the receiver end quote meanwhile Hitler was reaffirming to his generals that The Invasion would go ahead reports were reaching Hitler of Polish atrocities against the Germans once again and this time they were off the scale the reality was bad enough as we now know but Hitler in fact had an even worse impression as he was been giving inflated figures when he heard how bad things were that day he shouted quote they'll pay for this now no one will stop me from teaching these fellows a lesson they'll never forget I will not have my Germans butchered like cattle end quote when no action was taken as the morning continued Henderson was calling the embassy again begging them to negotiate lipsky the Polish Ambassador didn't even bother to go to the telephone by midday the Polish strategy was clear Irving writes quote soon after midday The fa's Intercept of warsaw's explicit instructions to him was in Hitler's hands lipsky was not to enter into any concrete negotiations he was merely to hand a Polish government communication to the right government thus the Nazis knew that the polls were merely stalling for time lipsky went to ground he can't be found recorded Gobles for hours at a time Poland is obviously playing for Time end quote less than a year earlier lipsky had told Hitler that if he could find a solution to Europe's Jewish problem then the polls would build him a beautiful statue in Warsaw now lipsky was about to plunge Europe into a war that only the polls wanted meanwhile Hitler was resigned to what was to come he still held out the hope but was basically coping with the suggestion that England and France wouldn't join the war but he also said that if they did then quote France and Britain will just put on an act of Waging War end quot AKA even if the Brits and French did go to war they wouldn't do anything and it would only be for appearance's sake almost like a phony War shortly after 1: p.m. Hitler gave the official order to his generals that things would go ahead the Polish negotiator still hadn't turned up there was only hours remaining another 5 hours passed and then suddenly it should have appeared as if the situation was saved well it would have if the Germans had not already listened to the Wi Taps the Polish Ambassador arrived and walked into ribbon trop's office at 6:30 p.m. almost 12 hours since Henderson had first begged him to do so it was the first time diplomatic representatives of Poland and Germany had met since March ribbon trop had one question and one question only was lipsky an emissary ow to negotiate lipsky replied that he merely had instructions for the time being to transmit messages back to his superiors what he didn't tell ribben trob was that his actual instructions were quote not to enter into any concrete negotiations end quot lipsky was so determined to not negotiate in fact that he refused to even look at Hitler's 16-point proposal ribon trop simply said well then there is no point in continuing this conversation end quote the quickest negotiation in history was over when the polls left the Germans cut all Communications to the polish Embassy the poles had blown their last chance for peace the Germans were left with their only other option later in the day French Ambassador kandre called Henderson about lipsky's visit and told him how lipsky had refused to even read the German proposals by now Henderson had been given the proposals in full by guring and Henderson had duly had the proposals shown to the polls who simply said that the terms were out of the question guring had been doing his best perhaps more so than anyone else during this entire time to avert War his Swedish goet Del was rushing around like an absolute mad man trying to avoid the war at one point he had even called number 10 via the British Embassy with Henderson's permission to give them a clear picture it was the polls who are obstructing the whole thing he said it was an absolutely ridiculous scenario after the conversation Halifax was furious with Henderson and told him quote in the future please prevent persons not belonging to the English Mission from using its telephone line end quot meanwhile Henderson was less than happy with the latest news from his French counterpart quote but what's the point of that it's ludicrous the whole thing end quote the conversation then devolved into a shouting match in which both ambassadors ended up slamming down their receivers and with that all hope was gone the Polish government had been given an option at the last moment to avoid War the British felt the proposals were ridiculously mild the Brits backed peace the poles chose the path of War by choosing War the poles chose the destruction of Poland they were living in a different reality than anyone else toand writes quote the polls were apparently so confident that they could whip the Germans that they were not interested in discussing Hitler's offer end quote the polls genuinely believed they could win meanwhile there was over a million Germans on Poland's border who knew all about the Polish massacres of ethnic Germans just miles away almost to a man they were itching for Revenge