THE Second World War was the biggest conflict ever in human history and had around 60millions of dead in its six years of conflict (1939-1945). This war was characterized by the application of wartotal, that is, by the total mobilization of material and human resources of the central nations involved in its maintenance. The result of the conflict, in addition to the 60 million deaths, was also the almost complete destruction of some of the countries involved.
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Background
The Second World War was triggered by the invasion of Poland by Wehrmacht (German army) on September 1, 1939. Throughout the 1930s, hitler he defended the construction of the reich (Empire) German in the “spacevital” (lebensraum). This living space would be a minimum territory for the Aryan people to develop their empire.
With these ideas in mind, Hitler carried his territorial expansion plan ahead of the attach The Austria, in 1938, and, in the same year, invade and attach the
Sudetenland (located in the formerCzechoslovakia) with the connivance and permission of England and France.Another territorial ambition of Hitler was the Poland. The Polish question referred to First World War, in which Germany lost part of its territories to Poland. Hitler's ambitions were mainly aimed at the HallPolish – a strip of Polish land that separated two German regions.
Poland, knowing Hitler's German intentions, signed agreements with England and France in which both nations ensured military support for Poland if it was attacked by Germany, however, once the German invasion began, French and English support never arrived, as the historian Max reports. Hastings:
In March 1939, the British and French governments gave assurances, formalized in subsequent treaties, that they would fight if there was German aggression against Poland. If the worst happened, France promised the military leadership in Warsaw that its army would attack Hitler's Siegfried line within thirteen days of mobilization. Britain promised an immediate attack with bombers against Germany. The guarantees offered by the powers reflected cynicism, as none of them had the slightest intention of fulfill them: they were intended to deter Hitler rather than provide real military assistance to Poland 1.
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A few days before the invasion began, Germany had signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. In this pact, the two nations undertook not to fight each other in the event of a conflict and, furthermore, a secret clause stipulated the division of Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union. When the conflict broke out, Poland did not get the help it had hoped for and had to fight Germany alone.
Invasion
On August 30, 1939, the order to invade Poland took place, and at dawn on September 1, the first German troops crossed the border and started fighting. About 1.5 million German soldiers were mobilized to fight the Polish army, which numbered around 1.3 million.
The Polish resistance was unable to contain the German army, which quickly asserted itself. The Polish army was poorly equipped and had obsolete tanks and planes. The withering German advance soon reached the Polish capital, Warsaw. The city was punished by the bombing of German planes. The use of blitzkrieg (lightning war) was essential in the German victory. The blitzkrieg coordinated attacks by land and air quickly and strongly in order to take opposing armies by surprise.
On September 17, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, also with the intention of annexing part of Polish territory. Devastated and unable to contain the rapid advances of the German army, the city of Warsaw surrendered on 28 September. Hitler's next step was to take the war to Western Europe.
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1HASTINGS, Max. The world at war 1939-1945. Rio de Janeiro: Intrinsic, 2012, p. 16.
By Daniel Neves
Graduated in History
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SILVA, Daniel Neves. "Start of World War II and invasion of Poland"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiag/inicio-segunda-guerra-invasao-polonia.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
