That’s why I think this channel made a smart move in productions shorter videos answering very interesting and often overlooked questions about history, as opposed to the 10 minute summary videos of well-documented topics like he used to do. More videos and more interested viewers.
Honestly in this case there wouldn't have been a scenario where Poland wouldn't be occupied. Even if they would have put enormous amount if troops in Poland, they would Just end up weakaning their armies, since Germany could have easily cut them off at Danzig. The polish government probably new this and with as it happened atleast they didn't cease to exist.
I love how Europe does either A) full continental war that kills millions or B) write a strongly worded letter asking someone to stop committing atrocities
*France:* "Should we stop the Soviets invading Poland?" *UK:* "Nah, maybe leave it. Something tells me that this cooperation between Germany and the Soviets won't last." _[Germany and the Soviets start fighting]_ *UK:* "See, France, what did i te--- oh, you've been conquered."
Very true but I would hate to see what would have happened if Britain went to war against Germany and the ussr, with the out of date technology and lack of mechanical warfare capabilities from France and just the shier size of the ussr defeat would be inevitable and without the UK fighting the Germans anymore. The Nazis may have actually won the war in Europe and god knows what would have happened if the people of the USSR got to friendly with the Germans. Oh wait, boom invasion, now the whole of Europe is Nazi controlled. So I think the British made the best and only intelligent decision
@@NorthCamZ There was an invasion of the saarland. The French saw that it was devoid of troops. Thought it was a trap and fucked off. If France decided to not refight the last war and be tramatised of trench lines they had a straight shot to Berlin cause everything was thrown at Poland and later Czechs.
I talked to a Brit way long time ago, like in the early 1990's. He said, growing up in school, kids are taught the primary goal of England's foreign policy is "don't ever let anyone unify the continent." Meaning, if any continental power becomes strong, side with their weaker opponents. When Spain was strong, Britain supported Spain's opponents. When Napoleon popped up, Britain supported France's opponents. When Germany got strong, you have to support Germany's opponents, which happened to include the USSR. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend, for now" - perfectly applied.
I forgot how this video is titled, but this is actually true. There's a video from a UK satire show from the 2000s where they laugh about the idea of the UK quitting the EU. And the actor playing the diplomat said: "we joined the EU to destabilize it from within, and then we're going to quit to destabilize it again. Our centuries-old foreign policy of never letting the continent unite." This view is *very* engrained in English society.
I’m currently reading the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. This was actually one of the biggest questions I had going into the book. Basically, the last thing the allies wanted was to be at war with anyone other than Germany.
It's almost as if it was another global conspiracy to shut down an ideology and economy that didn't have international finance's best interests at heart...
@Western Unity I was going to read it myself when I found out about the backlash against Shirer. I was very disappointed. I still have A World at Arms by Weinberg though, and that was a great read.
@@cristianokiki1486I think all three partitions of Commonwealth should be counted as first time. But later there were Duchy of Warsaw and Kingdom of Poland (Congress Poland), which were semi-autonomous Polish states. Moreover Free City of Cracow and Grand Duchy of Posen (to some extent) may also be counted.
Paul There were offensive plans and the allied planning board basically got turned upside down when the Soviet Union invaded Poland because it was assumed the Polish army could stand up to Germany for a year
@@haldir3120 Considering how well France and the UK did together in defense of France and fact that the only UK had somewhat up to date air force and an expeditionary force of a limited number, that would not end very well even when looking at Wikipedia numbers may suggest otherwise... French actually somewhat invaded Germany (few km) but they stopped before the German defensive line, again, their army was not built for some coordinated deep penetration operations (lack of radios in their thick but slow poorly designed tanks making some pincers encirclement unrealistic against better-equipped fast German armor which was able to reposition within a week from attacking poorly equipped Poland, limited French logistics for adequate supply chain during the attack, etc.). Neither French WW2 air force was something legends being written about and Germans would fear of... The only possible way of French/UK invasion being sufficiently protected was if the UK would send all its fighter planes to French airfields at the expense of leaving the UK undefended and open for the Nazi medium bomber attacks...
The Fckn Truth - They didn't help cuz they had Poland deeply in ass and they had no fckn balls. Also They probably thought that Hitler would leave uk and France alone.
Allies: “we aren’t going to start a war with soviets even if it is justified because they’re insanely powerful and we are already engaged on other fronts.” Axis: “so anyways I started blasting”
Check a map of languages in 1937 poland, the ukrainian and belarussian areas HEAVILY overlaps with what the USSR invaded. This is because the land they conquered back WAS the area poland opportunisitcally took mid civil war
@OVOD.net 1. Poland did not capitulate by the time soviets invaded. 2. Just like Russian Empire illegally annexed this land from Poland-Lithuania during partitions of Poland. 3. Poland did not ally with Germany, Zaolzie that you're talking about was invaded and annexed by Czechs during polish-soviet war.
I love the funnyparts you add to the videos. “…harshest measures known : a strongly, worded letter“. I laughed out loud every single time you drop one of these nuggets into your videos!
Yeah, even if France HADN'T fallen in 1940 and knocked out Hitler early on, the Third Republic still would've fallen and gotten replaced by a hopefully more effective government.
@@navilluscire2567 I would call it really the 1st *Nuked Politics* but i remember that the Byzantines and the Romans were a thing so yeah its politics were fucky.
@@navilluscire2567 So much so there were genuine fears of a civil war after France was liberated. It was one reason why the British weren't keen on helping the French resistance too much, they were worried arms given to French militias to defeat the Nazis would be used to kill other French people after they had gone.
It was a meme lol poland had to fight with everyone around it to preserve itself with only france supporting it fron the start. And it was a diplomatic support only, when the polish-ussr war broke out every european govermnet was busy dealing with communists in their own countries like germany where they started a civil war awaiting the red army. Naive was to think hitler would stop but nobody was naive about poland. It is just realism. Extremly sad realism…
Actually its the opposite. Britain started WW2 by defending Poland. UK declined 27 peace appeals from Nazi Germany. Investigate the Rudolf Hess incident. Where he tried to negotiate peace with Britain only to get arrested and killed by them
Also, they were actually drawing up plans to bomb the Caucus oil fields after the USSR's poor performance against Finland. Though, as you might know, the USSR's poor performance against Finland was noticed by someone else who acted first.
Poland: "Ummm. We are being taken over by the Soviets. Can we get a little help, please?" Allies: "How do you define "taken over?" Give us a half century to contemplate the meaning"
@Alenas Kvasninas You should know, that Poland wasn't ally of Hitler in 1938, Poland also didnt split Czechoslovakia in half when they were at the middle of bloody defence of their own country. Whatever Poland retook lands, wich were guaranted to her in Versaille and wich Czechoslovakia took by invasion in 1920. This is very bad example of Poland as a bad neighbor to others, especially that Czechoslovakia has been sold by whole western in 1935, and did nothing in their defence in 1937/8 when Germany took most, most of their country. Much better example wich is unjustified blame of Polish government was 1922 and Żeligowski action for wich Polish government never said sorry, and as many dumb polish nationalist don't see a reason for sorry. Whatever it is still not justification to Soviet Union to pull knife into polish back, annex 3 baltic states and stay as well in Poland and those countries for the next 50 years. And later attack on Finland. It was an agressor, not the first time, and hope Im totally wrong, but still is.
I don’t see how they would be even able to fight both super powers at the same time without collapsing on themselves. I mean France didn’t even survive a whole year against Germany, it would’ve been suicide to attack both at the same time
At that point nobody could have expected that but if you have more then 2 Braincells, you might come to the conclusion that having Germany, Italy (Allied to Japan) and the Soviet Union against you might be an unwinnable war
Seeing the USSR as a "superpower" is an anachronism and was very much not the case back then, it was seen as a backwater state with no real power. The real reason to not declare war was : Why ? Like seriously, why declare war on a country with which you have no fronts against...
Britain and France planned to help Finland against the Soviet Union, by asking to move troops through neutral Norway and Sweden, and also backstabbing Sweden and taking the country over while doing so. No surprise Sweden and Norway refused.
"Britain and France didn't intervene when the Soviet Union invaded Poland because they felt that Germany and the USSR were going to turn on each other and the Soviets would be a valuable ally against Germany." Well, they weren't wrong.
@@Abdul54cp And its also the area russia took from poland in the partitions of poland 1772-1795,so poland just "took it back" in 1921 You can play this game endlessly
Gleb B. / Глеб Б. The Soviets took Ukraine so the poles took the parts of Ukraine they captured after pushing the Soviets out. Much of which was actually technically diplomatically given to Poland after the the border war and Soviets invaded in return for help against to Soviets which they did. The poles helped liberate the capital and as part of the agreement went back to defend there own country.
Well...tbh, there was nothing they could do about it, Russia was just to far away, and to get to it, they would have to go through Germany, which they couldn't, as Germany would win the war if they wouldn't have had to worry about the USSR (70-80% of the German forces were stationed at the Eastern front on average during the war, and 9/10 German casualties were suffered on that very same front during the war against the Soviets), and could have had focused all of their military might on the Western front!
I have dyslexia and I often have little fun things like that. I once read a scifi book that dealt with the genetic slave trade, which I misread as the _geriatric_ slave trade, an economic model I still struggle to conceptualize to this day.
Why would they? The Soviets would probably be the aliens' best customers, if they were diplomatically inclined; they had some of the biggest reserves of raw resources (human and otherwise), but relatively little industry.
