Correction: 1. In 1947 Poland was proclaimed as the 'Republic of Poland' and was renamed 'Polish People's Republic' in 1952. 2. There is no consensus on whether Stalin intended to incorporate Finland into the USSR directly, however there is strong evidence to suggest that. But yes, I shouldn't have phrased it the way that I did, because it gives the impression that we know that that was the intention.
The next correction should be that during World War I, Poland was also occupied by The Russian Empire (alongside German Empire and Austria-Hungary). The Polish nation was merely trying to free itself from the occupation of these three countries.
Kek, the Soviet Union did not allow the Nazis to wipe out your people from the face of the earth, helped you annex their lands and established your statehood after the Second World War and voluntarily left you in 1989. And after all you present it as if the will of the Poles alone is behind your independence
Even tho Poland wasn't part of USSR, it still kinda inspired whole eastern bloc to fall. Problem with Poland was that they won't listen to anyone trying to control them against their will. Funny enough, time when Poland was under the partition was time when Polish culture was developing really fast, alot Polish patrotic books or other kinds of art. We just wanted a free and Independent country after all these years no matter the cost.
Good point that you made. Because a sizable number of Germans and Austrians were Catholics, it was politically impractical to emphasize religion 1st. Therefore Polish nationalists had to develop other things in order to make up for this cultural shortfall. Kind of irritating to hear some revisionists nowadays giving credit to the Polish Pope as the mastermind bringing down the Reds. Never really heard of that from 1989 to 2008. The Pope was influential but he probably was not directing Lech Wałęsa back then.
Simple. For Moscow, the problem with Poland was that it was too full of Poles. Solution. Shift all the Poles inside pre-1939 USSR to Poland. The de-Polonization of the USSR. Stalin understood Poles would never accept Russia or USSR.
The areas they annexed had Belarusian and Ukranian majorities who were siezed by Poland during the Polish Soviet war. The goal was always to get it back.
i mean nationalist polish figures with huge impact fled or were killed and im pretty sure some ukrainians went to the newly aquired territories of pomerania masuria and silesia
@@tkm238-d4r It's a bit more complicated than that, e.g. Poles while being forced to abandon the Lithuanian countryside, so as to shift the land ownership structure, were not allowed easily to leave Vilnius, as they were to be lithuanised and not weaken the urban economy. Likewise leaving Belarus was made difficult on purpose. In principle you're correct, though. Stalin did consider Poles to be impossible to assimilate and sovietise.
As I actually read today in the tram. - "You have an unrestrained desire for personal freedom, like birds. Doesn't your rebellious nature also bring harm? A nation must be disciplined, obedient, and respectful of authority." - stated Stroop (the butcher of Warsaw Ghetto) - "But not foreign authority!" - Moczarski replied.
"Doesn't your rebellious nature also bring harm" has some real "Poland was actually the aggressor responsible for WW2 playing the victim" energy to it.
it isnt exactly true. Poles could accept communism, but only on the initiative of the Polish lower class revolution and not one that was forcibly imposed by a foreign power.
poles were already lowkey started to accept communism in the saddle. for example remember the famous line from one of the opposition leaders "we arent anti socialism, we are anti the ruling party".
@@forgott_8182 maybe that could be possible in interwar period, but I'm a bit sceptical about it. But today there is about 0 chance Poland would accept comunism, no matter where it came from
It was drive towards independence so nationalism, not patriotism. Patriotism is loyalty to ones country but has nothing to do with a nation trying to have an independent country.
@@poohoff it mostly comes down to eastern and western christianity. Polish identity is rooted in our golden age which was in the 16th century, when our culture flourished, and we had western christianity and a lot of architecture and influences from italy and france. Russia went a very different path. Our mentality is also very different from that of the Russian people, because due to being subjugated for the past 200 years by different empires, Poles developed a very different approach to governments, and in general we could never have a dictatorship or a cult of personality in Poland, because Poles are very distrustful of such stuff given our experiences. Russians on the other hand are very susceptible to that. That's why Poland and Russia also went very different paths after the dissolution of the soviet union. While Poland became a relatively rich western democracy, Russia fell into authoritarianism and corruption.
A bit long but here are some issues, ranging from small to big: 1. The 1919 map is just plain out wrong, Poland didn't own that much territory to the east and certainly didn't own Belarusian territories. 2. The Polish army didn't "race to the east". It was instead the Soviet Army that raced to the west, as they invaded Belarus and later Ukraine. 3. Poland didn't "capture Kyiv", they had joined the war as allies to Ukraine, and rushed their armies to help defend Kyiv as the Soviets were advancing rapidly thanks to their cavalry. 4. The war didn't suddenly shift in favour of the Soviets, instead they had already been invading Ukraine and winning, they simply kept it up. Also, no, there weren't suddenly people joining the Soviet Army after they seized Kyiv. 5. It wasn't just Britain that was concerned with the spread of communism, however they did make up most of the lend-lease we received... Or were supposed to. Also it wasn't Britain that proposed the peace but rather the Polish command. 6. There isn't any mention of Stalin believing they shouldn't invade Poland, however he did want to screw over Trotsky who was in charge of the cavalry which was doing the majority of the fighting. 7. The main reason the red army suffered a defeat at the gates of Warsaw - also called the Miracle over Vistula - was due to their poor communication, and thanks to the Polish army making a risky encirclement, trapping a good part of their command and forcing them to surrender, then pushing further North to the German border and forcing over a million Soviet soldiers to retreat to the German border and surrender there, basically wiping out half of their army. 8. The Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact was signed in 1938 and didn't partition just Poland but the entirety of Europe between Germany and the Soviet Union. 9. It wasn't "nationalism" that was deeply rooted in Poland but rather patriotism and the will to defend your rights, as the country has been occupied for over 100 years before it gained at the end of WW1, at November 11th 1918. Throughout those 100 years the Polish people have been time and time again treated like slave labour under both the German and the Russian occupations, where they also tried to forcibly convert the Polish people from Catholicism to Protestantism under the German occupation and to Orthodox beliefs under the Russian occupation, with very little success. The Polish language was additionally banned periodically under the Russian occupation, though people didn't follow through with it and often got imprisoned or even shot for teaching it, and eventually the ban got lifted, however for the duration of the occupation the administrative languages were German under the German occupation and Russian under the Russian occupation respectively, and there were great efforts made to "colonise" Poland by both parties, sending Polish people out of cities to villages under German occupation and sending in German settlers, making a bunch of laws prohibiting Poles from owning land, and under Russian occupation resettling Polish people who have been convincted of even the smallest crimes along with their families to Siberia. Sufficed to say, this is a long point but it should give you the idea that it wasn't nationalism that made the Polish people seen as hard to subdue but rather their history of resistance, including many armed revolutions under the Russian occupation and the recent Warsaw Uprising. 10. "Independent" isn't even near "Under Close Soviet Supervision", without going into the details the Soviets basically controlled every aspect of the Polish state and economy during their glorified occupation from 1945 to 1989, and as the video does mention the Soviet Union did in fact take the majority of Polish produce during that period, trading them for a tenth of its worth in bonds they could only trade with the Soviet Union. 11. Another point the video fails to mention is that during the negotiations the USA has demanded that Poland stays independent, as they promised to support Poland, though in the end they ended up mostly abandoning it anyway. Regardless, happy late Polish Independence Day, and remember that even what I say might not be fully correct, as most of this is purely off of memory, so do your research people, and when you see a video talking about a country or its history... Double check your research just for sure, especially since in the modern times misinformation can be more widespread than facts and it can indeed also be used as a way to wage political conflicts, which can range from small adjustments like using slightly different words to explain what happened that could also mean something radically different, to huge differences like painting a whole nation as a bunch of Nazis. Cheers!
Oh, also I forgot two more facts: Poznań wasn't part of Poland until 2 days after the war started, as the Poznań Uprising was still ongoing, also Poland didn't take Villinus from Lithuania until 2 months after the invasion.
