Czechoslovakia with Galicia

Quite possible, even including the Kraków region. But it would be called Západoslavi[ea].

Just make Central Powers win WWI, thus no Greater Poland, and later A-H violently disintegrates.

Not with these borders. Germany would take all the German land at the bare minimum. More likely all of Czechia, and then combine Krakow with their Poland state and split Halych between Poland and Ukraine.
alternate_czechoslovakia_by_kazumikikuchi_dd1ezt8-fullview.png
 
Is this possible? Is it possible for Czechoslovakia to have Galicia?

Hmm, Czechoslovakia having an exclave in Spanish territory? That would be certainly taking a leap of faith on the part of . . .

. . . oh, right, the other Galicia.

The only way I'd see that happen is if Czechoslovakia had a truly federal constitution to begin with and not the unitary state that was in place during the First Czechoslovak Republic. Also, if both the Ukrainian nationalists and the Czechoslovak government want it - the former if the West Ukrainian People's Republic feels that it would be better off looking towards Prague rather than becoming independent (which would certainly ease tensions with both Ukrainian nationalists and the Polish majority in Lvov - which it should be mentioned that both were among many ethnicities and nationalities living in that city, Czechs and Slovaks included; the former if Prague is willing to allow cultural autonomy to the West Ukrainian state (which largely covered the Ukrainian-majority eastern Galicia, IIRC) within a federal system, as long as its population had some basic command of both Czech and German. Western Galicia would be more problematic, IIRC - maybe if Prague decided to integrate the Lemko Republics on what would eventually become Polish territory as its own. (Would also mean a delicate balancing act between Ukrainians and those who consider themselves Rusyns, and it could just well work.) What this would basically be, in this radical reconstruction of the Czechoslovak state, is the creation of a Central European Switzerland from Bohemia to Galicia, which would be very interesting to see in action.
 
Hmm, Czechoslovakia having an exclave in Spanish territory? That would be certainly taking a leap of faith on the part of . . .

. . . oh, right, the other Galicia.

The only way I'd see that happen is if Czechoslovakia had a truly federal constitution to begin with and not the unitary state that was in place during the First Czechoslovak Republic. Also, if both the Ukrainian nationalists and the Czechoslovak government want it - the former if the West Ukrainian People's Republic feels that it would be better off looking towards Prague rather than becoming independent (which would certainly ease tensions with both Ukrainian nationalists and the Polish majority in Lvov - which it should be mentioned that both were among many ethnicities and nationalities living in that city, Czechs and Slovaks included; the former if Prague is willing to allow cultural autonomy to the West Ukrainian state (which largely covered the Ukrainian-majority eastern Galicia, IIRC) within a federal system, as long as its population had some basic command of both Czech and German. Western Galicia would be more problematic, IIRC - maybe if Prague decided to integrate the Lemko Republics on what would eventually become Polish territory as its own. (Would also mean a delicate balancing act between Ukrainians and those who consider themselves Rusyns, and it could just well work.) What this would basically be, in this radical reconstruction of the Czechoslovak state, is the creation of a Central European Switzerland from Bohemia to Galicia, which would be very interesting to see in action.

Lesser Poland and Cieszyn can be in Czechoslovakia if there is no Independent Poland after WWI.
 
Czechoslovakia was probably the least bad place to be a Ukrainian in the interwar period, Eastern Galicia would have a chance to develop more fully as a Ukrainian Piedmont ITTL.

This country would never be able to pretend it was a nation-state the way Czechoslovakia did though, it would be like a pan-slavic spinoff of Austria-Hungary. This state would have trouble passing itself off as a Wilsonian nation-state like the other new countries after WW1. Poland would have to be a German or Russian puppet state limited to Congress Poland's territory, while Ukraine is part of Russia, otherwise Galicia would just be partitioned between them.

It might be more manageable to make a separate Galician state as a buffer between Russia and a balkanized Austria-Hungary. It would be bi-national or tri-national with Poles, Ukrainians, and Jews. I'm not sue what economic benefits Prague would get from having Galicia, it had some oil but it was one of the poorest areas of Europe in the decades before WW1. Galicia's economy was largely agricultural and it was a major source of emigration to the US.
 
Not with these borders. Germany would take all the German land at the bare minimum.

Not if Germany is occupied with something else. Possibilities are endless, e.g. Spartacist revolution and subsequent civil war, or totally exhausted Germany just wins in the East as per OTL but manages to make a stalemate in the West, and small, less confident Poland fails to Bolshevik invasion. But Austria-Hungary disintegrates, but the French are not quite able to support Czechoslovakia as in OTL, so they naturally try to get as much as possible from the empire, to increase they chances of survival.

Though Hungary would fight HARD not to let Czechoslovakia have such an utterly humiliating southern border...

More likely all of Czechia, and then combine Krakow with their Poland state and split Halych between Poland and Ukraine.


Yes, Kraków would be combined with Poland in any history where Poland is independent and A-H disintegrates, barring some unspecified rather special circumstances, and dividing Halych is also rather probable.
 
Top