@@makeromaniagreatagain9697 it would've been better of they did invade, isn't it better to wage war on enemy soil rather than your own? France saw what happened to their country in WW1 and plus they had twice as many divisions, Britain and France had more manpower and rescources to draw on, while yes Germany did have the support from USSR, but it was a matter of time before they would invade a weakend Germany, exhausted by the war with the Allies.
@@sandrosaladze8095 I think it's mainly two points 1. Both wanted to end it diplomatically instead of a great war again (hindsight is 20/20) and 2. Both weren't really prepared for a large war.
But why should they have died for Danzig? What did the Poles offer in return? You act like Poland , a nation that hasnt existed for hundreds of years ( without france or britain caring about it ) was suddenly worth millions of french and british lives. You know what they also could have done? NOT declaring war on Germany in 39 and just let germany and the ussr restore the old european borders. The Poles should be grateful , but all i ever see are bitchin poles asking why the french and british soldiers didnt wanna die for them.
Basically France and Britain “Some of u will die, so we can be partners with the Soviets” “But that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to take” Edit: Guys it was just a joke if you do watch the video it does mention how Poland was left out to die and due to this fact it made it easier for the Soviet Union to do its thing Edit 2: somehow the joke about leaving Poland to die with a Shrek reference has gone into how Britain and France committed atrocities before the war and Napoleon’s strength in his time period god I love the internet
France and Britain didn´t have the manpower to fight Germany and the Soviet Union at the same time. They had no other choice and in hindsight we can see that their theory was right. Edit: Germany and Napoleon couldn´t defeat Russia. How should the Allies beat both at the same time?
I'd like to know, to what degree were they really at peace with the USSR to begin with? This is something I'm not sure about, but I know that Brittan, France and the United States all sent forces to attack the Soviet Union as soon as it came into existence, and afterwards, treated it largely as a pariah state. Did the Western Allies even have full diplomatic ties to severe, with Moscow, in 1939?
Stalin had tried and failed to create an anti-fascist pact with Britain prior to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, but they Allies would do very under-the-table trade with the newly heavily industrialized Soviet Union. Prior to WWII, Soviets also had a rather large population so no relatioms would've been stupid, but the everyday people(especially the British people) could never know this, as communism exists to topple existing power structures(especially Monarchies). So yes, but they weren't friends and Russia couldn't try to be.
They saw the USSR as both a threat and an asset. Ideologically, the USSR was their greatest enemy, but militarily Russia/USSR could keep Germany in check.
The anti fascit pact contained similarities of the molotove ribbentrop pact like control of the baltics and poland although they were not clearly defined
These and other similar questions I also had. I found out how intricate and complex they are. They are a minefield that keeps changing and very hard to nail down . Wording is everything. It always bothered me watching other countries stand by while a small a countty was attacked. Until I was educated on the mindfields associated with Treaties, all kinds. Knowing about how they work makes reading about war's, conflicts and peace treaties basically, all Treaties better understood and enjoyed. I'm still learning never done. History is our PPF, past, present and future. The most important message from history is, if not examined, domed to repeat it. ✊☘️
That’s why Hitler wanting peace with Britain was doomed to fail. It’s like asking snake to not change colour. Britain would have to change their approach entirely. Germany was strong hard on power but an amateur compared to Britain in divide and rule tactic.
It was a very smart strategy from Britain in France. It's not widely known, that in 1937-39 Poland was very close to joining the Axis. They had some common interest, as Poland was interested to re-take some lands taken by Czechoslovakia in 1920 and searched for support in defending itself against the USRR, which was considered by Poland to be the greatest threat. In 1937 USRR executed over 100 000 polish citizens that lived within its borders and the last war ended just 18 years earlier in 1921. Hitler tried to convince Poland to join him and from his perspective, asking only for Danzig was a very modest proposal (his fanatics wanted to regain all of western Poland, Hitler seemed like a moderate next to them). Poland however had a very honorable (and somewhat dumb) government that had quite unrealistic opinion on it's own military capabilities. Morale was sky high especially since Poland the last war with USSR. Still, many factions within the polish parliament considered siding with Germans. This is when UK and France step in and give Poland an additional morale boost: They guarantee Polish independence. With that promise and having WW1 in mind, Poland decided that it's safe to refuse Hitler and fight. The result was Poland losing 25% of it's population and 50% of its pre-war territory, along with total destruction of its industry, agriculture and cultural heritage. UK and France gained a year and then got what they counted on - the German invasion of USSR.
Poland never was close to join axis. Actually was always identifying Nazie Germans as mortal threat. That's why Proposed France and UK war against Hitler in 1933. At that time Poland could win alone but there was no approval. Later history shoved ho had right.
@i get it THEY WOULD'VE LOST EITHER WAY, THERE IS PROOF, GERMANY WAS NOT GOING TO WIN, WITH OR WITHOUT SNOW, THE RUSSIAN LAND IS SIMPLY TOO BIG TO CONQUER.
It would be interesting to know how (the wording of public statements) the UK and French Governments explained this obvious double standard to their peoples. Or was the fact of the USSR invasion of Poland kept secret by both Governments whilst they screamed blue murder about the German invasion?
No one denied it, but the UK had no binding agreements to protect Poland from the USSR so it's not really double standards just politics. That being said I'm sure the allies would have reacted if they hadn't just fcked up their entire country and economies, lost millions of citizens, and anyone had any stomach left for war.
Yes, the last part. I never heard any of this until I worked with Polish people in the mid 2000s. I then realised the UK doesn't talk about Russia, at all, ever. It's like we pretend they don't exist
They didn't have to, but allowing a tyrannical megalomaniac run around and do what he wants destroying the balance of power is not going to end well. Love your vids btw
Also, declaring war on a second massively powerful country when you're already engaged in a life-or-death struggle with the first one would be idiotic. Although in fairness, Japan somehow failed to realise this when, after a decade of attrition war against China they decided "Maybe declaring war on the USA will improve our chances of victory."
Previously pissing the Soviets AND Mongols off, definetly didnt help their situation. Its also worth noting that the Pacific was and still is quite a goldmine. So its not like Japan had no reason to go there. China fought them to a standstill, the Russians crushed them before and the only way they could expand is by kicking out Colonial Powers like the Netherlands or France, which were all busy thanks to Germany
@@mdaniel5384 Japan crushed Russia so hard at Kalkhin Gol that they retreated, signed a non-aggression pact and didnt bother taking their pacific coastline. Edit: in case you're too dense, its sarcasm
@@elseggs6504 I was talking about the Russo-Japanese war, not about a border conflict. I looked at the numbers involved in the conflict you mentioned and the casualties. That is supposed to be a crushing win by the Soviets?
A strongly worded letter? As a Canadian, I see the grave seriousness of this response. There's not much worse you can do to a person than write them a strongly worded letter.
You forgot one important thing: the allies did not declare war on ussr as it was not as much of a rival to Britain and France. The treaty between UK and Poland shows that it was only about eliminating germany as a rival and not about Polands security.
Well, the USSR was a country with an ideology hostile to the west. They also slowly expanded into Eastern Europe and send supplies and equipment to Mao in China in an atempt to support communist revolutionaries. I believe the allies had every reason to hate the USSR.
@@makeromaniagreatagain9697 The Entente (The Allies) already invaded Russia to fight the Bolsheviks in the 1920's and failed to stop them from coming to power, once the USSR was stopped by Poland it ceased to really be a major threat to British or French interests in Europe. Once Stalin consolidated power, the Soviet Union also became less aggressive for the time being. Nazi Germany was, correctly, gauged to be a far more immediate threat to both French and British interests in Europe.
@@franciscor.m.8003 well, they could have declared war on Germany when Germany re-armed, re-militarized the Rhineland, demanded Czechislovakia or when they occupied Czechia and made Slovakia a puppet state.
Fighting the same enemy would have increased the relation between Germany and Russia by 40 points, making it leds likely to get a war between them and instead get an alliance.
@@Zen-rw2fz He had to. There was no other choice. Reason: Natural resources and raw materials. Invading Britain will only be a waste of time, manpower and war materials since Britain's economy depends on imports. Germany had the industries, but to run them, they needed resources. SU had the resources. They had everything Germany needed. Hitler followed Mackinder's Heartland Theory. Barbarossa's prime objective was the Caucasus oil to keep the industries and economy running, but since February 43 after the failure in Stlingrad, Germans were on retreat from SU. Moscow campaign was unnecessary and it cost Germans the war. Basically, WW2 was to restore Germany's honor on international stage after the disastrous WW 1 and Versailles and be a superpower who would be respected. Germany was bound to dominate Europe either by economically or military or by both and Hitler preferred the both scenario. You will only have a fresh start after you have lost everything. Hence, Germany fought till 45. Even Americans knew Germany was bound to be a powerful nation. Modern Germany is economically powerful, but weak in military. Then again, it was in the fate. Without WW2, Germany wouldn't be an economic power like it is today. Hitler's death was also necessary to give Germany a fresh start. Hitler was many things, but coward isn't one of them. Modern Germany is still a diplomatic power who have taken part in important agreements like Dayton, Minsk and even the ceasefire between Russia and Turkey regarding Syria. It's funny that both Bismarck and Lenin wanted a close Russian-German relationship. Weimar would have never achieved such reputation.
@@erich2432 the "wirtschaft wunder" was a result of massive USA funds, the DDR is a pretty great example of what germany would have been like without US support, in terms of economic power. the oil fields were the last thing hitler wanted, what came before that was his ideological fanaticism, the war was mainly about ending anyone that disagreed with them ideologically and "lesser races". the capture of moscow was supposed to end the war because apparently soviets are a lesser race and wouldn't be difficult to fight. only after the failure of moscow did hitler pay attention to resources.