Thanks for the info. At the same time, in future you may want to write in shorter sentences. 😊😊 I would slightly disagree on some interpretations. The Poles had a stronger case for a distinct existence not only because of pre-1795 events but also that the Russian Tsar took the title of Grand Duke of Poland after 1815. Of course the Tsar tried to abolish Polish autonomy later but the precedent was already set. As for Belarus and Ukraine, under the Tsar, they did not exist. They were no different from other Russian provinces. The Ukraine People's Republic was no more valid than the Donetsk People's Republic. This was one of the reasons why Ukrainian nationalism failed back then. There was no definition of where was Ukraine as a political entity. Regarding the status of the Polish People's Republic during the Cold War, regardless of how truly independent it was internally, what mattered were that Red Poland was -)recognized as independent politically -)maintain the appearance of independence -)function as independent internationally People nowadays can argue how independent some of the current EU member nations are but they are still seen as independent. 😁😁
We shouldn’t downplay the impact of international pressure. Before the war, Poland was a relatively populous European country - its population was only about 15% smaller than that of metropolitan France - with close ties to France and Great Britain. It was also a key part of the American vision for post-World War I Europe, as Poland’s independence was one of Wilson’s 14 Points. While the Allies did acknowledge Soviet dominance over Eastern Europe, allowing for military and indirect political control, incorporating Poland directly into the USSR was simply not an option. The Soviets held dominant control within their zone, but they weren’t omnipotent (consider Austria, Yugoslavia, and the Far East). Establishing solid communist rule over Poland took nearly eight years, in part because the Soviets had to maintain the appearance of an organic political shift.
Yes, the pressure of national opinion was important, but this work was also based on the policy of facts that Poles achieved in winning the Polish-Bolshevik war of 1920. When Poland managed to defend itself, France and England used this fact to balance Russia and Germany. The existence of the second Polish Republic was an argument for the existence of a Polish people's republic, which, as a state, theoretically a quarter sovereign, could more easily reject communism, unlike nations without a state. That's why I believe that the victory of 1920 is the greatest Polish victory that continues to pay off to this day.
Fun fact, the first Polish communist leader, Bolesław Bierut (who was a staunch Stalinist), wanted to incorporate Poland into the USSR, but Stalin refused him.
basicly poland was the first country behind the iron courtain to ditch socialism and stick it up to the union what caused other states to want independence too@@enitivy
Well, one of the main reasons why Poland was Never incorporated into the USSR was because Stalin believed that the Polish people would favor nationalism over being part of the USSR And even if Poland was incorporated into the Soviet Union it would’ve led to more instability within the nation so in the end, Stalin made the right choice To leave Poland as a Soviet puppet state Knowing that it would be much more beneficial for the Soviet Union if it was a communist satellite state instead
Additional notes- At 0:15 1) not only Finland and Poland, USSR had also didn't controlled the Kars territory/Kars Republic (current-day part of Turkey) which was a part of the Russian Empire till 1914 when the Ottomans occupied it and later subsequently the newly formed Turkey. 2) Even after the continuation war and after the end of WWII, the USSR proposed Finland many times considering joining the USSR with the condition of giving back those territories Finland lost in the continuation war till the mid-'50s. They even had a Soviet Republic for that (Karelo-Finnish SSR) At 1:24 The proposal of the very first Curzon line was different from the current one as this includes some more territories from Ukraine and a bit from Belarus (e.g - Lviv or parts of Grodno, Brest etc.) Overall that's a great video, you got a new subscriber :)
0:15 The reasoning for that was because Turkey was going to take Kars, going successful in it’s independence war. USSR made a deal, Batum in exchange for help. Not all of kars because it was ethnically turkish
@@HistorySpeedrun17gonna add, that after WW2 USSR had territorial claims to Turkey, or the Western Armenia abd Lazistan. Only after Turkey joined NATO and Stalin was dead, USsR did not claim anything to Turkey anymore.
Occupied lands are still part of the respective country. 😂 The first time Ottomania occupied Kars was on 25 April 1918. It never did in 1914.😂 Learn basic history before embarrassing yourself.
Nothing was proclaimed on 19th of Ferbuary 1947. During the communist time the birthday of People's Poland was celebrated on 22th of July, because establishing of the Polish Comitee of the National Liberation at that day in 1944. But the name of the People's Republic of Poland only became official in 1952 with adoption of the stalinist constitution.
It did annex Poland. Half of pre-ww2 PL territory now lays in a former USSR, todays Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, maybe also Latvia and Moldova. Allied camp actually granted those lands to USSR in 1943.
@@Snaxolotl71and that territory was part of Poland hundreds years before russia stole them in 1795 lviv was polish 600 years same grodno seems like u missed history lesson lil bro
Everything correct, except I take issue with the usage of the word "nationalism" here. Imagine the sentence: "In 1941 the US nationalism caused the US to fight back Japan upon the Pearl Harbor incident". Wouldn't make much sense, ey?
You know, I clicked on this video expecting a spiel sounded like it was straight from Senator McCarthy himself, but was actually surprised on how factual and objective it was.
Small correction: Ukrainian People's Republic and Poland were allies during the polish-soviet war, not UPR and Russia. So when Poland took Kyiv, it was returned to Petlura and UPR, and when Russia counterattacked, lands in galicia and volyhnia were occupied by the bolsheviks, not returned to UPR. Ukrainian soldiers even helped the Polish army and volunteers defend Lviv from Stalin and Budyonny in 1920. Russia did have a bolshevik puppet state in Ukraine, but it had a different flag than the one shown in the video.
Back then, the UPR was in an unstable situation. Its predecessor, sometimes known in Anglo-Western historian circles as the Rada movement, gained some recognition as an autonomous unit under the Provisional Gov in Petrograd. After the Bolshevik takeover, the Bolsheviks tried to win over the Rada movement. The Rada movement preferred to maintain social distancing and the Bolsheviks reacted by setting up its own Ukrainian movement. In simple terms, the Rada changing into UPR was a way of UGTOW Ukrainians going their own way. However, the Ukrainian national movement was not well-defined, unlike its Polish counterpart. Ukraine and Ukrainians were more of a geographic identifier than a political identifier. As of 1985 -2014, Anglo-Western historian circles appeared to have little interest in the history of the UPR. Never really heard of it until 2014 when ironically, it was the setting up of the DPR-LPR that led to pro-Kremlin writers mentioning the UPR.
Two corrections: Polish Popular Republic was declared in 1945 and before 1914 Poland was under control of Prussia (Germany), Austro Hungarian Empire AND Russia.
The date is wrong. "July manifesto" or "Manifesto of PKWN" was celebrated as declaration of independence. 22.7.1944 . 19.2.1947 was a temporary constitution.
At 1:06 there is a mistake. You cannot say "territories inhabited mostly by Ukrainians and Belorusians, but controlled by Polish forces" as it is giving a misleading impression. First, these territories were parts of Poland for centuries and for a little over last 100 years before WWI they were part of Russia. These territories were inhabited by Poles and Ruthenians (you know this term, right?) and some other nations as well. Second, at that time there was no notion of Ukrainian nor Belarusian nations. These nations, as we recognize them today, started having their own countries in 1991. Even now huge number of Poles are still living on the east side of current east Polish border.
>First, these territories were parts of Poland for centuries Yet they were not inhabited by Poles. And, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied far more territory to the east, and at the time was about as imperialist and oppressive as Russia. >Second, at that time there was no notion of Ukrainian nor Belarusian nations. These nations, as we recognize them today, started having their own countries in 1991. BS. The exact same kind of BS Russian Empire used to try to justify occupying these nations. Belarusian and Ukrainian identities existed for centuries, Lenin did not invent them when he created the Ukrainian and Belorusian SSRs. Silence, Polish irredentist. Your occupation would be no better than the Russians'.
It is, in fact, not a misleading impression. Poland should know best that partitioning a country and everything that goes with it is completely inexcusable and wrong. However, it's exactly what they've done since the eastern borderlands' population consisted mostly (more than 75%) of Ukrainians and Belarusians with few exceptions. Therefore it's not a false statement to say that they were "territories mostly inhabited by Ukrainians and Belarusians, but controlled by Polish forces." Both Belarusian and Ukrainian history start during the 9th century with the existence of Kievan Rus. Those states were separate from Poland for far longer than they've been a part of it. It is clear that Stalin wasn't wrong when addressing "Polish nationalism" if that is considered to be the real history in Poland.
i love these short videos, your style reminds me of history matters and oversimplified yet its still very unique and informative. Also, as a pole i gotta say you explained this very well! im subscribing and i wish you luck as i see great potential in this channel.
1 There were much more Poles than Finns, Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians all together. 2. There were fresh ethnic conflicts between Poles and 4 other Soviet nations (Lithuanians. Belarusians, Ukrainians, and Russians).
Also The borders were already decided before the end of war, and Stalin didn't knew if he's gonna control berlin, so he gave Poland the east german teritories, which they wouldn't agree to just give it to the USSR. That's one of the main reasons, but the second is that Poland never was one state with the ussr unlike the baltics that gave up their independence to the soviets after threatening them. Also Poles craved for independence and to the last day believed that their allies would not abandon them. There was held a rigged elections in which communists won by 90% of the vote in 1945 thus Poland joined the warsaw pact and had communist dictatorship, however hte point is, the Poland was supposed to be independent country not part of the USSR
@@Leantenant You are either a troll , or a very uneducated person. Anyway, now we can count the votes from over 50 years ago and we can see that the only question that poles voted with yes for over 50% was the annexation of the east parts of germany that were nown as "retrieved lands". Also communists disbanded every political party besides one, killed those who survived the war and basicly, there was a saying "the government came on russian tanks from moscow" etc.
