01x01 - The Gathering Storm

[bunniefuu]

September 1st
1939, German troops thrust deep

into Poland to win a swift
and absolute victory.

Barely 20 years earlier, their
forefathers had also been

on the march, but
back into their

homeland as a defeated army.

In November 1918, after
four years of World w*r One,

Germany's Emperor,
Kaiser Wilhelm II,

had been forced to abdicate.

His armies were being
ground down by a remorseless

offensive by British,
French and US troops.

His people faced starvation.

But already a dangerous
myth was taking root.

The German generals and
troops claimed that they

hadn't been defeated in battle,

but betrayed by their
own cowardly politicians.

Even so, at 11 in the morning
on November 11th 1918,

the 11th hour of
the 11th day of the

11th month, World w*r
One came to an end.

The following month,
President Woodrow Wilson

of the United States
arrived in Europe

promising to create
a new world order.

He persuaded the world's leaders

to sign up to a new
League of Nations.

At the Treaty of Versailles,
they agreed that from now on

disputes between countries
would be resolved

not by fighting, but by
debate in the League.

The peoples of
Europe were set free.

And Germany's ally,
the Austro Hungarian

empire, was dismembered.

Out of it, new
nations were created.

Austria, Poland,
Hungary, Czechoslovakia,

Yugoslavia, Latvia,
Lithuania and Estonia.

Germany itself was
greatly reduced in size.

But this process
contained a time b*mb.

Not everyone
celebrated the birth

of countries like
Czechoslovakia.

Several of them contained
substantial German minorities.

One day the desire
to reunite the

German peoples would
come to haunt Europe.

The w*r torn German
people also had

one final indignity
inflicted on them.

They were forced to pay a
massive 6.6 billion Pounds

in reparations to
France and Britain,

something they could ill afford.

And when he returned to America,

Wilson's new World order
immediately fell apart.

The U.S. Congress
decided it could not

risk being sucked into
another w*r in Europe.

It refused to join
his League and

the U.S. withdrew
into isolationism.

Germany was now a
very different nation.

It was still Europe's
biggest country

but its militaristic
monarchy had gone.

It had become a democracy.

But its government, the
so called Weimar Republic,

was soon struck by a
series of hammer blows.

Street battles erupted
between extreme right wing

nationalists and Communists
trying start a revolution.

Then in 1923, the country was
devastated by hyper inflation,

which reached hundreds
of per cent a month.

Ordinary people's
savings were wiped out.

This was fertile ground
for a new breed of

rabble rousing
right wing politicians.

Among them Adolf Hitler.

Hitler had been born in Austria.

He had fought
bravely as a soldier

in World w*r One and been
awarded the Iron Cross.

On returning to Germany
he settled in Munich,

and his fiery oratory
soon enabled him to seize

control of the small National
Socialist or n*zi Party.

In October 1923, Hitler and
his henchmen attempted an

armed coup against
the Weimar government.

It failed, and he was
sentenced to nine months.

In prison he wrote
a book, Mein Kampf,

"My Struggle",
in which he blamed

Germany's ills
on the Jews

and demanded that it
rebuild its strength

and seek new
territories in the east.

On his release, he set
about building the Nazis

into a proper, disciplined
political party.

From now on, he would
use the democratic

system to achieve power.

But for the next five years,
Weimar Germany prospered.

Support for extremist parties,
left and right, dwindled.

Then suddenly, Hitler's
opportunity arrived.

In October 1929, the US
stock market crashed.

Billions of dollars
were lost and an

economic depression
swept across the world.

Unemployment in Germany
soared to over six million.

Only extremist politicians
seemed to offer a solution.

Politicians like Hitler.

By 1931, his Nazis were
a true mass movement.

And they had their own
brownshirted th*gs,

the SA stormtroops who
numbered almost three million.

In the 1932 elections,
the Nazis became the

largest party in Germany's
parliament, the Reichstag.

But Hitler refused
to join a coalition,

leaving parliament paralysed.

To break the impasse,
President Hindenburg made

him Chancellor in January
1933, head of the government.

