The European war and U.S. neutrality

The several months between September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, and the spring of 1940, when the target of the attack shifted to Western Europe, have been referred to as the period of a “phony war.” War had been declared by Britain and France immediately after the German invasion of Poland, but there was actually little fighting between the two sides. After Warsaw fell on September 27, there was little further military action, and there were even some attempts at reestablishing a semblance of status quo in Europe without more bloodshed. Although German and French troops confronted one another along their frontier, they did not exchange fire. There was an atmosphere of unreality, and many doubted if this was actually the beginning of another world war.

And yet there was nothing “phony” about the developments in Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union, taking advantage of the just-signed nonaggression pact with Germany, sent its troops to Poland from the east, in effect partitioning Poland into two. Soviet forces then turned north, invading Finland in mid-October. The severe fighting continued until March 1940, when the parties signed a peace accord, which included some territorial cessions to the Soviet Union. In Asia, the Sino-Japanese War went on. Although the intensity of ground fighting had abated, Japanese air attacks on Chinese railroads, military bases, and the wartime capital of Chung-king were stepped up. In the meantime, just before the German spring offensive began in the West, a group of Chinese politicians led by Wang Ching-wei set up a pro-Japanese government in Nan-king.