In nineteen hundred and thirty one
Manchuria fell to the Japanese gun.
In nineteen hundred and thirty three
Hitler took over Germany.

In nineteen hundred and thirty four
Hindenburg died, and was no more,
So Chancellor Hitler took over his job
And called himself Fuhrer; what a snob!

In nineteen hundred and thirty five
The Nuremberg Laws, they did arrive.
Anti-semitic, they were blights
Which stripped the Jews of all their rights.

‘Twas  in thirtyfive that Mussolini
Took Abyssinia and got off scot-free
So Hitler, not dumb, decided that he
Could defy the League with impunity.

In nineteen hundred and thirty six
The Rhineland was garrisoned (using tricks),
In breach of Versailles and Locarno too,
A hint of what Hitler was going to do.

The very next year, having watched this with glee,
Japan attacked China confidently,
Knowing that no-one would come to its aid.
The price of appeasement by China was paid.

In nineteen hundred and thirty eight
Hitler’s aggressions came in a spate.
First, Anschluss with Austria, over by spring,
Encircling the Czechs in a Nazi ring,

Then wanting Sudetenland Germans to seize
Knowing the Allies were on their knees.
Hitler was willing the Treaty to flout,
Betting the Allies would sell the Czechs out.

Not once, not twice but three times in all
Chamberlain flew to Hitler’s hall,
Till on that black September day
The Sudetenland was given away

By the Munich Pact, a dirty deed,
Appeasement’s tribute to Hitler’s greed.
Chamberlain thought he had Hitler’s word,
But Churchill warned he’d not be deterred.

In nineteen hundred and thirty nine
Once again Hitler stepped over the line
Czechoslovakia, guaranteed free
Was taken by Hitler unscrupulously.

At this point the Allies stiffened their backs
And guaranteed Poland from Hitler’s attacks.
But when Russia called suggesting a pact
Both Britain and France were reluctant to act.

So Ribbentrop flew to the Soviet lair
And signed an alliance while he was there.
Which guaranteed each from the other’s attack
While carving up Poland behind the West’s back.

With Russia on side, Hitler felt free
To gobble up Poland, despite guarantee.
So Britain and France at last saw some sense
And rallied around to Poland’s defence.

Hitler ordered his panzers on Poland to roll
Assuming no Briton would die for a Pole,
But this time the British saw he’d gone too far,
And thus Hitler started the Second World War.

THE (R)ODE TO WAR  by James Duthie

In nineteen hundred and thirty one
Manchuria fell to the Japanese gun.
In nineteen hundred and thirty three
Hitler took over Germany.

In nineteen hundred and thirty four
Hindenburg died, and was no more,
So Chancellor Hitler took over his job
And called himself Fuhrer; what a snob!

In nineteen hundred and thirty five
The Nuremberg Laws, they did arrive.
Anti-semitic, they were blights
Which stripped the Jews of all their rights.

‘Twas  in thirtyfive that Mussolini
Took Abyssinia and got off scot-free
So Hitler, not dumb, decided that he
Could defy the League with impunity.

In nineteen hundred and thirty six
The Rhineland was garrisoned (using tricks),
In breach of Versailles and Locarno too,
A hint of what Hitler was going to do.

The very next year, having watched this with glee,
Japan attacked China confidently,
Knowing that no-one would come to its aid.
The price of appeasement by China was paid.

In nineteen hundred and thirty eight
Hitler’s aggressions came in a spate.
First, Anschluss with Austria, over by spring,
Encircling the Czechs in a Nazi ring,

Then wanting Sudetenland Germans to seize
Knowing the Allies were on their knees.
Hitler was willing the Treaty to flout,
Betting the Allies would sell the Czechs out.

Not once, not twice but three times in all
Chamberlain flew to Hitler’s hall,
Till on that black September day
The Sudetenland was given away

By the Munich Pact, a dirty deed,
Appeasement’s tribute to Hitler’s greed.
Chamberlain thought he had Hitler’s word,
But Churchill warned he’d not be deterred.

In nineteen hundred and thirty nine
Once again Hitler stepped over the line
Czechoslovakia, guaranteed free
Was taken by Hitler unscrupulously.

At this point the Allies stiffened their backs
And guaranteed Poland from Hitler’s attacks.
But when Russia called suggesting a pact
Both Britain and France were reluctant to act.

So Ribbentrop flew to the Soviet lair
And signed an alliance while he was there.
Which guaranteed each from the other’s attack
While carving up Poland behind the West’s back.

With Russia on side, Hitler felt free
To gobble up Poland, despite guarantee.
So Britain and France at last saw some sense
And rallied around to Poland’s defence.

Hitler ordered his panzers on Poland to roll
Assuming no Briton would die for a Pole,
But this time the British saw he’d gone too far,
And thus Hitler started the Second World War.