WWII Buffs: Can You Clarify for Me?

[Jinx]

@TokyoBayer

I’ve addressed this earlier, but perhaps my response was a little too flippant.

Hindsight is 20/20. Full stop. They didn’t know what was going to happen. …Almost everyone misjudged him and thought that he would be satisfied by taking a little more space in Central Europe. People didn’t assume he would take over most of Western Europe.

Yes, I should not forget how no one blinked when Hitler made modest advances to restore Germany to its original borders. Little by little, he went unopposed taking all he could grab. And, as previously mentioned above, no country was too eager to launch into more conflict and war with WWI still fresh in their minds.

[TokyoBayer]

@Jinx

Yes, I should not forget how no one blinked when Hitler made modest advances to restore Germany to its original borders. Little by little, he went unopposed taking all he could grab. And, as previously mentioned above, no country was too eager to launch into more conflict and war with WWI still fresh in their minds.

You can’t discount the uncertainty of the moment even without other factors. Look at Putin and the moves Russia is making now. If Russia launches a war in another few years future people will be screaming how obvious it was that he should have been stopped earlier. Yet, we don’t know. Is he happy now? Will he try to take the Baltic countries? No one knows. Full stop.

The OP asked for short answers when there aren’t any. It was a complex situation and many,many factors came into play.

[Dissonance]

@Stinky_Pete

Rumania and Bulgaria: Caught between super power Germany and super power Russia. No option to stay out of war. Had to choose one side or other or be invaded by Russia or invaded by Germany. Since historically Russia had been bullying them and stealing their land they decided to side with Germany.

@Stinky_Pete

“Both Bulgaria and Romania own their existence as independence nations to the Russian wars with the Ottoman Empire.”

In 1940 the Soviet Union occupied Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina (parts of Romania). Not the kind of thing that can easily overlooked nor forgiven.

I did roll Bulgaria and Romania together in this but I was trying to go for the short answer and made it too short.

You made it far too short by rolling Bulgaria and Rumania together as if they were one nation; so much as to be incorrect. Bulgaria has strong historical ties to Russia, it owes its existence as a separate nation rather than being part of the Ottoman Empire to Russia as a result of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. Bulgaria never fought the Soviet Union and was only technically at war with the USSR for 3 days. Bulgarian territory was used by the Germans to invade Yugoslavia and Greece in 1941 and Bulgaria declared war on both, but Bulgarian troops did not participate in the invasion of either. After they fell, Bulgarian troops participated in the occupation of both nations. Bulgaria did not take part in the German invasion of or war with the USSR, Bulgaria neither declared war on the USSR nor sent troops to the Eastern Front. On December 13, 1941 Bulgaria was forced by Germany into making a token declaration of war against both the UK and the United States.

It was only the rapid approach of the Red Army driving through Rumania that brought Bulgaria into the war on the Eastern Front. It initially tried to remain neutral, but the USSR demanded they switch sides and declared war on Bulgaria but met no resistance from the Bulgarian Army which had been ordered by the Bulgarian government to offer none.

Bulgaria had maintained diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union while being a member of the Axis Powers. In the summer of 1944, after crushing the Nazi defences around Iași and Chișinău, the Soviet Army was approaching the Balkans and Bulgaria. On 23 August 1944, Romania left the Axis Powers and declared war on Germany, and allowed Soviet forces to cross its territory to reach Bulgaria. On 26 August, the Bulgarian government announced that it was neutral in the German-Soviet war and ordered German troops to leave the country. On the same date the Fatherland Front made the decision to incite an armed rebellion against the government. On 2 September Bozhilov’s government fell and was replaced by a government led by Konstantin Muraviev made up of the opposition parties which were not members of the Fatherland Front. Support for the government was withheld by the Fatherland Front, accusing it of being composed of pro-Nazi circles attempting to hold on to power. On 5 September, the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria and three days later the Soviets crossed the border and occupied the north-eastern part of Bulgaria along with the key port cities of Varna and Burgas by the next day. The Bulgarian Army did not offer resistance by an order of the government. On 8 September, the Bulgarians changed sides and joined the Soviet Union in its war against Nazi Germany.