On September 1st, 1939 the history of the world changed forever. World War II began. Germany launched an invasion of Poland to wipe Poland off the map. Germany sought the share of Poland that had been agreed to in the secret treaty with the Soviet Union. Shortly after, the German invasion began, the Russians invaded from the East. Now, France had had a long-standing military agreement with Poland. And this agreement was based on - as our report shows - on lies, of the French to the Poles, that in the case of war, France would launch an all-out attack on Germany. This was a lie. It was a complete lie, because the French had no intention of doing that. But the Poles believed that what they had been told was true. The British and the French felt compelled to go to war because of their commitments to Poland. And they declared war on Germany.
Now, this is very, very important to understand, that Hitler did not start World War II. He started an invasion of Poland. France and England turned it into World War II. Now, in a further study of tremendous hypocrisy and dishonesty on the part of the British and the French, they did not declare war on the Soviet Union, who also invaded Poland. So, the whole thing was a study in geopolitical incompetence and dishonesty. Now, Hitler masked over the objections of his generals, almost all the German forces in the East. Had the French kept their word, it probably would've been the end of Nazi Germany. The French army probably would've ended up in downtown Berlin. But because the French chose to betray their commitment to Poland, the Poles were basically annihilated.
As we have discussed in the past, prior to late 1938, relations between Poland and Germany were very good. One of the first things Hitler did was to sign a nonaggression pact with Poland in 1934. The Poles could have reached an agreement with Germany. They chose not to, because they were lied to by the French. That's what happened. And as we point out, they would again be lied to throughout World War II, and they would be basically sold into slavery under the control of the Russians by the Western powers. So, this was a study in deception from day one.