Within a month, the
Reichstag burned down.

Hitler accused the communists
and demanded emergency powers.

He then used them to ban
all other political parties.

In August 1934 President
Hindenburg died.

Hitler declared
himself President.

He was now absolute leader,
the Fuehrer, of Germany.

At first there was little
sign of what was to come.

For the next three
years the Fuehrer

concentrated on rebuilding
Germany's economy.

He spent millions on public
works, including the 5,000 mile

autobahn system, to
soak up the unemployed.

But, in secret Hitler
was also spending

lavishly on a huge
rearmament programme.

Under the Versailles
Treaty, the German army

had been limited to 100,000 men.

The country was
forbidden to have

an air force, tanks
or submarines.

This small army was
trebled in size.

Then in 1935, Hitler
came out into the open.

He unveiled a brand new
air force, the Luftwaffe.

It had 2,500 planes, far
more than Britain or France.

Unemployment plunged,
and the Nazis

became enormously popular.

Now emboldened, the Fuehrer made

his first expansionist move.

In 1935, he reoccupied
the Saarland district

on the French border,
after it voted to return

from League of Nations'
to German rule.

A year later he sent German
troops into the Rhineland,

part of Germany which had been
demilitarized at Versailles.

At the time, many felt
that Hitler was only

claiming back what was
rightfully Germany's.

Neither Britain nor
France objected.

When Berlin hosted the
1936 Olympic games,

the Nazis were seen by many as

firm but fair, a
government which

was restoring the
nation's pride,

and which didn't
threaten anyone.

Of course there were signs.

The 1935 Nuremberg Laws,
forbade Jews to marry true

Aryan Germans and deprived
them of their citizenship.

But when the first threats
came to world peace,

they didn't come
from Hitler at all,

but from somewhere
else entirely.

Japan at the start
of the 20th century

was already a military power.

It had defeated Russia
in a w*r in 1905 and it

had fought alongside the
Allies in World w*r One.

After the w*r, Japan was an
acknowledged world power,

and it signed up to
the League of Nations.

But politically, it was
a mess of contradictions.

Nominally a
democracy, the feudal

tradition was still strong.

Most Japanese revered their
Emperor as a living god,

and regarded him as
their true leader.

And the country faced
major economic problems,

its population was exploding.

And it had no natural resources

to fuel its rapidly
expanding industries.

Its leaders needed solutions and

they saw them in
Chinese Manchuria.

Manchuria was a land
of rich grain fields,

with plenty of
coal and minerals.

It was a perfect target.

Japanese troops were
already stationed there.

Other possible targets were
the colonies ruled by the

European powers, Burma, Malaya,
and Hong Kong, controlled

by Britain; Indo China, ruled by

France; and the
Dutch East Indies.

But at this stage Japan
had to be cautious.

It didn't want to rouse
the other great power

in the Pacific,
the United States.

For all its
anti imperialist slogans,

the U.S. actually ran
an unofficial empire

in the Pacific.

The Philippines,
Guam and several

islands were under
its direct rule.

It undoubtedly had the
strength to take on Japan,

but since the end
of World w*r One,

it had had other distractions.

This was America's jazz age.

Throughout the 1920s,
the nation concentrated

on exploiting its
vast resources.

There was an economic boom
that seemed without end.

Fortunes were made both in
industry and the stock markets.

America seemed lost to the
increasing pursuit of pleasure.

With distractions like
these, Japan's growing

pains in the Pacific
seemed very far away.

America had slashed its
army after World w*r One,

and agreed a naval
reduction treaty

with Britain, France and Japan.

This, in effect, handed
naval superiority

in the Pacific to the Japanese.

And then came the
Great Depression.

As the economic
devastation spread,

a quarter of the
population lost their jobs.

Tens of thousands
were made homeless,

living in Shanty towns.

Whereas before it had been
distracted by pleasure,

now America was
distracted by pain.

It was time for Japan
to make her move.

In 1931, without even
informing their own elected

government, the Japanese
forces in Manchuria seized the

capital Mukden and then overran
the rest of the territory.

