From Munich Appeasement to the Invasion of Poland and Shifting U.S. Neutrality
About This Footage
Reel 4 of War Comes to America (1945) captures the accelerating crises of the late 1930s as America confronted the reality of global war. It opens with Japan’s brutal campaign in China in 1937, showing aerial bombardments, civilian refugees, and mass executions. Hitler’s diplomatic triumphs follow, including the 1938 Munich Pact, where Britain and France ceded the Sudetenland in a failed attempt at appeasement, celebrated by Hitler and Mussolini. Meanwhile, Nazi spies were arrested inside the United States, and a massive pro-Nazi rally filled Madison Square Garden, underscoring threats at home. The reel continues with Italy’s invasion of Albania in 1939 and President Franklin Roosevelt’s plea for peace, mocked by Hitler in the Reichstag. Germany’s invasion of Poland soon after unleashed World War II, with stark footage of Warsaw under bombardment and Polish resistance as Britain and France declared war. In response, Roosevelt called a special session of Congress to amend the Neutrality Act, lifting the arms embargo and signaling America’s first step away from isolationism.