Poland 1939

Hi, its allways puzzled me why Britain and France declared war (the right decision) on Germany for invading Poland in 1939 but did not declare war on Russia for doing just the same a few weeks later, they did just the same as the Germans by invading an taking over a country by force, I dont know what the relationship was between the Soviets and the western allies in 1939, but when Russian was at war with Finland both Britain and France supplied aid to Finland, so they must have been a little annoyed with Russian I think, but I think it was double standards by both Britain and France to go to war with Germany and shake Stalins hand in 1941.

 

My guess is that the western Allied believed that Germany and the USSR would end up in war and thus wanted to keep the Soviets out of the conflict by then and did not declare war. June 22nd 1941 proved they were correct.

 

Distance was also a main factor. Declaring war on a country that was not a physical neigbour meant huge logistic problems at the time. Neither the French , not the British could send bombers further than the west of Germany , so sending them furhter was out of the question. Ships through the Baltic? No way. And fighting Stalin and Hitler together would have been suicide.
Also during WWI Germany was a former enemy, Russia a former ally.

 

Did the British and French Goverments protest to Stalin on a diplomatic level over this issue or did they say ''well we have got our own war to fight now, forget about the Poles, which they did in 1945 when the Russians said we will have your country please, thank you.

 

well,no:the guarantee to Poland (in march 1939),applied only if there was a war with Germany ;in march 1939,there was no danger of a Soviet attack.And,IMHO,there was also no danger of a German attack ,but,that's another thread .

 

An other point:B+F did NOT supply any aid to Finland during the Winterwar .

 

I know it was a little to late and not much but,
Boys ATRs (L-39 ATR) 100 Donated by Britain January 1940

 

Yan,answer Your question ... short, concise and to the point .... France and England sold and betrayed Poland!

 

That's certainly an answer but hardly a correct one.

 

That statement is just as abrasive as stating that Poland embraced the Soviets and the arrival of communism.

 

The point is, it wasn't about Poland at all.It was about much wider geopolitical picture, in which the West considered Nazis as greatest threat and USSR as potential ally in megaconflict that was coming.Hitler was told to be surprised when France and Britain declared war over Poland, because he percieved it as minor question.The real reason was that F&B finally decided that Hitler will never stop and that it is better to stop him sooner than later.War with the Soviets in that situation is completely inconceivable.

 

First, the military cooperation pact concluded between the Polish and the Western Allies in August 1939 was a deliberate play England in time to be able to more fully prepare for war.
Secondly, France knew that if Germany attacked Poland it is to fulfill the conditions of the agreement and attacked Germany, and in this way, Hitler would have to fight on two fronts.
This is an open secret that just England and France signed a pact with the Polish, whereupon no longer intended to help her anyway ........ "newspaper in England wrote ...." do you want to die for some Gdańsk? "

 

It was the German-born enemy of the people Stanisław Mikołajczyk that prevented Poland becoming a republic of the Soviet Union.

The Polish government in exile regarded Stanisław Mikołajczyk as a traitor for having co-operated with the Communists....

There are many ways to paint history.

 

IMO, Hitler went out of his way convincing everyone that he was a much bigger threat.

 

This is the old myth of : Poland was abandoned .

First : == wrong

Secondly : =wrong

Britain promised to help Poland if it was attacked by Germany,but,it did not say what help,and Poland did not ask,thus Poland cannot complain .

France promised an offensive,and ,France started an offensive,thus Poland could not complain .

Noone betrayed Poland .

 

From my understanding it goes back to the end of WW1 when Poland was created as a County from the old Halpsberg empire? Russia in 1939 was just taking back territory that it lost in that agreement at the end of WW1 if you could call it a agreement with the "Reds/Whites" during 1919? That was the Allies Version of it....But Germany was the bigger threat during the coming WW2. I believe I have heard stories about how the British were really, really scared that the Germans(West) and Russians(East) might just Divide Europe up as well. However events have shown how the soviets Murdered 10-20 thousand polish soliders at Katin. Stalin harbored a lot of hatred toward the poles from WW1 and wanted to destroy their national pride as did Hitler. I really feel bad for the poles as they are stuck between Germany and Russia and will always be The gateway to the East and West of Europe.

 

Poland was not just recreated from the Hapsburg empire; it had been split up between Prussia, Russia, and Austria in a series of partitions from 1772-1795. The "new" Poland of 1919 was basically what had existed before 1772. What the Bosheviks tried to "take back" in 1920-21 and Stalin did take in 1939 was the Tsar's share of the spoils from 1795 and before.

The Polish Corridor had also been Polish for centuries before 1772. In the 1600s Prussia was roughly what would be called East Prussia in the WWII era. Brandenburg, around Berlin, was a completely separate country until the two were united by marriage of the Elector of Brandenburg to the daughter and heir of the Duke of Prussia. Subsequent rulers of Brandenburg-Prussia sought to unify their lands at the expense of Poland and anyone else in the way. It's as if your nrighbor on your left married your neighbor on the right and they then decided they needed your property to rectify the "injustice" of theirs being separated.

 

But,there is also the fact that what Stalin took back in 1939 (betterrevented Hitler from taking) was mainly populated by non Poles .