Why didn't Britain & France declare war on the USSR when they invaded Poland from the East?

Question

And when you think of it, Hitler was not a mass murder at the time, the extermination of the Jews didn't begin until 1942, while Stalin had doomed off 30 million from 1934-39.

sure, Hitler mistreated the Jews during the 30's, but the high volume extermination didn't begin until after the Wansee Conference in Jan '42.

Answer 1

You bring up a good question. The key is understanding Hitler. After he came to power in 1933, he broke the Versailles Treaty, took the Rhineland, Austria, the Sudetenland, and Czechoslovakia. He totally lied saying that each conquest was his last. Hitler was always a mass murderer. You need to read his book "My Struggle." In it he describes Jews as a subhuman blight to civilization. Its sickening, but revealing. The Nazi abuse of Jews was harsh and punishing from the very start.

While I deplore the Soviet Union and take joy at its collapse, it must be stated that the Soviets had so much internal problems from Communism (seizing Kulaks lands basically wrecked its farming, great famines) that Russia was not expansionist until World War II gave them that opportunity. Stalin did kill millions of peasants, much of his military (one reason why Finland gave Soviets surprising trouble). But he was killing his own people. Morally horrible, but not practically the direct threat that Hitler posed to Europe clearly stated and tried to implement Aryan world control from the start of his political career.

Ironically, Great Britain made no effort to seriously negotiate with the Soviet, when Hitler was taking territory. Stalin never really fully trusted Hitler, who also considered Slavs subhuman. The Soviets had a vested interest in Germany not taking the Sudentland and Czechoslovakia. The British sent unimportant persons to negotiate with the Soviet Union when it was obvious Hitler was going to war with Poland in the late summer of l939. At this critical time British p.m. Chamberlain literally sent negotiators to the Kremlin on a very slow boat. In another instance a British diplomat to the Soviet Union had not been given his credentials; so he could not have made a treaty with the Soviets had terms of agreement made.

Stalin badly miscalculated in missing THE YEAR of the German invasion. But most historians would agree that Stalin felt Hitler would in a few years attack; the German-Soviet nonagression pact was a stall for Stalin (bad pun), when Great Britain and France offered no real help. "My Struggle" Hitler stated how much he hated Communism.

This decision of Great Britain and France makes some sense, when you consider that Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. At the time, until he self destructed with the Soviet invasion, Hitler represented the greatest threat to Europe.
However, at the time the Soviets had not expanded and been such a worldwide threat as the Germans under Hitler. People turned their head. But he was grossly aniti-Semitic

Answer 2

I am fairly sure you have a good answer to your question, and are asking it for sake of stimulation but let me give it a try. To start off, you point to some underlying issues that bring many checks as to why ww2 was fought in the first place in the alliance manner that it did. WW1 is the first answer as to why the two allies declared war on Germany only and not USSR. Russia had been an ally in the first war, though it left in the 4th quarter, and the allies still did not beat Germany off French soil. It was certainly not going to push Stalin into Hitler's hand now and face certain defeat. The guarantee to Poland was a joke to begin with and its only purpose was to set a limit to how far Germany could go. Neither ally had any way of defending Poland, let alone themselves, so it was more a reason to have a cassus belli on Germany once it attacked Poland. The allies, postering aside, had no intention of fighting an aggressive war with its main enemy Germany so it was for sure not going to take both of them on. Poland was as much an excuse to fight Germany as Belgium was to the British two decades before. Poland was tactically irrelevent and therefore so was the USSR's invasion of it. The second point, the murder of innocents, as a reason to go to war is a mute point since at Yalta, the allies gave away half the continent to a man arguably more brutal than Hitler himself. GB and France didn't declare war on the USSR because they knew that they were not even ready to declare war on Germany. Churchill was always convinced that big brother America would come save the day if things were really going bad and the French did not really have any choice about Germany, it was fight them again and lose or don't fight and accept there superiority. Both there actions once they declared war showed how much they really had no will to do what they postered they would. They might have even got the job done early on but they chose to wait behind their walls again so the Germans could move around them. Truth to be told, neither had any good solutions to dealing with Germany and the declaration after the German-Soviet invasion of Poland just seemed like as good as a time as any to get beat.