there was no hope of this being a clean War at 8:00 p.m. hyrri's Infamous fake polish attack at glyts took place an hour later all German radio stations canceled their regular shows and instead read out the 16-point German offer which had been turned down even unfriendly foreign correspondents were impressed with its reasonableness end quot at 11:00 p.m. the polls released their own broadcast in response to Hitler's 16-point offer quote words can no longer Avail the aggressive plans of the new Huns Germany is aiming at the domination of Europe and is canceling the rights of nations with as yet unprecedented cynicism this impudent proposal shows clearly how necessary were the military orders given by the Polish government end quote the polls used Hitler's 16 is justification for their previous mobilization provocations and massacres no one brought it after having heard the points for themselves meanwhile Hitler went to bed as normal with the feeling that England and France would not take action quote to Hitler the invasion of Poland was not war only a coup deceased what was rightfully Germany's it was a localized action which both England and France after making fa saving gestures would surely accept as a fomy end quot guring however was plagued with doubt he called ribbon trop and lost it now you've got your damned War it's all you're doing end quote when Hitler awoke the next morning his armies had already pushed miles into polish territory at 4:45 they had rolled over the Border whilst the Luft vafa bombed the enemy airfields and right from day one the Polish Air Force was essentially a non-factor in Danzig itself the post office actually held out these postmen held out all day until eventually they were overpowered the men were discovered to be wearing polish Army underwear and were jeely executed the furer himself did not put on his party tunic this morning and he vowed to never put it on again now his nation was at War and he now wore a more appropriate army uniform instead once dressed he headed off to the crawl Opera House the temporary seat of the right stag ever since the fire in front of him were dozens of empty seats which were normally full these deputies had been chosen by the draft the same way any German would be Hitler stepped up to speak and announced that Germany for the first time in decades was now at War he covered melini's tracks and thanked him for his offer of support but said that Germany could fight this war alone he stated that the West Wall the German equivalent of the Mao line on their side of the French border would remain the frontier in the West after all France and Britain had not declared war yet and Hitler had no designs on either of their territories he claimed that The Pact with Russia eliminated any threat between the two of them either Hitler then gestured to his new uniform before shouting qu I shall never wear another until Victory Is Ours not as long as I live end qu the deputies applauded all through the speech but the greatest applause was held for Hitler's statement on how the war would be fought quote I shall undertake each operation in such a manner that women and children are neither the target nor the victim end quote after the speech the furer remained in Berlin meanwhile in Britain it appeared as if Hitler may have been right after all there was no immediate declaration of war Lord Halifax summoned the German shaj defair F cord but just told him that the German invasion created a very serious situation at 536 p.m. a message was intercepted from London in which the British Ambassador was to inform the Germans that Britain would stand by Poland if the Germans did not withdraw curiously no deadline was given soon after this another interception was made from the British Embassy this explicitly stated that the note was a warning not an ultimatum on the ground the German Army continued to make as much progress as they could the poles fought fanatically and without Mercy Germans who were captured suffered some of the worst possible fates eyes were gouged out genitals mutilated and cut off ears removed heads decapitated the list goes on when Hitler found out about such actions he would explode and later in the war would often contrast it to the behavior of the Norwegian army or others who behaved impeccably meanwhile the ethnic Germans were suffering much the same fate as the Polish Army tried their best to hold off against overwhelming for they and the civilian population took out their impotent rage on their own Germans before The Invasion things had been bad Germans had been butchered by the Dozen now entire Villages of men women and children were being executed in Indescribable ways each German Soldier found it his duty to advance as fast as possible simply to stop this ethnic cleansing when the advancing troops saw the horrors of the mutilated bodies for themselves they would behave horrendously in return to the poles it was the beginning of a vicious cycle that would culminate in the genocide or expulsion of all Germans east of the Oda River in 1945 the next day melini stepped in to try to deescalate much as he had done in Munich