miguelrj
July 5th, 2012, 09:08 AM
I previously brought this up (http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=5690227&postcount=85) as an off-topic suggestion so let me create a new topic today.
Due to the mixed ethnic composition of the northern part of the Polish Corridor, it could have been bottlenecked into a quadripoint where:
- Mainland Germany lies in the west and East Prussia in the east;
- Mainland Poland lies in the south and Kashubia in the north.
Both countries become contiguous in one point. Of course no person, car or train can squeeze into a single point so a two-level infrastructure (like a bridge or a tunnel) on that point is in order, with each country controlling one of the levels.
In what way is this different from simply giving to one country extraterritorial passage through the other's sovereign territory?
Under the quadripoint scenario...
1) both countries are co-dependent.
2a) contiguity is perceived on a map, somehow limiting irredentist feelings amongst the general public.
2b) contiguity will be experienced as one will travel from one part of the quadripoint to the other not only without passing through a checkpoint but by never leaving its own country. For a few seconds the traveller will know that he or she would be in an infrastructure whose other level is under foreign control but it would be just a meaningless curiosity.
Due to the mixed ethnic composition of the northern part of the Polish Corridor, it could have been bottlenecked into a quadripoint where:
- Mainland Germany lies in the west and East Prussia in the east;
- Mainland Poland lies in the south and Kashubia in the north.
Both countries become contiguous in one point. Of course no person, car or train can squeeze into a single point so a two-level infrastructure (like a bridge or a tunnel) on that point is in order, with each country controlling one of the levels.
In what way is this different from simply giving to one country extraterritorial passage through the other's sovereign territory?
Under the quadripoint scenario...
1) both countries are co-dependent.
2a) contiguity is perceived on a map, somehow limiting irredentist feelings amongst the general public.
2b) contiguity will be experienced as one will travel from one part of the quadripoint to the other not only without passing through a checkpoint but by never leaving its own country. For a few seconds the traveller will know that he or she would be in an infrastructure whose other level is under foreign control but it would be just a meaningless curiosity.