@@Zen-rw2fz Marshall Aid was no charity. The US got a huge chunk of German industries and stole patents as well as got the Western European market. Germany got 11% aid in comparison to both France (20%) and Britain (28%). Besides, FDR wanted to do the Morgenthau Plan which was one of the reasons why Germans kept fighting. Had they surrendered in 1944, it would've been worse than Versailles with 20-30 million deaths and biggest humiliation they ever suffered. The July 20 plotters were just a bunch of power hungry folks who didn't think of long term. The war was much needed. Weimar did no favour to Germany. WW1 could've been avoided. But, WW2 was a necessity for Germany. Without WW1, there wouldn't be WW2. My opinions are based on realpolitik. Ideology is often used as cover. Though NSDAP preferred both. And the paperclip thing is overrated. Top 6 died during and after the war. Guys like Euchmann, Müller, Mengele were just side-kicks though Eichmann was caught by Mossad and sentenced to death. You need resources and raw materials to run your industrues and economy. Germany were importing oil from Romania and irom from Sweden. Which why they invaded Crete to stop British from building an air base who would've bombed Romanian fields. Battle of Britain cost a huge chunk of resources and the Luftwaffe was pretty much dead by then. Heartland Theory and Hitler's vision was correlated.
80 years later, nothing has changed. "We will not stand by when a nation launches an unjustifiable invasion upon its neighbor!" "Oh, great, this mean you will at least put sanctions on Saudi Arabia and Tu..." "No, we only meant Russia."
@Alenas Kvasninas poland got a tiny piece of czechoslovakia, where poles were (and still are) majority. It wasn't agreed with germany or sth, they just took it anyway. Czechoslovakia was gone either way.
@@diurpaneustv2166 Yes thats True, but you forget to say that few years before this happend with "Zaolzie" Czechoslovakia cheated the poles and took this piece when Poland was fighting aganist soviet russia and save all Europe from communism So, when poles have a chance they Just took what was stold from them Thats how it was
I was wondering why the UK and France didn't send troops to Poland when they declare war on me whenever I play as Germany or the USSR in HOI4, now it makes sense
how the fuck are u able to send troops from france or england to poland??? through the german controlled baltic sea? through the balkans with military access, causing diplomatic incidents? can u even supply them over that distance with so many restrictions? so yeah it would just be a waste and letting your own people die in a battle they could never turn the tide
Emilio Hernandez if it’s possible for the Polish to help me defend against Germany as the Netherlands then the British with naval superiority everywhere could do the same, but I don’t think they are ever bothered in helping Poland out, too busy beating up Italy in Africa.
@Tattle Boad you missed the point - the point being is that western allies lost the first half of the war exactly because they tried to be those 'intelligent, cold and calculated' opportunists, who did not even use their allies, they let them fall and go for not even a gain for the allies themselves
Impressive. An episode about Entente's involvement in the demarcation of borders between the Soviets and Poland that doesn't mention the Curzon line :s
@@pachacutiincayupanqui2239 6 times the charm. Becasue obviously its going to happen. As sun rises after the night, so does Poland get invaded, that is the rule of nature. There's been 273 separate wars in Poland's history. At least, i probably missed some.
Poland, Lithuania, Finland, Latvia, Estonia* Meanwhile Britain and France's imperial empires control a third of the globe. But Germany wanting Danzig back was just too much.
Steve in essence you’re right. However, this was a case of German crazy hostility within Europe. If a power was raging war in say Africa(Ethiopia and Italy) those powers wouldn’t care at all.
@Alenas Kvasninas btw. Poland fights Bolsheviks Poland: calls for help Czachoslovakia: yoinks Zaolzie Hungary: wants to send ammo to Poland Czechoslovakia: no u
It has been long thought that General Sikorski the Polish Prime Minister in exile had an agreement with Churchill that the Allies would retake Poland from the Russians. However Churchill reneged on the deal and had General Sikorski assassinated.
@@janminiajluk3964 i like how if there is a plan for a great reset they want to make everyone poor and pissed off at the rich elite first then try to take what everyone has left
@@TheDuPeNetwork they also said in Davos that there's gonna be no private property in the future, all objects that you can have now by paying money, clothes, cars etc. won't be own by people, it will be "rent from the state", and, quote, "people will own nothing an be happy". Brave new world...
@@janminiajluk3964 Expect all the people who would want to own something and be pissed. Which would be everyone, because, you know, drive to self sustain and such. The Great Reset is basically the Elite saying: "Hey guys, I know you like property and rights and stuff, buuuut our Empires are at risk of collapsing through our own ineptness, so we're gonna take that all that away at the chance that it might fix them? ok?"
Can't believe there hasn't been a correct response to your dogshit comment yet. Here it is: LOL, how many world wars have been fought under the UN's existence again...?
@@bernardyoung7014 Yea but did they really give a shit about the Poles? No. They demonstrated this clearly during the Warsaw uprising and during the negotiations.
@ Craig Noneman , I don't think so . The Russians were stubborn fighters , that's true. But remember , the only reason that they were able to fight the Germans was because the U.S, was supplying Russia with military equipment. The Russians were not able to manufacture it themselves.
@@andrewlorenzo6611 , Without U.S. supplies that would not happen. Just ask the Hungarians what happened when they tried to fight the Russian tanks with pitchforks and garden hoes. It means , you lose !
@@Filip7370 Hungary was pro-german, but never intended to invade Poland, or support the invasion in any way. In fact, when Hilter demanded help during attack on Poland, Hungary rejected all the possibilities to support Germany, even threatening with war if Germany tried to use Hungarian territory to invade Poland anyways.
Nazi Germany started the war and their ideology was far worse. You think they only did the holocaust? Try that times 20. Read generalpan Ost. Full enslavement, rape, relocation, and genocide of all polish and Russian civilians. The Soviets were no where near as brutal and thank god they won along with the allies. Post-Stalin SU was not perfect, but it was better than the alternative by far.
Let’s not forget that the allies weren’t angels, The US had slaves and still had segregation during WW2. And GB is arguably the largest mass murderer in the history of humanity.
Fun fact: Prior to M-R pact, Stalin foresaw Germany invading Poland, and offered to station soviet forces there, on the German border to help with what to him seemed inevitable (this was just prior to the UK guarantee), and UK and Poland rejected the proposal. This is what led to USSR completely ignoring the west and signing that pact instead.
@@maxpayne7459 The Poles knew the Soviets were going to invade Poland anyway because they wanted all territory Imperial Russia held and also wanted to spread the communist ideology to Germany and the rest of Europe.
@@toledochristianmatthew9919 yeah but it didnt help Polands Case. Their Invasion while a Victory against the USSR and gained some Territory, had a long-term effect that the USSR would remain hostile towards Poland. Germany was the Ideal place for Communism since it would Spread toward Western Countrys. For the World, Germany was the wall that Kept Communism out of western Europe. I doubt Poland would survive in a Soviet Invasion without the British.
>This is what led to USSR completely ignoring the west and signing that pact instead. Actually, this isn't the only thing. In 1931 Japan invades Manchuria. The plan was to create foothold for the further invasion in China, Mongolia, and USSR. 1936 - Mongolia signs defensive pact with USSR against Japan. During 1936-1938 USSR was involved into series of military conflicts with Japan near lake Khasan. Followed by Battles of Khalking Gol in 1939. Now, in July 1939 Britain signed Craigie-Arita agreement. Basically, Britain promised not to get involved in whatever Japan was doing in China (and, to some extent, on USSR borders). While negotiating anti-German treaty with USSR. A brilliant move. Now, imagine you are USSR in 1939. You are negotiating treaty against Germany with Britain, France and Poland. Except Britain declares it's not going to be involved in Japanese occupation of Asia (just like when it signed Munich agreement). Poland declares it won't let soviet army on its territories (just like when it signed Munich agreement). You are also fighting Japan, a member of anti-comintern pact and an ally of Germany. And in the middle of all this clusterfuck Germany approaches you with a non-agression treaty. Not only that, Germany also promises not to expand east (ahem.. NATO.. ahem-hmph), close to your borders. What would you do?
02:38 i dont know if it is a clear paraphrase of the first lines from polish national anthem (that is "poland is not yet lost") but if yes, you do a really good job not only in research, but also in writing a script to these videos
Realpolitik is how they got into this mess in the first place, though. The entire goal was beefing up Germany against Soviet Union. Ignoring blatant disregard for Treaty of Versailles? Check. Let Germany borrow 300% of its own GDP? Check. Screw over Republican Spain to secure British-owned iron mines from those smelly socialists? Check. Threaten Czechoslovakia to refuse Soviet offer of protection for "peace in our time"? Check. Refuse Soviet offer of alliance against Germany? Check. No wonder the signing of Molotov-Ribbentrop caused such rectal devastation, Westerners seethe about it to this day.
When you didn't ask this before but you realise that it is a good question.
I swear I think that every time I see the title for a video from this channel
I researched this topic for a history paper.
That’s why I think this channel made a smart move in productions shorter videos answering very interesting and often overlooked questions about history, as opposed to the 10 minute summary videos of well-documented topics like he used to do. More videos and more interested viewers.