the year before quote early on September the 2nd melini made an attempt to Halt the Avalanche he proposed to ceasefire and an immediate five power peace conference France was said to be in agreement for some hours Hitler appears to have taken seriously the possibility of ceasefire in conference this same day he urged the verac to seize as much polar territory as possible over the next few days particularly the whole polish Corridor at 9:20 a.m. his army agitant phoned roml not to expect the fury to transfer to his HQ that day either end quote Hitler had in fact arranged through his foreign minister another appeal to the Brits on the second himself already quote he offered to withdraw his army from Poland and compensate the polls for damages if London would mediate the Danzig Corridor dispute end quote in England Chamberlain stood up in the House of Commons and insisted that German forces completely withdraw from Poland he spoke of the need for a conference to Halt hostilities everyone had expected a declaration of war Parliament sat in stunned silence Chamberlain's last Act of defiance against the warmongers wasn't to have the desired effect however Chamberlain had tried his best he'd been an honorable peaceloving Christian he perhaps more than anyone else in the world did not want war he knew full well that Hitler didn't either and he knew that Hitler meant his 16-point offer he just no longer had the power to take him up on it he said afterwards quote I believe he sincerely did believe in an arrangement with us end quote he'd done his best but now the dying Old Man simply couldn't count on any support the war party had too much influence years of fake crisis paid warmongers like Churchill and an unceasing propaganda barrage from the Press had rendered his position untenable when Chamberlain left the commons that night he quote was told that Tory backbenches would rise in Revolt if the government did not immediately carry out out its threat to declare war 12 cabinet members met in caucus in the chambers of Chancellor of the exer Sir John Simon they agreed to warn chamblin that his government could not survive another day of delay regardless of what France did shortly before midnight chamberling gathered his cabinet and accepted a vote for war end quote Chamberlain reasoned that it was better for him to remain at the helm and conduct at least an honorable war and at most even a phony War which is what he would spend the rest of his time in office doing half an hour after midnight a telegram reached the British Embassy in Germany quote you should ask for an appointment with Minister for foreign affairs at 9:00 p.m. Sunday morning instructions will follow nend quote the Germans were given their ultimatum at the appointed time they had 2 and a half hours to remove all of their troops from Poland an impossible request given the circumstances at 11:30 a.m. Henderson met with ribbon trop and informed him that Great Britain was now at war with the Reich quote 10 minutes later the fa heard the British Embassy report to London the ribbon trop had handed over an 11-page reply refusing to give any Assurance as to the withdrawal of German troops and putting the blame squarely on Britain the Germans said The Intercept report were very polite end quote on that day the 3rd of September that would signal the end of the centuries long British Empire Chamberlain announced the declaration of war to his people he looked quote crumpled despondent and old and he said quote everything that I have worked for everything that I have hoped for everything that I have believed in during my public life has crashed into ruins end quote in Britain the warmongers like Churchill celebrated their success whilst the population made arrangements to survive the coming years Halifax was chuffed too he had his economic war that he wanted little did he know that Chamberlain's successor would actually just sell off all of Britain's assets to the Americans and bankrupt them forever he said in the house quote now we have forced Hitler to war end quot in Germany the mood was Grim when colonal Von vman got the news of War this is what he said quote now the worst has happened after all I'm not a bell Aker or defeatist but the future looks very Grim to me this is just what we didn't want until this morning the idea was to play for some time somehow and to postpone the decision even today the fur still believes that the Western powers are only going to Stage a phony War so to speak that's why I've had to transmit an order to the Army at 1:50 p.m. not to commence hostilities in the west ourselves I can't share his belief he's got the wrong idea of the British and French psyche end quote Geral was of much the same opinion this was the last thing anyone wanted quote Geral 2 was beset by misgivings warning Hitler in a 25-page memorandum entitled thoughts on the outbreak of War 1939 that there was little enthusiasm for this new conflict and that Britain poisoned by Jewish Capital would fight to the last man Britain he pointed out is governed by the old men of 1914 who are incapable of thinking straight or logically because of their