Written by zachor_foundation on May 7, 2014
Viacheslav Molotov, the Soviet People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs, and Joachim von Ribbentrop, the German foreign minister, agreed after hasty negotiations to conclude an economic treaty and a non-aggression pact that would partition Eastern Europe into Soviet and German spheres of influence. Ribbentrop signed the non-aggression pact during a visit to Moscow on August 23, 1939. The sides undertook neither to attack each other, nor to help any third party do the same. They agreed to settle bilateral disputes cordially.
Read More
Written by zachor_foundation on May 7, 2014
After creating a series of provocations, Germany attacked Poland on September 1. The Wehrmacht, which enveloped the country from the west, the north, and the south, outnumbered the Polish forces three to one and had superior equipment. The invasion revealed the German fighting method for the first time: the blitzkrieg, cooperation among naval, air, and ground forces to concurrently attack and surround the enemy extremely rapidly. In response to the invasion, France and Great Britain declared war on Germany on
Read More
Written by zachor_foundation on May 7, 2014
Despite the initial weakness of its armed forces, Great Britain declared a naval blockade of Germany on September 3, two days after the latter invaded Poland. The Royal Air Force dropped 6 million leaflets on towns in northern Germany and the Ruhr district, the first of the propaganda raids. Germany countered with a naval blockade of its own against Britain on September 11, stating that since economic warfare had been forced on it, it could not but repay in the
Read More
