Public Opinion

Goering told his British captors in 1945 something like: "We never wanted war with you. It's true we wanted war. But with the Bolsheviks. You'll find they're now your enemy. And they are stronger now than before. You think you've gained a great victory. But you will lose your great empire." The historian A.J.P. Taylor argued back in 1961 that Britain made a big mistake in declaring war on Germany on 3 September 1939. Hitler had no territorial designs on Western Europe; and he admired Britain. Taylor tells us Britain's Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was a man of peace but he was under pressure from members of his own Cabinet and from public opinion. If there was such concern about Germany invading Poland it begs the question: Why not also declare war on the Soviet Union which a couple of weeks later also invaded Poland?