A puppet state,
Manchukuo was proclaimed

under a puppet ruler.

Henry Pu Yi, the last emperor
of China, who had been

deposed in 1911, was
dragged out of retirement.

At its headquarters in Geneva,

the League of Nations now
faced its first great test.

Japan was universally condemned.

But her response was blunt.

Japan however
finds it impossible to

accept the report
adopted by the assembly.

The Japanese
then just walked out,

and the League suddenly
realized there was

nothing it could
do about Manchuria.

Japan was declared an
international pariah,

but it didn't care.

Its leaders had
turned their eyes

to further conquests, in China.

These were easy pickings,
China was in a state of chaos.

The government of
Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek

was locked in conflict
with the Chinese

communist party
under Mao Tse Tung.

There was civil w*r.

In 1936, as a
precursor to invasion,

the Japanese signed
a pact with Hitler.

The aim was to guard
against any attack

by Soviet Russia, were
it to move on China.

Then, in July 1937 the
Japanese provoked an

incident with Chinese
troops and invaded.

At first the Chinese
were taken by surprise.

But they soon fought
back fiercely,

the Communists even joining the

Kuomintang in a united front.

The Japanese responded
with amphibious landings.

By the end of 1937 they had

overrun much of northern
China and the coast.

The Japanese fought this w*r
with exceptional brutality,

bombing cities indiscriminately.

Westerners living in
the commercial centre,

the port of Shanghai,
were now evacuated.

The city was then
besieged for three months.

It suffered widespread
damage, the Japanese forces

showing no pity or concern
for the native population.

But it was after the
capture of Nanking,

then the Chinese capital,
on December the 17th, 1937

that the Japanese
forces really ran amok.

Over 300,000 civilians are
estimated to have been massacred

during a six week orgy of r*pe
and indiscriminate k*lling.

The Japanese even attacked
British and U.S. warships which

had been sent to protect
their shipping and trade.

The worst incident came
on December the 12th 1937.

The American gunboat
Panay was sunk

by Japanese bombers,
50 crewmen died.

Despite this, the Western
powers refused to intervene.

So the League of Nations
could do nothing.

In the United States
President Roosevelt

wanted to impose a
naval blockade of Japan.

It has become clear that acts

and policies of nations in
other parts of the world

have far reaching effects on us.

But the British
would have none of it,

fearing that it
might provoke a w*r.

So, all Roosevelt could
offer was a $25 million

loan to Chiang
Kai Shek to buy arms.

Even though the Communists were

now fighting alongside
the Kuomintang,

the Soviet Union did
little to help either.

Its only involvement
was a series of clashes

along its own border
with Manchuria.

But China itself
received nothing.

Instead it had to
fight on alone.

During 1938, the Japanese
overran Canton, and pushed

the Chinese forces deeper
into the west of the country.

All the rhetoric of
the League of Nations,

all those promises
to stop international

aggression had come to nothing.

And by now the
Western powers were

facing aggression
much closer to home.

Today, it is easy to
laugh at Benito Mussolini,

the fascist dictator of Italy.

All that posturing seems
faintly ridiculous now.

But it didn't seem
that way in 1922.

Back then, Italy had seemed
to be on the edge of anarchy.

The country was riven by
strikes and land seizures.

The democratic government,
just as in Germany,

seemed powerless in the
face of such unrest.

So Benito Mussolini,
a w*r veteran

and a journalist,
decided to take a stand.

He organised a right wing
nationalist party, the Fascists.

With the country paralysed
by a general strike in August

1922, Mussolini ordered his
followers to march on Rome.

Fearing a civil
w*r, Italy's king,

Victor Emmanuel, asked
him to form a government.

Mussolini swiftly stamped
out any political opposition,

and assumed dictatorial powers.

By 1928, his position
seemed secure.

Parliament was appointed rather
than elected, and all power

was firmly in the hands of
the Fascist Grand Council.

Like Hitler, Mussolini's first

acts made him immensely popular.

Massive programmes of
public works provided

employment and transformed
Italy's infrastructure.