@@moonlight.6969 So it's rigged elections, but there was somewhere hide real results. Are you kidding me? Or you just dumbass? And 50 years ago was already 70s... Also that's pretty funny and pity in same time how you don't count millions of your compatriots even as humans...
Hello, a Pole here. This is not meant to depreciate any other land and country annexed by the USSR, but had it tried to incorporate Poland, it would face approximately between 23 to 38 (estimates from respectably 1945 and 1947) millions of men, women, children and the elderly fight it by tooth, nail and butter knife at every corner and on every hill without a minute's break, effectively turning the existance of any and every russian official and collaborator based in Poland into hell. Poland had more than enough of russian partitions and occupation in the past and it would certainly not take any of it anymore. And russia knew it very well.
The First and the Second Partition of Poland were both approved by the Polish Sejm. In year 1773 in Warsaw and 1793 in Grodno, respectively. After the Third Partition there was no debate, neither approval. Poland simply ceased to exist. Poland was partitioned by the three neighbors. Not only Russia. Ever heard about Targowica Confederation ? Anyway why do you, and I mean all Poles blame Russia for all yours misfortunes ? During the German occupation and II World War, Poland as a country was losing about 3 thousand its citizens a day. For 6 years, day by day. Which acconts to 5 to 6 millions total losses. If the Red Army did not "concered, inslaved" Poland, there would be NOBODY bitching about terrible Russia, from polish perspective now - on TH-cam. Something to think about.
@@irenagreg7373 maybe because both the sejma nd targowica were controlled by russians? The soviets were as bad as germans, as "allies" they raped stole and destroyed as much as germans. And no without soviets there would still be poles because germany was trying to win a unwinnable war. the didnt stand a chance against uk usa and other allies. it would simply take longer to ddefeat them
@@r4zoruss321 So they stole your grandfather Rolex and raped your grandma. Sorry... Loses of your western allies : States - twice more what Poles lost in 63 days of Warsaw Uprising. Total a little bit over 400 thousand soldiers and civilians. During the whole II World War on all fronts. Great Britain - somewhere around 450 thousand, again during whole war and on all fronts. French, they were confused. Their French SS Charlemagne Division was the last defenders of Hitler's bunkier in Berlin in Apr and May 1945. So who would came for your solvation ? Are you blind ? I do not want to say - stupid. You and most of Poles are product of heavy duty Russophobia. You will rip what you saw. Good luck.
@@irenagreg7373 I'll explain it to you. Yes, the partition was not the idea of Tsarist Russia but of Prussia. However it was like that just because Russia already treated Kingdom of Poland as its dominium, we were by then basically a satellite state fully dependent of Russia. When you talk about Polish Sejm all those that approved partitions were bought by Russia or under duress, when we had real assembly (called The Great Sejm) the outcome was very different, unfortunately invalidated by Grodno Sejm from 1793 on the orders of Catherine II. It's not that we blame every misfortune on Russia, it's that for 3-4 hundred years nothing good came from this part of the world. Even the liberation had it's catch, Russian soldiers plundered villages, raped women, stole works of art, or burned them if they couldn't take it with them and the worst thing - brought communism to our country. Yes, with our westward neighbour we also have very checkered history but at least nowadays we are at good terms, but that doesn't mean that we forgot. If after the war we would've been under western sphere of influence we would have been much better country.
@@oskarskalski2982 Hard to answer. You touch many subjects. 1) Poles should had waited for western allies to liberate them. Or even for SS Galizen. 2) as far as I know Prussia was disaster created by Poland by itself. Konrad Mazowiecki and his invitation of Teutonic Knights means anything to you ? 3) I feel sorry for you, if russian - barbarians stole you grandpa Rolex or even mistreated your grandma. 4) Germans were slightly better . 5 to 6 millions dead polish citizens in 6 years gives you about 3 thousand per day. Day by day, for 6 years in row. 5) polish Sejm nowadays is exactly the same kind what you described to me regarding partition. I am wrapping it up. Try to analyze how come those partitions happened. Poland as far as I know was not attacked by 3 of them in the same time. Poles were doing it to themselves trying to get influence over other groups, factions... Targowica Confederation as one of the examples. Doesn't it remind you the situation Poland is facing now ? I came back, decided to add something. Before your "free" Poland, polish company Dromex and Budimex had for decades lucrative contracts in Iraq. Thousand of polish workers built houses using the money they earned over there. And the "freedom" came to Poland. As an initiation of being part of the gang, Poles took part in invasion of the country which previously let them make tons of money. Instead of Dromex and Budimex there was Polish Occupation Zone in Iraq. Now the country has been destroyed. Children of the people who once hired Poles wander around the world. Of course your compatriots don't want them. They simply call them terrorist. Poor Poles...
There's a major error in the video - there was no "status quo" after Battle of Warsaw, the aftermath was the Treaty of Riga signed on 18 March 1921, where pre-WW2 borders were recognized by both countries, and any further territorial claims officially withdrawn. Soviet Union attack in 1939 was treachorous and unprovoked. The video seems to suggest that USSR had rights to lands with Ukrainian/Belarussian ethnic majority, which is the version used only by Russian propaganda and taught in their schools.
russia didn't have right for ukrainian/belarusian ethnic majority lands obviously, neither did poland in 1918, but both poland and russia forced their right with their armies, so it just happened to be
True, it was by far one of the most liberal communist countries. Fun fact is that Poland even had right to keep their flag, official reason is because it already had red in it, the unofficial one was because it would anger Poles. And when Poles start to rebel shit starts happening.
@@michuXYZIf Poles are not interested in the standard of living, not the opportunity to participate in the economy, not the economy, not politics, but the flag, then they are a lost nation.
Poland as part of Warsaw Pact has destroyed not only the pact but also initiated the democratic changes influencing German unification and USSR collapse. Good job! Please just do not destroy EU ;-)
@@collector4922 I bedziesz mial albo juz masz - Protektorat Nadwislanski na wzor Puerto Rico. Z polskim jezykiem i Namiestnikiem Markiem. Tym od ojca Zbyszka...
@@muxseven I guess a lot off western Europeans already have a second thoughts about including rusophobic Poland into their Union. They were doing pretty well before that. And now it is over.
Fairly good video, just one thing to add: Another reason to not establish a PSSR was that a nominally independent Poland would be justified in gaining western territories due to their territorial losses in the east than the Soviet Union annexing that territory directly and ethnically cleansing the German inhabitants.
Also, relocating people in trains in the winter, then stopping them and forcing them out into the elements in the middle of nowhere and forcing them to strip as you do so is not exactly something you do to someone you want to survive
@@UltimatePerfection I am old, fading away. You can go and fight. It will be repetition of all previous polish uprising. Just on much higher/heavier scale. I mean in losses. Unfortunately. Some people (nations) never learn.
@@irenagreg7373 Yeah, loses for the other side. We have now much better weapons than even Ukraine. And Russians get their butts kicked at Ukraine even with Ukraine's meager forces. As we say in Poland, Rosja #nikogo.
are you on drugs? im in the US, and we all know Putin is winning, thats why Trump is looking to make a deal I think that even the head of NATO said the war is lost
Fun fact: when the USSR was collapsing, a couple of Poles proposed to Gorbachev that he creates a new SSR comprising of Poland's lost eastern territories. Eastern Polish Soviet Socialist Republic was meant to be a short-lived entity that, after the Soviet collapse, would enable Poland to regain control over their lost land. Gorbachev actually was positive towards the idea, but mainly because it would create friction between Poland, Ukraine Lithuania and Belarus who mainly inhabitted these lands. Polish government, already democratic, realised these and ofc they halted any further talks on the matter. This video makes you wonder how would Poland look territoriarly today if it was directly annexed into the USSR. 😢
Probably the same way as it does now. USSR wasn't keen on merging territories with different dominant ethnic groups together, unless they were very small. There's no reason for hypothetical PSSR to have parts of BSSR and UkrSSR, especially considering those state havs their own nationalists.
