Introduction
The Second World War began twice, once in September 1939 for the countries of western Europe, and then again in February 1941 with the entrance of Japan and the United States of America. For those early months, long and bruising, Great Britain stood alone against almost every government from Norway to Spain.
ON September 3rd, 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany, two days after Berlin had disregarded an ultimatum and sent troops into Poland. The Soviet Union, in accord with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, quietly supported Germany.
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had hoped the Munich Agreement of the previous year, granting Berlin control of the German-speaking Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia (without consulting the Czechs),* would bring ‘peace in our time’; but to his First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill,* it had been all too clear for years that Germany’s military build-up had much grander aims.
Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist Party had promised that the German State would snatch the economy back from a global conspiracy of Jewish capitalists; that Germany’s humiliation since the Great War would be avenged; and that a people born to rule would bring unity and order to Europe by what Churchill called ‘an equally hateful though more efficient form of the communist despotism’.*
A name first coined in the early 20th century for a ribbon of formerly German-speaking areas collected around the border of what is now the Czech Republic. Prior to 1918 and the formation of Czechoslovakia, these areas lay within Austria-Hungary.
The First Lord of the Admiralty was the Government’s minister for the Navy; the various government offices for the armed forces were combined to form the Ministry of Defence in 1964.
From a speech in Manchester, recorded in ‘The New York Times’ for January 28th, 1940. According to H. C. O’Neill, the historian and war correspondent of the Spectator, the causes could be traced to a fatal combination of two ideas, “the theory of the master-race and the supremacy of the State. The former made a condition of subservience repugnant, and the latter prepared the way for that docile acceptance of the word of command without which it is difficult to conceive of the war being launched by Germany at all.”
Précis
The Second World War began on September 3rd, 1939, after Germany invaded Poland, breaking the terms of the Munich Agreement of 1938. British Prime Minister had tried to head off Germany expansion by ceding part of Czechoslovakia to them, but Nazi policy had long been committed to a much wider European domination, as Winston Churchill had warned. (57 / 60 words)
The Second World War began on September 3rd, 1939, after Germany invaded Poland, breaking the terms of the Munich Agreement of 1938. British Prime Minister had tried to head off Germany expansion by ceding part of Czechoslovakia to them, but Nazi policy had long been committed to a much wider European domination, as Winston Churchill had warned.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: if, must, or, otherwise, ought, unless, whereas, who.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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