September 1939
Poland invasion month
September 1939 marks the outbreak of World War II, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1st and Britain and France declared war days later.
The date serves as historical shorthand for the war's beginning and the end of interwar peace: The world changed in September 1939.
W.H.
Auden's poem of the same title shaped how English speakers think about the moment.
- invasionForcible entry into territory
- PolandCentral European republic
- Nazi GermanyHitler's fascist dictatorship
- HitlerNazi Germany's totalitarian leader
- WehrmachtNazi Germany's armed forces
blitzkrieg · World War II · war · declaration of war · Danzig · tanks · Luftwaffe · air raid · bombs · Warsaw · Auden · mobilization · chaos · refugees · sirens · gas masks · blackout curtains · borders
September 1939peacetime
Absence of armed conflict
armistice · peace treaty · Pax Americana · disarmament · neutrality
September 1939VE Day
European theater's end
VJ Day · August 1945 · German surrender · Japanese surrender · Allied victory