I am pretty sure twenty five years of butterflies would influence Hitler if he even makes it to the same posting
As was stated before, Lithuania had no port during the time when annexing Lithuania was feasible.They could have given Poland parts of Lithuania to get a port.
On one hand it's due to the river Vistula being the main trade route and on the other hand it's due to the fact that without the port most of the outgoing goods would need to go through Germany.How did Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria or Switzerland trade without ports? What makes Poland so special that it has to have a port?
Hungary was vassalized by Germany because they didn't have a port, Austria could use Italy if Germany was uncooperative, while Switzerland had multiple major neighbors to work with and most traded with their immediate neighbors as I recall. Poland was surrounded by two very hostile neighbors that had territorial claims on her, without a port it was only a matter of time before being economically dominated. See how quickly the Germans got into a customs war with Poland after WW1.How did Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria or Switzerland trade without ports? What makes Poland so special that it has to have a port?
Hungary was vassalized by Germany because they didn't have a port, Austria could use Italy if Germany was uncooperative, while Switzerland had multiple major neighbors to work with and most traded with their immediate neighbors as I recall.
Poland was surrounded by two very hostile neighbors that had territorial claims on her, without a port it was only a matter of time before being economically dominated. See how quickly the Germans got into a customs war with Poland after WW1.
Mostly war-weariness. Peace was needed ASAP, the victor's were not strong enough to push for either properly crippling or properly integrating Germany into Europe and so we were left with the peace-of-least-resistance. (Which, I think, actually WAS pretty good given the circumstances.)One wonders why the Versailles peacemakers knowingly left a nation to be surrounded by hostile neighbours and dependent on such a fragile set up
Which, I think, actually WAS pretty good given the circumstances.
Yeah, but I and other on the board had tried to design a better peace time and time again and we've never reached a satisfying conclusion. Leaner terms usually lead to German domination, harsher terms usually leave the treaty even more unenforceable than it was OTL.Seeing as it directly laid the foundations for WWII, it wasn’t that good.
They could have given Poland parts of Lithuania to get a port.
As was stated before, Lithuania had no port during the time when annexing Lithuania was feasible.
How do you give Poland access to the sea without the corridor and Danzig?
The only other option is Internationalisation of the Vistula in the same way the Danube was.
Lithuania didn't have Palanga, either. It was handed to them by Latvia in 1921-22 border negotiations.To be specific, besides Klaipėda/Memel, which wouldn't be part of Lithuania until 1923, the only town to the sea was Palanga, a seaside resort town. Poland would have had to turn it into an alt-Gdynia if they needed to utilize the sea. Not impossible (they built Gdynia despite the presence of Danzig/Gdansk primarily because the German-populated port refused to cooperate), but quite a huge investment, and much harder to hold on to without a loyal Polish population as compared to OTL's Polish corridor.
Lithuania didn't have Palanga, either. It was handed to them by Latvia in 1921-22 border negotiations.
Yup.So it was virtually/literally landlocked this whole time? >_>
Ports are veeeery important. Though other people have already addressed multiple things, such as who several rivers reaching into Czechoslovakia was internationalized, we can also look to the times of Austria-Hungary. Here we had the Hungarians insisting upon a port within the union, eventually getting a codominioum over Fiume. Such a world, where a kingdom in an empire insists on course of a city with their own technical sub-kingdom, and you end up with that port have ending up in the hands of Italy. Anyways, free trade hadn't been a major thing back in the Interwar period. If the Poles didn't have a port they would also need to rely on German shipbuilders and shipping lines, should they decide to be protectionist.How did Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria or Switzerland trade without ports? What makes Poland so special that it has to have a port?