In the very last days of August 1939, a frenzy of démarches tries to avert the irreparable. In Berlin, the British ambassador multiplies his meetings; a Swedish businessman, , shuttles unofficially between Göring and London to carry messages and proposals.
Hitler plays on this agitation. He advances demands over Danzig and the Corridor, then requires that a Polish plenipotentiary, vested with full powers, present himself in Berlin within a single day — a condition all but impossible to meet in the time allotted. London wonders about Berlin's real intentions: a genuine opening to negotiation, or a staging meant to pin the breakdown on the adversary? The memory of Munich, where the pressure of the timetable had wrung out concessions, haunts every exchange.
The British government must decide on its conduct. Push Poland to send a negotiator under the ultimatum, in the hope of gaining time, at the risk of a new Munich at Warsaw's expense? Refuse this summons and stand firmly by the alliance, even at the cost of closing the last diplomatic door? Or attempt a middle formula through Dahlerus? Peace, or war, is decided in a matter of hours.
Should London push Poland to fall into the trap of the ultimatum, or refuse and stand by the alliance?
London chooses, in essence, C: schooled by Munich, the British government refuses to push Poland to present itself in Berlin under the constraint of an ultimatum of a few hours. In London's eyes, the German objective was less to negotiate than to manufacture an appearance of goodwill and to shift onto Poland the responsibility for the breakdown — a trap recalling the one set for others before the Anschluss and Munich. The démarches of Henderson and Dahlerus continue, but founder on unacceptable German demands and an unworkable timetable. No mediation succeeds. On 1 September, Germany attacks Poland; on the 3rd, the United Kingdom and France declare war. The last-chance diplomacy will above all have served Hitler in his attempt — unsuccessful — to assume the role of the betrayed man of peace.
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