Britain and France Started World War II

Yes, you read it right – Britain and France started World War II (the latter started on September 3rd – not September 1st). By declaring war on Germany on a former date, two giant colonial empires transformed the local conflict between two neighboring nations (Germany and Poland) into a full-fledged world war.

Contrary to an almost universal misconception, neither Germany nor France had to declare war on Germany after the latter invaded Poland. True, on August 25, 1939 (two days after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact), Great Britain and Poland signed an agreement for mutual military assistance… but it did not promise that Britain would declare war on Germany if the latter attacked Poland.

It only promised that “His Majesty’s Government would feel themselves bound at once to lend the Polish Government all support in their power” – without specifying this support. Actually, British Chiefs of Staff noted that “we could give no direct help by land, sea or air“. Neither would (or could) the French.

Actually, this promise was not only empty, but hypocritical as it offered the military assistance only if Poland was attacked by Germany. If Poland was attacked by any other nation (i.e., the Soviet Union), no military assistance was forthcoming (actually, both Britain and France ignored invasion of Poland by the USSR).

No surprise here – the pact did not include any statement of either party’s commitment to the defense of the other party’s territorial integrity. So much for British (or French) guarantees to Poland.

On the same day that Britain pledged its support of Poland, Lord Halifax stated, “We do not think this guarantee will be binding“. Cut and dry, plain and simple.

Hence, the decision by Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany had nothing to do with the invasion of Poland by the latter (it was only the pretext). Most likely, leaders of both nations decided (correctly) that Hitler will shortly attack France (to get Alsace-Lorraine back) and wanted to pre-empt Hitler in order not to be caught by surprise (a few months later, France was anyway).

The Nazis (predictably) perceived the declaration of war in their own perverted way. Due to “Jewish declaration of war on Germany” on August 29th (see next section), they believed that the “world Jewry” somehow made the leaders of Britain and France declare war on Germany and that the latter was a “global Jewish plot”.

Neither was true… however, this declaration of war became one more slab in the “stack of slabs” that two years later triggered the “Holocaust Avalanche” killing four million European Jews.