OK Guys,
Until March 1939 both France and Britain felt Germany had a case for the remilitarisation of the Rhineland, reclaiming the Saarland, Anschluss and reclaiming the Sudetenland. It was only when Hitler took the rest of the shrunken Czech lands that the guarantee to Poland was given because the Allies felt this was unreasonable - there were no Germans here at all just Czechs and Slovaks.
So here's the rub. Hitler does not take the rest of Czechoslovakia, rather he castes his gaze east and demands of Poland access to Danzig - a rail link thru the "Corridor" and the return of Danzig from the League of Nations a city which was 90% German and was militating to be taken back into the Reich. All very reasonable requests. Without Britain "guaranteeing her borders" Poland is isolated and knows she is in a weak position without western backing...she assents and grants Germany the requests. Now we have no Polish war - which if we read and believe the policies they fought for was the last thing the Germans wanted. Rather we have maybe even in alliance between Poland with her over-mighty neighbor.
War in the East would then be between Nazis and Communists as Hitler always meant it to be. We have no western front, no crushing of France, Low Countries, no involvement of Britain and no invasion of Denmark or Norway.....just a slug fest between the Nazis and the Communists - Germany vs Russia !!!
During the war with Russia, Germnay can isolate and take Czech and Slovak lands that it "left behind".
What are your thoughts ????
Leibstandarte
1939 - Attack Poland 1st Czech 2nd
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Leibstandarte
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Just a correction Lebstandart. You wrote:
In fact there were some 400 thousand Germans living in the "shrunken Czech lands" and almost no Slovaks lived there.It was only when Hitler took the rest of the shrunken Czech lands that the guarantee to Poland was given because the Allies felt this was unreasonable - there were no Germans here at all just Czechs and Slovaks.
Interesting scenario ... without a war with Poland, the west never goes to war with Germany.
But how can Germany war with Russia without first securing eastern Euorpe? Without the ability to use bases form the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea, the war would be fought on to narrow a front. Germany would never be able to create a situation in which a decisive victory could be achieved.
But how can Germany war with Russia without first securing eastern Euorpe? Without the ability to use bases form the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea, the war would be fought on to narrow a front. Germany would never be able to create a situation in which a decisive victory could be achieved.
Hitler's attitude at Munich made sure that the West never trusted him again, even though they got the deal they wanted, exchanging the Sudetenland for peace. Hitler promised Chamberlain that the Sudetenland would be his last territorial demand in Europe. If he then demanded Danzig, Chamberlain would call him a liar and back Poland anyway.
But if Beck hadn't been the Polish foreign minister and refused to yield even a single square inch of territory to Germany (Beck considered Poland to be a Great Power) then Poland might have backed down, exchanging Danzig and part of the Corridor in exchange for a secret Nazi-Polish Pact against Russia (promising Poland a large slice of western Russia including Minsk and maybe even Smolensk, which were historic Polish cities several centuries earlier.)
Poland and Germany together could then get Rumania and Hungary on side, and attack Russia in 1941. The West would probably not want to get involved, unless a German defeat was immenent, in which case France would occupy western Germany to protect herself against Russia.
But if Beck hadn't been the Polish foreign minister and refused to yield even a single square inch of territory to Germany (Beck considered Poland to be a Great Power) then Poland might have backed down, exchanging Danzig and part of the Corridor in exchange for a secret Nazi-Polish Pact against Russia (promising Poland a large slice of western Russia including Minsk and maybe even Smolensk, which were historic Polish cities several centuries earlier.)
Poland and Germany together could then get Rumania and Hungary on side, and attack Russia in 1941. The West would probably not want to get involved, unless a German defeat was immenent, in which case France would occupy western Germany to protect herself against Russia.