late '38: 4 '39+: defeated Poland is where the fighting started. The Poles had no real gripe with Germany. Indeed, Poland had participated in the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. Their most recent war had been against the Communists in 1920. If there was going to be war between Germany and the USSR, you would expect Poland to be on the German side, especially if attacked by the USSR. But, Poland had turned down an alliance with Germany, preferring not to be allied with either powerful neighbor. Hitler chose to make demands, and then launch an invasion, that ended the potential for possible future alliance, or at least the utility of a neutral Poland as a buffer. His demands, for Danzig and free passage to East Prussia, were rather moderate. But the Poles, who had a high opinion of their own armed might, saw no need for such concessions. Perhaps the player need not follow Hitler's course. Once Germany makes their pact with the USSR, then it is clear to Poland that the allies are the only potential source of help. In the wake of Germany's occupation of Bohemia, Britain extended to Poland, in the Spring of 1939, a guarantee of support, with no reciprocal obligation. Indeed, if the war began with an attack on France, Poland was under no obligation to enter the war. Absent a Soviet-German treaty, there is no reason for the Poles to join the allies short of German invasion. Poland just might join an attack on the USSR by the Germans. An alliance of France or Britain with the USSR would likely push Poland closer to Germany, as would Soviet moves against Romania, the Baltic states, or Finland. There is one argument against allowing the war to start without a German attack on Poland. What would be the cause for war? Hitler really did not want war, not yet. The war could have more easily started in Spring 1939 with the German occupation of Bohemia. Great Britain had been the guarantor of Czechoslovakia, and could have declared war at that time. But the Czechs did not fight, and Prime Minister Chamberlain excused Britain's obligations since Slovakia had seceded, and so Czechoslovakia, as such, no longer existed. In September, the Poles did fight. Great Britain did not walk away from even the one sided obligation to enter the war, just as in 1914 Belgian resistance, coupled with British guarantee of Belgium, brought Britain into that earlier war. Some sort of "justified" crisis must be used for the start of a war, and Danzig was what Hitler used. Could he have manufactured a reason for some other start to the war? Certainly. But it would have cost him politically in some other way. Adding Politics to Your WWII Game A Model Introduction Poland Great Britain France, Belgium, Holland Italy USSR USA Spain and Portugal Hungary and Romainia Yugoslavia and Bulgaria Greece and Turkey Finland Norway, Sweden, and Denmark Political Event Table Treaties Back to Table of Contents -- Against the Odds vol. 1 no. 2 Back to Against the Odds List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by LPS. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com * Buy this back issue or subscribe to Against the Odds direct from LPS.