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European Tensions |
War
| Mobilization |
Poland - France |
Battle of Britain |
Dieppe |
North Atlantic |
Training the Empire |
The Pacific |
Quebec Conference |
Hong Kong |
Home Front |
Sicily |
Italy | Conscription
| Normandy |
France |
Netherlands |
Germany
The march to war accelerated in 1939 and the great
powers rushed to find protection in alliances. The
Soviet Union undertook to form an alliance with the
British and French and asked Lord Halifax to come to
Moscow for discussions. The British balked at the
invitation due to their suspicions that the Soviets
might use an alliance as an excuse to occupy
and annex
Poland. The British Foreign office eventually sent a
minor official names
Reginald Ranfurly Plunckett-Ernle-Erle-Drax who had no
real power to negotiate and set off for the Soviet Union
not by plane but by ship which took considerably longer.
The
Soviets offered to sign an alliance with England,
France, Poland and a few other countries in order to
deter Germany from trying to invade or annex any more
countries or territory. The Poles refused to allow any
Soviet forces to enter their territory, the English and
French believed that Germany and the Soviet Union were
mortal enemies and would not accommodate each other and
let the negotiations drag on.
Stalin was not entirely
sure that the English and French might not be forming an
alliance behind his back and felt increasing pressure to
come up with something that would protect the interests
of the Soviet Union. Stalin began to explore his other
options. He came to believe that if he could stay out of
the war that seemed to be coming, then the two blocks,
the fascist and the democracies could once again bleed
themselves dry as they did in the first world war. The
Soviet Union could stand aside as the two alliances
fought to a stalemate and the Soviet Union might then
intervene on one side or the other for territorial gain.
The
Germans did not want to fight a two front war and Hitler
saw an opportunity to split the east and the west by
offering the greedy Stalin more territory and benefits
then he could refuse and neutralize the eastern front.
This would leave Nazi Germany free to invade Poland and
then turn all of their military force to the west to
deal with France and England.
Canada continued to be an
interested spectator in the unfolding events but did not
interfere or offer to intervene in European affairs.
Canada was still struggling to emerge from the
depression while the regular army had been reduced after
the first world war and by 1939 was a skeleton of what
would be needed for any action abroad.
The German Foreign Minister
Joachim von Ribbentrop was instructed by Hitler to
determine whether the Eastern Front could be taken out
of the equation by coming to terms with the Soviets and
on August 14, 1939 he contacted his counterpart in the
Soviet Union, Vyacheslav Molotov to see if they were
interested. The Soviets viewed this proposal as an
opportunity to avoid being the one country left out in
the cold and the potential target of aggression. They
agreed to negotiate and with 5 days had signed an
economic agreement with the Germans and on August 23rd
the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact was signed. The
agreement was to last for 10 years and committed both
countries to not attacking each other for that period.
Hitler had his timetable and Poland and the west were
the first on his list. The Soviets had guaranteed that
if Germany attacked Poland and went to war with France
and England, they would not become involved but would
continue to supply Germany with the raw resources that
were committed to in the economic agreement.
They also signed a third and
secret pact which divided eastern Europe up between them
in exchange for not going to war against each other.
Poland would be divided, the Baltic states would go to
the Soviet Union and a few other territories were
allotted to one or the other.
The rest of the world was
stunned to hear that the two arch rivals had signed the
pact and many in the west realized that they had
irrevocable blundered and that war was now imminent.
Hitler also knew that war was coming and his plans left
less then a week before the attack on Poland was to
begin.
On September 1, 1939,
claiming that the Poles had raided across the German
boarder, Hitler launched the first Blitzkrieg and
overran Poland in a few short weeks. The west was
paralyzed with inaction and awaited Hitler's next move.
The Second World War had begun.
On June 2, 1941 Hitler was
to break the Nazi Soviet Pact by launching the largest
land invasion in history upon the Soviet Union.
Canada was forced to act but
responded with great hesitancy. The bloodbath of the WWI
still remained a vivid memory to many Canadians and
although the war started on September 4th it was not
until September 4th that the Canadian Prime Minister
Mackenzie King began to act and his actions were those
of someone looking for an exit from the theatre. He
instructed the finance minister that the approval of
expenditures should be for no more then a force that
would protect Canada's shores. He then instructed the
Minister of Defence to downplay recruiting in order to
avoid to much excitement. King felt that Canada might
not even send any troops to fight in Europe.
On September 7th King was
surprised to hear from his cabinet that Canada should
prepare to send an expeditionary force and the
mobilization plan which had been initiated on September
1st began to be envisioned as the process by which this
force would be organized and dispatched to England.
Finally, on September 19th, Canada declared war on
Germany and entered the Second World War.
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