Britain and France declare war on Germany?

Answer 1

When France and Britain declared war on Germany, following Germany's invasion of Poland, Sept. 1939, the local war became a global conflict. This was mainly due to the fact that France and Britain were the two largest imperial colonial nations on earth and their declaration of war technically meant that their empires (Indochina, India, Nigeria, etc) were also at war. France and Britain had created Poland out of pieces of land taken from Germany and Russia, after Germany's defeat in WWI. The Poles took advantage of the political unrest on both of their larger neighbors and quickly expanded their borders. Especially to the east, the Poles expanded in the 1920s. They met more resistance from Germany, which, despite not having an army, did have significant armed militias. These militias repelled the expansionist Poles and the border situtation calmed down for several years. The British and French supported the Poles throughout this era, mainly as a way to limit German power. It was natural, thus, that when German power was exercised at the expense of the Poles in 1939, that the western powers felt obligated to respond. It is interest to speculate on what might have occurred had Britain and France not intervened. Poland was doomed either way. Germany would have then had a direct border link to Russia/USSR. The Germans would likely have invaded Russia in 1940 rather than June 1941. 1940 would have found the Russians in even worse shape than in 1941. Their army high command would have been even more disorganized from the purges. The T34 tank would not have been available as it was in late 1941. On Germany's side there would have been no bombing of German cities from the west, no blockade squezing German industry, no enigma messages given to the Soviets. Germany could have concentrated even more power against Russia than they did in the actual event. They'd have had little need to build up a navy or submarine fleet. The winter of 1940-41 was relatively mild compared to 41-42, aiding German logistics. On the other hand, Germany's smashing victory over France in May 1940 gave Germany huge resources of captured oil, trucks, and industrial supplies. Would Germany have had the financial resources to fight a long war in Russia without the French economy? Interesting to speculate but likely the early war would have gone similar to the way it did in the actual event. Germany would have achieved huge victories early, probably overextended themselves and been forced to fall back. IMO, at some point, the front stabilizes. Probably Germany would ultimately hold a line 200 miles or so deep into the Soviet Union, roughly Riga/Minsk/Kiev. The war would have ended thus, probably in 1942 or early 1943, with both sides exhausted. Germany would, of course, be stronger ultimately with the additional territory but probably unable for several years to consider challenging the western powers. Fast forward a dozen or so years and Hitler would have been long dead (Heart disease most likely), the eastern border of Germany remains stable due to Germany and Russia both possessing nuclear weapons, and the western allies are much stronger, not having been bled out financially by a long war with Germany. Thus the British and French empires last much longer, probably into the 1970s. Possibly communism collapses earlier, by 1975. The religious fever of Nazism wanes quickly, and while Germany does not exactly become a republic, its new leaders are more pragmatic and interested in building personal empires and wealth within the German nation.

Answer 2

When the Nazi Germans did blitzkrieg invasion of Poland they violated the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. This upset the countries who were allied: France and Britain. They declared war on Poland in September 1939. Germany had already planned to invade France and Britain so the war would have started even if German had not invaded Poland and began killing people.

The bad part about France and Britain declaring war on Germany and telling Poland they would help was that they never did come to the aid of the Poles. Some Poles did manage to escape and make it to France and England. So a period called the phony war ensued. This was a time in which nothing happened from the time the French and Brits declared war to the time Germany came and attacked France in early 1940.

The French were no properly prepared for the Germans. They did not have airplanes, tanks and other modern war equipment. The French thought their defensive line called the Maginot Line would fend off the Germans. The Maginot Line might have worked in 1914 but it certainly could not work in 1940. The Brits did come to France's aid but they were soundly romped on by the Nazis. They barely made out of France alive.

Actually, the above is not totally true.

1. Germany didn't actually intend to fight England or France. They expected it at some point (which is why they made peace with the Soviets just before attacking Poland), but Germany had already successfully occupied the Rhineland, Czechoslovakia and Austria with little interference from England or France. After the occupation of France and their air attacks on England, Germany fully expected England to make peace. They never did.

2. The Treaty of Versailles had already been long torn up by Hitler, notably when Hitler rebuilt the German military in 1935, and then by sending troops into the Rhineland. So to say that the treaty of versailles was violated in 1939 is technically true but it had already been done at least 4 years prior- one could even argue that Germany never complied with it, since they didn't dismantle their military High Command, they just renamed it.

3. France actually had a modern army, but not without flaws. They actually had more heavy tanks than Germany did, and they had a modern air force (although their air force was smaller than Germany's, and had little fighting experience) Some of their tanks, like the Char B1, were actually considered better than Germany's at that point (there's a story about one Char B1 destroying at least 13 German tanks and coming out totally fine). But Germany had the advantage of speed, veteran troops (they had already fought in Poland, and some had fought in Spain's civil war), and better commanders. French tanks were slow and weren't deployed well- the French tactics were totally geared towards defense, so when the Germans rushed past them, they were helpless.

4. the "Sitzkrieg" ("sitting war") also known as the Phony War is an important point, and it's good that that was mentioned. Germany invaded Poland at the start of September 1939. England and France didn't really get involved in the war until May 1940. So for about 8 months, those two countries did little while Germany did whatever they wanted in Poland (as did the Soviets, but we won't get into that).

Answer 3

In the Beginning of WWI Great Britain declares war on Germany mainly in defense of Belgium. Great Britain felt threatened because Germany invaded neutral Belgium, but Britain wanted to hold on to Belgium at all cost.