This cartoon by the British cartoonist David Low was published in the Evening Standard newspaper on 21 October 1939. Having destroyed Poland, Hitler and Stalin stroll down their now-shared frontier.
The 48 hours after the march into the Rhineland were the most nerve-racking of my life. If the French had opposed us then we would have had to withdraw. Our forces were not strong enough to even put up with moderate resistance."
The 48 hours after the march into the Rhineland were the most nerve-racking of my life. If the French had opposed us then we would have had to withdraw. Our forces were not strong enough to even put up with moderate resistance."
The British were busy all through early 1939 trying to negotiate an agreement with the Soviet Union. Even up to the stunning surprise of the Von Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, a success in the British negotiations was awaited. The Poles were against it; they wanted no truck with Moscow. But I thought the British-Soviet negotiations would succeed in spite of the Poles, and said so. Now that this is all in the past, one sees that Stalin signed the pact with Hitler for two reasons, one being to partition a hostile Poland and annex a part of it, the other being to buy time to prepare for an attack Hitler might launch against the Soviet Union."
In June 1935, Britain made a naval agreement with Hitler, to let Germany have a navy one-third of the size of Britain's. It was the sign that Britain had given up on the League as a way to keep the peace, and was trying a new policy.
Written by a modern historian (2004).