raharris1973
Well-known member
What if Poland accepted the largest borders offered by the Soviets at the Treaty of Riga? This would grant Poland Minsk and Kiev, so a frontier encompassing most of the Soviet Byelorussian SSR, touching the Dniepr at Kiev, and taking in the western quarter of the interwar Ukrainian SSR.
Here's the map:
Reasons for hesitancy included concerns it would excessive numbers of east Slavic minorities into the Polish state, and that the Soviet Russians wouldn't regard the border as permanent.
Let's say Poland overcomes these for the buffer space and bragging rights.
1st question - does this bigger Poland make a round 2 of Soviet-Polish war inevitable within ten years, during the 20s, early 30s, or middle 30s?
2nd question - Assuming it does not, and we place a butterfly net over everything, and Europe remains at external peace (internal turmoil can be another story), and Hitler and Stalin take charge as OTL, how does the more easterly oriented Poland get divided in the Molotov-Ribbentropp pact? Is the Nazi-Soviet line of division further east? If so, does a starting line further east for the Nazis significantly increase the chance of the Nazis beating the Soviets? Or at least significantly changing the war to the detriment of the Soviets by putting one or more additional major cities under Nazi occupation and slowing Soviet recovery? Does the change of the line to the east in 1921, ultimately echo down to result that the Western Allies and Soviets meet at a point further east than OTL, even if they beat the Nazis?
Here's the map:
Reasons for hesitancy included concerns it would excessive numbers of east Slavic minorities into the Polish state, and that the Soviet Russians wouldn't regard the border as permanent.
Let's say Poland overcomes these for the buffer space and bragging rights.
1st question - does this bigger Poland make a round 2 of Soviet-Polish war inevitable within ten years, during the 20s, early 30s, or middle 30s?
2nd question - Assuming it does not, and we place a butterfly net over everything, and Europe remains at external peace (internal turmoil can be another story), and Hitler and Stalin take charge as OTL, how does the more easterly oriented Poland get divided in the Molotov-Ribbentropp pact? Is the Nazi-Soviet line of division further east? If so, does a starting line further east for the Nazis significantly increase the chance of the Nazis beating the Soviets? Or at least significantly changing the war to the detriment of the Soviets by putting one or more additional major cities under Nazi occupation and slowing Soviet recovery? Does the change of the line to the east in 1921, ultimately echo down to result that the Western Allies and Soviets meet at a point further east than OTL, even if they beat the Nazis?