trol of the rest of Czechoslovakia in March of 1939. The world was shocked at his inability to keep a promise, and before they could react, Hitler was demanding Danzig and the Polish Corridor. These were both taken from Germany during the Versailles Treaty. Because of this, Neville Chamberlain (the Prime Minister of Great Britain) and France both agreed to help Poland if Hitler invaded. Hitler was not shocked by this, but he also knew that they could not help Poland to any great extent because he had territorially cut off both countries from Poland. Hitler then realized that Russia might pose a problem to an invasion because of its long border with Poland. To resolve this, Hitler secretly signed a treaty with Stalin, planning to divide up Poland, the Soviet Union with one-third, Germany with two. So on September 1, 1939, Germany crossed over the Polish border. Two days later, the world was at war. Using his unique tactic of the blitzkrieg, or lightning war, Hitler took control of Poland in almost four weeks. There were five effective steps of the blitzkrieg: 1: Hitler sent spies and saboteurs into the area to map out and mark major intersections and storehouses. 2: Airplanes were sent into the area and bombed bridges and key points to create chaos. 3: Tanks going 40 miles per hour with cannons roll into back yards and across cities. 4: Then come the troops in fast moving trucks with machine guns to wipe out any protesters or soldiers getting in the way. 5: Then finally came the occupation with either special officers or just regular German police to capture and kill, if necessary, anyone who objected(Toland 823). This method was very effective because of its speed and efficiency. He took the enemy by surprise, not giving them time to react to the situation. By catching them off their guard, Hitler easily crushed Poland and occupied the country without a problem. Hitler took a slight seven month break from his invasions in order to m...
