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The Outbreak of the Second World War The only truly global conflict in history began when German troops crossed into Poland in September 1939.

In two parts

1939-1945
King George VI 1936-1952
Music: Richard Addinsell and Sir William Walton

© Imperial War Museums, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. Source

About this picture …

Prime Minister Winston Churchill studies plans with Sir Bertram Ramsay, Flag Officer commanding Dover, on August 28th, 1940, shortly before the Battle of Britain began on September 7th. See our post The Battle of Britain.

The Outbreak of the Second World War

Part 1 of 2

The Second World War began twice, once in September 1939 for the countries of western Europe, and then again in February 1941 with the entrance of Japan and the United States of America. For those early months, long and bruising, Great Britain stood alone against almost every government from Norway to Spain.

ON September 3rd, 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany, two days after Berlin had disregarded an ultimatum and sent troops into Poland. The Soviet Union, in accord with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, quietly supported Germany.

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had hoped the Munich Agreement of the previous year, granting Berlin control of the German-speaking Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia (without consulting the Czechs),* would bring ‘peace in our time’; but to his First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill,* it had been all too clear for years that Germany’s military build-up had much grander aims.

Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist Party had promised that the German State would snatch the economy back from a global conspiracy of Jewish capitalists; that Germany’s humiliation since the Great War would be avenged; and that a people born to rule would bring unity and order to Europe by what Churchill called ‘an equally hateful though more efficient form of the communist despotism’.*

Jump to Part 2

A name first coined in the early 20th century for a ribbon of formerly German-speaking areas collected around the border of what is now the Czech Republic. Prior to 1918 and the formation of Czechoslovakia, these areas lay within Austria-Hungary.

The First Lord of the Admiralty was the Government’s minister for the Navy; the various government offices for the armed forces were combined to form the Ministry of Defence in 1964.

From a speech in Manchester, recorded in ‘The New York Times’ for January 28th, 1940.

Précis

The Second World War began on September 3rd, 1939, after Germany invaded Poland, breaking the terms of the Munich Agreement of 1938. British Prime Minister had tried to head off Germany expansion by ceding part of Czechoslovakia to them, but Nazi policy had long been committed to a much wider European domination, as Winston Churchill had warned. (55 / 60 words)

Part Two

© Imperial War Museums, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. Source

About this picture …

Troops returning from the harrowing evacuation of Dunkirk are rewarded with tea and sandwiches at Addison Road station in London, on May 31st, 1940. One of the resilient heroes is sporting a captured German helmet as a trophy. See our post The Evacuation of Dunkirk.

IT was now evident that the signing and breaking of the Munich Agreement was simply the latest step in a well-laid plan of political manoeuvring. By supporting General Franco in the Spanish Civil War since 1936, Hitler had ensured Spain would at least remain neutral. By supporting Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, he had isolated Austria, and gained the support of a colonial power in North Africa capable of hindering Britain’s path to India and Singapore.

Neville Chamberlain’s position weakened further when Germany eased past the Allies into Denmark and Norway in the Spring of 1940. He resigned in Churchill’s favour on May 10th, the day that Germany invaded Belgium and Holland, and just weeks before the scrambled evacuation of Dunkirk.

On June 10th, Italy officially joined Germany and Russia, and declared war on a defiant Greece the following October. France had already surrendered on June 22nd. From Norway to the Pyrenees, Britain faced a Europe united behind Germany.

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Précis

Germany foreign policy had been laying the ground for European expansion for several years, rallying support from Spain and Italy in order to isolate their neighbours and take the British Empire out of the equation. By the autumn of 1940, Britain was almost alone among the nations of western Europe in still opposing the German advance. (55 / 60 words)

Suggested Music

1 2

Warsaw Concerto

Richard Addinsell (1904-1977)

Performed by Valentina Lisitsa.

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Viola Concerto (1929)

1. Andante comodo

Sir William Walton (1902-1983)

Performed by Paul Neubauer with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

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