Polish Upper Silesia, Masuria, and Danzig

In 1920, Southern East Prussia (Masuria) and Upper Silesia had referendums on being part of Germany or Poland. Danzig was made into an international city.

What if these territories had gone to Poland?


The Masurians were polish-speakers but Protestants loyal to Germany. Upper Silesia was mostly German, but full of coal. Danzig (or Gdansk in this case) was mostly German, but given how it'd likely be a big Polish port I think that would change over time.
 
That would need to change British stance. David Lloyd George said that "giving Poles silesian industry is like giving monkey a watch". British would need to think that their interest is to weaken Germany more than OTL so they don't start another war. Maybe Regency Council crowns Prince of York (OTL George VI) as King of Poland after declaring independence to make better relations with Entente and to make them know that they aren't German puppet state? I think Upper Silesia and Danzig could be Polish maybe some railways around OTL border but im not so sure about Masuria. Masurians though speaking Polish they were loyal to Prussian and German government.
 
That would need to change British stance. David Lloyd George said that "giving Poles silesian industry is like giving monkey a watch". British would need to think that their interest is to weaken Germany more than OTL so they don't start another war. Maybe Regency Council crowns Prince of York (OTL George VI) as King of Poland after declaring independence to make better relations with Entente and to make them know that they aren't German puppet state? I think Upper Silesia and Danzig could be Polish maybe some railways around OTL border but im not so sure about Masuria. Masurians though speaking Polish they were loyal to Prussian and German government.

I think the things would mostly go as per OTL, this lands only opening the way for the annexation of the Polish Western Provinces after WWII. However, diverging a bit from the main focus, I would be interested in your theory how would the UK fare under Kings Henry IX and Richard IV?
 
Britain and France had concerns about the balance of power in Europe. Why the fudge would they want a powerful Poland, which would only upset the apple cart with both Germany and Russia and would not serve British and French economic interests?
 
Britain and France had concerns about the balance of power in Europe. Why the fudge would they want a powerful Poland, which would only upset the apple cart with both Germany and Russia and would not serve British and French economic interests?

Because they have nothing to fear from Poland, unlike a Communist Russia and a possibly resurgent Germany.
 
Honestly, while Masuria and Upper Silesia could be directly annexed without too many issues, I feel (they were majority Polish, if I recall correctly), Danzig was explicitely not annexed as ("theoretically") it was to be returned to Germany once Poland had a port of some kind, after a plebiscite between independence or reunification. Could be wrong, so take it with a grain of salt. Now, it was hardly a good long-term plan, if one can even call it that, but that would be the sticking point.

Although, considering what came of the other Germans within Poland, I feel that the regions would slowly have an exodus form, but Danzig would still be majority German for quite a long time.
 
Masuria voted something like 95%+ against joining Poland, yes the Masurian may have spoken something we could call a Polish dialect, but they didn't feel or saw themselves as Polish, I can't imagine, they would welcome Polish rule.
 
Honestly, while Masuria and Upper Silesia could be directly annexed without too many issues, I feel (they were majority Polish, if I recall correctly), Danzig was explicitely not annexed as ("theoretically") it was to be returned to Germany once Poland had a port of some kind, after a plebiscite between independence or reunification. Could be wrong, so take it with a grain of salt. Now, it was hardly a good long-term plan, if one can even call it that, but that would be the sticking point.

Although, considering what came of the other Germans within Poland, I feel that the regions would slowly have an exodus form, but Danzig would still be majority German for quite a long time.

I don't think Danzig would lose Germans, but I would imagine Poles would move to the city over time if it is the country's biggest port city.
 
Masuria voted something like 95%+ against joining Poland, yes the Masurian may have spoken something we could call a Polish dialect, but they didn't feel or saw themselves as Polish, I can't imagine, they would welcome Polish rule.

I can't quote it, but I remember reading that the vote in Masuria was at least heavily influenced by the German government, who leaned on them to not to vote to leave. Something about scoring so many votes against it, and that similar occurrences took place in Upper Silesia as well.
 
I can't quote it, but I remember reading that the vote in Masuria was at least heavily influenced by the German government, who leaned on them to not to vote to leave. Something about scoring so many votes against it, and that similar occurrences took place in Upper Silesia as well.

Upper Silesia voted to stay in Germany, because the local Poles was part of the German worker movement, while the local German had no wish to be part of Poland, while the Masurians voted to stay in Germany because they was Lutherans. The interbellum Polish state's treatment of the Lutheran faith, will mean that the Masurians become even more hostile to the Polish state.
 
Probably having the Entente powers being more concerned about the proper development of the plebiscite process could help, especially in Mazuria/East Prussia.

The Entente powers didn't pay thorough attention to it, and UK was actually favouring Germany as Poland was seen as being in France's sphere of influence.
It allowed Germany to force the plebiscite's results in its favour, with falsification, fraud (shipping voters from Western Germany or allowing voting multiple times in different places), and in some cases (mostly in Mazuria/East Prussia), use of mass violence by Freikorps, including murders.

Polish side in some cases also boycotted the plebiscites to protest its fraudulent process, but it only achieved leaving German side on a stronger position.

Last but not least, Poland being at that time at war (with Soviet Union), while the population just had suffered what had been the most horrible war in History (for the time being), voters even of Polish ethnicity may have chosen Germany to avoid conscription, food restrictions and/or town destructions.

That leaves a lot of possibilities for change.
 

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Edward VIII could not abdicate in this timeline. Maybe he won't meet lady Simpson due to butterflies? There is one less royal family member in line of succesion so that could affect his decision too.

Why could he not abdicate?

Also, to the main point, I'm not sure this changes much. Gives Germany that much more to 'claim' as a "lost land" and Poland that much of a bigger internal problem with another significant population that will agitate against Warsaw. Will Warsaw gain much benefit from those areas being full of a hostile population as they are? Risk making themselves a pariah if they force the German population to leave?
 
Does it have to be via the referendums? The easiest solution is a Provisional Government that manages to survive until the end of the war and sees Russia at Versailles, as part of their compensation they claim large areas of eastern Germany and parts of Austria-Hungary. Things collapse like our timeline into civil war and the Poles use the opportunity to break away whilst the Soviets and the Whites are knocking lumps out of each other.
 
if Russia arrives with many problems at Versailles, they would only demand money, because obtaining German lands would be negative because they would occupy troops in those areas for years when the country is about to start a civil war.
 
Upper Silesia voted to stay in Germany, because the local Poles was part of the German worker movement, while the local German had no wish to be part of Poland, while the Masurians voted to stay in Germany because they was Lutherans. The interbellum Polish state's treatment of the Lutheran faith, will mean that the Masurians become even more hostile to the Polish state.

Also note that the Polish-Soviet was still in high gear. The Battle of Warsaw wasn't yet fought, so at the time of the referendum it still looked like Poland might get overrun by the Soviet Union, which probably influenced at least some of the voters to choose to stay with Germany. How many exactly we can only guess.
 
Also note that the Polish-Soviet was still in high gear. The Battle of Warsaw wasn't yet fought, so at the time of the referendum it still looked like Poland might get overrun by the Soviet Union, which probably influenced at least some of the voters to choose to stay with Germany. How many exactly we can only guess.

The problem with the Masurians was that they really didn't see themselves as Poles, they didn't intermarry with Poles, they didn't socialise with Poles, they didn't share a history with the Poles. Outside their language being related to Polish, they really didn't share anything with them. They were Polish speaking Prussians, and as Prussia became Germany, they became Polish speaking Germans.
 
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