85 years ago today, Britain and France declared war on Germany after it attacked Poland. This led to the second world war.
On September 3, 1939, following German dictator, Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Poland, Britain and France, allies of Poland, declared war on Germany.
Although the declaration of war was on Germany, the Germans were not the first to suffer casualties, but the British. The Germans, with the help of their U-30 submarine sunk the British passenger ship known as Athenia, when they assumed that the Athenia was armed and belligerent.
The ship had over 1,100 passengers, with 112 fatalities, including 28 Americans. Despite this, President Roosevelt (who was the President of the USA) remained committed to peace, stating that no one should “thoughtlessly or falsely talk of America sending its armies to European fields.” The United States maintained its neutrality.
Britain’s initial military response involved merely dropping 13 tons of anti-Nazi propaganda leaflets across Germany. Their more aggressive actions began on September 4 with attacks on German naval vessels, which led to considerable British losses. They were instructed to avoid civilian casualties, a directive the Germans did not have.
Two weeks after their declaration of war, France launched an attack on Germany’s western frontier. This offensive was hampered by a limited 90-mile approach through Luxembourg and Belgium—both neutral territories—where the Germans had placed mines, effectively impeding the French advance.
