Warsaw: On the morning of September 1, 1939, some 1.5 million German troops crossed the border with Poland, accompanied by more than 2,000 airplanes and more than 2,500 tanks, and began their rapid advance toward Warsaw, trampling every obstacle in their path. As soon as the news of Germany crossing the Polish border reached London, there was a stir. Britain gave Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler an ultimatum to get out of Poland immediately or declare war. Hitler ignored this demand and two days later, on September 3, 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany. This is how the Second World War started.
However, the invasion of Poland was not Hitler’s first attempt to unleash German forces in pursuit of European domination. Earlier on September 30, 1938, a tripartite agreement was signed in Munich. Hitler was given the Sudetenland, the German-speaking part of Czechoslovakia, on the condition that he would not attack any other area. But six months later, in March 1939, Hitler violated the Munich Agreement by occupying the whole of Czechoslovakia. Yet Britain and its allies showed restraint against Germany. Despite this, the Second World War started only after 6 months.
Hitler’s plan was already known
Rumors had already started floating that now Hitler’s next target is Poland, which he has been eyeing for a long time. Britain along with France promised on March 31, 1939, that if Germany attacked Poland, they would come to defend Poland. In March of that year, by breaking the Munich Agreement and invading Czechoslovakia, Hitler proved that he could not be trusted and must be stopped. With the attack on Czechoslovakia in March 1939, it became clear to the British government that Hitler was intent on conquering the whole of Europe and imposing his dominance. Hitler’s propaganda machine fervently propagated the theory of Lebensraum, according to which Germans ‘needed more space to live’. Apart from this, dictator Hitler, inspired by racial sentiment, believed that the Polish population was racially inferior to the Germans. That’s why they will be easily defeated and become slaves.
History often repeats itself
It is said that history often repeats itself. Vladimir Putin, who is called the dictator of Russia, had earlier attacked his neighbor Ukraine in the last week of February. This war has been going on continuously for the last almost 9 months. Putin got successful earlier. But in recent months, the Ukrainian army has launched a fierce counterattack. He succeeded in capturing many areas including Kherson and managed to push back the Russian army on several occasions. Now 2 people have died after a missile fell in a village adjacent to Poland’s border with Ukraine. After this Russia’s tension with NATO countries reached a new phase.
Will the threat of a Third World War be averted?
The biggest reason Putin has given for attacking Ukraine is that his neighboring country is trying to join the US-led military organization NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization-NATO). Which is not acceptable to them at all. Due to this, the national security of Russia can be in danger. How seriously NATO has taken the missile fall in Poland can be gauged from the reaction of US President Joe Biden. Biden was informed about this incident by his staff after waking him up in the night. After this, Biden met the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda. He also called an emergency meeting of leaders of G7 and NATO countries to discuss the issue. Now it has to be seen whether the threat of the Third World War averts in the world or once history repeats itself.
