32. WWII Could Have Started In 1938 Instead of 1939
In 1938, Hitler was dead set on invading Czechoslovakia. Accordingly, the German military draw up an invasion plan, codenamed Fall Gruen, or Case Green. If the plan had been executed, WWII would probably have started a year earlier than it actually did, and Germany would likely not have fared as well as she did in 1939 and 1940.
The plan was an all-or-nothing gamble that would have sent 37 German divisions to attack the heavily fortified Czechs while leaving only 11 divisions to protect Germany from potential French and/or Polish attacks. At the time, Poland had a million-man army, while the French had nearly a million men on the Maginot Line alone, aside from their field army. Britain could quickly throw in another 200,000, with hundreds of thousands more to follow within a few months.