It's because of the cultural Marxists in the universities causing a nihilist approach to the Gulag Archipelago
If you never asked this question then your education has frankly failed you
The blue color in Poland's flag stands for loyal allies
Which it never possessed
There isn't any
*Oh wait, that's the jok-*
Well said, Britain is your friend & does have allies, 🇨🇦 Australia 🇦🇺 & New Zealand 🇳🇿, defo
Honestly in this case there wouldn't have been a scenario where Poland wouldn't be occupied. Even if they would have put enormous amount if troops in Poland, they would Just end up weakaning their armies, since Germany could have easily cut them off at Danzig. The polish government probably new this and with as it happened atleast they didn't cease to exist.
@@jahmah519 you all literally left them to die
I love how Europe does either A) full continental war that kills millions or B) write a strongly worded letter asking someone to stop committing atrocities
Churchill methods vs Chamberlain methods
@@TikkiYTLmao
So true though
@@TikkiYTGiga Chad Churchill Vs Weak Chamberlain
Satan USA is genocider and criminal in impunity
@@joaobran2712 ok
Poland: "Will you be by our side?"
Europe: "We will attend your funeral yes."
Poland: -_-
Ye europe pretty much treated us like shit
Poland: "Will you be by my side?"
NKVD: "It is now ouг siде, comaгaде"
Where else would pallbearers be.
@@megalodonek8377 Poland: again?
Europe: Always. Now go clean my bri'ish toilet
@@Unicalnetworksorry, man, but you better not write using cyrilic alphabet
*France:* "Should we stop the Soviets invading Poland?"
*UK:* "Nah, maybe leave it. Something tells me that this cooperation between Germany and the Soviets won't last."
_[Germany and the Soviets start fighting]_
*UK:* "See, France, what did i te--- oh, you've been conquered."
Very true but I would hate to see what would have happened if Britain went to war against Germany and the ussr, with the out of date technology and lack of mechanical warfare capabilities from France and just the shier size of the ussr defeat would be inevitable and without the UK fighting the Germans anymore. The Nazis may have actually won the war in Europe and god knows what would have happened if the people of the USSR got to friendly with the Germans. Oh wait, boom invasion, now the whole of Europe is Nazi controlled. So I think the British made the best and only intelligent decision
F
More like: France: *raises white flag when Poland gets invaded*
france: we are the super power and we are declaring war at germany ..
rommel and his friends : ok why not take a tour in Belgium ،😂
@@NorthCamZ There was an invasion of the saarland. The French saw that it was devoid of troops. Thought it was a trap and fucked off. If France decided to not refight the last war and be tramatised of trench lines they had a straight shot to Berlin cause everything was thrown at Poland and later Czechs.
UK's Strongly worded letter:
*Dearest Joseph*
*The wasn't very nice of you*
*Best wishes,*
*Neville*
Pretty much the impact of the Munich Pact
I declare this to be a archive of the message
AznGuy Jr. when you stole that reply
Copied
I wish it was written: " That wasn't very COMRADE of you"
I talked to a Brit way long time ago, like in the early 1990's. He said, growing up in school, kids are taught the primary goal of England's foreign policy is "don't ever let anyone unify the continent." Meaning, if any continental power becomes strong, side with their weaker opponents. When Spain was strong, Britain supported Spain's opponents. When Napoleon popped up, Britain supported France's opponents. When Germany got strong, you have to support Germany's opponents, which happened to include the USSR. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend, for now" - perfectly applied.
That's the reason for Brexit, now I get it, thanks
I forgot how this video is titled, but this is actually true. There's a video from a UK satire show from the 2000s where they laugh about the idea of the UK quitting the EU. And the actor playing the diplomat said: "we joined the EU to destabilize it from within, and then we're going to quit to destabilize it again. Our centuries-old foreign policy of never letting the continent unite."
This view is *very* engrained in English society.
NATO is slowly unifying the continent - what will happen then I wonder?
@@mar07in scary guessing game you got in your hands.
@@oliversmith7130 No, brexit was due to stupidity and politicians taking advantage of eurosceptism to make a few pennies for themselves.
"Also, they would've lost."
Sneaking that in there at the last possible second of the video lol
lol
I’m currently reading the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. This was actually one of the biggest questions I had going into the book. Basically, the last thing the allies wanted was to be at war with anyone other than Germany.
It's kind of hard to fight two front Wars ask Hitler
well it shows that the didnt care about poland (which is obv if you look at what happened after ww2) and simply wanted to quash germany again
It's almost as if it was another global conspiracy to shut down an ideology and economy that didn't have international finance's best interests at heart...
Western Unity the USSR invaded Poland afterwards...
@Western Unity I was going to read it myself when I found out about the backlash against Shirer. I was very disappointed. I still have A World at Arms by Weinberg though, and that was a great read.
“This is like the fourth time.” As a Pole myself, this cracks me up.
we should have learned by now, that either we'll be strong enough ourselves, or with very strong REAL ties to our allies, or we'll be doomed AGAIN.
I didn't get it. Wasn't it the second time?
@@ooi97 prussia, austria and russia ganged up on poland in past when it was polish-lithuanian commonwealth 3 times
@@cristianokiki1486I think all three partitions of Commonwealth should be counted as first time. But later there were Duchy of Warsaw and Kingdom of Poland (Congress Poland), which were semi-autonomous Polish states. Moreover Free City of Cracow and Grand Duchy of Posen (to some extent) may also be counted.
@@kristupas_ they were 3 diferent times and I think not all 3 partutions had all 3 states
France and Britain: “Some of you may die. But that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”
What were they supposed to do?
@@rowmagnvs Honour their part and attack Germany maybe? Instead of just sitting on there for nine month just to get overrun in six weeks.
Paul There were offensive plans and the allied planning board basically got turned upside down when the Soviet Union invaded Poland because it was assumed the Polish army could stand up to Germany for a year
@@haldir3120 Considering how well France and the UK did together in defense of France and fact that the only UK had somewhat up to date air force and an expeditionary force of a limited number, that would not end very well even when looking at Wikipedia numbers may suggest otherwise...
French actually somewhat invaded Germany (few km) but they stopped before the German defensive line, again, their army was not built for some coordinated deep penetration operations (lack of radios in their thick but slow poorly designed tanks making some pincers encirclement unrealistic against better-equipped fast German armor which was able to reposition within a week from attacking poorly equipped Poland, limited French logistics for adequate supply chain during the attack, etc.). Neither French WW2 air force was something legends being written about and Germans would fear of... The only possible way of French/UK invasion being sufficiently protected was if the UK would send all its fighter planes to French airfields at the expense of leaving the UK undefended and open for the Nazi medium bomber attacks...
SHREKIN
The answer for this question is simple:
They didn’t want USSR to declare war on them as Nazi germany was strong enough alone
Nah it’s because friendly fire
Not like what you think.
The invasion of Poland was the whole pretext for declaring war in the first place, though. There was no WW2 prior to this.
Say sike
The Fckn Truth - They didn't help cuz they had Poland deeply in ass and they had no fckn balls. Also They probably thought that Hitler would leave uk and France alone.
something something James bizanet
Football Stat’66 lol ikr
Rob Waterhouse
Football Stat’66 don’t forget Winston kayword (yeah, yeah, it’s probably spelled wrong)
Izzy?
Spinning 3 Plates
one answer
*Distant War
* modifier
It was defensiv though (*distant war* is only for an agressiv call to arms)
actually france and britain were 432845 ducats in debt
Dishonored Call to Arms Noises
@@thomasfazey5755 The AI don't get dishonoured call to arms though.
@@markhenley3097 It was mp though
Allies: “we aren’t going to start a war with soviets even if it is justified because they’re insanely powerful and we are already engaged on other fronts.”
Axis: “so anyways I started blasting”
@nickys34 Poland was a country for a long time before WWI, until partitions of Poland happened.
Check a map of languages in 1937 poland, the ukrainian and belarussian areas HEAVILY overlaps with what the USSR invaded. This is because the land they conquered back WAS the area poland opportunisitcally took mid civil war
@nickys34 pretty sure Poland existed from the 10th century till 1795, which is before ww1
@OVOD.net 1. Poland did not capitulate by the time soviets invaded.
2. Just like Russian Empire illegally annexed this land from Poland-Lithuania during partitions of Poland.
3. Poland did not ally with Germany, Zaolzie that you're talking about was invaded and annexed by Czechs during polish-soviet war.
@OVOD.net Poland actually never officially capitulated, the government went in exile in the UK, so the ussr invaded Poland.
I love the funnyparts you add to the videos. “…harshest measures known : a strongly, worded letter“. I laughed out loud every single time you drop one of these nuggets into your videos!
"They both felt that Poland was entirely lost"
... that's funny, because Poland's national anthem is entitled 'Poland is Not Yet Lost"
This defines a bruh moment
Poland: "I'm not dead yet"
German anthem: "We are the best"
Polish anthem: 'We are not the worst"
There is no “yet” there. This would suggest that poles are awaiting their demise.
“Poland is not dead,
while we are alive”
2 of the strongest world powers double teaming you without a condom, what else can you expect lol
One of the reasons:
- *World Tension was just below 24%* 😂
Wow.
hoi 4 reference was not excepting that
Another reason: Germany formed the Berlin-Moscow Axis
Another reason: Fascists came to power in the US and Brazil invaded all of South America and is now a beligerent super power.
@@lolmanmagee2785 honestly i was there jokes appear everyehere on ww2 videos lol
0:55: The French MILITARY was conducting its own secret diplomacy? God, the Third Republic was screwed up....
As previously stated in past videos, *French politics* at the time could be summed up as *"...a dumpster fire."*
Yeah, even if France HADN'T fallen in 1940 and knocked out Hitler early on, the Third Republic still would've fallen and gotten replaced by a hopefully more effective government.
