Why did Hitler attack Poland?
Hitler watches German soldiers march into Poland in September 1939.
Polish question
Following the division of the German Empire—the Second Reich and the Austro-Hungarian Empire—following defeat in World War I, the western and northern regions populated by Germans were ceded to Poland. At Versailles, the borders were redrawn so that Poland gained access to the Baltic Sea, but this corridor cut off the bulk of Germany from East Prussia. Danzig-Gdansk received the status of a free city. Naturally, this posed a serious strategic threat to the Third Reich.
Polish Germans, with full organizational and financial support from Berlin, like the Germans of Czechoslovakia (Sudetenland), began to form political, national, social, cultural, and youth organizations. They had military branches and provided training. Danzig had a Nazi Party branch and its own Gauleiter (political and regional leader).
At the right moment, German organizations in Poland received the appropriate orders, and friction with the Polish authorities began. The question of reunification with historical homeland, the unity of all Germans. And Hitler and his diplomats suddenly became concerned about the rights of Polish Germans. They raised the issue of the Polish Corridor, and how Warsaw was hindering communications between Germany and East Prussia.
The situation in the German Reich
Most Germans welcomed the agreement with Russia (Why did Stalin reach an agreement with Hitler?). After the shameful Treaty of Versailles, during the most difficult time of collapse and depression, it was the Russians who were the first to extend a hand, proving themselves reliable and advantageous partners. Society praised Hitler's wisdom. They said he was a fine fellow, snatching all the benefits from Western democracies, fooling the West, and then reaching an agreement with Russia. The military was emboldened: defeating Poland would be easier in alliance with the Russians.
But the German elite—the old aristocracy, the generals, diplomats, and so on—was in disarray. On the one hand, Hitler was succeeding. Germany was growing stronger, step by step, and very quickly. The German elite received various perks, from ranks and awards to military contracts and the plunder of annexed territories.
On the other hand, despite all the Führer's successes, skepticism toward the upstart corporal remained. The German elite also greatly feared the West would soon punish Germany. This was the syndrome of the First World War.
Hitler wasn't considered a fully-fledged ruler. From the very beginning, many viewed him as a "clown" who should fulfill his role and leave. Cleanse the state of the accumulated scum, establish "German order—Ordnung." And leave. Give the position of head of state to more respectable figures.
He was seen as a dilettante and an upstart, his every move a target of gossip and criticism. He was seen as a man leading Germany to a new military and political catastrophe. The Führer abolished the Treaty of Versailles and its restrictions on Germany, revived the army, and fleetHe sent troops into the Rhineland. The elite clutched their heads, fearing that the Germans would be punished. They feared that France and Britain, with almost all of Europe behind them at the time, would not tolerate such a thing, that there would be war and terrible defeat.
But the Führer got away with it, time and again. The opposition calmed down. Generals and dignitaries who had plotted palace coups and assassinations, and prophetically spoken of the approaching catastrophe, temporarily calmed down, receiving further awards and promotions.
Before the Anschluss of Austria, the seizure of the Sudetenland, and the partition of Czechoslovakia, the German elite once again became frightened. They thought they should stop there and take stock. The country lacked the army and military resources to confront the West. Hitler was leading the country into inferno-hell. Once again, the military's top brass plotted against the Führer, but once again they hesitated to act. Once again, the Führer achieved brilliant victories.
Preparations for war with Poland agitated the opposition with renewed vigor. Old fears had been forgotten, but now they were confident that France and England would not allow Poland to be devoured. They claimed that they had previously managed to reach an agreement with the Western democracies, so Germany had lifted the Versailles restrictions and occupied Austria, the Sudetenland, and the Czech Republic. But now Hitler had allied himself with the Bolsheviks, defied the West, and so disaster awaited.
However, all opposition was limited to behind-the-scenes talk. No one dared to speak out against the Führer while he was in power.
Economic crisis or war
Meanwhile, the smartest ones realized it was time to run away. In particular, the Jewish bankers. Some "true Aryans" followed them.
