Roger Moorhouse's "Poland 1939"

Roger Moorhouse studied history at the University of London and is a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Warsaw. He is the author of several books on World War II history, including Berlin at War (shortlisted for the Hessell-Tiltman Prize) and The Devils’ Alliance. He lives in the United Kingdom.

He applied the “Page 99 Test” to his latest book, Poland 1939: The Outbreak of World War II, and reported the following:

I love the premise of the Page 99 Test, and the idea that a single page – any page – might serve as a microcosm of the whole book. In this case, I think it works quite well.

My new book Poland 1939 is about the brutal German and Soviet invasions of Poland in September 1939, which ignited World War Two in Europe and showed so many of the hideous features that would become so commonplace in the war – the targeting of civilians, indiscriminate bombing and the application of murderous ideologies.

Page 99 of the book gives a rather different aspect, but one which is nonetheless significant. As it happens, half of the page contains a picture, showing jubilant Poles celebrating in the streets of Warsaw after the British and French had declared war on Germany, in their defence, on September 3 1939.

The accompanying text tells the story of the British Ambassador to Poland, Sir Howard Kennard, meeting the Polish foreign minister, Józef Beck, at the British Embassy. It explains that the jubilant crowd was so thick that Beck had to fight his way through, and that the two men then addressed the throng from the balcony, with Kennard proudly proclaiming that Britain would “fight side by side” with Poland against aggression and injustice.

Those that understand something of the story already, will know that those earnest promises of assistance on the part of London and Paris amounted to very little indeed. Despite the warm words of encouragement and the exhortations to resist, Poland was pretty much left to its fate by its western Allies, and was defeated, partitioned and destroyed by its totalitarian neighbours after 5 weeks of warfare.

This, then, is the story of Page 99. The test doesn’t work perfectly, as the page isn’t really indicative of the main body of the book, but it does nonetheless explain an aspect that – while slightly tangential – is an important part of the wider story; the story of the British and French abandonment, and betrayal, of their Polish ally.

©Roger Moorhouse 2020

Visit Roger Moorhouse's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Devils' Alliance.

--Marshal Zeringue