@@navilluscire2567 I would call it really the 1st *Nuked Politics* but i remember that the Byzantines and the Romans were a thing so yeah its politics were fucky.
@@navilluscire2567 So much so there were genuine fears of a civil war after France was liberated. It was one reason why the British weren't keen on helping the French resistance too much, they were worried arms given to French militias to defeat the Nazis would be used to kill other French people after they had gone.
Andrew Klang it’s called the Third Reich not the third republic
I love how blissfully naive post ww1 Europe seemed
"we gave Poland independence, so there's no way foreign forces would invade! war problem = solved"
It was a meme lol poland had to fight with everyone around it to preserve itself with only france supporting it fron the start. And it was a diplomatic support only, when the polish-ussr war broke out every european govermnet was busy dealing with communists in their own countries like germany where they started a civil war awaiting the red army. Naive was to think hitler would stop but nobody was naive about poland. It is just realism. Extremly sad realism…
Maybe if you want to make a political statement, you should make it.
@@Timmerdetimmerdetim bro why are you trying to get upset about smth it's joke on how Poland gets invaded a lot relax with your keyboard warrioring
@@Czar_Moss There's nothing funny about Poland being invaded and nothing "to love" about it. Maybe we can agree on that at least?
@Tim Joye oh sorry too soon? 83ish years not enough time?
The " Your Mother " sign should not have made me laugh as hard as it did
Same.
Me too
Joining the "+1" conga line.
I missed it. When was it?
@@NoNameAtAll2 1:51
Poland: pls help we're being invaded
UK: that sounds like a "you" problem
lol so true
British empire losses 500,000 casualties. Thats enough help considering the uk and her allies can have peace with the germany but didnt
Actually the opposite Bud Look up operation unthinkable Britain always had the end goal of defeating Germany then moving on too the ussr
Actually its the opposite. Britain started WW2 by defending Poland. UK declined 27 peace appeals from Nazi Germany. Investigate the Rudolf Hess incident. Where he tried to negotiate peace with Britain only to get arrested and killed by them
@@serenityssolace Facts. The Anglos were the main warmongers here. Starting a war they eventually needed Americans to finish for them.
Well looks like they didn't polish the agreement terms.
*GET OUT* ❗
[badum tish]
@@PANZERFAUST90 you do realize that you did finnish the joke, right?
😂😂😂
Why are they Russian so much to defeat Germany?
Also, they were actually drawing up plans to bomb the Caucus oil fields after the USSR's poor performance against Finland. Though, as you might know, the USSR's poor performance against Finland was noticed by someone else who acted first.
Operation Pike, it was called. Documents about the plan were captured by the Germans in France and leaked by the Nazi press.
Poland: "Ummm. We are being taken over by the Soviets. Can we get a little help, please?"
Allies: "How do you define "taken over?" Give us a half century to contemplate the meaning"
2:38
Poland 1919-1939
'This was like the fourth time'
Lol 🤣
Poland is now part of nato, and I'm SURE that everyone will go to war to protect Poland and the Baltic republics this time.
@@ronmaximilian6953 better not to rely on that fact
@@DrPacman I was being sarcastic
@@ronmaximilian6953 yeah I know
Every nation want to partition Poland.
Love Poland's tombstone at 2:38
One of those countries that never catches a break
@Alenas Kvasninas didn't ally
@Alenas Kvasninas You should know, that Poland wasn't ally of Hitler in 1938, Poland also didnt split Czechoslovakia in half when they were at the middle of bloody defence of their own country. Whatever Poland retook lands, wich were guaranted to her in Versaille and wich Czechoslovakia took by invasion in 1920.
This is very bad example of Poland as a bad neighbor to others, especially that Czechoslovakia has been sold by whole western in 1935, and did nothing in their defence in 1937/8 when Germany took most, most of their country.
Much better example wich is unjustified blame of Polish government was 1922 and Żeligowski action for wich Polish government never said sorry, and as many dumb polish nationalist don't see a reason for sorry.
Whatever it is still not justification to Soviet Union to pull knife into polish back, annex 3 baltic states and stay as well in Poland and those countries for the next 50 years. And later attack on Finland.
It was an agressor, not the first time, and hope Im totally wrong, but still is.
But never gonna happen again. 🇺🇸🤜🏼🤛🏻🇵🇱
@@Tmb1112 lol
I love your videos! So concise and informative, and the animations are so cute!
I don’t see how they would be even able to fight both super powers at the same time without collapsing on themselves. I mean France didn’t even survive a whole year against Germany, it would’ve been suicide to attack both at the same time
At that point nobody could have expected that but if you have more then 2 Braincells, you might come to the conclusion that having Germany, Italy (Allied to Japan) and the Soviet Union against you might be an unwinnable war
Poland still fought on tho
Seeing the USSR as a "superpower" is an anachronism and was very much not the case back then, it was seen as a backwater state with no real power. The real reason to not declare war was : Why ? Like seriously, why declare war on a country with which you have no fronts against...
Britain and France planned to help Finland against the Soviet Union, by asking to move troops through neutral Norway and Sweden, and also backstabbing Sweden and taking the country over while doing so. No surprise Sweden and Norway refused.
@@markhenley3097 Never heard something like this... Do you have any sources ?
"Britain and France didn't intervene when the Soviet Union invaded Poland because they felt that Germany and the USSR were going to turn on each other and the Soviets would be a valuable ally against Germany."
Well, they weren't wrong.
The only part they weren't counting on was France getting its ass kicked in a matter of seconds
@@DiegoDiaz-vm9xx yeah that part wasn't supposed to happen
How did this help the Poles?
@@limes194 Who said it was about the poles?
@@makky6239 well poles are good for holding up a Soviet flag and after the war a lot of poles could be made
What the polish flag means,
Red: blood givin for the country
White: freedom
Blue: truthful allies
How to fix Polish flag ? Easy, you need to add blue duct tape between white and red =)
@@АлександрМаврин-я5х Then it would be a lie.
@@АлександрМаврин-я5х now I know how to destroy Russia. Simply tear off the blue duct tape. Thank you.
Lmao no
That dutch flag
Sweet and succinct. And better than 100 pages of lofty articles for class.
Soviet Union: helps invade Poland Allies: I’ve never met this man in my life
He could be walking down the street and I wouldn't know who this man is
@@Abdul54cp i've always found hilariusly dark how the URSS will lose every offensiver war they went and win every defensive war they got.
@@Abdul54cp And its also the area russia took from poland in the partitions of poland 1772-1795,so poland just "took it back" in 1921
You can play this game endlessly
Gleb B. / Глеб Б. The Soviets took Ukraine so the poles took the parts of Ukraine they captured after pushing the Soviets out. Much of which was actually technically diplomatically given to Poland after the the border war and Soviets invaded in return for help against to Soviets which they did. The poles helped liberate the capital and as part of the agreement went back to defend there own country.
Well...tbh, there was nothing they could do about it, Russia was just to far away, and to get to it, they would have to go through Germany, which they couldn't, as Germany would win the war if they wouldn't have had to worry about the USSR (70-80% of the German forces were stationed at the Eastern front on average during the war, and 9/10 German casualties were suffered on that very same front during the war against the Soviets), and could have had focused all of their military might on the Western front!
For a second, I read that as why didn't aliens declare war on ussr.
Same, that would have been a fun video.
This isn't the Worldwar Series
I have dyslexia and I often have little fun things like that. I once read a scifi book that dealt with the genetic slave trade, which I misread as the _geriatric_ slave trade, an economic model I still struggle to conceptualize to this day.
I think I played a video game about this once.
Why would they? The Soviets would probably be the aliens' best customers, if they were diplomatically inclined; they had some of the biggest reserves of raw resources (human and otherwise), but relatively little industry.
Poland: Is conquered by two strongest nations in the world
Allies: Attacking 3 km into Germany
People: why didn't the allies invade the Ruhr area in 1939?
Me: Hindenburg line with thousands of bunkers, trenches, barbed wire and land mines.
@@makeromaniagreatagain9697 isnt hindenburg line ww1 thing?
@@makeromaniagreatagain9697 it would've been better of they did invade, isn't it better to wage war on enemy soil rather than your own? France saw what happened to their country in WW1 and plus they had twice as many divisions, Britain and France had more manpower and rescources to draw on, while yes Germany did have the support from USSR, but it was a matter of time before they would invade a weakend Germany, exhausted by the war with the Allies.
@@sandrosaladze8095 I think it's mainly two points 1. Both wanted to end it diplomatically instead of a great war again (hindsight is 20/20) and 2. Both weren't really prepared for a large war.
But why should they have died for Danzig? What did the Poles offer in return? You act like Poland , a nation that hasnt existed for hundreds of years ( without france or britain caring about it ) was suddenly worth millions of french and british lives. You know what they also could have done? NOT declaring war on Germany in 39 and just let germany and the ussr restore the old european borders. The Poles should be grateful , but all i ever see are bitchin poles asking why the french and british soldiers didnt wanna die for them.
Sneaking in “Also..they’d have lost” at the end. 😂
"Strongly worded letter"
Dearest Joseph Stalin
That wasnt very nice of you
Best wishes Neville
*Savage*
Words cannot express how truly obliterated on the inside I feel -Stalin probably lol
@Spicyleaves even the copied comment was copied.
