the Nazi Soviet Pact / invasion of Poland (1939)

what did Hitler do in the summer of 1939?

Hitler began to unfold his plan to take over Poland

what was Hitler’s plan to take over Poland?

1. Germans in Danzig demanded union with Germany

2. Hitler threatened war

3. Chamberlain promised the Poles that Britain would support them if Germany attacked Poland

4. August 1939 - Hitler made a secret treaty with Russia

   • he thought this would stop Britain and France helping Poland

5. August 1939 - Hitler sent Ribbentrop, a senior Nazi, to Russia.

   • offered a Nazi-Soviet alliance

     (Russia and Germany would not go to war, but would divide Poland between them)

   • Stalin knew Hitler was lying, but he did not trust the British either – the Munich Agreement had convinced him that Britain and France would never dare to go to war with Hitler

what did the British prime minister promise Poles?

Britain would support them if Germany attacked Poland

what did Hitler do in August 1939 and why?

• Hitler made a secret treaty with Russia

• he thought this would stop Britain and France helping Poland

why did Stalin not trust Britain and France?

what were Stalin’s two choices?

• an alliance with Britain

  • he would end up fighting a war with Hitler over Poland

• an alliance with Germany

  • he would get half of Poland

  • time to prepare for the coming war with Germany

  • agreed not to attack each other

what did Stalin choose?

• an alliance with Germany in which he got half of Poland

• on 23 August 1939, he signed the Pact with Hitler

why was Stalin worried about Germany?

• openly showed interest in conquering Russian land

• denounced communism

  • Hitler had killed and imprisoned Communists in Germany

when was Poland invaded?

1st September 1939

when did Chamberlain declare war on Germany?

3rd September 1939