September 1, 1939

[Webb]

The Invasion of Poland

One year earlier: "My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time." British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain

Nine months earlier:

Time's "Man of the Year" for 1938

The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War or the Fourth Partition of Poland (Polish: Kampania wrześniowa or Wojna obronna 1939 roku or IV rozbiór Polski) in Poland and the Poland Campaign (German: Polenfeldzug) or Fall Weiss (Case White) in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the beginning of World War II in Europe. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, while the Soviet invasion commenced on 17 September 1939 following the Molotov-Tōgō agreement which terminated the Nomonhan incident on 16 September 1939. The campaign ended on 6 October 1939 with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland ...

None of the parties to the conflict—Germany, the Western Allies or the Soviet Union—expected that the German invasion of Poland would lead to a war that would surpass World War I in its scale and cost. It would be months before Hitler would see the futility of his peace negotiation attempts with the United Kingdom and France, but the culmination of combined European and Pacific conflicts would result in what was truly a "world war". Thus, what was not seen by most politicians and generals in 1939 is clear from the historical perspective: The Polish September Campaign marked the beginning of the Second World War in Europe, which combined with the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and the Pacific War in 1941, formed the cataclysm known as World War II ...

[OldAirmail]

"Time's "Man of the Year" for 1938"


Looking back in time, so much could be said. But life in the Germanys after the armistice of 1918 was brutal in the extreme.

From the eyes of those trying to live through the times, this man Hitler, was a miracle worker. Germany had gone into a depression that made the Great Depression look like "a bit of hardship, but nothing too bad really".

But this man Hitler was rebuilding Germany! People were working again!



I remember seeing a picture in my history textbook in 1959. It was a picture of a man back in 1922 pushing a wheelbarrow piled high with something.

The caption under the picture said "A man with a wheelbarrow full of money on his way to buy bread."




That image has stuck with me all my life. One day, a long time ago, I was in a coin shop. In a plastic bin there was paper money from around the world. Much of it was from the German depression, so I started collecting it.

The dates range from 1900 up to the beginning of Hitler's rise to power.



Those printed in 1900 are beautifully engraved. Some are textured, some have watermarks, and a few were printed in what would look like pastel colors.

As the first world war progressed the money became simpler. The paper more plain.



And then all hell broke loose and the German government stated doing what we (in the US) have been doing these past few years, but on a gigantic scale - printing money in the hopes of stimulating the economy.

The idea is simple. The government prints more and more money. They fund jobs so people have money to spend. The economy recovers.

But not always.



In 1900 a German worker might have 1 or 2 marks in his pocket to last the day. A person better off may have a few 5 or 10 mark notes in his pocket.

This is one of 2 consecutive numbered 1,000 Mark notes. it's about 7 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches (19 by 11.5 cm). The paper is textured with watermarks and colored threads on the left side. This was "real" money, not just pocket money.







And here's a 100,000,000 Mark note from 1923.


They didn't bother to print anything on the back. The ink was worth more than the money.



And the rest was history.

[Webb]

Yeah, I only went back one year.

I should have gone back 20 years.

What was the cause of World War II? World War I (and the Versailles Treaty).

[OldAirmail]

Yeah, I only went back one year.

I should have gone back 20 years.

What was the cause of World War II? World War I (and the Versailles Treaty).

You, obviously, are not a product of modern education.

I doubt that one in a thousand could tell us what was wrong with the Versailles Treaty.

[OldAirmail]

You just reminded me of something.

Back in the late 50s, war with the Soviet Union was a real possibility.

A friend and I were discussing military strategy, as any 9 year old boys would do. The debate was on which cities the Russians would nuke and where they would land.


My military theory said the best thing to do was to hit US military points, and don't hit the cities! The people running out of the major cities would cause so many problems the US government couldn't cope.

This went on for a day or two until I had an epiphany. War wouldn't be necessary if you infiltrated the media and education.


And the rest was hstory.

[logjam]

As an ex-warrior( not particularly proud of it) I find it extremely interesting that 9 year olds would have discussed the cold war back then in such strategic terms. All good British schoolboys accepted the deterrent opinion and correspondingly relaxed into a lethargy of cricket and beer. I can definitely remember argueing to the point of fisticuffs on the merit of Draught Bass over Watney’s Red Barrel. (That being the more important subject than the strength of the Russian deterrent over that of the west’
It wasn’t until much later that examining the role of the press in mongering an aggressive attitude to perceived enemies became foremost in forming a real opinion. Now of course it’s too late! Or is it? Can we wizened and laid back arm chair politicians have any effect on world peace? To stop trying would be a real defeat.

[OldAirmail]

"I find it extremely interesting that 9 year olds would have discussed the cold war back then in such strategic terms."


Time, place, and perhaps land of origin.

Back in the late 50s, we in the US, were practicing what was called "duck and cover".





Most of our fathers fought in WWII and/or the Korean War. Little boys don't normally know what war is all about, but we liked to play "war".

We didn't have video games to play with. Among other things, we played "war" with these.





If you don't think that living just outside of New York City back then and practicing "duck and cover" in your classroom doesn't make little kids think in "strategic terms", then I would have to say that we come from different worlds and different times.

[logjam]

Different worlds, yes, different times? I think not. It’s just that in my world, we related “Duck and cover” to an Ostrich. Our favorite song of the time was “It’s the same the whole world over, It’s the poor that gets the blame. It’s the rich that has the money, ain’t it all a bl***y shame.”

[OldAirmail]

".... different times? I think not."

OH yeah. Times were quite different.

Between the Berlin blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) and the Cuban missile crisis in October of 1962, things were a bit tense.



Living 40 miles from New York City may have been outside the nuclear blast zone, but that just meant that you may die slower.

As a nine year old that close to a major nuclear target, I grew up with a sharper opinion of the times. There was no sugar coating the situation.



That you, and others, grew up somewhat unaware of the depth, and details, of the so called "cold war" is great. But I think that that was due to MAD.

I didn't know of MAD at the time, but I have little doubt that it kept the superpowers from stepping over the line into chaos.



By the way, Webb, sorry for how your post is being taken over. This'll be my last comment here.

[Steve M]

I don't think web minds if conversation was the result of a thread. At least I assume that.
Back in the early 60's my best friend and I used to meet at the beach because we had dry sand to draw our plans out on how to build booby traps and explosive devices. It really had nothing to do with the cold war but we enjoyed our planning to take over the world. The sand gave us a cheap way to draw simple diagrams and erase them if someone was walking too closely. Now we meant no harm, we were kids pretending to be spies. Imagine if we had internet back then and did this online..

[H]

If you don't think that living just outside of New York City back then and practicing "duck and cover" in your classroom doesn't make little kids think in "strategic terms", then I would have to say that we come from different worlds and different times.

Even then, NYC was not considered so far away from northern New Englanders; the extended exclamation was "duck and cover and kiss your butt goodbye" (most older school kids were already quite aware that hiding under the desk wouldn't provide any protection from a nuclear strike).

Back in the early 60's my best friend and I used to meet at the beach because we had dry sand to draw our plans out on how to build booby traps and explosive devices. It really had nothing to do with the cold war but we enjoyed our planning to take over the world.

Were your codenames "Pinky" and "The Brain"?