hate complexes end quote Hitler himself couldn't believe it when he got the news but deep in side he had probably known this was the most likely outcome quote there was complete silence Hitler sat a mobile gazing before him he was not at a loss as was afterwards stated nor did he rage as others allege he sat completely silent and un moving after an interval he turned to ribbon trop what now asked Hitler with a Savage look as though implying that the foreign minister had misled him about England's probable reaction ribbon trop answered quietly I assume that the French will hand in a similar ultimatum within the hour end quote according to Hitler's interpreter Schmidt guring was filled with misgivings too quote guring turned to me and said if we lose this war then God have mercy on us end quote the idea that a war with France and Great Britain was desired by Germany must be FR in the dust bin of history no one in Germany wanted war with Great Britain least of all the leading party members Hitler's final directive of August the 31st read quote the responsibility for the opening of hostilities in the west should rest unequivocally with England and France the German land Frontier in the West is not to be crossed at any point without my Express consent the same applies to warlike actions at sea or any which may be interpreted as such defensive measures on the part of the Air Force should at first be exclusively confined to the warding off of enemy air attacks on the frontier of the Reich end quote Great Britain and Germany were officially at War both leaders respected each other and both wanted peace Chamberlain had been forced into a war he never wanted he was in an impossible situation if he didn't declare war now he would be revolted against by the war longers many of them paid many others whipped up by Propaganda the British Parliament was full of aristocrats who had never worked a day in their lives this war would barely affect them they could relax at their Country Estates whilst the British population would be bombed to pieces this is exactly the case with Churchill he began the bombing campaigns in 1940 and each time a raid would come back he would be pre-warned and head off to his country estate whilst thousands died in the streets of the cities in retaliation for Churchill's own actions he was the perfect encapsulation of the out of touch British ruling class Chamberlain's only hope now was to navigate this war as peacefully as possible and to his credit he did exactly this and for that he can only be admired for the world however it was already too late quote British and French statesmanship had been outmaneuvered by Soviet what could easily have been a German Frost against the Soviet Union had been deflected against the West end quote the Brits were now fighting a pointless and unnecessary war that didn't concern them in the defense of a Polish click of army generals whom the British found repulsive meanwhile in Germany Hitler accepted events and headed off towards the battlefield in his special train the America in mine Camp he had written quote almighty God bless our arms when the time comes be righteous just as thou Hast always been judge for thyself whether we have now merited our freedom Lord bless our fight end quote he would need all the help he could get to get Germany out of this crisis as Hitler's armies marched into Poland he hardly intervened he wasn't the only one not intervening quote on September the 1st after Warsaw received its War guarantee not one British bomb or bullet have been sent to Poland no British credit had been extended Britain still lacked the power to come to Poland's Aid and Britain had made no plans to come to Poland's Aid the poles however facing the first Blitz Creek or lightning War awaited the promised Allied offense General iride had told the polls that German bombing raids on Poland would be answered by British bombing raids on Germany within hours of the declaration of war British bombers were in the air dropping leaflets over Germany end quote it appeared that Hitler could have been right after all in the west the French had 110 divisions against Germany's 30 only 12 of which were up to scratch yet despite this they weren't doing anything vman reported of the Western Front quote meanwhile a propaganda war is Broken Out In The West will the fur prove right after all they say that the French have hung out a banner at Zar brooken reading we won't fire the first shot on the 6th of September vman gave Hitler yet another update quote the phony War continues so far not a shot has been fired on the Western Front on both sides there are this huge loudspeakers barking at each other with each side trying to make it clear to the other how impossible their behavior is and how stupid their governments are end quote in the west there was secret exchanges of food and drink between the French and German lines it looked more like a a party than a war no one knew what they were fighting each other for most men on the front lines would have had at least one family member killed in the first war and for what almost to a man they knew the Ridiculousness