Great Britain During World War II

World War II was one of the deadliest military conflicts in history. There were many different battles that took place within this war; some more important than others. World War II began once Germany’s new dictator, Adolf Hitler, decided that he wanted to gain power for Germany and for himself. One of Hitler’s first moves in power was invading Poland on September 1, 1939. Many other countries became involved in this war because of the alliance system. The two sides during this war were the Allies and Axis powers. German, Italy and Japan were on the Axis powers; France, Britain, and the United States were on the Allies. Germany first began with the Blitzkrieg tactic meaning “lightning war”. This tactic is based on speed, surprise and was

The Second World War began in September of 1939 and was between the Allies and the Axis. It began with Germany’s unprovoked attack and conquest of Poland, and involved Britain and France from the beginning. Its origins lay in German resentment at the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), the economic crisis of 1929-30, which favored the rise to power of Fascist dictators, the failure of the League of Nations to gain international acceptance for disarmament, and the policy of imperialism adopted by Germany, Italy and Japan as a means of acquiring raw materials and markets. As a part of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had to accept full responsibility for the First World War, which then led up to the outbreak of the Second. The

Germany ended up defeating and taking over Poland on October 6, 1939. Both Great Britain and France knew after Poland was taken over, there was only more trouble to come from Germany. For France, it was only a matter of time before it was taken over, while Britain remained resilient against Germany and it’s forces. This early hesitation from Western Europe, specifically France and Great Britain, was a major reason to account for the Germans’ early success during World War II. However, France and Britain were not the only countries whose lack of initial involvement in the war was significant to Germany’s early success.

Hitler, used to the fact that the Allies supported his decisions due to their appeasement policy, demanded the port of Danzig from Poland. However, to his disbelief, Britain refused, followed by France. Poland, Greece, Romania and Turkey were extended protection on 31 March 1939 by the Allies. Hitler realized that if he attacked Poland it would result in war with the Anglo-French. To get more support on his side, Hitler signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact on 23 August 1939 with the Soviet Union, a powerful state at that point of time. Hitler felt that the Anglo-French may change their minds about Poland by seeing the Pact. This never happened. Thus, on September 1st, 1939, Hitler sent 1.5 million German troops to invade Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3rd September. The Second World War had begun.

World War II began on September 1, 1939 with Germany’s invasion of Poland a week after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Officially known as a treaty of non-aggression between the Soviet Union and Germany but secretly containing a protocol in which several European countries were divided into “spheres of influence” between the two powers.

Invasion of Poland, Blitzkrieg - September, 1939 - Germany used series of "lightning campaigns" to conquer Poland. The invasion caused Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany.

World War II was a period that changed many countries forever after the war ended: Germany was split in two, an iron curtain fell across the continent shortly after the war’s end, and acres of land and millions of people were destroyed and lost in the war. However, many changes happened during the war as well, and this is easily observed in Britain during the beginning of the war, when the country was constantly being bombed and attacked during the Battle of Britain. The Battle of Britain forced British citizens to change their mindset as a society and as a functioning economy in a split second, regardless of whether or not the people were ready for it.

On September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler invaded Poland. This led to a widespread war across many nations. This war was later called World War II. Before Germany invaded Poland, both America and Germany were going through a Great Depression. In the war, there were two sides, The Allies,(including America and

The German invasion of Poland on September 1st 1939, was an experimental display of the most advanced and intense form of warfare the world had ever seen. With such a drastic use of power and with aspirations expanding so wide, the German “Wehrmacht”1, along with the Soviet Union and a small Slovak contingent, soon escalated a central European battle into a global conflict. The target of Poland, for such an experiment had been strategically chosen as a geographical and logistical advantage, a self-proclaimed repossession of pre-World War one land ownership, and an eastern front barrier with Germany’s newly established pact/ally (via the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), the USSR.

The life at home during WWI was in a dire situation due to this being Canada’s first war. Canada used tactics such as censorship to hide what the war was really like, and kept on glorifying war. The economy was also in a dire situation with the massive amount of debt Canada kept on amassing. Canada used mass censorship from changing letters home, to controlling the media itself to not leak important war information. Canada was completely unaware of the situation in the war and was lead to believe going to war was some glorious feat and those who did not go where a disgrace to Canada.

When Germany invaded Poland, Britain and France finally had to do something as they had signed an alliance with Poland on 25 August 1939. This time they couldn't back down in the face of Nazi aggression. Had they done so, this would have signalled to the rest of the world that they could no longer be regarded as world powers. The invasion of Poland became inevitable as soon as the Germans and Russians signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact as they had agreed to carve up Poland between themselves.

In 1914, Canada was a British colony as it had been a part of the British Empire ever since the 1600’s, with a majority of Canadian citizens being of British descent. But, with Canada’s participation in World War I on the front lines and domestically, Canada repeatedly proved that “colony” is not something that should be used to describe itself. Despite some of the costs, Canadians took it upon themselves to show the Allies and the Germans who they truly are. We emerged from the war, as not only independent of British control, but also as a major global superpower due to the Allies’ military dependence on us, the economy developing skyward and full jurisdiction in foreign affairs.

Immediately, the Battle of the Atlantic began when “the British announced a naval blockage of Germany” on September 3, 1939(“World War II” 391). Eight days later the Germans

In the early hours of the 1st September 1939 German forces invaded Poland. 21 years after the end of World War I, the world had to face the beginning of another world war that should last 6 years. World War II was one of the most disastrous events in human history causing approximately 60 million deaths and destruction almost all over the globe (msn Encarta 2008). Winston Churchill wrote in the preface of his book about World War II (The Gathering Storm):

World War II began when Germany invaded Poland when Hitler tried convincing Britain and France that the invasion was a defensive act by bringing living space for the Germans but Britain and France was not convinced. “Hitler gave orders for the Poland invasion to begin on August 26, but on August 25 he delayed the attack when he learned that Britain had signed a new