Why did England and France declare war on Germany?

I know, they made a war guarantee to Poland, but why? Picture this.....

the US makes a war guarantee to Nicaragua should it be attacked by El Salvador. El Salvador attacks Nicaragua, the US declares war on El Salvador, and in return, El Salvador bombards New York City (London) for days and days in a row. That doesn't seem worth it to me. Why was it worth it for England?

The question shouldn't be why did they declare war on Germany, the real question should be why did they wait so long?


The answer is mostly because they couldn't afford (or didn't want to spend the money at that time) defending the rest of Europe from the Hun.
 
The question shouldn't be why did they declare war on Germany, the real question should be why did they wait so long?


The answer is mostly because they couldn't afford (or didn't want to spend the money at that time) defending the rest of Europe from the Hun.

That's what it all came down to. Britain was well aware that taking on Germany, which by 1937 was militarily (certainly in land and air forces, if not naval) much stronger than Britain, would be a catastrophe militarily, economically and in terms of Britain's influence in the world.

And so it proved.

Britain ended World War 2 in ruins, and was only saved from bankruptcy by a multi billion dollar loan, the last installment of which was repaid a couple of years ago (I posted a link on this a few days ago, but can't find it at present). As a trading nation, Britain imported the vast majority of its foodstuffs. Since Britain had nearly been starved into submission in WW1, rationing during WW2 began early in 1940, to ensure that supplies would not become critically low during wartime. When the war ended, Britain also had to feed those parts of continental Europe that fell under its control, meaning that rations in the UK were even stricter after 1945. Rationing in the UK finally ended about 10 years after the war did.

The British Empire remained, but in name only. After WW2, Britain began the process of acquiescing to the slow break up of the Empire, which by that time was an anachronism anyway. This breakup wounded British pride enormously, but in the long term was arguably less costly than attempting to keep the empire together by means of force (France is a good representation of the other side of the coin). At the beginning of WW2, there were 700 million people under British rule. By the time I was born in the mid sixties, I believe only Hong Kong remained and that, of course, was repatriated to China 10 years ago.

In terms of influence, Britain had been regarded as a global power for around 400 years and from 1700 to 1900 was arguably the pre-eminent global power. Today, Britain is one of 5 nations with a permanent seat on the UN Security Council (the others being the USA, Russia, China and France), but while Britain still has a degree of influence, it can no longer be said to be in the first tier.

That is why Britain let the invasion of Czechoslovakia slide. That is why Chamberlain placated Hitler at Munich. And that is why it was only with the greatest reluctance that Britain finally decided that Poland was a case of "this far, but no further".

It was clearly understood that war with Germany would mean the end of the Britain that had existed for several hundred years. And despite all the arguments he had made for rearmament from the mid 1930s onwards, nobody understood this better than Churchill. As early as 1901, in his first term as an MP and at the age of just 26, he had made a speech in the House of Commons in which he attacked the expansion of the army as unneccesary to fight savages yet insufficient to fight Europeans:

"A European war cannot be anything but a cruel, heartrending struggle, which, if we are ever to enjoy the bitter fruits of victory, must demand, perhaps for several years, the whole manhood of the nation, the entire suspension of peaceful industries, and the concentrating to one end of every vital energy in the community....a European war can only end in the ruin of the vanquished and the scarcely less fatal commercial dislocation and the exhaustion of the conquerors".

Only 26 when he said that. Quite a man.
 
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Czechoslovakia was a real eye opener. As was the Aunshlus. (?) Chamberlain came back with the Munich agreement and began re arming as fast as he could. Which wasn't very fast as they had fallen so very far behind.

And France was even more unprepared. And there was a huge 5th column in France in the form of the Communist party there. Nazi-Soviet pact effectively meant that the Germans were already in the French rear.

Also, the French High Command was old and tired and no longer up to the necessity of feeding the youth of France into the sausage machine. Petain, the goat of the last world war was the hero of the first one, at a huge cost. He was the one who stopped the Germans at Verdun. At a cost of 250,000 lives lost.

The Germans learned a lot from the last war. Not the really important lesson, but lessons in tactics. Plus they learned a lot from the Spanish Civil war.

Anyway, Poland was the several straws after the last one. Something had to be done to stop Hitler. It was already too late.
 
Czechoslovakia was a real eye opener. As was the Aunshlus. (?) Chamberlain came back with the Munich agreement and began re arming as fast as he could. Which wasn't very fast as they had fallen so very far behind.

And France was even more unprepared. And there was a huge 5th column in France in the form of the Communist party there. Nazi-Soviet pact effectively meant that the Germans were already in the French rear.

Also, the French High Command was old and tired and no longer up to the necessity of feeding the youth of France into the sausage machine. Petain, the goat of the last world war was the hero of the first one, at a huge cost. He was the one who stopped the Germans at Verdun. At a cost of 250,000 lives lost.

The Germans learned a lot from the last war. Not the really important lesson, but lessons in tactics. Plus they learned a lot from the Spanish Civil war.

Anyway, Poland was the several straws after the last one. Something had to be done to stop Hitler. It was already too late.

Anschluss.

Good stuff. appreciated.
 

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