of such fighting there was nothing to gain only Churchill and his cronies could gain from such a war vman then summarized the Polish situation quote All That Remains now is a rabbit hunt militarily the war is over end quote after this update quote beaming with pleasure Hitler took the Colonel's hands in both of of his and pumped it up and down end quot the fate of the poles was quickly sealed Irving writes the gasoline engine the tank and the dive bomber should not have taken the poles by surprise but they did Hitler's armored and mechanized units encircled the enemy armies while they were still masked to the west of the Vistula there they were deployed in preparation for the drive to Berlin the frost which would bring about an anti-nazi revolution in Germany end quote the situation seemed entirely under control and Hitler made sure to keep things that way guring begged for permission to bomb the British Fleet but was refused when Hitler heard that a British transatlantic liner had been sunk by a ubot he went berserk his first thought was that Churchill had actually done it himself to arouse American public opinion but eventually it came out that it was in fact an overzealous uboat Captain both Admiral Raider and Hitler were livid but chose to keep the truth to themselves once the Polish Army was in disarray it was time to clean up the mess the Germans were disgusted by what they saw there were many such cases but the most famous of all was Bromberg the local polish Commander had explicitly ordered the massacre of several thousand ethnic Germans on the charge that they were involved with the hostilities which of course they weren't on top of this ging's paratroopers were being shot on the spot when captured the population was pouring gasoline over disabled German tanks and frying the crews inside of them quote against Germany the Polish people fight side by side with the Polish soldiers building barricades and combating the German operations and positions by every means they can end quote as Hitler Cruz just mares behind the front line his party was worried sick his secretary schroer wrote quote all day long the Sun beats down on the compartments and we just Wilt in the tropical heat the chief drives off in the morning leaving us condemned to wait for his return recently we were parked one night near a field Hospital through which a big shipment of casualties was just passing those who tore Poland with the chief see a lot but it's not easy for them because the enemy has such cowards shooting in the back and ambushing and because it is difficult to protect the chief who has taken to driving around as though he were in Germany standing up in his open car even in the most hazardous areas on the very first day he drove through a copes still swarming with poac just half an hour earlier they had wiped out an unarmed German medical unit one of the Medics escaped and gave him an eyewitness account once again the furo was standing in full view of everybody on a Hummock with soldiers streaming towards him from all sides obviously it gives the sold morale a colossal boost to see the furer in the thick of the danger with them but I still think it's too risky we can only trust in God to protect him end quote General rmer was tasked with guarding Hitler at this time and he was over the moon with the current situation he said that in eight or 10 days it would all be over he had heard reports that the French soldiers in the west were so comfortable that they were bathing in the Rind and not a single German ever interfered it was as if being at War had brought them closer together on the 12th of September Hitler reminded guring and brich of how things should proceed he then told them they were not to provoke the French in any way at all the further Hitler went East the more he felt he'd been right all these years about his views on Race Western Poland somewhat resembled Germany it had been a part of the German Empire for a long long time by that point until recently in the East though it was a very different story Irving writes quote Hitler's tours of these polish battlefields were his first real contact with the East they reinforced his unhealthy fantasies about the subhumans and the Jews was this still Europe indiscriminately scattered about the untended Acres were wretched wooden hut-like dwellings with fetched roofs at the roadsides knots of submissive polish civilians stood in the swirling dust of Hitler's motorcade among them he glimpsed Jews in high crown hats and cfans their hair in ritual ringlets they looked for all the world like figures out of medieval anti-semitic drawings time had Stood Still Here for centuries the Jews were the enemy Dr Chim BisMan the president of the Jewish agency had written to Neville Chamberlain promising explicitly that all Jews everywhere would fight on the side of the democracies against Nazi Germany the times published vman's letter on September the 6th and Hitler no doubt considered it a Jewish declaration of war end quote as the initial hatred wore off the German Army began to feel disgusted by how brutal the treatment of the polls was him's SS