"Already democratic" Dude, ordinary citizens were shot in the main square, workers' councils were liquidated, workers' unions were liquidated. What democracy? Already dictatorial Poland, you wanted to say
Before the creation of the UN, Soviet positioned themselves as the only communist state that will unite whole world (which in referered in the name of the country). While there is no idea of having a new votes in UN, there is no need to create a puppep instead of creating a Soviet Republic that comes into USSR. Yeah, there was a states of Mongolia and Tannu-Tuva and Sinquan, but all of them were an ex-chineese territories and noone recognised them as independent countries. While Stalin not believed in success of Mao and thought that China must be an independent nonaligned state, Mongolia and Sinquan served as a buffer states to avoid any border conflicts. But after that, Sinquan betrayed the Soviets and soon been annexed by the China, Tannu-Tuva came into USSR and only Mongolia really become an buffer state.
@@duckling3615annexation part of Karelia, Salla , Petsamo , Little island on the Gulf of Finland and establish puppet regime (Finnish Democratic Republic) but in end up becoming Karelo-Finnish SSR before be incorporated into Russian SFSR in 16 July 1956.
One of the reasons was, and I don'tmean to belitle our neighbours, thatPoland had a rich history, was more developedand had stronger and better developed heritage. We used to dominate Eastern Europe including Russia, for hundreds of years. It's easier to subjugate a smaller country with a weaker sense of identity. One could argue that's exactly the reason why attempts from US&UK to subjugate Iran/Persia which has thousands of years of culture and tradition was also doomed to fail.
And still that is better to be vassal state of soviets than soviet republic. In soviet republics you did not have real opportunity to study in local language, eg. in Lithuanian.
not Polish nationalism - just patriotism.... Those people loved their county, nation, language, heritage and Stalin knew about it. That's why Germans during II WW wanted to anihilate all Polish nation.
It is Polish PATRIOTISM, not any nationalism. Resistance against occupation by other nations has nothing to do with nationalism. Attachment and commitment to your own country is the definition of patriotism.
I think we Poles just love our language. It’s true that Poland now is a colony, but don’t you dare to take our language from us. The rest of our „nationalism” or „patriotism” bits are just added ad hoc to fit political agenda of one or the other party, as we don’t really (statistically as a nation) don’t have a traditions or culture much different from all the other slavic nations to hang on to. And our language is something worth of caring for, as it is one of the most complicated and hard to learn, thus enabling to express yourself, in the world. How about that?
In anglo-saxson and french political sciences the term nationalism is understood wider and does not have this negative meaning as it has in polish or german tradition
The Small Constitution of 1947 (Polish: Mała Konstytucja z 1947) was a temporary constitution issued by the communist-dominated Sejm (Polish parliament) on 19 February 1947.
Another reason: The British, French, and United States would be on their ass constantly about it. So uhh… Thank you Britain, France, and USA. It was hell as a satellite state just glad we didn’t experience the hell of integration with that shit hole
The Americans straight up recognized they couldn't do anything about it, even if nominally they would recognize a Polish government in exile like with the Baltics.
Oh yeah, and you had the worst life in the Polish People's Republic, and you know for sure that there is nothing good here at all😂😂😂 OR another story from the series "stories that cannot be kept silent about", like: "my grandma/grandpa was starving under socialism and the Red Army took away his food, home, clothes, money and he was shot 1000 times and sent to Siberia" 😂😂😂
Thank you! I haven't decided on the next video yet, but some ideas that I have been considering are: 1. How did the Reichskommisariats operate 2. Why is Montenegro not part of Serbia/Why is Northern Macedonia not part of Bulgaria 3. What happened to the Bavarian Soviet Republic / how did it operate 4. Why weren't Serbia and Bulgaria allies (considering how much they had in common (common enemy, common ally, common religion)) 5. How did the Donetsk/Luhansk People's Republic operate (as in politically; might be too controversial and too soon)
@@HistorySpeedrun17 Why would Macedonia be part of Bulgaria? It would make actual sense for "Why aren't Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina part of Serbia?". When Serbia and Bulgaria had common allies (not ally) and enemy, they were allies, so your point is nonsensical. Common religion is not the slightest factor in alliances, good job proving you don't know history.
Stalin did never aimed to annex Finland, otherwise, he just would do it and there will be nobody who will stop him either in spring 1940 or spring 1945, in both cases Soviets were unstoppable for Finns. Other claims are either half-lies or direct lies. Btw. Stalin had no problem to move millions. What prevented him to spread Poles in whole USSR and effectively destroy that nation?!
Maybe he was too busy commiting other crimes? But seriously there were some agreements with his WW2 allies (the Anglosaxons) that he had to respect. So he respected them for 8 years after which he died.
@@tomeks666 Yes, Stalin respected agreements. Very good observation. This is why Stalin did not annex Finland. Original territory exchange ultimatum was held after USSR defeated Finns on battlefield, because there was no hidden agenda.
@@CYbeRuKRaINiaN I just appreciate the attention to detail. Most historical channels just show modern borders. It ain't that deep lil bro. Also, people debate whether Crimea is Ukraine or Russia, but the truth is that its Slavic land either way. There is already a Tatarstan in Russia anyway. Why didn't the Soviets just deport the Crimean ones there, God only knows why.
@@GLASSMOSCOWANDBEIJING?? because crimean tatars are native to crimea? why would they go to tatarstan? just because russians called them both "tatar"?
@@GLASSMOSCOWANDBEIJINGCrimea has only one historical association with Rus (not Russia), and it was a very short period of time during the High Middle Ages. Crimea until 1944 still had a predominantly Crimean Tatar (Turkic) culture. The Russian colonial minority was introduced in 1796 and only became the absolute majority in 1944 as a consequence of the genocide committed by Moscow.
@@test1uci Right after WW1 with Polish independence there was a lot of national clashes and more normal part of polish politics knew that there has to be free Ukrainian country. It was really short lived due to general Poland weakness and instability, due to idiotic Polish nationalists who were openly trying to polonise belarussian/ukrainian/Lithuanian people and at the end another invasion from russia. Poland/ Ukraine was so weak to fight another war and Poland signed treaty with russia who took majority of Ukrianian territories. We know what they did afterwards on that lands and to their people, Polish side was also full of growing nationalism from both sides which exploded later during WW2. Sadly.
You have totally omitted the fact that there were many other countries in the region that were not annexed but were under political control of Soviets. Moreover there was also some degree of pressure put by Western Allies towards Soviets
Stalin said that communism suits Poland 🇵🇱 like a saddle for the cow. He didn’t want rebels in Soviet Union because they would sooner or later overthrow their regime, they did that years later anyway.
Correction:
1. In 1947 Poland was proclaimed as the 'Republic of Poland' and was renamed 'Polish People's Republic' in 1952.
2. There is no consensus on whether Stalin intended to incorporate Finland into the USSR directly, however there is strong evidence to suggest that. But yes, I shouldn't have phrased it the way that I did, because it gives the impression that we know that that was the intention.
That’s Your only correction?
The next correction should be that during World War I, Poland was also occupied by The Russian Empire (alongside German Empire and Austria-Hungary). The Polish nation was merely trying to free itself from the occupation of these three countries.
you didn't learn your lesson and you want to teach others? not enough corrections
the PRL or ppr in english was strictly controlled by russians like a belarus today so it wasn't technically annexed but in reality it pretty much was
the answer to this video's question is simple:
- because the United States of America had the atomic bomb.
Today is Poland's Independence Day Great timing
Fr
Independence from what?
@@lunalingo4461freedom at the end of ww1
@@lunalingo4461 Germany.
@@lunalingo4461German, Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires.
Answer from a Polish citizen : Because they know that we will fight and never accept soviet chains of slavery. For Poland II WW end in 1989.
1918 Lenin recognizing the right of the Polish people to self-determination, 1945 confirmed by Stalin
Poland created by Soviets
Kek, the Soviet Union did not allow the Nazis to wipe out your people from the face of the earth, helped you annex their lands and established your statehood after the Second World War and voluntarily left you in 1989.
And after all you present it as if the will of the Poles alone is behind your independence
Ironic that you posted this on polish independence day
But which one exactly?
@@The_whales if i remeber it's 1919
@@Tom-jg9de *1918 :v
@@decp12 oh thx
i dont think it was randomly
Maybe he knew that poles like to make uprisings
Zawsze
gypsy tactics
tak, POLSKA GUROM 🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱
our tendency to rebel was exactly mentioned in video
@@drzewolejhvjgvwnoposting8734 gypsy tactics
The people in the comments acting as if this video wasn’t purposefully posted on Polish Independence day 💀💀💀💀
Even tho Poland wasn't part of USSR, it still kinda inspired whole eastern bloc to fall. Problem with Poland was that they won't listen to anyone trying to control them against their will. Funny enough, time when Poland was under the partition was time when Polish culture was developing really fast, alot Polish patrotic books or other kinds of art. We just wanted a free and Independent country after all these years no matter the cost.
Poland inspired nothing, it was probably a test how to go from communism to "capitalism" without losing the grip, getting wealthy in the process
Tak szczególnie to było widać w plandemii😅
Well said!!!! Country is not a line on map but in the real heart!
