Invasion of Poland by Germany

The Nazi Germany little by little it had taken leaden steps that served to turn it into a great military power in the prelude to war. Within these steps we have to talk about the different annexations made by Adolf Hitler that sought to obtain "living space". In this lesson from a TEACHER we bring you a summary on the invasion of Poland by Germany, undoubtedly the trigger for what is known as World War II.

From the year 1937 the idea of ​​the Lebensraum or "living space" so necessary for Nazi Germany, because having that meant that the country could move on. This meant that Germany had to occupy a series of lands that had long been united; For this reason, it relied on the great German masses who lived outside the country so that they began a series of revolutions that ended up causing Germany to occupy the territories.

Within this summary on the invasion of Poland by Germany we must know that, in 1938, Hitler annexed Austria and in March 1939 Czechoslovakia, Bohemia and Moravia, lands where the German population was very high.

Behind this, Poland was left alone in the face of the Nazi threat, especially as of August 23, 1939, when the Non-Aggression Pact between Russia and Germany was signed, something that gave Hitler total freedom of movement.

In this other lesson you will discover the causes and consequences of World War II.

Now we have to place ourselves in the September 1, 1939, at which point the invasion of Poland by Germany began from the west, entering the German army at various points. In the same way, and as had been stipulated in the Non-Aggression Pact, Russia entered on September 17 from the east, causing the country to fall rapidly.

This made the Republic of Poland barely able to mobilize its troops and on September 27 Warsaw was occupied being annihilated by the army on October 6. In this way, we can say that the invasion of the country was carried out in such a way that it was rather a blitzkrieg, in which the Polish government could not even defend itself against the attacks of both nations.

From September 1 to October 6 in Poland 11 battles took place which were enough to end a country. This left a great series of casualties within the defeated country that we will see below:

• Killed in combat: it is impossible to know the number of civilians killed during the joint invasion of Russia and Germany, although later studies of the war have made it easier to know the military casualties, on this occasion They were 66.300 approximately.
• Wounded: 133,700 men.
• Prisoners of war: 694,000, the members of the army who were arrested, experienced in their own flesh the German and Soviet hatred towards said nation, in many cases, were forced to build concentration camps and were later tried in councils of war.

Without a doubt, a fundamental point within the summary on the invasion of Poland by Germany, are the consequences that occurred as a result of this act:

Start of World War II

On August 25, 1939, and fearing a German attack, Poland decided to sign a series of pacts with Great Britain and France, through which it sought military aid if necessary.

As a result of the incidents of September 1, day 3 arrived joint declaration of war on Germany on the part of the two European nations, although neither of these mobilized their soldiers towards their ally, as they preferred to create lines of defense to contain the imminent German advance.

Division of Poland and destruction of the industry

Within the Non-Aggression Pact, Russia and Germany decided on a joint invasion that would end the division of the country into two sectors. Within the Soviet sector, it was decided to move all Polish industry to the interior of Russia, leaving the country mired in misery.

On the German side, the great persecutions on the Jewish population would begin, which was eliminated either in the concentration camps or by starvation, due to the fateful living conditions.

Also the Polish society was harshly repressed, for having opposed the change of power, to which it was added the great hatred that Germany had for that country (element that can be corroborated if history is studied modern).

In this other lesson we will discover the opposing sides in World War II.