Poland: In 1939, German forces crossed into Polish territory which would officially begin World War II. Poland rejected an alliance with the Soviet Union prior to the invasion from Germany, in which Hitler saw an opportunity. Towns and villages were deliberately bombed to create a fleeing mass of terror with stricken civilians to block the roads and stop the flow of reinforcements to the front. Soviet Union: On September 17, 1939, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov declares that the Polish government has ceased to exist, as the U.S.S.R. goes along with the Hitler-Stalin Nonaggression pact, which is the invasion and occupation of eastern Poland. The Soviet Union would get about three-fifths of Poland and 13 million of its people as …show more content…
With the nation still skeptical of Allied propaganda after it had lured the U.S. into the first World War, the United States declares its neutrality in the European War. Britain: On September 3, 1939 Britain declares war on Germany. The British ocean liner Athenia, which was sunk by a German U-30 submarine had assumed the liner was armed. There were more than 1,100 passengers on board, 112 of whom lost their lives. Food importation was halted in late 1939 when German submarines started attacking British supply ships which would lead to rationing. Germany: The unemployment by 1939 was 302,000 which is significantly different from previous numbers being in the millions. By 1939, the army was 1.4 million strong. To equip the military with weapons, factories were built and this took even more off of the unemployment figure. Government income had been 10 billion Reichsmarks in 1928. In 1939, it stood at 15 billion. However, government spending had increased from 12 billion Reichsmarks in 1928 to over 30 billion in 1939 which is a difference of 15 billion Reichsmarks. On September 1, 1939 Germany invades Poland. The German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Germany signed a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union on August 23, 1939. In a secret clause of the agreement, Germany and the USSR agreed to divide Poland between