In particular, the "steel king" Fritz Thyssen, owner of an entire industrial empire, the Ruhr metallurgy, who financed the Nazis. He welcomed war with the USSR but opposed conflict with the West. In 1939, he moved with his family to Switzerland and prepared to leave for Latin America. In 1940, he dictated his book, "I Financed Hitler," to the American journalist Emery Reeves.
In reality, German capital played a secondary role in the rise of Hitler personally and the Nazi Party. The leading role was played by the businessmen from London and Washington, the leading banking houses of the so-called "financial international." The masters of the West needed a major war to resolve the crisis of capitalism and achieve absolute domination of the globe.Why the USA started a world war).
In early 1939, the Second Reich's "financial genius," Hjalmar Schacht, sent a letter to Hitler, declaring that the government's course would lead to financial collapse. He abruptly resigned as head of the Reichsbank. However, he retained his post as minister without portfolio and received numerous commendations from the Führer. Schacht also opposed the invasion of Poland. Later, he also opposed war with the USSR, realizing that Germany could not sustain a Russian campaign economically.
Shakhty was a very intelligent man; he jumped off in time, avoided the fate of a war criminal, and lived to be 93 years old (he died in 1970).
At the same time, it was he who created the Reich's war economy. First, Schacht restricted capital flows and radically changed foreign trade. Trade agreements were concluded under which Germany provided loans to countries, which were then used to purchase German goods. They also preferred to buy goods from countries that themselves actively purchased from Germany.
Secondly, a parallel quasi-currency—mefo vouchers—was introduced. Siemens, Krupp, Rheinmetall, and Gutehoffnungshütte founded the Metallurgical Research Society (Metallurgische Forschungsgesellschaft, or MeFo). The state acted as guarantor. The vouchers made it possible to extract idle capital and provide producers with funds without inflation. Over the four years 1934–1937, the volume of securities issued reached 12 billion Reichsmarks. Mefo vouchers were used primarily to develop the military industry.
The problem was that This policy brought Germany to the brink of bankruptcy. Funds for rapid economic growth, militarization, the creation of an army, navy, and aviation were obtained through financial speculation and fraud, like meth vouchers. If in 1932, Germany's total debt was 12,5 billion marks, by June 1938 it had grown to 38,5 billion marks. And in 1938, Hitler and Schacht poured another 11 billion marks into the armaments program.
However, guns and Tanks do not provide economic prosperity. The militarized economy and the country had to "work off" the mountains produced weaponsThe professionals understood all this well.
Thus, in April 1939, Forbes, an adviser to the British embassy in Berlin, reported:
It can by no means be ruled out that Hitler will resort to war to put an end to the intolerable situation into which he has placed himself by his economic policy.
In May, British Ambassador Henderson wrote to Lord Halifax:
Can Germany survive another winter without war? And if not, will Hitler prefer war to economic catastrophe?
Thus, the global financial international, Schacht, and his ilk first created Project Hitler, then drove the German Reich into a trap. An economic depression, or even a Great Depression-style catastrophe in the United States, or war!
Berlin, London, and Washington saw and understood everything perfectly. Only war could avoid a classic crisis of capitalism, a debt crisis. It overturned the traditional laws of capitalism, allowed for debt write-offs, and allowed for the plunder of captured countries. Meanwhile, the military-led economic expansion continued.
Even the new "Munich Agreement" regarding Poland no longer suited Berlin. Hitler was obliged to start a major war, as planned by the "architects" from Paris, London, and Washington. It was precisely for this purpose that the "global conspiracy," the financial capital of the United States and Britain, and their associated agents in Germany itself, nurtured the "Black Sun" project, the German Nazis. The time had come to repay the debts.
Hitler himself didn't want a "new Munich," as Mussolini proposed. He needed a war so the Wehrmacht could gain combat experience and so Germany's new elite—the Nazis and the SS—could prove themselves. Himmler was forming the first combat units of the SS, and the creation of a new, parallel army was underway.
The timing was favorable. An agreement had been reached with Moscow. Behind-the-scenes negotiations were also underway with the West. Hitler knew there would be no real "second front." Poland would be allowed to be crushed, as they were certain the Germans would turn on the Russians next.
Adolf Hitler and Hjalmar Schacht
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