Why didn't Britiain also declare war on Russia?

Britain and France guaranteed Polish integrity / sovereignty, which is why they declared war on Germany. But Russia ALSO attacked Poland, so why weren't they also declared war on? No doubt behind the scenes discussions took place. After all, everyone had read Mein Kampf, so the Brits probably understood that Russia needed a buffer zone and time to arm. However, if the Germans had agreed to withdraw from Poland and join the West agains Stalin maybe the war would have been limited to that theatre. Sure, the Germans would probably have ended up with the Ukraine, and thus become uncomfortably strong. However, would this not have been better than a Russian superpower, the Iron Curtain, the Cold War and all the "little" proxy wars that went with it?

Has this been discussed elsewhere?

 

I think the bigger what if is French and British intervention in the Winter War. What would have happened then? Would Hitler have invaded the USSR earlier to force an alliance with Germany and England? Could that have happened? And would that have focused Hitler totally on the east?

WWII would have been even more complicated than it was.

 

As Poland did not declare war on the SU on 17 september 1939,why should B + F do this ?

 

And let's not forget the plan to bomb Baku and Batumi that would have thrown the Soviets in Hitler's arms, biggest problem there is that, given the need to defend the Franco German border, there's no way (read spare troops) to stop the Soviets going into Iran and Iraq and possibly even India.

But the OP is incomplete, how would the Germans "switch sides" from alliance with the Soviets to one with France and Britain? Hitler giving Warsaw back to the Poles while Stalin hangs on to Eastern Poland and the Baltics baffles belief.

 

Why do you think that was? From what I have read Poland's plans in case of a German invasion was to mount an offensive towards Berlin. Could it be that they thought maybe the USSR would join in and attack Germany? They really did not have a good relationship with either Germany or the USSR. Or perhaps they actually thought that France and the UK would do something?

It's really strange the bye that the USSR gets for WWII. I do not think history will judge this kindly. WWII was in no way a good war for anybody. The lunatics came out on top for time to the detriment of the whole world.

 

The fact remains that,if Poland did not declare war on the SU,one can not reproach B +F for not declaring war on the SU ,and,afaics,Poland never asked B + F to declare war on the SU ..

In the spring of 1939,B +F told Poland explicitly that the guarantee applied only if there was a German attack ,because no one was thinking on the possibility of a Soviet attack .

BTW : most people in Poland were not thinking that a German attack was possible ..

 

By the time the Soviets went into Poland, the country was all but gone. The excuse the Soviets made was that the government of Poland no longer existed so they were merely marching in to restore order and to keep the Germans from having all of the country. There was plans to bomb the Soviets earlier that came to nothing and after the defeat of the Poles there was no reason to add yet another enemy to the allied list.

 

Actually, the stab in the back by the USSR removed any hope the Poles had.

Prior to that, the Poles believed/hoped they could hold the "Romanian Bridgehead" (South East of Lwow) long enough for French and British support to arrive.

How Britain and France were planning to get aid there, and what form it would take, is beyond my ken.

 

The plan to bomb Baku/Batum was proposed after the fall of Poland, as was the intervention in Finland. Luckily neither came to anything but if they had WW2 would have had a totally different aspect. Wonder what would happen to Hitler's plans to go East if the USSR found itself at war with France and the Commonwealth. Could make for a fascinating what if.
IMO this thread is still malformed, unless we have a reason for Hitler to change alliance it's a nonstarter.

After how the USSR was treated after WW1 with it's former allies doing their best to support nationalist movements tearing the old Russia apart, and Pilsudski advancing to the outskirts of Kiev ..... I have my reservations about calling the Soviet intervention a "stab in the back", Poland antagonized everybody and even made a land grab at the expense of the former Czechoslovakia after Munich, not exactly a peace loving attitude.

 

I think not too many people realize how belligerent Poland was. They did not have many admirers in either camp. And since they were between the 3rd reich and the soviets, not a good position to have both Hitler and Stalin hating you.

 

Regardless of how badly Poland itself behaved in the inter-war years, they didn't do anything remotely to deserve the slaughter of their intellectuals and officers in Katyn,

 

The British and French guarantee was a rather limited one I beleive. They said they would declare war if Germany invaded Poland. They did not say they would declare war if the Soviets invaded Poland.

 

I have copies of archives which mention the bombing of Baku as late as May 1940. It seems almost irrealistic when things were already to begine turning sauer in the west that those gentlemen in their offices were still negociating with Turkey to gets its approval to send French bombers via Syria and fly to Baku.