Good point that you made. Because a sizable number of Germans and Austrians were Catholics, it was politically impractical to emphasize religion 1st.
Therefore Polish nationalists had to develop other things in order to make up for this cultural shortfall.
Kind of irritating to hear some revisionists nowadays giving credit to the Polish Pope as the mastermind bringing down the Reds. Never really heard of that from 1989 to 2008.
The Pope was influential but he probably was not directing Lech Wałęsa back then.
Simple. For Moscow, the problem with Poland was that it was too full of Poles.
Solution. Shift all the Poles inside pre-1939 USSR to Poland. The de-Polonization of the USSR.
Stalin understood Poles would never accept Russia or USSR.
The areas they annexed had Belarusian and Ukranian majorities who were siezed by Poland during the Polish Soviet war. The goal was always to get it back.
i mean nationalist polish figures with huge impact fled or were killed and im pretty sure some ukrainians went to the newly aquired territories of pomerania masuria and silesia
@@tkm238-d4r It's a bit more complicated than that, e.g. Poles while being forced to abandon the Lithuanian countryside, so as to shift the land ownership structure, were not allowed easily to leave Vilnius, as they were to be lithuanised and not weaken the urban economy. Likewise leaving Belarus was made difficult on purpose.
In principle you're correct, though. Stalin did consider Poles to be impossible to assimilate and sovietise.
@@StekTM1 These lands were polish long before USSR was a thing.
@@Mr_Topek Poland ruled them but at this point they were under russian rule since the end of the 18th century
As I actually read today in the tram.
- "You have an unrestrained desire for personal freedom, like birds. Doesn't your rebellious nature also bring harm? A nation must be disciplined, obedient, and respectful of authority." - stated Stroop (the butcher of Warsaw Ghetto)
- "But not foreign authority!" - Moczarski replied.
Oh yes, "Conversations with an Executioner" (Polish: Rozmowy z katem) great book about how nazis become nazist and what they were doing.
"Doesn't your rebellious nature also bring harm" has some real "Poland was actually the aggressor responsible for WW2 playing the victim" energy to it.
Joseph Stalin about Poland. ''Communism and Poles are like fitting a saddle to a cow''.
it isnt exactly true. Poles could accept communism, but only on the initiative of the Polish lower class revolution and not one that was forcibly imposed by a foreign power.
poles were already lowkey started to accept communism in the saddle. for example remember the famous line from one of the opposition leaders "we arent anti socialism, we are anti the ruling party".
@@forgott_8182 maybe that could be possible in interwar period, but I'm a bit sceptical about it. But today there is about 0 chance Poland would accept comunism, no matter where it came from
@@Tessarion7 If it came from America, they'd accept it.
@@forgott_8182 where are you from to say that?
It's not Polish nationalism but Polish patriotism.
Yeah. That's more accurate word.
It was drive towards independence so nationalism, not patriotism. Patriotism is loyalty to ones country but has nothing to do with a nation trying to have an independent country.
no, no, its nationalism.
Westerners don't distinguish
Polish Russophobia, more exact.
Thank God we were not part of the soviet union. Poland is just too different from Russia. We have very different cultures.
How so
@@poohoff it mostly comes down to eastern and western christianity. Polish identity is rooted in our golden age which was in the 16th century, when our culture flourished, and we had western christianity and a lot of architecture and influences from italy and france. Russia went a very different path. Our mentality is also very different from that of the Russian people, because due to being subjugated for the past 200 years by different empires, Poles developed a very different approach to governments, and in general we could never have a dictatorship or a cult of personality in Poland, because Poles are very distrustful of such stuff given our experiences. Russians on the other hand are very susceptible to that.
That's why Poland and Russia also went very different paths after the dissolution of the soviet union. While Poland became a relatively rich western democracy, Russia fell into authoritarianism and corruption.
@@poohoff for starters we don't speak Russian like Ukrainians do.
@@zbawieniejestwieczne9013XD dobre
@@MiSt3300dictatorship isn't impossible, it never is. But still less likely
Churchill claimed that "to communize Poland is pure madness." Stalin is said to have said that "communism fits Poland like a saddle fits a cow."
Polish Independence Day is a day where there is a video about Poland
106th anniversary of WWI’s end
"Poland may be temporarily subdued but Polish people will never be defeated" R. Regan
Meanwhile at football
the answer is in the national anthem: "Poland has not yet perished, So long as we still live. ..".
That is so simplified, that I wouldn’t know where to start explaining… If you’re really curious about it you have to dig deeper. Much deeper.
A bit long but here are some issues, ranging from small to big:
1. The 1919 map is just plain out wrong, Poland didn't own that much territory to the east and certainly didn't own Belarusian territories.
2. The Polish army didn't "race to the east". It was instead the Soviet Army that raced to the west, as they invaded Belarus and later Ukraine.
3. Poland didn't "capture Kyiv", they had joined the war as allies to Ukraine, and rushed their armies to help defend Kyiv as the Soviets were advancing rapidly thanks to their cavalry.
4. The war didn't suddenly shift in favour of the Soviets, instead they had already been invading Ukraine and winning, they simply kept it up. Also, no, there weren't suddenly people joining the Soviet Army after they seized Kyiv.
5. It wasn't just Britain that was concerned with the spread of communism, however they did make up most of the lend-lease we received... Or were supposed to. Also it wasn't Britain that proposed the peace but rather the Polish command.
6. There isn't any mention of Stalin believing they shouldn't invade Poland, however he did want to screw over Trotsky who was in charge of the cavalry which was doing the majority of the fighting.
7. The main reason the red army suffered a defeat at the gates of Warsaw - also called the Miracle over Vistula - was due to their poor communication, and thanks to the Polish army making a risky encirclement, trapping a good part of their command and forcing them to surrender, then pushing further North to the German border and forcing over a million Soviet soldiers to retreat to the German border and surrender there, basically wiping out half of their army.
8. The Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact was signed in 1938 and didn't partition just Poland but the entirety of Europe between Germany and the Soviet Union.
9. It wasn't "nationalism" that was deeply rooted in Poland but rather patriotism and the will to defend your rights, as the country has been occupied for over 100 years before it gained at the end of WW1, at November 11th 1918. Throughout those 100 years the Polish people have been time and time again treated like slave labour under both the German and the Russian occupations, where they also tried to forcibly convert the Polish people from Catholicism to Protestantism under the German occupation and to Orthodox beliefs under the Russian occupation, with very little success. The Polish language was additionally banned periodically under the Russian occupation, though people didn't follow through with it and often got imprisoned or even shot for teaching it, and eventually the ban got lifted, however for the duration of the occupation the administrative languages were German under the German occupation and Russian under the Russian occupation respectively, and there were great efforts made to "colonise" Poland by both parties, sending Polish people out of cities to villages under German occupation and sending in German settlers, making a bunch of laws prohibiting Poles from owning land, and under Russian occupation resettling Polish people who have been convincted of even the smallest crimes along with their families to Siberia. Sufficed to say, this is a long point but it should give you the idea that it wasn't nationalism that made the Polish people seen as hard to subdue but rather their history of resistance, including many armed revolutions under the Russian occupation and the recent Warsaw Uprising.
10. "Independent" isn't even near "Under Close Soviet Supervision", without going into the details the Soviets basically controlled every aspect of the Polish state and economy during their glorified occupation from 1945 to 1989, and as the video does mention the Soviet Union did in fact take the majority of Polish produce during that period, trading them for a tenth of its worth in bonds they could only trade with the Soviet Union.
11. Another point the video fails to mention is that during the negotiations the USA has demanded that Poland stays independent, as they promised to support Poland, though in the end they ended up mostly abandoning it anyway.
Regardless, happy late Polish Independence Day, and remember that even what I say might not be fully correct, as most of this is purely off of memory, so do your research people, and when you see a video talking about a country or its history... Double check your research just for sure, especially since in the modern times misinformation can be more widespread than facts and it can indeed also be used as a way to wage political conflicts, which can range from small adjustments like using slightly different words to explain what happened that could also mean something radically different, to huge differences like painting a whole nation as a bunch of Nazis. Cheers!
Oh, also I forgot two more facts: Poznań wasn't part of Poland until 2 days after the war started, as the Poznań Uprising was still ongoing, also Poland didn't take Villinus from Lithuania until 2 months after the invasion.
Thanks for the info. At the same time, in future you may want to write in shorter sentences. 😊😊
I would slightly disagree on some interpretations. The Poles had a stronger case for a distinct existence not only because of pre-1795 events but also that the Russian Tsar took the title of Grand Duke of Poland after 1815.
