Quiz of the Day
The Outbreak of World War II
Tuesday, 1 September 2026
On 1 Sep 1939 Germany invaded Poland, igniting WWII in Europe — questions span the war's causes, key battles, leaders and turning points.
1. Which country did Germany invade on September 1, 1939, triggering the start of World War II in Europe?
- Czechoslovakia
- Belgium
- France
- Poland
Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, using a rapid 'Blitzkrieg' strategy of combined tank and air assaults. The Germans staged a fake Polish attack on the Gleiwitz radio station as a pretext for the invasion. Poland was overwhelmed within weeks, especially after the Soviet Union invaded from the east on September 17.
2. Which two countries declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, two days after the invasion of Poland?
- The Soviet Union and Poland
- The United States and Canada
- Italy and Spain
- Britain and France
Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, after Hitler ignored an ultimatum to withdraw from Poland. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced the declaration in a radio broadcast, saying the country was now at war. Despite the declarations, little direct fighting occurred on the Western Front for months, a period nicknamed the 'Phoney War'.
3. Who was the Chancellor and dictator of Germany who ordered the invasion of Poland?
- Joseph Goebbels
- Adolf Hitler
- Heinrich Himmler
- Hermann Göring
Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and consolidated absolute power as Führer after President Hindenburg's death in 1934. His aggressive expansionist policy sought 'Lebensraum' (living space) for Germany in the east. The invasion of Poland was the culmination of years of territorial demands and broken agreements.
4. The German military strategy of fast, coordinated attacks by tanks, infantry, and aircraft used in Poland was known as what?
- Anschluss
- Kesselschlacht
- Sitzkrieg
- Blitzkrieg
'Blitzkrieg' translates from German as 'lightning war', describing rapid attacks designed to overwhelm defenders before they could organize. It relied on concentrated armored divisions supported by dive bombers like the Junkers Ju 87 'Stuka'. The tactic proved devastatingly effective in Poland and later in the 1940 invasion of France.
5. What was the name of the 1939 pact between Germany and the Soviet Union that secretly divided Poland and Eastern Europe?
- The Munich Agreement
- The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
- The Locarno Treaty
- The Anti-Comintern Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed on August 23, 1939, just over a week before the invasion of Poland. Named after the Soviet and German foreign ministers, it contained a secret protocol dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. The non-aggression agreement collapsed when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941.
6. Which British Prime Minister had pursued a policy of 'appeasement' toward Hitler before the war began?
- Winston Churchill
- Stanley Baldwin
- Neville Chamberlain
- Clement Attlee
Neville Chamberlain famously returned from the 1938 Munich Conference declaring he had secured 'peace for our time' after conceding Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland to Germany. The appeasement policy aimed to avoid another catastrophic war like World War I. Chamberlain resigned in May 1940 and was succeeded by Winston Churchill.
7. The 1938 agreement that allowed Germany to annex the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia was signed in which city?
- Geneva
- Munich
- Berlin
- Vienna
The Munich Agreement was signed on September 30, 1938, by Germany, Britain, France, and Italy — with Czechoslovakia excluded from the talks about its own territory. It permitted Germany to annex the German-speaking Sudetenland in exchange for Hitler's promise of no further expansion. Within months Hitler broke the agreement by occupying the rest of Czechoslovakia.
8. The harsh peace treaty that ended World War I and is often cited as a cause of German resentment was the Treaty of what?
- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- Treaty of Trianon
- Treaty of Versailles
- Treaty of Sèvres
The Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919 and imposed heavy reparations, territorial losses, and military restrictions on Germany. Its 'war guilt clause' forced Germany to accept full blame for World War I, fueling widespread national resentment. Hitler exploited this anger to gain support and justify his expansionist ambitions.
9. Which German battleship opened fire on a Polish garrison at Westerplatte in the early hours of September 1, 1939, in one of the war's first shots?
- Bismarck
- Tirpitz
- Graf Spee
- Schleswig-Holstein
The old German battleship Schleswig-Holstein bombarded the Polish military transit depot at Westerplatte near Danzig at around 4:45 a.m. on September 1, 1939. The small Polish garrison held out for seven days against overwhelming odds. The defense of Westerplatte became a powerful symbol of Polish resistance.
10. On September 17, 1939, which country invaded Poland from the east, sealing its fate?
- Lithuania
- Romania
- Hungary
- The Soviet Union
The Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland on September 17, 1939, in accordance with the secret protocol of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Facing German forces from the west and Soviet forces from the east, Polish resistance collapsed. The two powers then partitioned the country between them.
11. Which free city on the Baltic coast, with a largely German population, was a major point of dispute between Germany and Poland before the war?
- Stettin
- Danzig
- Riga
- Königsberg
The Free City of Danzig (modern Gdańsk) was a semi-autonomous city-state created by the Treaty of Versailles, separating Germany from East Prussia via the 'Polish Corridor'. Hitler demanded its return to Germany, using the dispute as a pretext for aggression. Danzig was formally annexed by Germany at the start of the invasion.
12. The Soviet Union, which invaded Poland from the east on September 17, 1939, was led at the outbreak of the war by whom?
- Nikita Khrushchev
- Leon Trotsky
- Joseph Stalin
- Vladimir Lenin
Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union from the late 1920s until his death in 1953. In 1939 he chose to sign the non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany rather than ally with Britain and France. Stalin used the arrangement to seize eastern Poland and the Baltic states before Germany turned on the USSR in 1941.
13. The period of relative inactivity on the Western Front from late 1939 to early 1940 is commonly known by what nickname?
- The Quiet Campaign
- The Phoney War
- The Long Watch
- The Cold Front
After Britain and France declared war, months passed with little major fighting on the Western Front — a lull dubbed the 'Phoney War' in English and 'Sitzkrieg' (sitting war) as a pun on Blitzkrieg. Both sides mobilized and prepared but avoided large-scale offensives. The calm ended abruptly when Germany invaded Denmark and Norway in April 1940, followed by France in May.
14. Poland's cavalry has been mythologized for allegedly charging German tanks, but its army actually pinned early hopes on a defensive strategy along which river line among others?
- The Vistula
- The Elbe
- The Danube
- The Rhine
The Vistula is Poland's longest river, running through Warsaw and Kraków, and formed a key part of Polish defensive planning in 1939. Polish forces hoped to hold major river lines until Britain and France could relieve pressure in the west, but the speed of the German advance made this impossible. The popular image of lancers charging tanks is largely a myth born of a distorted account of a real cavalry engagement against infantry at Krojanty.
15. Which Nazi foreign minister co-signed the 1939 non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union and lent his name to it?
- Joachim von Ribbentrop
- Alfred Rosenberg
- Rudolf Hess
- Wilhelm Keitel
Joachim von Ribbentrop served as Nazi Germany's foreign minister from 1938 and negotiated the pact with his Soviet counterpart Vyacheslav Molotov. A former champagne salesman, he was widely disliked even within the Nazi hierarchy. After the war he was convicted at the Nuremberg trials and executed in 1946.