Basically France and Britain
“Some of u will die, so we can be partners with the Soviets”
“But that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to take”
Edit: Guys it was just a joke if you do watch the video it does mention how Poland was left out to die and due to this fact it made it easier for the Soviet Union to do its thing
Edit 2: somehow the joke about leaving Poland to die with a Shrek reference has gone into how Britain and France committed atrocities before the war and Napoleon’s strength in his time period god I love the internet
Well, no, more would have died had they declared war.
That's completely the wrong way
France and Britain didn´t have the manpower to fight Germany and the Soviet Union at the same time. They had no other choice and in hindsight we can see that their theory was right.
Edit: Germany and Napoleon couldn´t defeat Russia. How should the Allies beat both at the same time?
Lol the Soviet Union tried throughout the 30’s to make an anti-Nazi pact with the West but they refused
"He huffed and he puffed and he signed the eviction notice"
I'd like to know, to what degree were they really at peace with the USSR to begin with?
This is something I'm not sure about, but I know that Brittan, France and the United States all sent forces to attack the Soviet Union as soon as it came into existence, and afterwards, treated it largely as a pariah state. Did the Western Allies even have full diplomatic ties to severe, with Moscow, in 1939?
If i am not mistaken the Allies refused to recognize the USSR until the 1930's
Stalin had tried and failed to create an anti-fascist pact with Britain prior to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, but they Allies would do very under-the-table trade with the newly heavily industrialized Soviet Union. Prior to WWII, Soviets also had a rather large population so no relatioms would've been stupid, but the everyday people(especially the British people) could never know this, as communism exists to topple existing power structures(especially Monarchies). So yes, but they weren't friends and Russia couldn't try to be.
Strix no we (the British) recognised them in 1924
They saw the USSR as both a threat and an asset. Ideologically, the USSR was their greatest enemy, but militarily Russia/USSR could keep Germany in check.
The anti fascit pact contained similarities of the molotove ribbentrop pact like control of the baltics and poland although they were not clearly defined
These and other similar questions I also had. I found out how intricate and complex they are. They are a minefield that keeps changing and very hard to nail down . Wording is everything. It always bothered me watching other countries stand by while a small a countty was attacked. Until I was educated on the mindfields associated with Treaties, all kinds. Knowing about how they work makes reading about war's, conflicts and peace treaties basically, all Treaties better understood and enjoyed. I'm still learning never done. History is our PPF, past, present and future. The most important message from history is, if not examined, domed to repeat it. ✊☘️
That’s why Hitler wanting peace with Britain was doomed to fail. It’s like asking snake to not change colour. Britain would have to change their approach entirely.
Germany was strong hard on power but an amateur compared to Britain in divide and rule tactic.
England and france would of got smashed by Germany and Russia
I love that nice little piece at the very end
"Also, they would have lost"
Fair play HM, fair play
Germany invades Poland
Allies: now this is an Avengers level threat
USSR invades Poland
Allies: you werent supposed to do that
bad USSR! That's a bad USSR!
Stalin offered an anti facist coalition and both france and briitian refused
The USSR only took back land stolen from them by Poland a few years before.
Reddit has ruined UA-cam comments.
@@SimonAshworthWood this is pure bullshit
Legit every time I see this guy upload I get gassed, legit only thing I enjoy watching during lockdown, keep it up ❤️
No pun intended 👀😂
Legit?
Try Sam O'Nella academy. Guy makes hilarious videos about various, generally history-related things.
It was a very smart strategy from Britain in France.
It's not widely known, that in 1937-39 Poland was very close to joining the Axis. They had some common interest, as Poland was interested to re-take some lands taken by Czechoslovakia in 1920 and searched for support in defending itself against the USRR, which was considered by Poland to be the greatest threat. In 1937 USRR executed over 100 000 polish citizens that lived within its borders and the last war ended just 18 years earlier in 1921. Hitler tried to convince Poland to join him and from his perspective, asking only for Danzig was a very modest proposal (his fanatics wanted to regain all of western Poland, Hitler seemed like a moderate next to them). Poland however had a very honorable (and somewhat dumb) government that had quite unrealistic opinion on it's own military capabilities. Morale was sky high especially since Poland the last war with USSR. Still, many factions within the polish parliament considered siding with Germans.
This is when UK and France step in and give Poland an additional morale boost: They guarantee Polish independence. With that promise and having WW1 in mind, Poland decided that it's safe to refuse Hitler and fight. The result was Poland losing 25% of it's population and 50% of its pre-war territory, along with total destruction of its industry, agriculture and cultural heritage.
UK and France gained a year and then got what they counted on - the German invasion of USSR.
Poland having an unrealistic opinion of its own military? That could never be.
Poland never was close to join axis. Actually was always identifying Nazie Germans as mortal threat. That's why Proposed France and UK war against Hitler in 1933. At that time Poland could win alone but there was no approval. Later history shoved ho had right.
That is the biggest bullshit i ever saw on youtube...
Germany: **invades to Poland**
Allies: War time!
Soviet Union: Suprise *suka* ! - *said it and invades in East Poland*
Allies: Not war time.
"War time!"
Phony war time!
Well, was it Poland or Germany territory they invaded at that point?
@@GewalfofWivia It was Poland territory at that point in time.
Dude
Suka means Like in Indonesian
I just learned that in 2003
@@dnocturn84 Poland didn't have a government and millitary, so no.
"We are going to send you a very angry letter telling you how angry we are"
"Also, they would have lost" My exact thoughts 😅😅
@Uproar01 USSR won decisively.
@@kainuu3157 Stalingrad begs to differ.
@Uproar01 watch til the very end of the video homie.
@i get it THEY WOULD'VE LOST EITHER WAY, THERE IS PROOF, GERMANY WAS NOT GOING TO WIN, WITH OR WITHOUT SNOW, THE RUSSIAN LAND IS SIMPLY TOO BIG TO CONQUER.
No, they wouldn’t have
Not when the Americans got involved
It would be interesting to know how (the wording of public statements) the UK and French Governments explained this obvious double standard to their peoples. Or was the fact of the USSR invasion of Poland kept secret by both Governments whilst they screamed blue murder about the German invasion?
No one denied it, but the UK had no binding agreements to protect Poland from the USSR so it's not really double standards just politics. That being said I'm sure the allies would have reacted if they hadn't just fcked up their entire country and economies, lost millions of citizens, and anyone had any stomach left for war.
Yes, the last part. I never heard any of this until I worked with Polish people in the mid 2000s. I then realised the UK doesn't talk about Russia, at all, ever.
It's like we pretend they don't exist
There were debates in the UK press and parliament at the time in a limited way. Churchill was very sorry after the war for the betrayal.
Britain's letter to the USSR govt:
Dear Joseph
That wasn't very cash money of you.
Regards,
UK GOVT.
1:24 they didn't have to declare war on germany either.
They didn't have to, but allowing a tyrannical megalomaniac run around and do what he wants destroying the balance of power is not going to end well. Love your vids btw
@@piggysew797 yet they were perfectly fine with destroying europe and giving the power to russia and america?
@@piggysew797 ...u talking about stalin?
The Soviet Union and Stalin killed more people than the big bad moustache man could've ever hoped to.
@@wallachia4797 or had the intention to
I lost everything on "This is like the fourth time" on Poland's gravestone LMAAAOO
69th like
I have been asking myself that for a while now, thank you for clearing thinks up.
Also, declaring war on a second massively powerful country when you're already engaged in a life-or-death struggle with the first one would be idiotic. Although in fairness, Japan somehow failed to realise this when, after a decade of attrition war against China they decided "Maybe declaring war on the USA will improve our chances of victory."
Previously pissing the Soviets AND Mongols off, definetly didnt help their situation. Its also worth noting that the Pacific was and still is quite a goldmine. So its not like Japan had no reason to go there. China fought them to a standstill, the Russians crushed them before and the only way they could expand is by kicking out Colonial Powers like the Netherlands or France, which were all busy thanks to Germany
@@elseggs6504 It is the other way around, Japan crushed Russia before.
@@mdaniel5384 Japan crushed Russia so hard at Kalkhin Gol that they retreated, signed a non-aggression pact and didnt bother taking their pacific coastline.
Edit: in case you're too dense, its sarcasm
@@elseggs6504 I was talking about the Russo-Japanese war, not about a border conflict.
I looked at the numbers involved in the conflict you mentioned and the casualties. That is supposed to be a crushing win by the Soviets?
@@mdaniel5384 It scared Japan enough to shift their focus towards the Pacific instead of helping Germany out.
Do one on the revolutions in South America for independence at the beginning of the 19th century.
Its just going to be one long video of Simon Bolivar kicking so much ass people will start thinking it wasnt true.
It would be interesting to go into involvement by Freemasons.
And why Cuba and the Philippines didn't join (the independence movements)
Why San Martin didn't join force with San Martín?
Who are (Peru/Ecuador/Colombia) local founding fathers?
There's a video series for that topic
Search "Simon Bolivar - Extra Credits"
A strongly worded letter? As a Canadian, I see the grave seriousness of this response. There's not much worse you can do to a person than write them a strongly worded letter.
Unfortunatly to Russians a strong worded letter in english, is a very polite response.
2:12 ... Yeah, I bet it played out exactly that way for them over the next few months, too.
You forgot one important thing: the allies did not declare war on ussr as it was not as much of a rival to Britain and France. The treaty between UK and Poland shows that it was only about eliminating germany as a rival and not about Polands security.
Well, the USSR was a country with an ideology hostile to the west. They also slowly expanded into Eastern Europe and send supplies and equipment to Mao in China in an atempt to support communist revolutionaries. I believe the allies had every reason to hate the USSR.
nazi much?
