The Effect Of The War On The Western Front

Countries in Europe struggled when WWI came to an end in 1918. This was a time when global dominance was shifting around the world. Powers, namely, Germany and Italy were punished brutally in the post-war era as they were left politically and economically devastated by the Treaty of Versailles. This led to great resentment among the German people toward Great Britain and France. But the worst was to come as the U.S. stock market crashed. The devastating impact of the U.S. stock market crash and the economic and political instability of the European countries after WWI led to the rise of new political ideas and a want for change in Europe. In this environment of change and post-war, ideas such as antisemitism and nationalism found fertile ground.
This did not dissuade Hitler due to the fact he annexed Austria and dismantled and annexed Czechoslovakia without a shot being fired. Hitler had his eyes set on his next target, Poland. On April 28, Hitler announced Germany’s “withdrawal” from the non-aggression pact signed with Poland and the London Naval Agreement that was signed five years ago. Hitler discovered that France and Britain’s attempts to make a non-aggression pact with the Soviets had failed. The Soviets were only into making a three-way alliance if Soviet soldiers could enter Polish soil. However, the refusal of Poland to grant Soviet troops the right to enter its territory made the Soviets decide to pursue a separate peace treaty with Germany. Hitler went on to make a non-aggression pact with Russia, called the ‘Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact’ or German-Soviet Pact, in August of 1939. Article 1 of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, states that "Both High Contracting Parties obligate themselves to desist from any act of violence, any aggressive action, and any attack on each other, either individually or jointly with other
The capture and partitioning of Poland would make this possible. When Hitler's eastern flank was secure, Hitler ordered his generals to finalize Case White or the invasion of Poland. Hitler claimed it was a matter of expanding territory in the east and making their food supply secure. There was therefore no question of sparing Poland, and Hitler's decision to attack Poland was inevitable. On September 1st, German forces launched a surprise and unprovoked attack on Poland. Hitler accused Poland of persecuting ethnic Germans so, in his way, he claimed it was justifiable self-defense to attack. Hitler even went as far as to stage a phony attack on German soil. He did this by having SS operatives dressed as Polish soldiers "seize" one of Germany’s radio stations and broadcast an anti-Nazi message in Polish. The mighty Luftwaffe, or German air force destroyed the Polish air force, leaving the Polish army at the mercy of the German panzer divisions. The speed with which the German tank units broke through the Polish lines gave a new name to the Nazi Germany era of warfare: Blitzkrieg or lightning