It is known that any confrontation between countries, whether warlike or not, is a very complex process, driven by multiple causes and not the consequence of a single fact. However, there are specific events and dates that remain in history as the trigger for a conflict. Today we will talk about the invasion of poland by the Nazi forces, 70 years after start of world war ii.
The end of the 1st World War
Many historians maintain that the true origin of the invasion of Poland and, therefore, of the 2nd World War was the situation left by the world war 1. Germany, wounded in her pride and going through a situation of political and economic crisis, surrendered to the arms of National Socialism in the figure of Adolf Hitler, character, like it or not, key in the modern history of Europe. Germany had been forced to sign the Armistice Treaty which also makes it clear that she will forget any future claim by Poland and other land. However, with the arrival of Hitler to power things soon change. In 1934 Germany left the Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations (what today would be known as the UN) and signed a unilateral treaty with Poland, a non-aggression pact that it would take a few years to violate. However, years later, Nazi intentions began to be unleashed on the Czechoslovak and Polish territories, a desire for expansion that responded to the need to obtain more Lebensraum (‘living space2’) for German citizens. The Nazis controlled everything to the point that they wanted to have a relationship between population and territory that was optimal so that there would be no overpopulation. In 1937 Germany begins to prepare the operation. Hitler poses it as a swift and surprise assault over the Danzig area. However, it is necessary to heat up the political environment a little more. Hitler begins to demand from the Polish government the construction of highways and railways that unite it with Germany; in addition, he asks that Danzig be ceded to him, to which the Polish government opposes. Thus, little by little, an operation called Fall Weiss, a moment that can be considered as the beginning of the 2nd World War, especially when other powers such as the USSR, France or the United Kingdom join the German-Polish conflict. In just one month, Hitler’s plans become reality. It is only the first step of his imperialist desires. Let’s see how the Polish invasion that started the bloodiest war in the history of mankind unfolded.
The beginning of World War II: the invasion of Poland
The German Army crosses the Polish border
We have to say that the German invasion of Poland began on September 1, 1939. and is considered as detonating of the Second World War. Before this invasion, the question of Poland was among the secret clauses of Non-aggression pact signed between Germany and the USSR, in August 1939. They stipulated that the country would be annexed and divided in two areas: one for the Soviets and the other for the Germans, but the truth is that this was not carried out.
The invasion of poland was announced days before by Adolf Hitler in a speech given to the leadership of the German army in which he made his purposes clear: “Annihilation of Poland First of all, have no mercy. Act brutally.”
Diplomatic efforts failed to curb their intentions, the invasion was inevitable. August 31, 1939in a “propagandistic” maneuver, men from the H.H attacked a German radio near the border, thus generating a pretext to “justify” the attack.
The troops were marched and the September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Two days later, France Y Britain make their statement war against Germanyofficially beginning the Second World War.
Map of the German invasion of Poland
At this time, the nazi army was inside Poland near the river Vistula. The Polish nation was in a difficult situation: its troops were not strategically located, the technology of German tanks far outstripped its obsolete cavalry.
The allies French and British were not prepared, and the military actions they carried out against Germany were did not cause him serious losses.
Poland was quickly overpowered. Its transportation system and air force were destroyed by bombers. Krakow the day fell September 6. By the 9th, the last Polish forces were cornered.
The German Army enters Warsaw
The following days saw the entrance on the scene of the Soviet Union who also had vested interests in controlling Poland. The new front opened by the soviet army finished breaking the weak Polish defense.
Finally the government fled into exile. Ten days later the city of warsaw capitulated. Now without a government and without an army, both aggressor powers (the USSR Y Germany) proceeded to divide Poland something that the governments of Adolf Hitler Y Stalin They had secretly agreed.
Once you have established your dominance over your part of Poland, Germany entered an impasse of several months, regrouping his forces. Meanwhile, Great Brittany Y France They waited defensively. His next move would carry the war to Western Europe.
The consequences of the invasion of Poland
The advance of the troops in Poland, caused the thousands of refugees, Jewish and non-Jewish, chose to escape through the clogged routes leading east. Most took only what they could carry. Of course, a large number of casualties, both soldiers and civilians. It is estimated that about 20% of Poles lost their lives or were taken prisoner. Evidently the great consequence of this conflict was the start of the Second World War, which caused the death of between 55 and 60 million people.
However, it is true that the invasion of Poland was the trigger for World War 2 or, at least, it brought other major powers into the conflict in the face of the threat of the advance of Nazi Germany. But Poland is also famous for something else. Since its occupation, the country became a kind of headquarters for Nazi Germany, the chosen place where they would carry out one of their most aberrant projects: the ultimate solution. That is, the annihilation of the entire Jewish race.
In Poland It was where the infamous extermination camps were built, where the Nazis intended to kill off all citizens of Jewish origin and prisoners of war. It is estimated that since the first Death camps Until the end of the War, some 6 million people died in German concentration camps.
Of the seven extermination camps of the Nazis, six were built on Polish territory: the best known to all is surely Auschwitzbut there were also those of Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibor, Chelmno and Majdanek. There was a seventh concentration camp in what is now Belarus, Maly Trostenets, but it was not as well known or as large or as active as those mentioned above.
The prisoners were taken to the camps to perform forced labor, and the weakest were directly killed. They lived in subhuman conditions, waiting for the moment of death to come at any moment. The most common methods were gas chambers, but the Nazis also had many other systems to finish off prisoners and that they put into practice in the Polish camps. For example, there were mass shootings and drownings, hanging, hammering or poisoning, in addition to hunger, disease and living conditions in general.
The truth is that today it is hard to believe how the Nazis were able to kill millions of people in the extermination camps with impunity, through a totally organized and systematic plan, without anyone knowing anything or, at least, nobody doing anything. for avoiding it. By the time the world found out, it was already too late.
If anyone is interested in the subject of Nazi concentration camps, I highly recommend the documentary.”Shoah«, translated into Spanish as «Holocaust», a film that makes a very detailed analysis of what happened there, with interviews with people who experienced it first-hand, both on the part of the oppressed and the oppressors.
Video of the invasion of Poland
Here we leave you a video in which you can learn more about the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany.
Links of interest
If you are interested in the 2nd World War or other key periods of modern history, in Overhistory we surely have what you are looking for:
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