Hypothetically, if there were no threat from the west, is Poland capable of pulling off a 1921-style defeat of the Soviet Union in 1939, or even of surviving a Soviet attack?
Hypothetically, if there were no threat from the west, is Poland capable of pulling off a 1921-style defeat of the Soviet Union in 1939, or even of surviving a Soviet attack?
Hypothetically, if there were no threat from the west, is Poland capable of pulling off a 1921-style defeat of the Soviet Union in 1939, or even of surviving a Soviet attack?
Hypothetically, if there were no threat from the west, is Poland capable of pulling off a 1921-style defeat of the Soviet Union in 1939, or even of surviving a Soviet attack?
Hypothetically, if there were no threat from the west, is Poland capable of pulling off a 1921-style defeat of the Soviet Union in 1939, or even of surviving a Soviet attack?
Sure--the German Reich will defend its heroic Polish neighbors against Bolshevik aggression. Of course in return, it will get Danzig and the Corridor, with Poland being compensated with Soviet territory. ("You want access to the sea? The Black Sea is also a sea!")
That about sums it up. Poland can't win without the Reich throwing in and if they do they end up the Reich's bitch politically.
Poland loses the corridor, but gets it somewhat made up by Russian land.
Which is why they rejected an alliance with the Soviets in the lead up to war with Germany in 1939
I don't follow.
I was pretty sure of this response. Does anyone have sold facts and documents about the relative strengths and plans of the two armies at the time?
Prior to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact the British and French were talking to Stalin to build an anti-Hitler coalition, but Poland refused to allow the Soviets on their soil as part of that deal because they knew the Soviets wouldn't leave after the help was no longer needed, so Stalin worked with Hitler instead. If Poland had to turn to Germany for help they know that that would mean becoming Germany's vassal and that's no better than being occupied by the Soviets, so they'd likely decline.
If Poland had to turn to Germany for help they know that that would mean becoming Germany's vassal and that's no better than being occupied by the Soviets, so they'd likely decline.
It's 1939. No one knows what Germany is capable of (IIRC Poland's worst fear at the time was gas attacks on cities during military operations), but Soviet vileness is (rightly) feared. How it actually might be depends on what goes on in Hitler's brain. If he is still in his 'Poland can be a useful vassal' phase, being a German client may well be better for Poland then becoming a soviet republic.
It certainly may seem better at the time. But unless the vassal-Poland proves so valuable that the "Kill them all and take the land" switch doesn't get thrown in Hitler's brain, it won't go any better than OTL.
And I just don't know if vassal-Poland could ever make itself that useful.