Answer 3

The Nazis were persecuting and abusing Jews since 1933.
On Krystallnacht, 1938, the Hitler's blackshirts firebombed Jewish businesses, thousands of synagogues, broke into people's homes and beat them, both in Germany and Austria.
That may not qualify as mass murder, but it was certainly sending a message of what was to come.
True, nations don't go to war over persecutions, but the Allies didn't declare war on Germany over the extermination of Jews, either.
The Nazi occupation of Poland, Holland, France, Denmark , Belgium, Norway, Greece, etc. is a separate issue. If Germany had stayed within its own borders and conducted the extermination of German Jews at home, there wouldn't have been a World War.

Answer 4

Stalin did not invade Czechoslovakia and Poland also the persecution of the Jews started in 1938 in Germany many died before 1942 that is when the final solution began.

Answer 5

Hitler was a mass murderer before 1942, it just wasn't organized killing until erly 42. , We have a former German Weihmact infantry soldier here in this mid west town, who was in occupied Poland from day one, he says the regular army pushed in quick, over ran everything, and that is what he was part off, a year later when he was heading back with his unit for re organization and preparing to be sent to Smolensk area he would find out later to fight the Russians, anyways, as they traveled back over the polish country side, towns that they had by passed and traded with local citizens for supplies in there foragings, he spent time going about the towns looking for feed and hay and other horse supplies, the citizens where not rounded up because they had no military defenses or interest, the soldiers where told to tell the people of poland that they where liberators, not invaders, and that they woulod be treated with respect and the soldiers would not take things, but purchase or trade for them., Anyways they later found ou that these place and people had been terrorized, hundreds of Polish Jews had been gathered up, they found out, and mass executed, some where only suspected to be Jewish?!. He had to barter with several civilians to get fodder for his horses, he was responsible for several teams (not all of Germany was mechanized like the propaganda films like to portray), and he found that several of the places he had used on the way in, where burned down, the families killed by ss troops that apparently came in after the regular troops and had a field day on whole sale slaughter,
We also had a Former Polish soldier, who was 17 when the Germans invaded, he lived on the border, his father was a major, they where Jewish, when his father was captured, they instantly shot him in the head, and the son had to hide and eventually escaped into Latvia, and then to Belgium of all places and stayed there till the end of the war, his entire family, mother and 4 sisters and brother where all lined up in shot in the Village, the 1st week of the war, by ss troops. they confirm each other stories, and both have written books on there personal experiences, so you cannot say that hitler was not a mass murder of Jews until Jan of 42, that was when he adopted the final solution, which was the systematic organized extermination plan of the Jews, they had already been killing them as they chose before then, especially in Poland. Britain and France where both hoping for appeasement, neither one could really face Hitlers war machine, they needed time to build up, and Poland was the sacrificial lamb so to speak, and Poland was betrayed by both countries , who had promised intervention if anyone attacked Poland. to declare war on the USSR, would be to declare it on Germany and Italy a well, they where watching there own backs, and let down a friend in need for sure.

Answer 6

1.France and Britain were trying everything to avoid the 2nd world war...everybody was dead tired of fighting the next war because they were already frustrated by the Great Depression.

2.Asian, African colonies were beginning to rage a struggle for their independence

3.Germany and Russia made a peace fact. If Britain/France turned Russia into an enemy, it could cause a great threat...think about it...Germany/USSR become allies? I don't think France/Britain could handle that...After all, it was USSR that beated Germany. (US was just a supporter on the European battlefield, it was Japan that US faced off)

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in one sentence...France/Britain had no choice...USSR was too powerful for them to handle at the time

Answer 7

its big LIE!!....Stalin murdered 50.000.000,but WORLD knew it after USSR death,so interesting question,but Hitler gave lands just which was in Russia,before communist revolution,Lenin prezented to Finland,Poland and to Baltics freedom,so its like if UK would give freedom to Wales,but after France would give agreement to return it to UK,so same things,so how i remember already was go on the war,so and Brittans and France also be ally to Russia and there not ignorant people which know,that if to be in war against USSR they would live in USSR,if to be in war like ally they would bash Hitler,USSR fighted with 80% of German army,West Ally with 20%,i dont think,that country which was occupeid for week would declore the war or country which getting bombs and rockets FAO every day from other side of channel

Answer 8

Because they feared that Russia had a pact with Germany, which allowed Russia to take half of Poland, and that would have meant fighting a war on two fronts...they didn't have enough resources to do that...and could not trust the French.

Answer 9

because at that time ussr and lll reich were statisticaly allied thru ribbentrop - molotov non agression pact.