Polens Zwischenkrieg - Buch

The Road of the Second Republic from Versailles to Gliwice
320 p., b/w. Fig., born in large format.

The Polish state, re-established in 1919, did not live up to the expectations of influential Polish politicians, military officials and intellectuals. In their vision, Poland should be much larger and also cover areas where there was only a Polish minority. At first the losers were compensated, German provinces in the west and Lithuanian in the north were annexed. War was waged against the young Soviet Union, which resulted in the acquisition of Galicia and parts of Belarus. Josef Pilsudski and his successor Josef Beck wanted to keep the German Reich on the ground. For this reason, Poland repeatedly offered to support military measures against Germany in the western capitals. Only in 1939 did this Polish dream seem to come true. The well-known historian Stefan Scheil elaborates in detail that Poland's great power politics contributed to creating the war scenario of 1939 in the first place. Trusting in the military intervention of the western powers, the Polish government rejected every German compromise proposal and thus prevented a peaceful agreement on the Danzig and Corridor question.