Question on the timing of Chamberlain's guarantee to Poland

raharris1973

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Did Hitler start pressuring Poland for territorial changes before or after Britain issued a guarantee to Poland?

I know Hitler only went so far as to call the nonaggression pact with Poland null and void after the guarantee was made.

I know that the guarantee was issued shortly after the occupation of Prague, but I don’t know the pacing of changes to German demands and propaganda vis-à-vis Poland. Ever since the 1934 Nonaggression Pact with Poland until at least the Munich meeting, Hitler tried to keep ethno-territorial problems with Poland “on ice”.

What I wonder is if Hitler-Ribbentropp-Goebbels began to turn up the heat on Poland- a) right after the occupation of Sudetenland (Nov 38), b) not until after the occupation of Bohemia (Mar 39), c) not until Chamberlain issued his guarantees (Apr 39), or d) somewhen between a, b or c.

Did Chamberlain even check with the Poles before issuing his guarantee? Did he just preemptively announce the guarantee because it seemed like Germany's logical next target in general, or was a specific bilateral German-Polish crisis coming to Europe's attention when Chamberlain made his choice?
 
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Did Hitler start pressuring Poland for territorial changes before or after Britain issued a guarantee to Poland?

I know Hitler only went so far as to call the nonaggression pact with Poland null and void after the guarantee was made.

I know that the guarantee was issued shortly after the occupation of Prague, but I don’t know the pacing of changes to German demands and propaganda vis-à-vis Poland. Ever since the 1934 Nonaggression Pact with Poland until at least the Munich meeting, Hitler tried to keep ethno-territorial problems with Poland “on ice”.

What I wonder is if Hitler-Ribbentropp-Goebbels began to turn up the heat on Poland- a) right after the occupation of Sudetenland (Nov 38), b) not until after the occupation of Bohemia (Mar 39), c) not until Chamberlain issued his guarantees (Apr 39), or d) somewhen between a, b or c.

Did Chamberlain even check with the Poles before issuing his guarantee? Did he just preemptively announce the guarantee because it seemed like Germany's logical next target in general, or was a specific bilateral German-Polish crisis coming to Europe's attention when Chamberlain made his choice?

Hitler was intent on bringing Poland under his influence in 1939 one way or another because his grand plans required it, but he originally wanted it to use it to do some of Germany's dying for it in the coming war, like Hungary or Romania. Germany had been making noises about Danzig and (this is the really important bit) Poland agreeing to join the axis since at least 1938, but those early demands were made in a friendly way by German standards. Poland, not wanting to compromise its independence while other alternatives seemed to exist, ignored those demands to buy time, but Germany still hoped that it might achieve its demands peacefully so there was no crisis at that point. Then came the guarantee. Once it was accepted, Hitler realized that Poland could no longer be recruited and therefore had to be destroyed for the antisoviet crusade to work out. So propaganda intensified, the nonaggression pact was called off and so on.

AFAIK Chamberlain's offer was unilateral. He flooded half of Europe with similar ones at the time, presumably on the off chance that somebody would accept it, forcing Hitler to destroy them first and thus ensuring that Britain, which was overestimating German strength at the time, would have more time to rearm. I don't know if he had any specific info on the Polish-German negotiations which might have led him to believe that Poland might accept, but even if he did not he would have lost nothing if Poland rejected its guarantee the way Romania did.
 
AFAIK Chamberlain's offer was unilateral. He flooded half of Europe with similar ones at the time, presumably on the off chance that somebody would accept it, forcing Hitler to destroy them first and thus ensuring that Britain, which was overestimating German strength at the time, would have more time to rearm. I don't know if he had any specific info on the Polish-German negotiations which might have led him to believe that Poland might accept, but even if he did not he would have lost nothing if Poland rejected its guarantee the way Romania did.

IIRC it was widely accepted that Poland would be next on Hitler's menu. It had large German population, has taken some land from Germany and barred direct land connection between the two parts of the German territory.
 
Unilateral? Didn't the guarantee to Poland come from France and Britain at the same time? While the 'guarantee' is often mentioned, the formal treaty of 30 March 1939 between Britain, France and Poland seldom gets a mention - even though it arose from a request by Poland for urgent consultations (22 March).

'Righting the wrongs' of Versailles was a Hitler/Nazi priority. Dismemberment of Poland would happen, with or without the 'guarantees'.
 

raharris1973

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I don't think Romania rejected the guarantee in 1939.

I think Romania rejected it in June 1940, after France fell and the Soviets fell and the guarantee was shown to be worthless.

Yugoslavia might have rejected a guarantee or soundings for a guarantee.
 
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