The World at War (1942) Reel 3 – Spanish Civil War, Munich Agreement & Invasion of Poland

Reel 3 of The World at War (1942) presents pivotal events that set the stage for global war. It opens with the Spanish Civil War, where German and Italian backing for General Franco’s forces previewed the coming conflict. The reel then highlights the 1938 Munich Agreement, as Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler conceded the Sudetenland to Germany in a failed attempt at peace. Hitler ridicules President Roosevelt’s peace appeal in the Reichstag, while Hermann Göring and Foreign Minister Ribbentrop prepare the Nazi-Soviet Pact. The reel culminates in Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland, featuring Luftwaffe bombing raids and overwhelming German military power, marking the beginning of World War II in Europe.

• Spanish Civil War – German Condor Legion & Italian forces aiding Franco, bombing of Guernica, Republican resistance
• Munich Conference 1938 – Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain, Daladier; “peace for our time” announcement
• Hitler occupies Prague and remainder of Czechoslovakia (March 1939)
• Hitler ridicules Roosevelt’s peace appeal in the Reichstag
• Signing of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact – Ribbentrop & Molotov
• September 1, 1939 German invasion of Poland – Luftwaffe bombing Warsaw, Panzer advances, Polish defeat, outbreak of World War II