Corruption was
rooted out and the

Mafia more or less eliminated.

Italy's armed forces
were built up,

including an advanced,
modern air force.

In the Mediterranean, Mussolini
launched a powerful navy,

bigger than the
combined might of the

British and French
Mediterranean fleets.

When the Great Depression came,

Italy seemed to weather
it better than most.

Mussolini became a source
of worldwide inspiration.

Political leaders, not least
Adolf Hitler in Germany,

saw the Fascist system
as a role model,

strong and purposeful in
contrast to the weakness

of the democracies in
Britain and France.

But Mussolini wanted
more than adulation.

He wanted to recreate
the Roman empire.

And he already had
a target in mind

for his first
imperial land grab.

His target was Abyssinia,
today's Ethiopia.

Italy already had
colonies on its borders

in Eritrea and
Italian Somaliland.

In December 1934, Italian
forces provoked a clash

with Abyssinian troops at an
oasis in the Ogaden region,

well inside
Abyssinian territory.

Mussolini then sent
reinforcements to Eritrea

and Italian
Somaliland, demanding

that Abyssinia pay reparations.

The Emperor of Abyssinia,
Haile Selassie appealed

in person to the
League of Nations.

[Haile Selassie] [speaking
in foreign language]

He called on
it to live up to its ideals.

Here was a small
nation under threat

from another member
of the League.

This was the supreme test.

But the League did nothing.

Britain's Foreign Minister
Anthony Eden at least tried

to broker a peace deal, but
Mussolini would have none of it.

In early October 1935
the Italian army invaded

from Eritrea and
Italian Somaliland.

The primitive Abyssinian
forces stood little chance

against a modern army equipped
with a*tillery and tanks.

The Italian air force had
total command of the air,

and harried the Abyssinians.

On occasions dropping gas
bombs even though gas had been

outlawed at Versailles as
a "crime against humanity".

After six months, Abyssinia
was completely overrun.

The Emperor Haile Selassie
fled into exile in Britain.

From its headquarters
in Switzerland,

the League of Nations
wrung its hands.

It did impose
economic sanctions,

but they had little effect.

Mussolini's aggression
had revealed two things.

The League of
Nations, that great

hope for peace, was impotent.

And both Europe's
supposed major powers,

the democracies
Britain and France,

no longer had the
stomach for a fight.

Both Britain and France had
been shattered by World w*r One

and their economies had
never really recovered.

Both had witnessed waves
of strikes and unrest.

Both had suffered
mass unemployment

even before the
Great Depression.

Both also faced the cost
of controlling empires,

now swollen by taking on
Germany's former colonies

and the Middle
Eastern territories

once run by the
Turkish Ottoman empire.

And above all, both
had been traumatised

by the horrific casualties
of World w*r One.

A succession of British
leaders, Lloyd George,

Ramsay Macdonald and
above all Stanley Baldwin,

all resolved to keep Britain
out of future conflicts.

Despite horrific casualties
on the Western Front,

Britain had ended
World w*r One with

a large and very
effective conscript army.

This was immediately run
down to a small professional

force designed to police
its sprawling empire.

And when the Great
Depression struck,

any ideas of modernising
the army were abandoned.

It meant that Britain
went into the run up

to w*r economically
and militarily weak.

French losses
during World w*r One

had been even worse
than the British.

Ever mistrustful of the Germans,

a large conscript
army was maintained,

but throughout the 1920s,

France's birth
rate had declined.

It became clear that
there would be a

manpower shortage by
the mid to late 1930s.

France realised it
could never compete with

Germany on the size
of its army alone.

The solution was to adopt an
entirely defensive mentality.

The Maginot Line, a series
of fortifications was begun

in 1930 along the
frontier with Germany

and ran as far as
the Belgian border.

There it theoretically
linked up with

fortifications planned
by the Belgians.

This new French military
approach meant that France

was only capable of
waging a defensive w*r.

It just did not have the
ability to launch an attack

on Italy, even if the British
had had the troops to help.