especially was the subject of the verx distaste and in general Hitler was not going to be as lenient with the poles as he would later be with the Norwegians the French and the English and the Chanel Island General vuler Heights new military governor of West Russia wrote quote I am to rule the area with a mailed fist combat troops are over inclined towards a false sense of chivalry end quote massacres were common especially targeted by himler and hydrick was the Polish intelligencia Hitler had always said that one way or another this group must be dealt with but the SS were taking things to unforeseen levels in some cases SS generals were kicked out of Poland for being too brutal there was to be no hope of a polish Nation rebirth if the brains behind such an operation were wiped out Hitler planned to make a Polish rump state which he duly did but it was a brutal one as for the Jews they were treated horribly too and were concentrated in big cities in the now Infamous ghettos by the 19th of September when Hitler drove into Danzig the point of the war said war was almost over only Warsaw modlin and Haler were still holding out the Polish government had already fled to Romania in Danzig he was bombarded with flowers just like he was in Austria the sedan land and ml beforehand here he talked to his people quote here in a long columned 14th century Hall built in the Heyday of the Germanic nightly orders Hitler delivered a lengthy speech he compared the humanity with which he was fighting this war with the treatment the Poes had Meed out to the German minorities after pilsudski's death tens of thousands were deported maltreated killed in the most beastial fashion these sadistic beasts let their perverse instincts run Riot and this Pious Democrat atic world looks on without batting one eyelash in his peroration he spoke of almighty God who has now given our arms his Blessing end quote as the month Drew to a close the drama in Warsaw was nearing its end endless offers have been refused by the polls there the only concession they had granted was that the foreign diplomats were allowed to leave the city this caused quite a conundrum for Hitler if Warsaw were smashed to Smither it would be a propaganda dream for the war party in the UK Hitler wanted to make things appear as clean as possible so that he could make peace with the west and be done with the situation General bltz wrote in a report quote Hitler was briefed on the E fy's plan of attack according to this the main artillery assault on the Fortress will commence early on September the 26th until then only identified military objectives enemy batteries and vital installations such as gas water and power stations are being bombarded by ground and Air Forces after the plan of attack has been outlined broadly to him the furer who is deeply troubled by the suffering that lies in store for the population of the Fortress suggests that one more last attempt should be made to persuade the military command of Warsaw to abandon its lunatic course he guarantees that the officers of the Fortress will be granted honorable captivity and may retain their daggers if they surrender forth with and orders that the ncos and troops are to be assured of their early release after the necessary formalities end quot Irving writes of what came next millions of new leaflets publishing these terms were dropped over a Warsaw that evening the Polish commandant made no response early on the 26th therefore the target of the artillery bombardment was changed to the city itself and the Infantry assault began the next day it was all over the polls had capitulated with virtually no further military resistance on October the 2nd General romal visited Warsaw and afterward reported to Hitler on the terrible scenes of Destruction roml wrote to his wife the next day quote report in the Reich chancell and dinner at the fur's table warsa is in bad shape there is hardly a building that's in some way damaged or with its windows intact the people must have suffered terribly for 7 days there has been no water no power no gas and no food the mayor estimates there are 40,000 dead and injured end quote when Hitler staged a gigantic military parade in the ruins of warsa on the 5th the city stunk of rotting bodies Hitler appeared unmoved by this spectacle until he was offered a banquet by the Army in which he declined to take part whilst the citizens of warsa around him had just been and still were starving it was now all over Poland was finished and had suffered such losses that many poles probably assumed that they were entering another Dark Age like the 19th century when no Polish state existed now for Hitler it was time to make peace at the same time he prepared for the opposite he ordered the Army to prepare for operation yellow the attack on France and the low countries just in case Hitler had wavered over whether or not Belgium should be used as in the first war but by this point Allied troops were amassing on the Belgian border ready to be allowed to March through and and in his mind Belgian neutrality wasn't sincere quote vaka wrote in early October the attempt to wind up the