Softest and hardest Versailles peace?

[Athelstane]

Poland won against the USSR and didn't do worse than France in WWII. Loosing a two-front war when your most important allies abandon you hardly justifies the term "indefensible".

Had the Germans had the brains not to argue about a relatively small area were the safety of the Poles was valued higher than the self-determination of the Germans, they would have gotten Danzig in the long term and everybody would have been happy.

Poland won in 1920 (thank God) under some unusually favorable circumstances, and great leadership. In most of the modern era, however, Poland is simply no match for Russia, in whatever form.

All I was saying was that Poland mostly lacked any natural geography that was defensible, and that was true in 1791, 1920, 1939, and it's true today. It was not surrounded by seas, desert or mountain ranges, save for the Carpathians to the south (which may be why it never fell under long-term Austrian or Ottoman control). Against Germany and Russia - or the Mongols - all it had was the extraordinary bravery of its soldiers and the sharpness of its steel.

More to the point, natural justice would have dictated a narrower corridor with fewer German districts. That would have made it less defensible, but there wasn't any possible corridor that would really be defensible against a strong Germany anyway.

 

[DocBrown]

Original map:

Looks like we know where they got the Oder-Neisse Line from.

 

[Perkeo]

Poland won in 1920 (thank God) under some unusually favorable circumstances, and great leadership. In most of the modern era, however, Poland is simply no match for Russia, in whatever form.

All I was saying was that Poland mostly lacked any natural geography that was defensible, and that was true in 1791, 1920, 1939, and it's true today. It was not surrounded by seas, desert or mountain ranges, save for the Carpathians to the south (which may be why it never fell under long-term Austrian or Ottoman control). Against Germany and Russia - or the Mongols - all it had was the extraordinary bravery of its soldiers and the sharpness of its steel.

More to the point, natural justice would have dictated a narrower corridor with fewer German districts. That would have made it less defensible, but there wasn't any possible corridor that would really be defensible against a strong Germany anyway.

The history of Israel refutes the conception that small corridors are inherently indefensible.

OTOH lets give Poland All of east and west Prussia, does that fix their Problems? They still don't stand a chance against Russia AND Germany, and they are safe when either Russia and Germany is allied with them.