And of course, both countries
knew that their navies in the

Mediterranean were outnumbered
by Mussolini's new fleet.

So when Italy
conquered Abyssinia,

it made sense for both
powers to do nothing.

It just seemed too remote.

Too much someone else's problem.

By now they both
had to deal with

all the traumas of
the Great Depression.

That seemed so
much more pressing.

And above all, they
were now faced with a

military threat
far closer to home.

A resurgent and
rearming Germany.

And Germany's power
and that of Italy too,

was soon about to
be demonstrated.

In supporting the rise of
another dictator, in Spain.

In 1936, civil w*r
erupted in Spain.

It was exceptionally vicious,
setting family against family,

communist against fascist,
believers against atheists.

In 1931, a left wing government
had come to power determined

to get rid of the
centuries old Spanish monarchy.

The king was forced into exile
and a republic was declared.

In February 1936, the parties
of the left combined in a

Popular Front to
take on the forces

of the right in a
general election.

The Popular Front won narrowly.

Even though its reform
programme was modest,

the wave of strikes and
land seizures led the right

to fear that a communist
takeover was inevitable.

Within the Spanish army, long
a bastion of conservative

and Catholic thinking,
senior officers began

to consider the
possibility of a coup.

Among them was General
Francisco Franco,

a former chief of staff who
had been effectively exiled

to command Spain's forces
in the Canary Islands.

On July 17th 1936, the
units of the army fighting

guerrillas in Spain's
colony in Morocco mutinied.

The next day Franco
flew to join them,

proclaiming a new
Nationalist movement which

would save Spain from communism.

Mainland garrisons now
joined this revolt.

The Popular Front
responded by calling

for volunteers to
defend the republic.

Battle lines had been drawn.

At first, Franco faced problems.

He and his army were in
North Africa and he had

to get across the straits
of Gibraltar back to Spain.

So he turned to the one
person he thought might help.

Adolf Hitler.

Within a month, transport
aircraft from Hitler's

new Luftwaffe had
begun an air lift,

taking Franco's battle hardened

veterans over to southern Spain.

At this stage,
the Republic still

seemed to have the advantage.

The pro Franco military
uprisings in Madrid

and Barcelona, were
quickly crushed leaving it

in control of most of
the east of the country.

Franco's Nationalists
were confined largely

to the north west and
part of the south.

But the Nationalist situation
was transformed when Hitler

and Mussolini started to
pour in troops and weapons.

The German dictator seized
the opportunity to test his

new equipment and
expanding armed forces.

The first Panzer tanks were sent

along with some 12,000 troops.

And the Luftwaffe deployed
its Condor Legion with

its ultra modern new
bombers and fighters.

Mussolini sent a
so called volunteer corps

of 50,000 men and more
than 700 aircraft.

In vain did the Republicans
appeal to Britain,

France and the Soviet
Union for help.

But London and Paris were scared

of setting off a European w*r.

They declared a policy
of non intervention.

Cynically, both Germany and
Italy signed up to this.

But when it became obvious
that they were still sending

arms to the Nationalists, Josef
Stalin, the Soviet leader,

announced that he would
help the Republic.

Stalin's worry was the
rise of Fascism in Germany.

Hitler had made it abundantly
clear that he believed

communism to be
Nazism's ultimate enemy.

Stalin saw the Spanish
conflict as a way of keeping

Germany and Italy
occupied while building up

the Soviet Union's
military strength.

About 700 military
advisers were sent

along with tanks and
fighter aircraft.

It was something,
but no match for

the support Franco had received.

In fact the largest source of
outside help for the Republic

didn't come from a
country at all but

from volunteers, the
International Brigades.

About 30,000 left wing
Americans, British, French

and Germans signed
up to fight in Spain.

With their new Fascist
support, the Nationalists were

able to open two
fronts, one advancing

towards Barcelona
from the North.

The other led by Franco pushing

up towards Madrid
from the south.

By the end of 1936,
Madrid was enveloped

on three sides and
virtually under siege.

The fighting was intense
and often accompanied

by appalling atrocities
against civilians.