@@makeromaniagreatagain9697 The Entente (The Allies) already invaded Russia to fight the Bolsheviks in the 1920's and failed to stop them from coming to power, once the USSR was stopped by Poland it ceased to really be a major threat to British or French interests in Europe. Once Stalin consolidated power, the Soviet Union also became less aggressive for the time being.
Nazi Germany was, correctly, gauged to be a far more immediate threat to both French and British interests in Europe.
Poland was just an excuse, its not like France and Britain care about any thing but themselves, although thats understandable
@@franciscor.m.8003 well, they could have declared war on Germany when Germany re-armed, re-militarized the Rhineland, demanded Czechislovakia or when they occupied Czechia and made Slovakia a puppet state.
Fighting the same enemy would have increased the relation between Germany and Russia by 40 points, making it leds likely to get a war between them and instead get an alliance.
Now imagine if hitler was autistic enough to still invade the soviets.
@@Zen-rw2fz He had to. There was no other choice. Reason: Natural resources and raw materials. Invading Britain will only be a waste of time, manpower and war materials since Britain's economy depends on imports. Germany had the industries, but to run them, they needed resources. SU had the resources. They had everything Germany needed. Hitler followed Mackinder's Heartland Theory. Barbarossa's prime objective was the Caucasus oil to keep the industries and economy running, but since February 43 after the failure in Stlingrad, Germans were on retreat from SU. Moscow campaign was unnecessary and it cost Germans the war. Basically, WW2 was to restore Germany's honor on international stage after the disastrous WW 1 and Versailles and be a superpower who would be respected. Germany was bound to dominate Europe either by economically or military or by both and Hitler preferred the both scenario. You will only have a fresh start after you have lost everything. Hence, Germany fought till 45. Even Americans knew Germany was bound to be a powerful nation. Modern Germany is economically powerful, but weak in military. Then again, it was in the fate. Without WW2, Germany wouldn't be an economic power like it is today. Hitler's death was also necessary to give Germany a fresh start. Hitler was many things, but coward isn't one of them. Modern Germany is still a diplomatic power who have taken part in important agreements like Dayton, Minsk and even the ceasefire between Russia and Turkey regarding Syria. It's funny that both Bismarck and Lenin wanted a close Russian-German relationship. Weimar would have never achieved such reputation.
@@erich2432 the "wirtschaft wunder" was a result of massive USA funds, the DDR is a pretty great example of what germany would have been like without US support, in terms of economic power. the oil fields were the last thing hitler wanted, what came before that was his ideological fanaticism, the war was mainly about ending anyone that disagreed with them ideologically and "lesser races". the capture of moscow was supposed to end the war because apparently soviets are a lesser race and wouldn't be difficult to fight. only after the failure of moscow did hitler pay attention to resources.
@@Zen-rw2fz Marshall Aid was no charity. The US got a huge chunk of German industries and stole patents as well as got the Western European market. Germany got 11% aid in comparison to both France (20%) and Britain (28%). Besides, FDR wanted to do the Morgenthau Plan which was one of the reasons why Germans kept fighting. Had they surrendered in 1944, it would've been worse than Versailles with 20-30 million deaths and biggest humiliation they ever suffered. The July 20 plotters were just a bunch of power hungry folks who didn't think of long term. The war was much needed. Weimar did no favour to Germany. WW1 could've been avoided. But, WW2 was a necessity for Germany. Without WW1, there wouldn't be WW2. My opinions are based on realpolitik. Ideology is often used as cover. Though NSDAP preferred both. And the paperclip thing is overrated. Top 6 died during and after the war. Guys like Euchmann, Müller, Mengele were just side-kicks though Eichmann was caught by Mossad and sentenced to death.
You need resources and raw materials to run your industrues and economy. Germany were importing oil from Romania and irom from Sweden. Which why they invaded Crete to stop British from building an air base who would've bombed Romanian fields. Battle of Britain cost a huge chunk of resources and the Luftwaffe was pretty much dead by then. Heartland Theory and Hitler's vision was correlated.
what horrors would have been spread if those two murdererous madmen had teamed up... I mean, what worse horrors...
This guy is the king of answering questions no one thought about
80 years later, nothing has changed.
"We will not stand by when a nation launches an unjustifiable invasion upon its neighbor!"
"Oh, great, this mean you will at least put sanctions on Saudi Arabia and Tu..."
"No, we only meant Russia."
Tu?
@@Cosmic_Potato7 Turkey.
The realpolitik reigns supreme
@@asnekboi7232 I dream of a day when equal rules and the common good prevail over narrow interests. But today is not that day.
@@nikolatasev4948 then you shall dream till the sun consumes the earth
Poland: "Let me tell you a story about bad neighbors."
@Alenas Kvasninas say what?
@Alenas Kvasninas poland got a tiny piece of czechoslovakia, where poles were (and still are) majority. It wasn't agreed with germany or sth, they just took it anyway. Czechoslovakia was gone either way.
So what? It wasn't spring good or bad. It was about strong and weak
@@diurpaneustv2166 Yes thats True, but you forget to say that few years before this happend with "Zaolzie" Czechoslovakia cheated the poles and took this piece when Poland was fighting aganist soviet russia and save all Europe from communism
So, when poles have a chance they Just took what was stold from them
Thats how it was
I was wondering why the UK and France didn't send troops to Poland when they declare war on me whenever I play as Germany or the USSR in HOI4, now it makes sense
I notice you everywhere bro
how the fuck are u able to send troops from france or england to poland??? through the german controlled baltic sea? through the balkans with military access, causing diplomatic incidents? can u even supply them over that distance with so many restrictions? so yeah it would just be a waste and letting your own people die in a battle they could never turn the tide
@@lofn8166 Good thing the british AI doesn't know :) (i had few games where there were british troops in Danzig)
Emilio Hernandez if it’s possible for the Polish to help me defend against Germany as the Netherlands then the British with naval superiority everywhere could do the same, but I don’t think they are ever bothered in helping Poland out, too busy beating up Italy in Africa.
@@raghul0078 I know, right! Me too.
Britain and France - sacificing allies for their own interest since 1938
Feels Czech/Polish/Yugoslavian/Romanian man
Did you not watch the video? lol
@@UM96lol well Romania was not even invaded and the british was busy helping Greece to help Yugoslavia especially with multiple countries invading it
@Tattle Boad you missed the point - the point being is that western allies lost the first half of the war exactly because they tried to be those 'intelligent, cold and calculated' opportunists, who did not even use their allies, they let them fall and go for not even a gain for the allies themselves
To be fair, The Yugoslavs were planning on helping the axis until they decided to have a civil war
Impressive. An episode about Entente's involvement in the demarcation of borders between the Soviets and Poland that doesn't mention the Curzon line :s
3:29, caught me off guard and almost ruined my laptop screen with tea
I watch the entire vid again just for the ending!
"That's like, the fourth time."
Which is great and awful joke reference at the same time.
It's 5 time . 4 was after the Napoleonic Wars where Russia , Prussia and Austria divided Duchy of Warsaw
@@pachacutiincayupanqui2239 6 times the charm. Becasue obviously its going to happen. As sun rises after the night, so does Poland get invaded, that is the rule of nature. There's been 273 separate wars in Poland's history. At least, i probably missed some.
@@pachacutiincayupanqui2239 let's say 4th. Duchy of Warsaw wasn't really independent
The reason why the allies didn’t declare war on the USSR was simple...
No one declares wars anymore as you explained in a previous video.
that's a tad later, when UN became a thing
I know I was just joking
Noise
Props for showing the Polish military cap with its distinct point element.
The animation gets better every episode, good job sir!
USSR: Violates Poland
Allies: That wasn’t very nice
Poland, Lithuania, Finland, Latvia, Estonia*
Meanwhile Britain and France's imperial empires control a third of the globe.
But Germany wanting Danzig back was just too much.
Steve in essence you’re right. However, this was a case of German crazy hostility within Europe. If a power was raging war in say Africa(Ethiopia and Italy) those powers wouldn’t care at all.
>wanting your land back
>"crazy hostility"
Okay.
Steve uhuh uhuh
>invading Austria
>invading Czechoslovakia
>being a literal dictator who’s planning on killing jews
@@Imperium83 you mean being a sore loser
Poland: * Calls for help *
Germany and USSR: *BUT NOBODY CAME*
The Polish government: Aight time to exile
@Alenas Kvasninas well england and france supported hitler
@Alenas Kvasninas btw.
Poland fights Bolsheviks
Poland: calls for help
Czachoslovakia: yoinks Zaolzie
Hungary: wants to send ammo to Poland
Czechoslovakia: no u
It has been long thought that General Sikorski the Polish Prime Minister in exile had an agreement with Churchill that the Allies would retake Poland from the Russians. However Churchill reneged on the deal and had General Sikorski assassinated.
I know Sikorski's plane crash is VERY suspicious, but is there any proof of link to Churchill or bri'ish government found yet?
2:38 "This is like the fourth time" killed me
it's really grotesque when you actually consider the real history behind that joke
@@mjm3091 Yes History was harsh with Poland (and by history I mean it's neighbors)
Suffering Poland
League of Nations : "Oh God, I'm the most useless!"
United Nations : "You're the most useless so far"
Great Reset: states are useless, let's make communism.
