ABSTRACT
The Nazi invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 ushered in a two-year period of calamitous defeat for world democracies. Indeed, if it were not for the somewhat irrational, although heroic, resolve of Winston Churchill, and the clearly irrational mistakes of another man – Adolf Hitler – the Second World War would have ended in a spectacular and early Nazi victory. Despite all the mistakes and complacency of the democratic powers during the 1930s, Hitler did present two of them – Britain and France – with a small “window of opportunity” in September 1939. The Nazis regrouped and prepared. On 9 April 1940, seven months after the beginning of the war, Hitler launched his attack on Denmark and Norway. Denmark had a land border with Germany, was a small country without a sizable military establishment, and its occupation was not a great challenge, but the German forces needed to get across open seas in order to strike at Norway.
