Why did Hitler choose Poland as the first country to invade rather than France or some other place? Could a different target country been invaded with a similar degree of success?

by over25

I find it bemusing that Hitler would want to invade a country that shared a border with a much larger and more powerful country that was also a political and military rival. Could an invasion of France(or some other place that was not bordered with the soviets) have been made in the same year and with similar degree of success?

BavarianStallion

Hitler's objective was to expand in Eastern Europe. He wanted to eliminate the Polish Corridor between Germany and East Prussia and wanted to conquer "Lebensraum im Osten" (living space).

A war with France and Britain was of course inevitable in hindsight, but Hitler did not really want to go to war with France and especially Great Britain.