Eh...uh...
Well, I'm not sure what happened there, but Fahn had a piece on the 16 point peace plan that Hitler brought forward to the Polish representatives on the 29th August 1939.
The list is reasonable, however one has to remember that Hitler had already broken his word once, there was no guarantee that he would not do it a second time. These were the thoughts in the mind of the British cabinet.
It was, in short, something of an ultimatum, a case of "accept this by 31st August or we'll invade you" particularly in how it demanded a Polish plenipotentiary to arrive in Berlin by noon the next day or else.
Now I can understand how there would be perhaps some irritation at delaying attempts in negotiations, but an ultimatum, particularly after the events of the Munich agreement, was not the way to go and would only serve to make war inevitable. Britain had already backed down once and had sand thrown in her eyes for it, she would not back down again.
Again, it's an example of where Hitler shot his bolt too early, some patience might well have netted the agreement, some softer words and less confrontation could well have soothed the British consternation away, but he went in bull headed and the lot came crashing down.
I mean, German war with Poland was almost inevitable from the start, we know that there were plans made for the partition of Poland in the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact of 23rd August, and the initial German invasion was planned for the 26th, these plans had been put in place as far back as May, and since Poland and France had had a treaty since 1921 that would have meant war with France anyway. Britain getting in on the deal was supposed to add extra incentive to Hitler to not go down the invasion route.
Finally, let's end with a speech that Hitler gave his generals back in May 1939:
Quote:
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With minor exceptions German national unification has been achieved. Further successes cannot be achieved without bloodshed. Poland will always be on the side of our adversaries... Danzig is not the objective. It is a matter of expanding our living space in the east, of making our food supply secure, and solving the problem of the Baltic states. To provide sufficient food you must have sparsely settled areas. There is therefore no question of sparing Poland, and the decision remains to attack Poland at the first opportunity. We cannot expect a repetition of Czechoslovakia. There will be fighting.
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