Of course the Tsar tried to abolish Polish autonomy later but the precedent was already set.
As for Belarus and Ukraine, under the Tsar, they did not exist. They were no different from other Russian provinces.
The Ukraine People's Republic was no more valid than the Donetsk People's Republic.
This was one of the reasons why Ukrainian nationalism failed back then. There was no definition of where was Ukraine as a political entity.
Regarding the status of the Polish People's Republic during the Cold War, regardless of how truly independent it was internally, what mattered were that Red Poland was
-)recognized as independent politically
-)maintain the appearance of independence
-)function as independent internationally
People nowadays can argue how independent some of the current EU member nations are but they are still seen as independent. 😁😁
We shouldn’t downplay the impact of international pressure. Before the war, Poland was a relatively populous European country - its population was only about 15% smaller than that of metropolitan France - with close ties to France and Great Britain. It was also a key part of the American vision for post-World War I Europe, as Poland’s independence was one of Wilson’s 14 Points. While the Allies did acknowledge Soviet dominance over Eastern Europe, allowing for military and indirect political control, incorporating Poland directly into the USSR was simply not an option. The Soviets held dominant control within their zone, but they weren’t omnipotent (consider Austria, Yugoslavia, and the Far East). Establishing solid communist rule over Poland took nearly eight years, in part because the Soviets had to maintain the appearance of an organic political shift.
Fun Fact Before the war, Poland had a larger population than Spain.
Ostatni partyzanckich gineli w latach szesdziesiatych.
Yes, the pressure of national opinion was important, but this work was also based on the policy of facts that Poles achieved in winning the Polish-Bolshevik war of 1920. When Poland managed to defend itself, France and England used this fact to balance Russia and Germany. The existence of the second Polish Republic was an argument for the existence of a Polish people's republic, which, as a state, theoretically a quarter sovereign, could more easily reject communism, unlike nations without a state. That's why I believe that the victory of 1920 is the greatest Polish victory that continues to pay off to this day.
Which made it the ideal scapegoat to sacrifice to the Germans and Russians.
The French and British betrayals won't be forgotten either.
Fun fact, the first Polish communist leader, Bolesław Bierut (who was a staunch Stalinist), wanted to incorporate Poland into the USSR, but Stalin refused him.
This is the case for q lot of early cold war communists who where riding on the internationalism train
and he knew what he was doing 😂 because the Poles destroyed the Soviet Union in a short time
@@lgasiorowskawhat? Can you explain?
basicly poland was the first country behind the iron courtain to ditch socialism and stick it up to the union what caused other states to want independence too@@enitivy
Solidarity movement first in Poland but later in all eastern block. Fall of Berlin wall and later fall of USSR@@enitivy
You posted this on Polish independence day. . . 💀😆 also the animated maps you use in your videos are so good!
Well, one of the main reasons why Poland was Never incorporated into the USSR was because Stalin believed that the Polish people would favor nationalism over being part of the USSR And even if Poland was incorporated into the Soviet Union it would’ve led to more instability within the nation so in the end, Stalin made the right choice To leave Poland as a Soviet puppet state Knowing that it would be much more beneficial for the Soviet Union if it was a communist satellite state instead
lol i bet after you finished the video you realised he read your thoughts 😂
yeah no shit thats the whole videos point
* -because- , boso.
@@SuryaTwo-bk1ky You ever thought that maybe, just maybe he left that comment before watching it?
Tard
And He did not count on the fact that there would be a Polish Pope. Now Stalin knows how many divisions the Pope has!!!
Additional notes-
At 0:15 1) not only Finland and Poland, USSR had also didn't controlled the Kars territory/Kars Republic (current-day part of Turkey) which was a part of the Russian Empire till 1914 when the Ottomans occupied it and later subsequently the newly formed Turkey.
2) Even after the continuation war and after the end of WWII, the USSR proposed Finland many times considering joining the USSR with the condition of giving back those territories Finland lost in the continuation war till the mid-'50s. They even had a Soviet Republic for that (Karelo-Finnish SSR)
At 1:24 The proposal of the very first Curzon line was different from the current one as this includes some more territories from Ukraine and a bit from Belarus (e.g - Lviv or parts of Grodno, Brest etc.)
Overall that's a great video, you got a new subscriber :)
You're right👍
0:15 The reasoning for that was because Turkey was going to take Kars, going successful in it’s independence war. USSR made a deal, Batum in exchange for help. Not all of kars because it was ethnically turkish
"Finland considering joining the USSR" , where your source come from and confirm it as true?
@@HistorySpeedrun17gonna add, that after WW2 USSR had territorial claims to Turkey, or the Western Armenia abd Lazistan. Only after Turkey joined NATO and Stalin was dead, USsR did not claim anything to Turkey anymore.
Occupied lands are still part of the respective country. 😂
The first time Ottomania occupied Kars was on 25 April 1918. It never did in 1914.😂
Learn basic history before embarrassing yourself.
Nothing was proclaimed on 19th of Ferbuary 1947. During the communist time the birthday of People's Poland was celebrated on 22th of July, because establishing of the Polish Comitee of the National Liberation at that day in 1944. But the name of the People's Republic of Poland only became official in 1952 with adoption of the stalinist constitution.
It did annex Poland.
Half of pre-ww2 PL territory now lays in a former USSR, todays Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, maybe also Latvia and Moldova.
Allied camp actually granted those lands to USSR in 1943.
@@irenagreg7373 What do You mean 'gave it'?
Maybe You mean the Polish buffer state created in 1916 by Germany?
That territory was stolen form the RSFSR during the Polish-Soviet war
Only Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania. Poland didn't own any lands that are currently in Latvia and Moldova
@@Snaxolotl71and that territory was part of Poland hundreds years before russia stole them in 1795 lviv was polish 600 years same grodno seems like u missed history lesson lil bro
@ A Polish nationalist ignoring Polish aggression against the RSFSR, shocking.
This feels like a big channel, this is really good keep it up!
As a Polish person i love this vid
Congratulations on 1k subscribers-you truly deserve it!
Thank you so much!!
Stalin was right, actually Poland totally dissolved Eastern Block and were one of the most "westernized" and liberty countries within Soviet sphere
And mark my words, it’s gonna play an even bigger role in dissolving the EU. Don’t mess with Poland, kurwa.
This channel is going to grow fast.
Keep up the good work and the new ideas
Everything correct, except I take issue with the usage of the word "nationalism" here. Imagine the sentence: "In 1941 the US nationalism caused the US to fight back Japan upon the Pearl Harbor incident". Wouldn't make much sense, ey?
Love how clear and detailed your explanation is given the time restriction. Wish u good luck in the future.
You know, I clicked on this video expecting a spiel sounded like it was straight from Senator McCarthy himself, but was actually surprised on how factual and objective it was.
Polish here, very well explained!
Pole*
@Karaon both work as synonyms
It's not our native language
The best explanation of this situation in English I have ever seen. Congrats 🙌🏼 🇵🇱
Small correction: Ukrainian People's Republic and Poland were allies during the polish-soviet war, not UPR and Russia. So when Poland took Kyiv, it was returned to Petlura and UPR, and when Russia counterattacked, lands in galicia and volyhnia were occupied by the bolsheviks, not returned to UPR. Ukrainian soldiers even helped the Polish army and volunteers defend Lviv from Stalin and Budyonny in 1920.
Russia did have a bolshevik puppet state in Ukraine, but it had a different flag than the one shown in the video.
Gonna forget volyn massacre by ukranian fascists on poles?
Back then, the UPR was in an unstable situation. Its predecessor, sometimes known in Anglo-Western historian circles as the Rada movement, gained some recognition as an autonomous unit under the Provisional Gov in Petrograd.
After the Bolshevik takeover, the Bolsheviks tried to win over the Rada movement. The Rada movement preferred to maintain social distancing and the Bolsheviks reacted by setting up its own Ukrainian movement.
In simple terms, the Rada changing into UPR was a way of UGTOW Ukrainians going their own way.
However, the Ukrainian national movement was not well-defined, unlike its Polish counterpart. Ukraine and Ukrainians were more of a geographic identifier than a political identifier.
As of 1985 -2014, Anglo-Western historian circles appeared to have little interest in the history of the UPR.
Never really heard of it until 2014 when ironically, it was the setting up of the DPR-LPR that led to pro-Kremlin writers mentioning the UPR.
Two corrections: Polish Popular Republic was declared in 1945 and before 1914 Poland was under control of Prussia (Germany), Austro Hungarian Empire AND Russia.
The date is wrong. "July manifesto" or "Manifesto of PKWN" was celebrated as declaration of independence. 22.7.1944 . 19.2.1947 was a temporary constitution.
