Portugal during World War II
Upon the start of World War II in 1939, the Portuguese Government announced on 1 September that the 600-year-old Anglo-Portuguese Alliance remained intact, but that since the British did not seek Portuguese assistance, Portugal was free to remain neutral in the war and would do so. In an aide-mémoire of 5 September 1939, the British Government confirmed the understanding. As Hitler's occupation swept across Europe, neutral Portugal became one of the Continent's last escape routes. Portugal managed to remain neutral throughout the war despite extraordinary pressures from both sides, notably over the strategically located Azores islands and over the wolfram (tungsten) trade.
Pact Ribbentrop - Beck
The author writes that if Poland had not opposed Adolf Hitler in September 1939, World War II would have started on April 9, 1940, with a German attack on Western Europe. After capturing Paris, and defeating Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and France, on June 21, 1941, the Wehrmacht, together with the Polish Army, invade the Soviet Union. By the winter of 1941/42, the Soviet Union ceases to exist. Poland and Germany divide its territory, but soon afterwards, mutual relationships deteriorate. At the same time, Germany keeps fighting the United Kingdom and the United States. This war is costly, and by 1944, all main units of the Wehrmacht are in Western Europe, fighting the Anglo-Americans, who had landed in France in summer 1944. In those circumstances, Warsaw begins secret negotiations with London and Washington, eventually switching sides, and attacking the Third Reich in 1945. As Zychowicz writes: "At this point, Poland should have acted like Romania and Hungary in late stages of World War Two. Noticing German problems in the West, both countries initiated secret negotiations with the Allies. The British and the Americans gladly accepted the offer, understanding that it would weaken the potential of the Axis powers".