My take, using the smart new map.
-Lvov and Wilno are major Polish centres. Who else should have them?
Well, that seems to be a bit of a double standard. The Lvov region is a historical Polish centre, but (except for the city itself) ethnically Ukrainian. Vilnius is a historically Lithuanian centre, but ethnically Polish. So if either standard is coherently uses, Poland should only get one of the two (preferably Vilnius IMO). That being said, I have them both as blue on my map, too
But thats mostly because IOTL theres no independent Ukraine around...
-Bully Germany for valuable things, but not territories containing nothing except Germans.
For some reason that formulation cracked me up
it IS Destabilizing to Have Any German Communities East of The Oder,
East of the ODER? You are either ignorant or lunatic, I cant decide which.
Well then, here is my take on it. Maybe its just because Im constantly being contrarian
, but I still included striping. However, the base colour should be clear in every case, so this doesnt meddle with point calculation
Point by point:
West Prussia/Pommerelia: A sea access is paramount, and the Pommerelian coast seems to be the only viable way for it. Hence, if the anchor is purple, the Putzig/Puck area (12) needs to be, too. A territorial access to that area would then be the next highest priority, logically, and its best done via Culm/Chelmo (10). An access via Bromberg/Bydgosz (9) would be beneficial, but it isnt necessary, hence thats green. The striping in 11 is meant to represent a sub-area that can also be considered to be green
As for East Prussia, its outer territories (15, 16) are as IBC has said: Nothing in there except for Germans
If it falls into Polands lap, bad for them and great for Poland, but it shouldnt be actively pursued. Core East Prussia (17/18) has too many Germans and is just trouble. Gdansk/Danzig (14) of course has value, so that is at least Green.
Posen/Greater Poland: Taking Posen/Poznan itself (7) is top priority - it is as much core territory as territory 0. Beyond that, however, again there are only Germans and nothing more. 8 is ethnically mixed, so that justifies green, but beyond that (13) - historic justifications can be used, but it shouldnt be actively pursued. And of course, going even further into Germany is just asking for trouble.
Upper Silesia: Oppeln (6) is German, period
And as it has also more inhabitants as the Posen borderlands, and isnt protected by the "historic borders" justification, already taking that would be too much trouble, maybe except for the northern parts of that zone. 5 had actually more votes for Poland than 4 - so like 8, it is an ethnically mixed zone with not much of interest in it. It can be taken, but it doesnt need to. And 4, well, there is a value in the Industrial area, and the southern parts of it actually voted pretty clearly Polish, so thats blue priority.
Northeast and "Vilnius Corridor" (I like that term
) : The Bialystok area (24-26) is geographically important for Poland. Try to imagine Polish Vilnius but Belarussian Bialystok
I think for all practical purposes it can be counted as core territory. As for the Vilnius corridor - it (21, 22, 33, 34) is ethnic Polish in majority and somewhat coherent territorially. Why shouldnt it be pursued with high priority?
Central Galicia+Chelm: Hrm. I am in doubt about my judgement there, because I fear being hypocrite - seeing as how looked on ethnic borders at the Polish-German frontier, but less so here. Those areas have an Ukrainian ethnic majorities, after all. And yet, they are probably better off under Poland, and also, are of strategical value (Chelm (28), so that at least the Bug can be border) or historic value (Lvov (37), of course). And they are relatively easy to take for Poland. So, blue, but the green stripings indicate that if Poland due to some diabolic scheme had to choose between the Northeast and the Southeast, then it should choose for Vilnius and against Lvov - even if virtually every Pole posting here or colouring in the map elsewhere so far has said the exact opposite
Baltic: Core Lithuania (19/23) simply doesnt work. It doesnt want to be a part and would simply be trouble. The OTL border was sufficiently close to the ethnic border, so that works. Poland can accept a slightly more favourable border (20), but it isnt really necessary. In Latvia, even if Dyneburg/Daugavpils (30) has a Polish plurality, such a small territory is simply not worth pissing off Latvia. Also, Im not even sure about that Polish plurality thing. Lattgallia (31) seems absolutly unjustifiable then.
Eastern Lands: East Galicia (41, 43), West Volhynia (36) and East Podlachia (35) would make for a nice territorial aroundment. That justifies some action, but not much. The OTL eastern border (32, 39, 40, 42) is acceptable if it falls into Polands lap, I would say. Even if most polled Poles seem to have an absolute horror of that region
But even IMO it is the easternmost Poland should go. Beyond that is red, in every sense of the word
I striped East Belarus (45) yellow, because it is thinkable that Poland annexes it if for some reason it is not possible to build up a buffer state - then it is better its annexed then let it become Soviet. Of course, if Poland controlls Minsk then it should be able to build up a buffer state, which then ideally also would include 32 and 39...
Southern Lands: Bukovina and Ruthenocarpathia would be lunatic ideas, and so would be even further expansion southwards. And as said, those Slovakic border villages, taking them is just just low. Now, Cieszyn, thats something else. It should be blue or even purple, but alas, as its so small, its just not worth pissing off Czechoslovakia. It should still tried to be gained, but not immediately after WW1 when the Czechs need that railroad against the Hungarians..
Colonial expansion/PLC restoration: Hahahaha.
I also included a "German view" to the right of my file. Well, purely GErman view, my main map for Polish Germany is of course already influenced by German bias
And no, colouring in Upper Silesia is not a mistake
As said 5 voted more German than 4, so 5 should be kept only as route to 4...
Generally, the core German priority would be to stop Entente demands and stabilise its borders
somewhere. If things are worse than IOTL, then that somewhere would be the historic borders of the Provinces of Posen and West Prussia, or only retaining Core East Prussia. However, beyond that, of course all German-majority areas in Posen, West Prussia and East Prussia should also be tried to be kept, as should the Upper Silesian industrial area. And if that is somehow managed, then third priority would be keeping East Prussia linked up with the rest of Germany, hence green 10. 11 and 12 are less important, the green striping simply indicates 12 would be more valuable than 11 (more stable link to East Prussia, while a Polish coastal enclave is not much pain). In either case, though, if by some miracle Germany also has a link to East Prussia, they arent that valuable anymore. Sure, it would be nice to keep them, but that would require a miracle (well, so would 10 already...), and really isnt worth any effort.
As for Posen/Poznan, Germany shouldnt even try. Only Poles and trouble there