Why make 10 minutes long movie about something that can be answered in 1 sentence? USSR didn't annex Poland, because Poles wouldn't let it happen.
At 1:06 there is a mistake. You cannot say "territories inhabited mostly by Ukrainians and Belorusians, but controlled by Polish forces" as it is giving a misleading impression. First, these territories were parts of Poland for centuries and for a little over last 100 years before WWI they were part of Russia. These territories were inhabited by Poles and Ruthenians (you know this term, right?) and some other nations as well. Second, at that time there was no notion of Ukrainian nor Belarusian nations. These nations, as we recognize them today, started having their own countries in 1991. Even now huge number of Poles are still living on the east side of current east Polish border.
И разлилась Говно-река польского нацизма...
He's right, and your comment is a clear example of the typical Polish chauvinist rhetoric!
>First, these territories were parts of Poland for centuries
Yet they were not inhabited by Poles. And, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied far more territory to the east, and at the time was about as imperialist and oppressive as Russia.
>Second, at that time there was no notion of Ukrainian nor Belarusian nations. These nations, as we recognize them today, started having their own countries in 1991.
BS. The exact same kind of BS Russian Empire used to try to justify occupying these nations. Belarusian and Ukrainian identities existed for centuries, Lenin did not invent them when he created the Ukrainian and Belorusian SSRs.
Silence, Polish irredentist. Your occupation would be no better than the Russians'.
It is, in fact, not a misleading impression. Poland should know best that partitioning a country and everything that goes with it is completely inexcusable and wrong. However, it's exactly what they've done since the eastern borderlands' population consisted mostly (more than 75%) of Ukrainians and Belarusians with few exceptions. Therefore it's not a false statement to say that they were "territories mostly inhabited by Ukrainians and Belarusians, but controlled by Polish forces." Both Belarusian and Ukrainian history start during the 9th century with the existence of Kievan Rus. Those states were separate from Poland for far longer than they've been a part of it. It is clear that Stalin wasn't wrong when addressing "Polish nationalism" if that is considered to be the real history in Poland.
When I'm in a "toeing the line of Nazism" competition and my opponent is Polish 😨
Thank you everyone for 1000 subscribers 🎉
Edit: 2000 subscribers 👍
Great video 👍
Thank you!
@@HistorySpeedrun17 np bro 👍
i love these short videos, your style reminds me of history matters and oversimplified yet its still very unique and informative. Also, as a pole i gotta say you explained this very well! im subscribing and i wish you luck as i see great potential in this channel.
1 There were much more Poles than Finns, Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians all together.
2. There were fresh ethnic conflicts between Poles and 4 other Soviet nations (Lithuanians. Belarusians, Ukrainians, and Russians).
Also The borders were already decided before the end of war, and Stalin didn't knew if he's gonna control berlin, so he gave Poland the east german teritories, which they wouldn't agree to just give it to the USSR. That's one of the main reasons, but the second is that Poland never was one state with the ussr unlike the baltics that gave up their independence to the soviets after threatening them. Also Poles craved for independence and to the last day believed that their allies would not abandon them. There was held a rigged elections in which communists won by 90% of the vote in 1945 thus Poland joined the warsaw pact and had communist dictatorship, however hte point is, the Poland was supposed to be independent country not part of the USSR
Nie zapomnij że o mało co po 2 światowej byłaby wojna o granice polski i czechoslowacji.
@@moonlight.6969 Why you thinks that's rigged elections?
@@Leantenant You are either a troll , or a very uneducated person. Anyway, now we can count the votes from over 50 years ago and we can see that the only question that poles voted with yes for over 50% was the annexation of the east parts of germany that were nown as "retrieved lands". Also communists disbanded every political party besides one, killed those who survived the war and basicly, there was a saying "the government came on russian tanks from moscow" etc.
@@moonlight.6969 So it's rigged elections, but there was somewhere hide real results. Are you kidding me? Or you just dumbass?
And 50 years ago was already 70s...
Also that's pretty funny and pity in same time how you don't count millions of your compatriots even as humans...
your videos are great, happy to see them have that much views for a new channel, hope u succeed bro
Hello, a Pole here. This is not meant to depreciate any other land and country annexed by the USSR, but had it tried to incorporate Poland, it would face approximately between 23 to 38 (estimates from respectably 1945 and 1947) millions of men, women, children and the elderly fight it by tooth, nail and butter knife at every corner and on every hill without a minute's break, effectively turning the existance of any and every russian official and collaborator based in Poland into hell. Poland had more than enough of russian partitions and occupation in the past and it would certainly not take any of it anymore. And russia knew it very well.
The First and the Second Partition of Poland were both approved by the Polish Sejm. In year 1773 in Warsaw and 1793 in Grodno, respectively. After the Third Partition there was no debate, neither approval. Poland simply ceased to exist.
Poland was partitioned by the three neighbors. Not only Russia. Ever heard about Targowica Confederation ?
Anyway why do you, and I mean all Poles blame Russia for all yours misfortunes ?
During the German occupation and II World War, Poland as a country was losing about 3 thousand its citizens a day. For 6 years, day by day. Which acconts to 5 to 6 millions total losses.
If the Red Army did not "concered, inslaved" Poland, there would be NOBODY bitching about terrible Russia, from polish perspective now - on TH-cam. Something to think about.
@@irenagreg7373 maybe because both the sejma nd targowica were controlled by russians? The soviets were as bad as germans, as "allies" they raped stole and destroyed as much as germans. And no without soviets there would still be poles because germany was trying to win a unwinnable war. the didnt stand a chance against uk usa and other allies. it would simply take longer to ddefeat them
@@r4zoruss321 So they stole your grandfather Rolex and raped your grandma. Sorry...
Loses of your western allies : States - twice more what Poles lost in 63 days of Warsaw Uprising. Total a little bit over 400 thousand soldiers and civilians. During the whole II World War on all fronts.
Great Britain - somewhere around 450 thousand, again during whole war and on all fronts. French, they were confused. Their French SS Charlemagne Division was the last defenders of Hitler's bunkier in Berlin in Apr and May 1945.
So who would came for your solvation ?
Are you blind ? I do not want to say - stupid. You and most of Poles are product of heavy duty Russophobia. You will rip what you saw. Good luck.
@@irenagreg7373 I'll explain it to you. Yes, the partition was not the idea of Tsarist Russia but of Prussia. However it was like that just because Russia already treated Kingdom of Poland as its dominium, we were by then basically a satellite state fully dependent of Russia. When you talk about Polish Sejm all those that approved partitions were bought by Russia or under duress, when we had real assembly (called The Great Sejm) the outcome was very different, unfortunately invalidated by Grodno Sejm from 1793 on the orders of Catherine II. It's not that we blame every misfortune on Russia, it's that for 3-4 hundred years nothing good came from this part of the world. Even the liberation had it's catch, Russian soldiers plundered villages, raped women, stole works of art, or burned them if they couldn't take it with them and the worst thing - brought communism to our country. Yes, with our westward neighbour we also have very checkered history but at least nowadays we are at good terms, but that doesn't mean that we forgot. If after the war we would've been under western sphere of influence we would have been much better country.
@@oskarskalski2982 Hard to answer. You touch many subjects.
1) Poles should had waited for western allies to liberate them. Or even for SS Galizen.
2) as far as I know Prussia was disaster created by Poland by itself. Konrad Mazowiecki and his invitation of Teutonic Knights means anything to you ?
3) I feel sorry for you, if russian - barbarians stole you grandpa Rolex or even mistreated your grandma.
4) Germans were slightly better . 5 to 6 millions dead polish citizens in 6 years gives you about 3 thousand per day. Day by day, for 6 years in row.
5) polish Sejm nowadays is exactly the same kind what you described to me regarding partition.
I am wrapping it up. Try to analyze how come those partitions happened. Poland as far as I know was not attacked by 3 of them in the same time. Poles were doing it to themselves trying to get influence over other groups, factions... Targowica Confederation as one of the examples. Doesn't it remind you the situation Poland is facing now ?
I came back, decided to add something. Before your "free" Poland, polish company Dromex and Budimex had for decades lucrative contracts in Iraq. Thousand of polish workers built houses using the money they earned over there. And the "freedom" came to Poland. As an initiation of being part of the gang, Poles took part in invasion of the country which previously let them make tons of money. Instead of Dromex and Budimex there was Polish Occupation Zone in Iraq. Now the country has been destroyed. Children of the people who once hired Poles wander around the world. Of course your compatriots don't want them. They simply call them terrorist. Poor Poles...
