WI: Germany stops at the Polish Corridor

What if Germany only conquers the Danzig and the Polish Corridor to unite East Prussia with Germany and does not attempt to conquer the rest of Poland or any other countries?

And leading up to the war Germany has sensible economic policies that do not require permanent war or a slave driven economy.

Would Poland, the United Kingdom and France continue to attack Germany? Would a peace treaty eventually occur? What actions would the Soviet Union, The US, Japan and Italy take in this situation?

How would this effect the Cold War?
 

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Germany would have annexed part of Poland and cut the nation off from the sea, making it dependent on them. France and the United Kingdom would be forced to respond, because letting your ally have its territory annexed is a certain means of losing all credibility.
 
nasty idea - germany only takes over what was lost in ww1 and gives the rest to soviet russia.

early in the war france/gb were asking germany to retreat from poland, but with this deal this becomes highly implausible because 90% of poland is now in soviet hands. :eek:
 
What if Germany only conquers the Danzig and the Polish Corridor to unite East Prussia with Germany and does not attempt to conquer the rest of Poland or any other countries?

And leading up to the war Germany has sensible economic policies that do not require permanent war or a slave driven economy.

Would Poland, the United Kingdom and France continue to attack Germany? Would a peace treaty eventually occur? What actions would the Soviet Union, The US, Japan and Italy take in this situation?

How would this effect the Cold War?

Is the political build up to the war the same as in our timeline?
 
If this occurs, Russia does not attack. A phony war begins in the West. Poland will attack Germany, Germany will respond. They will beat Poland by the end of October or early November when it becomes clear that there will be no peace.

It merely throw of Germany's OTL time table.
 
Is the political build up to the war the same as in our timeline?

Perhaps the Germans leak the partition offers to the Polish (of course saying that the USSR was the architect) and demand the corridor as a concession for their support against the USSR? Poland might make a deal if there is proof the soviets plan on invading, even a deal as bad as this one.

What France/Britain do isn't clear. No cast iron pre text for war with Germany and assuming the Germans do it right - with Stalin attacking Poland on schedule as he is unaware of the scheming then they may declare war on the soviets as well.
 
This of course requires a non-Nazi (or at least non-Hitleresque) Germany and a much more restrained diplomatic build up focusing only on "lost territories" and Germanic reunion - certainly not including the annexation of Czechoslovakia. If German war aims were solely identified as the reconnection of East Prussia and Danzig with the rest of Germany, I think Germany would also have to be willing to offer Poland some some form of international corridor connecting it with a usable Baltic harbor after the invasion, either by letting Poland "lease" the corridor or slicing up East Prussia in such a way that Poland still has national territory connecting it with the Baltic. Whether this would forestall the outbreak of WW2 is questionable in the long run, however.
 
this is Hitler we're talking about. Maybe with a revanchist leader but not Hitler.

posted a thread with Goering as leader and moving south on Switzerland INSTEAD of Poland https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=332851

IMO they would still have to annex at least Danzig for internal political reasons but possible that could have been negotiated?

benefit to Poland obvious but Germany would also gain by having Polish army arrayed against Soviets.

could envision that arrangement in parallel to Finland? neither country a real ally to Germany but aligned against USSR?
 
What if Germany only conquers the Danzig and the Polish Corridor to unite East Prussia with Germany and does not attempt to conquer the rest of Poland or any other countries?

And leading up to the war Germany has sensible economic policies that do not require permanent war or a slave driven economy.

Would Poland, the United Kingdom and France continue to attack Germany?

The bit about sensible German policies, without adequate explanation of how Germany proceeds with its conquests, is impossible to comment upon without details on what those policies are and how they impact Germany's behavior and expansion, so I'm going to assume Germany goes as OTL until the aforementioned change of plans concerning Poland happens in 1939. (This would be possible, but preventing Hitler from starting a world war is only possible by killing him. I assume he survives. If this scenario avoids Hitler being in charge of Germany the amount of possibilities makes it all but impossible to comment upon constructively without more details on what happened.)

Of course Poland would continue to fight. After all, Germany has just invaded its territory. But describing this as 'continuing to attack Germany' is a decidedly ... imprecise ... phrasing.

The UK and France in all likelihood declare war, but will make zero attacks, as in OTL. (Bad jokes like the RAF dropping leaflets or the so-called Saar Offensive do not count as attacks.)

Would a peace treaty eventually occur? What actions would the Soviet Union, The US, Japan and Italy take in this situation?

How would this effect the Cold War?

Stalin will invade Poland shortly.

With the altered German mindset in this scenario I suppose it might be possible for prolonged western inactivity following the delay caused by the German halt in the attack to cause Poland to surrender. With "Vichy Poland" having exited the war, a "Free Polish" government is formed in Paris.
 
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