@@janminiajluk3964 i like how if there is a plan for a great reset they want to make everyone poor and pissed off at the rich elite first then try to take what everyone has left
@@TheDuPeNetwork they also said in Davos that there's gonna be no private property in the future, all objects that you can have now by paying money, clothes, cars etc. won't be own by people, it will be "rent from the state", and, quote, "people will own nothing an be happy". Brave new world...
@@janminiajluk3964 Expect all the people who would want to own something and be pissed.
Which would be everyone, because, you know, drive to self sustain and such.
The Great Reset is basically the Elite saying: "Hey guys, I know you like property and rights and stuff, buuuut our Empires are at risk of collapsing through our own ineptness, so we're gonna take that all that away at the chance that it might fix them? ok?"
Can't believe there hasn't been a correct response to your dogshit comment yet. Here it is: LOL, how many world wars have been fought under the UN's existence again...?
Poland: Nooo you cant just leave me to die like this!
Britain and France: Haha Poland go by by
Not really as the polish government went to the uk anyway
@@bernardyoung7014
Yea but did they really give a shit about the Poles? No. They demonstrated this clearly during the Warsaw uprising and during the negotiations.
@@project22-ab88 what do you think uk and france supposed to do, poland is km away from britain.
@@mann536 Poles didn't have that problem at Monte Casino and in Berlin and in a couple of other places...
@@mann536
Yet at the time the UK had the best Navy in the world. They had enough power to reach Norway, but not Poland?
It's easy to sit here in hindsight when nobody here lived the horrors of ww1.
Everyone was desperate to avoid that again.
Exactly, if the UK and France acted more assertively people would accuse them as being resolved for the war
"Also they'd have lost" lmao true
You found that too, huh
@ Craig Noneman ,
I don't think so . The Russians were stubborn fighters , that's true. But remember , the only reason that they were able to fight the Germans was because the U.S, was supplying Russia with military equipment. The Russians were not able to manufacture it themselves.
@@donaldmiller8629 meh, late into war soviet manpower would overwhelm france and britain
@@andrewlorenzo6611 ,
Without U.S. supplies that would not happen. Just ask the Hungarians what happened when they tried to fight the Russian tanks with pitchforks and garden hoes. It means , you lose !
@@donaldmiller8629 well you also kinda have to remember that hungary is relevantly smaller than Germany, soviet union, uk etc
Me : Winged Hussar?
Poland : YES
Me : Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?
Poland : YES
Me : Trusted Allies?
Poland : .......
Friendly neighbors?
NOPE
Hungary, a Czechoslovakia away:
Hello there
@@robertbalazslorincz8218 Slovakia took part in the invasion, with checks we had almost war for Cieszyn and Hungary was pro-german.
@@Filip7370 Hungary was pro-german, but never intended to invade Poland, or support the invasion in any way. In fact, when Hilter demanded help during attack on Poland, Hungary rejected all the possibilities to support Germany, even threatening with war if Germany tried to use Hungarian territory to invade Poland anyways.
@@Filip7370 And who invaded Slovakia in 38 with germany? poles did!
Wait a moment why do I feel like I already seen this
same
Dejavu
There was a video about the invasion of Poland it mentioned the Allies not intervening when the Soviets invaded
saw*
@@PANZERFAUST90 no, its 'seen'.
1:49 History Matters is at its best when one side is holding a sign saying "Your mother" toward the other.
i love how he adds one line in the end of the video after reading the patreon's names
"I am beaten." *Falls over.*
Love the animations.
Poland: Maybe help
UK: Nah
thats summary of basically Poland through entire ww2
Which is kinda sad, considering they were still fighting after losing their country - just moved to help all the other fronts.
Oversimplified is written all over this video. Great work. A new generation.
I always thought the allies were hypocrites for declaring war on Nazi Germany and not Communist Russia.
Nazi Germany started the war and their ideology was far worse. You think they only did the holocaust? Try that times 20. Read generalpan Ost. Full enslavement, rape, relocation, and genocide of all polish and Russian civilians. The Soviets were no where near as brutal and thank god they won along with the allies. Post-Stalin SU was not perfect, but it was better than the alternative by far.
Let’s not forget that the allies weren’t angels, The US had slaves and still had segregation during WW2. And GB is arguably the largest mass murderer in the history of humanity.
RusBaller03 .Same atrocities Soviet Russia did. Soviets also help start the Korean War right after WWII they weren’t any better by a long shot.
Because the same group controls the allies and the Soviets and they want to destroy their enemies, Europeans.
Finland as well. It's okay when Soviets invade countries.
Why did Joseph hold a sign saying “mine” it’s supposed to be ours comrades
Allies: Declared war on Germany
Allies when the Soviets invaded: Uh, what are we supposed to do?
TJ OConnell They couldn’t have fought both of them so you’re meme is 🗑
UK: "We can't fight a war on two fronts!"
Poland: "..."
@@timothymclean not really, the soviets just mop the poles up and it was a surprise attack, so not exactly two front
Jumper Willi TJ got 72 likes you 5 so your comments are💩
I kept waiting for the line "France and the UK thought the USSR and Germany would inevitably start to fight each other but fun fact... yes"
Dirty politics. Churchill wanted war wit Germany. Lied to his people.
I like how you make sure Dazing is it's own thing at 1:46
They barely made it against Axis alone, so fighting both Axis AND Soviets would be... xd
But they should attack ussr in 1945
@@DamianŁukasikPL no no fighting Soviet Union in land is suicide even though Soviet lost a lot
@@bondrewdthelordofdawn3744 soviet union was weak in 1945, America was powerful,they should drop atomic bomb on Moscow and invade them
@@DamianŁukasikPL there is something wrong with your comment, and that is: you don't know *anything* about post World War II Soviet Union.
@Deja Vu I don't care about russians like they don't cared about us poles
Fun fact: Prior to M-R pact, Stalin foresaw Germany invading Poland, and offered to station soviet forces there, on the German border to help with what to him seemed inevitable (this was just prior to the UK guarantee), and UK and Poland rejected the proposal. This is what led to USSR completely ignoring the west and signing that pact instead.
The USSR wanted its Territory back. Its also i think a bit of Payback for the Polish-Soviet War.
@@maxpayne7459 The Poles knew the Soviets were going to invade Poland anyway because they wanted all territory Imperial Russia held and also wanted to spread the communist ideology to Germany and the rest of Europe.
@@toledochristianmatthew9919 yeah but it didnt help Polands Case. Their Invasion while a Victory against the USSR and gained some Territory, had a long-term effect that the USSR would remain hostile towards Poland. Germany was the Ideal place for Communism since it would Spread toward Western Countrys. For the World, Germany was the wall that Kept Communism out of western Europe. I doubt Poland would survive in a Soviet Invasion without the British.
>This is what led to USSR completely ignoring the west and signing that pact instead.
Actually, this isn't the only thing. In 1931 Japan invades Manchuria. The plan was to create foothold for the further invasion in China, Mongolia, and USSR. 1936 - Mongolia signs defensive pact with USSR against Japan. During 1936-1938 USSR was involved into series of military conflicts with Japan near lake Khasan. Followed by Battles of Khalking Gol in 1939. Now, in July 1939 Britain signed Craigie-Arita agreement. Basically, Britain promised not to get involved in whatever Japan was doing in China (and, to some extent, on USSR borders). While negotiating anti-German treaty with USSR. A brilliant move.
Now, imagine you are USSR in 1939. You are negotiating treaty against Germany with Britain, France and Poland. Except Britain declares it's not going to be involved in Japanese occupation of Asia (just like when it signed Munich agreement). Poland declares it won't let soviet army on its territories (just like when it signed Munich agreement). You are also fighting Japan, a member of anti-comintern pact and an ally of Germany. And in the middle of all this clusterfuck Germany approaches you with a non-agression treaty. Not only that, Germany also promises not to expand east (ahem.. NATO.. ahem-hmph), close to your borders. What would you do?
Look at happens to the baltics when they decided to let soviet troops station there
02:38 i dont know if it is a clear paraphrase of the first lines from polish national anthem (that is "poland is not yet lost") but if yes, you do a really good job not only in research, but also in writing a script to these videos
World War 2 happens:
Spain, Turkey and Sweden: Just pretend we don't exist...
Sweden was selling iron to Germany
Spain sent "Blue Division" to fight Soviets when Germans started Barbarossa
Switzerland: *Gadsden snake noises *
Ireland *munches on popcorn*
@@MrFazerlogin Yes and allowed Germany groups transit to Norway, but not British groups to Finland (during the Winter War).
Stalin: Friendship ended with Hitler. Now the Allies are my best friends.
Allies: ... Should we do something?
Also Allies: No.
Why didn't the allies declare war on the Soviets?
Realpolitik in action.
Realpolitik is how they got into this mess in the first place, though. The entire goal was beefing up Germany against Soviet Union. Ignoring blatant disregard for Treaty of Versailles? Check. Let Germany borrow 300% of its own GDP? Check. Screw over Republican Spain to secure British-owned iron mines from those smelly socialists? Check. Threaten Czechoslovakia to refuse Soviet offer of protection for "peace in our time"? Check. Refuse Soviet offer of alliance against Germany? Check. No wonder the signing of Molotov-Ribbentrop caused such rectal devastation, Westerners seethe about it to this day.
Right at the end he says "Also, they would have lost'.
- lol Hitler
Wish it was real, it would be hillarious.
0:15 the Polish guy saying "guys" is so accurate🤣🤣🤣
I'm a simple guy: History matter posts a video I read every sign characters are holding.
Britain pushed forward with the harshest measures known, a strongly worded letter.
Me: this sounds oddly similar to something