Phoney War

Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939 after the German invasion of Poland. Despite the formal state of war, the western front then entered a prolonged period of limited land fighting while Britain mobilised, expanded civil defence and prepared for the conflict many expected to intensify.

The apparent quiet was misleading. War continued at sea, Poland had been defeated and political leaders argued over strategy, rearmament and whether any negotiated settlement remained possible. In Britain the period mixed blackout regulations, rationing preparations and military anxiety with a civilian life that had not yet experienced the sustained bombing of the Blitz.

The Phoney War ended when Germany attacked France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg on 10 May 1940. Mark Ellis’s The Embassy Murders, originally Prince’s Gate, is set in London during this interval and uses the uncertainty of Anglo-American diplomacy and the debate over appeasement as part of its historical background.