The Republicans hunted down and

m*rder*d Roman Catholic priests.

The Nationalists
slaughtered anyone

accused of being communist.

German and Italian
air power was used

indiscriminately against
civilian targets.

Madrid was heavily bombed,
but the worst incident came

in April 1937, when the
Basque town of Guernica was

virtually obliterated with
6,000 civilian deaths.

The area controlled
by the Republic

was steadily ground down.

It's forces fought with great
gallantry, but under trained

and under equipped amateurs
were no match for the

professional soldiers
led by Franco or for the

combined modern weaponry
of Italy and Germany.

As the w*r dragged on, the
fighting around Madrid became

a symbol of the left's
determination not

to be crushed by a
Fascist dictatorship.

But behind the
scenes, the Republican

alliance was falling apart.

The communists and
socialists wanted to

concentrate on winning
a military victory.

But the more idealistic
anarchists and syndicalists

saw the w*r as an
opportunity for a

mass revolution by the workers.

These disagreements burst out
into the open in May 1937.

Fighting broke out in Barcelona

between the anarchists
and communists.

It was a fatal weakening
of the Republican cause.

By the end of 1938,

the Nationalists had
penned their enemy

into a small enclave
around Barcelona,

and another stretching eastward
from Madrid to the coast.

Madrid continued to
hold out, but the

international brigades
were withdrawn.

More and more nations began to
recognise Franco's government

as his forces closed in for
the final as*ault on Madrid.

At the end of March 1939,
its defenders exhausted

after nearly three
years of fighting,

the capital finally surrendered.

A month later, Franco
formally declared

hostilities at an end.

The scars of Spain's civil
w*r took years to heal

and, in some ways,
they never have.

And internationally,
Franco's victory

over the Republic
proved a disaster.

Hitler and Mussolini
were confirmed in their

belief that the democracies
of Britain and France

were impotent to resist
any real pressure.

While Stalin despaired of their

willingness to confront Fascism.

Hitler in particular saw
his way open to begin

the aggressive policies
outlined in Mein Kampf.

Even before the
Spanish civil w*r

ended his armies
were on the march.

From the moment he became
Chancellor of Germany

on January 30th 1933,
Hitler had begun to put his

long term ambitions into action.

On February the 3rd he told
his top commanders that

his ultimate aim was "to
conquer territory in the

"east and ruthlessly
Germanise it".

They were instructed to prepare
for a massive expansion.

Although Germany had been
forbidden tanks, a secret treaty

with the Soviet Union
in 1923, had allowed the

development of tank
designs and experimentation

with new mobile
armoured tactics.

Energetic young German
officers like Heinz Guderian

read the theories of
British thinkers like

Basil Liddell Hart and
Colonel John Fuller.

They even watched exercises
being carried out by

the British during the
1920s on Salisbury Plain.

It was from these that
they came up with the idea

of fast moving units combining
tanks a*tillery and infantry

that could thrust fast and
deep into enemy territory.

Hitler adopted their
ideas with enthusiasm,

the new army was to have
three Panzer divisions.

Similarly, the new air
force, the Luftwaffe,

under former World w*r One
fighter ace Hermann Goering,

had had a framework to build on.

Throughout the years in
which its air force was

officially banned, Germany
had kept up its design

skills by building
civilian machines.

And gliding and
flying clubs provided

a reserve of potential aircrew.

Hitler revealed the existence of

the Luftwaffe in March 1935.

He then announced that the
army was to be increased to

300,000 men and conscription
was reintroduced.

Britain and France
protested feebly at this

flagrant breach of
the Versailles Treaty.

But soon they reluctantly
and slowly began to rearm.

Until this point, Hitler had
been modest in his goals.

He had only taken
back what was his,

the Rhineland and Saarland.

But now he had a
grander target in mind.

His homeland Austria.

In 1934, Austrian Nazis
had attempted to seize

power and unify the
country with Germany.

Austrians, after all
spoke German, even if they

had never been part
of a German state.

In February 1938, another
n*zi plot was discovered.

