The day itself: history has made its first move, and the next one is yours.
Briefing
1 September 1939. Germany has invaded Poland. A week ago Berlin and Moscow signed a non-aggression pact with a secret protocol dividing Eastern Europe. Britain and France have guaranteed Poland but are not ready for war. Japan is in its third year of war in China and has just lost the battles at Khalkhin Gol. The United States stays neutral. The world can still be turned – either way.
Real history stays a strong tendency: what happened later is planned for its date – until your actions change the world.
You govern: the orders are the state's.
Click a country on the map or pick one from the list.
The world on 1 September 1939
At dawn on 1 September 1939 Germany invades Poland. The old battleship Schleswig-Holstein opens fire on the Polish depot at Westerplatte in Danzig, the Luftwaffe bombs airfields and towns, and German armies cross the border from the west, from East Prussia and from Slovakia. Hitler claims that Poland struck first, pointing to staged incidents such as the raid on the Gleiwitz radio station.
A week earlier, on 23 August, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a pact of non-aggression; its secret protocol divides Eastern Europe between them, and the Red Army waits on Poland's eastern border. Britain and France have guaranteed Poland's independence and demand that Germany withdraw. If it does not, they are bound to declare war.
The rest of the world is not yet at war, but far from at peace. Japan has been fighting in China since 1937 and is still battling the Soviet army at Khalkhin Gol in Mongolia. Italy took Albania in April and stays out for now. The United States is neutral by law, and Roosevelt is held back by an isolationist Congress. Whether the war stays in Poland or spreads across Europe will be settled within days.