Actual+Outcome

__The Plan__ Poland had created a military plan in the late 1930s to defend them from Nazi Germany’s invasion. The plan, //Plan// //Zachod// (Plan West), called for the Polish soldiers to go ahead of the BIEBRZA, NAREW, VISTULA, and SAN RIVER LINE, making it easier to defend a smaller front line compared to if they secured the boarder of Poland. The strong defense in the western part of the Polish border would allow them to make a stop to the German army just long enough for the British and French to mobilize. The Polish army would slowly move eastward, using the experience from the 1920 war with Russia. GENERAL RYDZ-SMIGLY idea was to go eastward to Vistula, then he would withdraw his troops from the fight (Zaloga). Poland was ready for a fight with Germany.
 * __Read the information below to find out what REALLY happened in the Invasion of Poland__**

__Beginning of the Invasion__ At dawn on September 1st, 1939, Hitler moved his infantry into Poland. He had planned to surround the Polish army by using three fronts: coming from the west, Prussia, and Slovakia, if needed. The war started with the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein attacking the city of Danzig. Other German attacks took place around the Pomeranian corridor. Also, while these actions were taking place, the Third German Army in the eastern part of Prussia started to move southward to Warsaw. Although the war between Poland and Germany started on September 1, 1939, there were no advances due to the weather and the terrain of Poland (Zaloga).

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__Declaration of War__ On September 3, 1939, two days after the war started, “Britain and France declared war on Germany” (Zaloga). The problem with Poland was that France and Britain did not mobilize quick enough to have a counter attack against Germany. Even with defenses coming to Poland’s aid, Germany reached Warsaw on September 7, in the afternoon. The most devastating day for Poland was on September 25, which was known as “Black Monday”. Hitler used blitzkrieg, a continuous advance and limiting the ability of the Polish army to reform on a stationary front line (Lightbody), to destroy many polish towns and killed an estimated 40,000 civilians. The final surrender was on “29 September when GENERAL WIKTOR THOMMEE surrendered his force of 24,000 troops” (Zaloga).

__Importance__ The invasion of Poland triggered what is now called World War Two. The surrender of Poland led to the concentration camps in AUSCHWITZ, BELZIC, and TREBLINKA, where the final solution for Hitler’s ideas occured. Many of the captured civilians were sent to concentration camps and work camps. Auschwitz had an estimated 2.1 million victims of the Holocaust (Museum).

After the invasion of Poland, GERMANY MOVED INTO FRANCE, where they were conquered in 1940 (McDonald). When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States became involved in the war. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT declared war on Japan the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Many battles occured over the next 4 years in Europe until Hitler commited suicide in a bunker on April 30, 1945. This symbolized the end of World War Two.

__The Cold War__

After World War Two, the Cold War started between the United States and the Soviet Union. There was an arms race dealing with nuclear bombs and a space race, which led to the first man on the moon in 1969. The Cold War started to die in the 1980s when the Soviet Union could not keep up with the economic demands of the countries in which it held and the demand of production of nuclear bombs in the arms race. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and the Cold War ended. No nuclear missiles were dropped, which was why the Cold War was named that.

Germany was split into sectors after the end of World War Two: Soviet Union, France, Britian, and the United States. The Berlin wall was put up between the west berliners and the east berliners and was not knocked down until 1989. The destruction of the Berlin Wall symbolized that the Cold War was over. The reunification of Germany occured on November 11, 1991 before the Soviet Union collapsed.

Today, Russia is a country, along with many others after the Soviet Union collapsed.

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