This significance covers ⭐ Why Does This Matter? within Outbreak of War for GCSE History. Revise Outbreak of War in Conflict and Tension 1918-1939 for GCSE History with 8 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic appears regularly enough that it should still be part of a steady revision cycle. It is section 5 of 14 in this topic. Use this significance to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
⭐ Why Does This Matter?
Short-term: Poland was conquered in five weeks (September–October 1939). Despite their guarantee, Britain and France launched no serious offensive against Germany — the "Phoney War" followed. Poland was divided between Germany and the USSR. Over 5.5 million Polish citizens would die in the war that followed.
Long-term: The outbreak of war in September 1939 ultimately produced over 60 million deaths worldwide, the Holocaust, the destruction of European Jewish life, the collapse of the British and French empires, and the emergence of the USA and USSR as rival superpowers. The post-war world — the United Nations, NATO, the Cold War — was shaped entirely by what began on 1 September 1939.
Turning point? September 3, 1939 was the decisive turning point — the moment when appeasement definitively ended and a general European war became unavoidable. It was also the point at which Hitler's strategy broke down: he had calculated that he could achieve his aims through intimidation rather than world war. His miscalculation of British resolve transformed a Polish border conflict into a global catastrophe.
Practice questions for Outbreak of War
On what date was the Nazi-Soviet Pact signed?
What did the secret protocol of the Nazi-Soviet Pact arrange?