Which country started the world war 2 in 1939?

Answer 1

The start of World War II is generally held to be September 1, 1939, with the German invasion of Poland and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by Britain and France on September 3.

On August 31, 1939, Germany instigated Operation Himmler, a series of staged incidents, including the famous Gleiwitz Incident, to create a pretence to invade Poland. Six weeks earlier, on 24 August 1939, Russia and Germany had signed the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the USSR , known informally as the Molotov-Ribbentropp Pact, which also included a secret protocol dividing northern and eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.

The opening shots of the war were fired by the German battleship Schleswig Holstein at the Polish Garrison stationed at the Westerplatte. The ship had sailed into the Polish port of Gdansk a few days earlier on the pretext of a courtesy visit. This was the start signal for German forces to invade Poland from the north, south, and west, causing the Polish forces to withdraw to the southeast of the country where they prepared for a long defence of the Romanian Bridgehead and awaited the expected French and British support and relief. Before that help could arrive, the Soviet Red Army invaded the Kresy (Polish territories on its eastern frontier), on 17 September, 1939, in accordance with the secret protocol.

The Soviet government announced it was acting to protect the Ukrainians and Belarusians living in the eastern part of Poland. Now facing a war on two fronts, the Polish government concluded that the defence of the Romanian Bridgehead was no longer feasible and ordered an emergency evacuation of all troops to neutral Romania.