Austrian chancellor
Kurt von Schuschnigg

protested to Hitler.

Hitler responded by demanding
that Austria stop mistreating

the Austrian Nazis and
unite with Germany.

Schuschnigg promptly
called a referendum so that

the Austrians could vote on
whether to remain independent.

But on March 12th 1938, the
eve of the referendum, Hitler,

fearing that it might
produce the wrong result,

sent in his troops.

Complete surprise and
an enthusiastic welcome

by n*zi sympathisers made
it a bloodless invasion.

Within hours Hitler
announced Austria's

incorporation into
the Third Reich.

A sovereign nation had
for the first time,

been subsumed into
a greater Germany.

Once again the western
democracies failed to react.

In the summer of 1938 he turned

on his next prey,
Czechoslovakia.

A substantial German minority
lived in the north west

of the country, an area
known as the Sudetenland.

These Sudeten Germans
had been part of the old

Austrian empire but
had been cut off when

Czechoslovakia was
created in 1919.

This was the time b*mb
that had started ticking

at the signing of the
Treaty of Versailles.

Hitler encouraged Sudeten
German demands for autonomy,

and then threatened
the Czech government

with force if it
refused to agree.

Undaunted, the Czech
government ordered

general mobilisation
and prepared to resist.

The Czechoslovak army was
large and well equipped,

with formidable fortifications
on its frontier with Germany.

Hitler backed off.

But then at the
beginning of September,

concerned that w*r
might be imminent,

the British prime minister,
Neville Chamberlain

decided to act as a peace maker.

He flew to meet Hitler twice.

The n*zi dictator assured
him that if he could

have the Sudetenland he
would make no further

territorial demands in Europe.

In Munich, on
September 29th 1938,

with Mussolini acting as
mediator, France and Britain

signed an agreement
giving the Sudetenland to

Germany in return for
a formal declaration by

Hitler that he had no more
territorial ambitions.

Chamberlain flew back to
Britain waving the piece

of paper which he claimed
"Guarantees peace in our time."

So, on October the 1st,
German troops occupied the

Sudetenland and seized the
Czech frontier fortifications.

Hitler now began sizing up
his next target, Poland.

Again the nominal cause
was a German minority

marooned as a result of
the Versailles Treaty.

Hitler demanded the return
of the port of Danzig

to German control, so
that East Prussia could be

linked up with the
rest of Germany.

The Poles refused,
and Hitler hesitated.

He was not quite
ready for all out w*r

and he had unfinished
business with Czechoslovakia.

In March 1939, the Eastern
part of the country,

Slovakia, which was
ethnically different to the

Czech lands, appealed
to Hitler for help

in achieving greater
independence.

Hitler summoned the Czechoslovak
prime minister Emil Hacha

to Berlin, and browbeat
him into putting

his country under
German "protection".

German troops now
marched into the

rest of Czechoslovakia,
unopposed.

Most of the country was
annexed into the Reich.

Slovakia was declared
a protectorate.

For the first time,
Hitler had seized

non German speaking territory.

But again there
was only a feeble

protest from Britain and France.

At the end of March,
he again repeated

his demand that
Poland give up Danzig.

This time France and Britain
declared unequivocally that

they would declare w*r
if he attacked Poland.

But by now Hitler cared little
whether they did or not,

he was sure that
they would be weak

and indecisive opponents.

In Russia, Stalin
had also become

increasingly concerned
by Hitler's aggression.

In April Stalin
proposed an alliance

with Britain and France.

But negotiations
made little progress,

and finally Stalin despaired,
deciding that there

was another solution
to the German threat.

On August the 23rd the Soviet
Union and the Third Reich,

who everyone had believed
were sworn enemies,

announced a non aggression pact.

The agreement secretly
specified that Poland would be

split between the two countries
and Stalin would have a

free hand to take over
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Now free from any Russian
threat, Hitler ordered his

armed forces to prepare
for an immediate invasion.

On the evening of
August the 31st,

the German Wehrmacht
prepared for the as*ault,

its Fuehrer had
made the decision

which would plunge
the world into w*r.