On September 1, 1939 German forces bombarded Poland on land and air as Hitler tried to regain lost territory and take over the rule of Poland. Hitler, seeking to avoid a long war, began a series of blitzes or lightning strikes against it's opponents, known as "Blitzkrieg". This tactic required the concentration of tanks, planes, and artillery along a narrow front, driving a breach in the enemy defenses. Once inside, Hitler had gave his commanders explicit permission to kill "without pity or mercy, all men, women, and children of Polish descent or language." Once inside, racist Nazi ideology targeted the Jews for extermination and sent them to extermination camps. Catholic Poles were categorized as an inferior race, and were also targeted for elimination. Church leaders were targeted, and at least 1811 Polish clergy died in Nazi Concentration plans. Shown in this picture is the public execution of Polish priests and civilians in Bydgoszcz's Old Market Square on 9 September 1939.
Just eight months prior to the invasion of Poland, Franklin Delano Roosevelt warned America that their freedoms and way of life was being targeted. Hitler was not just waging war against his neighbors, but against then tenets of modern civilization, religion, democracy and international good faith.
"In a modern civilization, all three—religion, democracy and international good faith- complement and support each other.
Where freedom of religion has been attacked, the attack has come from sources opposed to democracy. Where democracy has been overthrown, the spirit of free worship has disappeared. And where religion and democracy have vanished, good faith and reason in international affairs have given way to strident ambition and brute force.
An ordering of society which relegates religion, democracy and good faith among nations to the background can find no place within it for the ideals of the Prince of Peace. The United States rejects such an ordering, and retains its ancient faith.
There comes a time in the affairs of men when they must prepare to defend, not their homes alone, but the tenets of faith and humanity on which their churches, their governments and their very civilization are founded. The defense of religion, of democracy and of good faith among nations is all the same fight. To save one we must now make up our minds to save all."
America could no longer remain neutral. From 1936 to 1939, the Neutrality acts restricted the sale of weapons and ammunition to nations engaged in war. This restricted The U.S. from not only selling weapons to Germany, but also to it's Democratic ally of Great Britain. By 1939, Franklin Roosevelt began to consider the impact of the American Neutrality act. While the U.S. had tried to remain neutral, Germany had been building up a powerful, army, navy and air force. FDR stated that American neutrality laws were giving "aid to an aggressor", while "denying it to the victim". In his 1939, address to congress Roosevelt urged congress to repeal the neutrality laws.
"We have learned that God-fearing democracies of the world which observe the sanctity of treaties and good faith in their dealings with other nations cannot safely be indifferent to international lawlessness anywhere. They cannot forever let pass, without effective protest, acts of aggression against sister nations-acts which automatically undermine all of us.
Obviously they must proceed along practical, peaceful lines. But the mere fact that we rightly decline to intervene with arms to prevent acts of aggression does not mean that we must act as if there were no aggression at all. Words may be futile, but war is not the only means of commanding a decent respect for the opinions of mankind. There are many methods short of war, but stronger and more effective than mere words, of bringing home to aggressor governments the aggregate sentiments of our own people.
At the very least, we can and should avoid any action, or any lack of action, which will encourage, assist or build up an aggressor. We have learned that when we deliberately try to legislate neutrality, our neutrality laws may operate unevenly and unfairly—may actually give aid to an aggressor and deny it to the victim. The instinct of self-preservation should warn us that we ought not to let that happen any more."
While there remained many isolationists, in American and in congress, Roosevelt was able to prevail and on November 4th, the Neutrality Act of 1939 was passed. This act allowed arms trading with belligerent nations of Great Britan and France on a 'cash-and-carry' basis. It in effect, ended the arms embargo with those countries.
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