Why didn’t the Allies Attack Germany in 1939? (Phoney War Documentary)

Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/realtimehistory On September 1, 1939, Germany invades Poland, setting off the Second World War. Two days later, Britain and France declare war on Germany. As the German army races towards Warsaw, many German generals are worried the French might simply walk into western Germany, and there’s not much the Wehrmacht can do about if they do. But instead of a powerful Allied counteroffensive, the French and British mostly sit back and wait during the so-called Phoney War – so why didn’t the Allies attack Germany in 1939? » SUPPORT US https://patreon.com/realtimehistory https://nebula.tv/realtimehistory » THANK YOU TO OUR CO-PRODUCERS Rose Flaglor, Reed Spilmann, Jim Frame, Erik Ritter, Cardboard, Ken Brownfield, David Garfinkle, Raymond Martin, Konstantin Bredyuk, Lisa Anderson, Brad Durbin, Jeremy K Jones, Murray Godfrey, John Ozment, Stephen Parker, Mavrides, Kristina Colburn, Stefan Jackowski, Cardboard, William Kincade, William Wallace, Daniel L Garza, Chris Daley, Malcolm Swan, Christoph Wolf, Simen Røste, Jim F Barlow, Taylor Allen, Adam Smith, James Giliberto, Albert B. Knapp MD, Tobias Wildenblanck, Richard L Benkin, Marco Kuhnert, Matt Barnes, Ramon Rijkhoek, Jan, Scott Deederly, gsporie, Kekoa, Bruce G. Hearns, Hans Broberg, Fogeltje » SOURCES Alexander, Martin. “French grand strategy and defence preparations.” In Ferris, John Robert and Evan Mawdsley, eds. The Cambridge History of the Second World War Vol I. Cambridge University Press, 2015. Clews, Graham T. Churchill’s Phoney War : A Study in Folly and Frustration. Naval Institute Press, 2019. Frieser, Karl-Heinz. “The War in the West, 1939–1940: An unplanned Blitzkrieg.” In Ferris, John Robert and Evan Mawdsley, eds. The Cambridge History of the Second World War Vol I. Cambridge University Press, 2015. Havers, R. P. W. The Second World War. (2), Europe, 1939-1943. Osprey Pub. Ltd., 2002. Heimsoeth, Hans-Jürgen. Der Zusammenbruch der Dritten Französischen Republik: Frankreich während der ‚drôle de guerre‘ 1939/1940. Bouvier, 1990. Jackson, Julian. The Fall of France : The Nazi Invasion of 1940. Oxford University Press, 2004. Jordan, Nicole. The Popular Front and Central Europe : The Dilemmas of French Impotence, 1918 - 1940. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1992. Keegan, John. The Second World War. Viking, 1990. Kiesling, Eugenia C. “‘If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It’: French Military Doctrine Between the World Wars.” War in History 3/2, 1996, 208–223. Schaufelberger, Walter. “Mobilmachung 1939 aus militärhistorischer Sicht“. Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift 155/ 7–8, 1989, 439-449. Stone, Norman. World War Two: A Short History. Basic Books, 2012. Williams, Maude, and Bernard Wilkin. French Soldiers’ Morale in the Phoney War, 1939-1940. Routledge, 2018. »CREDITS Presented by: Jesse Alexander Written by: Jesse Alexander Director: Toni Steller Editing: Philipp Appelt Motion Design: Philipp Appelt Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: http://above-zero.com Research by: Jesse Alexander, Leander Lerch Fact checking: Florian Wittig Executive Producer: Florian Wittig Channel Design: Simon Buckmaster Contains licensed material by getty images, picture alliance and Reuters Maps: MapTiler/OpenStreetMap Contributors & GEOlayers3 Music Library: Epidemic Sound All photos and film in our documentaries are authentic historical footage. We do not use generative AI to create new assets. However, we may use AI tools to upscale or clean up certain assets without distorting or compromising the original image. All rights reserved - Real Time History GmbH 2025