war now is for real I myself put the chances at 20% Hitler at 50% his desire is 100% if he obtained peace it would eliminate the awkward decision as to how to reduce Britain by military means early in September guring had hinted to the British through burer delis that Germany would be willing to restore sovereignty to a Poland Sha of the old German provinces excised from the Fatherland at the end of the Great War there would also be a reduction in German armaments the British response had been a cautious Readiness to listen to the detailed gyman proposals Hitler told delious in Berlin late on September the 26th that if the British still wanted to salvage anything of Poland they would have to make haste and now he could do nothing without consulting his Russian friends dois left for London at once end quote the battle for Poland was one in a Flash but now the long Battle For Peace was about about to begin the story of how the bloodiest war in human history began is probably the most important question of our time words can quickly tend to violence and because of the inability for the British Germans and poles to negotiate with each other Europe and the World At Large entered a war in which most would never recover Europe would never survive Another War of even half the scale of the second world war yet despite the fact few cared to look into the actual leadup to the conflict it's glossed over as random German aggression but is any aggression truly random everything has a reason what were the Germans claims were they Justified why were the polls so adamant not to negotiate I hope I've been able to answer most questions about this vitally important time in our history every Hill isn't worth dying over Danzig at the end of the day was a German City if you feel that the millions of lives lost over that cause was worth it then that is your opinion but I feel like most people who have reached the end of this video would probably disagree with you by now the reality is that the polls had a choice to make Russia or Germany the Poes detested the Russians far more than they detested the Germans they knew what life was like under the Russians alternatively they knew what life was like under the Germans which hadn't been an enjoyable experience either Hitler wanted an alliance with them against the Russians and undoubtedly this would have come at the loss of some sovereignty these two options were binary however it was always going to be one or the other the polls chose neither and in the end they got the worst of German brutality and then ended up as not only a Russian puet state but a communist Russian puppet state their two biggest fears today Poland is once more Sovereign and with a border that stretches far further west than it once did about 1/5 of the Polish population died during World War II if that sacrifice and roundabout way of doing things to get to the modern day was worth it then once again that is your opinion I could go over who cared more for peace and who cared more for war during this whole situation but I think the video speaks for itself and I'll leave it at that thank you very much for watching if you made it to the end then that's pretty impressive I'm assuming this video will be well over the 2hour Mark I hope you enjoyed watching this video as much as I enjoyed making it if so then please do leave a like a comment and share the video if you got all the way here it helps more than you can imagine as always though the biggest thank you goes to my patreon subscribe star and YouTube members who make these videos possible these videos aren't monetized immediately and I need to wait for a manual review which can take a long time as a result I am purely able to do this as a full-time job thanks to the kind subscriptions that you guys provide on these sites and I cannot thank you enough if you do want to support the channel join our Discord or our weekly Hearts of Iron 4 games then please do consider clicking one of the links in the description thank you thank you to Lobster to you darway LOLOL sigar emper Titus Luke David Murphy Chet and natog Anon Bergland Levi e friendly Brian Mr Malibar busack Firefly Enterprise Henry unre Evan brightfield Chef Jeff Ethan win Stanley vunder Mr Bloom gav D gas longan Hano JD green Rebel Angus Roxboro Rock saaka too heavy alexio podcast Watcher Citadel haste bojan M Rick me Mr gaming Cameron Swig 1919 gloomy Troy harer jaged Camp Rowan Swedish Chef Honda merco David buers Max Anton gas conqueror Espen KH Luca marinic Veritas unleashed the real G Joel ghost 0128 Jack Bobby Atkinson John de grief Ward crank dramatic equation Russ hail Senator Armstrong Lucas Drury Mark Smith shameful display Sneed seeden feed Bruno Emma magash williiam s oie mandas sword dog aussie Wes Prada Aussie Zuma Joe Ford X jinsen Mr Toad Le agnu Carolyn J Alex D violently normal Brendan Stout K Reich unlikely Balmer Enclave welcome to cuga the alt Vault it's okay to be a nationalist inflection point vet exempt automat 762 x39 Monir Mercier Charlie Black Will from Florida history by gray scale the Waller Suma kuub joran 1997 Admiral kinsky KL Jung and James Ferris and