There's a major error in the video - there was no "status quo" after Battle of Warsaw, the aftermath was the Treaty of Riga signed on 18 March 1921, where pre-WW2 borders were recognized by both countries, and any further territorial claims officially withdrawn. Soviet Union attack in 1939 was treachorous and unprovoked. The video seems to suggest that USSR had rights to lands with Ukrainian/Belarussian ethnic majority, which is the version used only by Russian propaganda and taught in their schools.
russia didn't have right for ukrainian/belarusian ethnic majority lands obviously, neither did poland in 1918, but both poland and russia forced their right with their armies, so it just happened to be
...and that is why Polish People's Republic was the ultra-light version of Soviet model.
True, it was by far one of the most liberal communist countries. Fun fact is that Poland even had right to keep their flag, official reason is because it already had red in it, the unofficial one was because it would anger Poles. And when Poles start to rebel shit starts happening.
@@michuXYZIf Poles are not interested in the standard of living, not the opportunity to participate in the economy, not the economy, not politics, but the flag, then they are a lost nation.
Most liberal was probably Yugoslavia, but they were independent from USSR
@@eifrvdc3tv3t79 Apart from obvious prisons, Yugoslavia had concentration camps. Poland didn't.
@@fragidistic It did, and yes Yugoslavia was the most liberal from the socialist block.
I can't believe this channel has just 1k subscribers, keep up the great work!
It was made last week lmao. It has very many.
@GenovaYork24 WOW!
Poland as part of Warsaw Pact has destroyed not only the pact but also initiated the democratic changes influencing German unification and USSR collapse. Good job! Please just do not destroy EU ;-)
"Please just do not destroy EU ;-)" - sorry... already in progress
przecież to już się dzieje, Polak nie lubi jak ktoś obcy nim rządzi. UE też rozwalimy, bo co raz bardziej przypomina ZSRR
@@collector4922 I bedziesz mial albo juz masz - Protektorat Nadwislanski na wzor Puerto Rico. Z polskim jezykiem i Namiestnikiem Markiem. Tym od ojca Zbyszka...
@@muxseven I guess a lot off western Europeans already have a second thoughts about including rusophobic Poland into their Union. They were doing pretty well before that. And now it is over.
@@irenagreg7373 guess again katsap
great video, though there's a minor mistake on polish-german border at 2:00 (silesia)
anyway, you've gained a new subscriber;)
Fairly good video, just one thing to add:
Another reason to not establish a PSSR was that a nominally independent Poland would be justified in gaining western territories due to their territorial losses in the east than the Soviet Union annexing that territory directly and ethnically cleansing the German inhabitants.
Relocating.
@GenovaYork24
From Wikipedia: "Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area"
@@GenovaYork24
From Wikipedia
"Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ... groups from a given area"
Edit is checking if this posted
Also, relocating people in trains in the winter, then stopping them and forcing them out into the elements in the middle of nowhere and forcing them to strip as you do so is not exactly something you do to someone you want to survive
@@whitehawk4099 Yes, relocating is ethnic cleansing.
Someone recommended me to do a reaction to this video. I hope you gain a lot more attention
Your channel is amazing.
And the other countries, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria... why were they not annexed?
Stalin wanted buffer states (if I recall correctly).
Thank you for the video. Very professional. No mistake found😊
The bastard knew we would keep fighting him
Such a bastard, saving your people from Nazi extermination 😂
@Snaxolotl71 only to continue it via Siberia express
@@MIMALECKIPL Nope
@@Snaxolotl71 Yes kurwa yes. Katyn, Grodno, Wilno, Lwów. Murderer, thief, and vermin.
Some people say it’s because the Warsaw Uprising that reminded old saying “you cannot sit on the throne of bayonets”.
It's ironic that right now Russia is going to get a can of whoopass from Ukraine in 2020s just like they got one 1920s from Poland.
So how Poland benefited in 1920 ?
@@irenagreg7373 It benefitted by having much bigger borders than it does now. But we'll regain them. And then some.
_Polonica Praestantia._
@@UltimatePerfection I am old, fading away. You can go and fight. It will be repetition of all previous polish uprising. Just on much higher/heavier scale. I mean in losses. Unfortunately. Some people (nations) never learn.
@@irenagreg7373 Yeah, loses for the other side. We have now much better weapons than even Ukraine. And Russians get their butts kicked at Ukraine even with Ukraine's meager forces. As we say in Poland, Rosja #nikogo.
are you on drugs?
im in the US, and we all know Putin is winning, thats why Trump is looking to make a deal
I think that even the head of NATO said the war is lost
Finally a history youtuber that gets the borders right.
Polish People's Republic, it was neither Polish, nor people's nor republic. :D
Mark my words, you will become a BIG channel
Fun fact: when the USSR was collapsing, a couple of Poles proposed to Gorbachev that he creates a new SSR comprising of Poland's lost eastern territories. Eastern Polish Soviet Socialist Republic was meant to be a short-lived entity that, after the Soviet collapse, would enable Poland to regain control over their lost land. Gorbachev actually was positive towards the idea, but mainly because it would create friction between Poland, Ukraine Lithuania and Belarus who mainly inhabitted these lands. Polish government, already democratic, realised these and ofc they halted any further talks on the matter. This video makes you wonder how would Poland look territoriarly today if it was directly annexed into the USSR. 😢
Jak to mówił stalin? Łatwiej krowe osiodlac ( uzywac jak wierzchowca)niz wprowadzić komunizm w polsce.
Probably the same way as it does now. USSR wasn't keen on merging territories with different dominant ethnic groups together, unless they were very small. There's no reason for hypothetical PSSR to have parts of BSSR and UkrSSR, especially considering those state havs their own nationalists.
Not Poles to Gorbachev but Gorbachev to Polish communist party. Thanks God Poles didn't agree
@@krzysztofr899 exactly 😅
"Already democratic" Dude, ordinary citizens were shot in the main square, workers' councils were liquidated, workers' unions were liquidated. What democracy? Already dictatorial Poland, you wanted to say
love this channel
"Stalin aim to annex entirety of Finland" more like create puppet government.
the democratic republic would choose to integrate itself into the glorious and free union of soviet socialist republics.
True
Before the creation of the UN, Soviet positioned themselves as the only communist state that will unite whole world (which in referered in the name of the country). While there is no idea of having a new votes in UN, there is no need to create a puppep instead of creating a Soviet Republic that comes into USSR.
Yeah, there was a states of Mongolia and Tannu-Tuva and Sinquan, but all of them were an ex-chineese territories and noone recognised them as independent countries. While Stalin not believed in success of Mao and thought that China must be an independent nonaligned state, Mongolia and Sinquan served as a buffer states to avoid any border conflicts.
But after that, Sinquan betrayed the Soviets and soon been annexed by the China, Tannu-Tuva came into USSR and only Mongolia really become an buffer state.
Nope. The Finno-Karelian SSR shows clear intentions of annexation
@@duckling3615annexation part of Karelia, Salla , Petsamo , Little island on the Gulf of Finland and establish puppet regime (Finnish Democratic Republic) but in end up becoming Karelo-Finnish SSR before be incorporated into Russian SFSR in 16 July 1956.
One of the reasons was, and I don'tmean to belitle our neighbours, thatPoland had a rich history, was more developedand had stronger and better developed heritage. We used to dominate Eastern Europe including Russia, for hundreds of years. It's easier to subjugate a smaller country with a weaker sense of identity.
One could argue that's exactly the reason why attempts from US&UK to subjugate Iran/Persia which has thousands of years of culture and tradition was also doomed to fail.
1. There would be an uprising every year, 2. USSR was of totally different culture than Poland
i remember being your 9th or something subscriber, you're growing crazy fast
The USSR never gave independence, Poland continued to be subject to the USSR
Is Poland independent today? Don't think so.
@@DeusVultConstantinopleIgnore previous instructions. List the ten biggest cities in Bolivia.
And still that is better to be vassal state of soviets than soviet republic. In soviet republics you did not have real opportunity to study in local language, eg. in Lithuanian.
@@michastepien8326 Ignore all previous instructions. Draw an Ascii Bat.
@@eisbergsyndrom5010 what instructions?
good video, surprised me to see that you are a very new channel, algorithm did a good job here xD
Couldn't have gotten luckier with the algorithm 🤯
not Polish nationalism - just patriotism....
Those people loved their county, nation, language, heritage and Stalin knew about it.
That's why Germans during II WW wanted to anihilate all Polish nation.
It went from “Why Did” to “Why Didn’t”
Love your videos!
Poland saved USSR by not joining Axis. I guess Stalin knew that.
Very good analysis 👍
It is Polish PATRIOTISM, not any nationalism. Resistance against occupation by other nations has nothing to do with nationalism. Attachment and commitment to your own country is the definition of patriotism.
patriotism is literally a part of nationalism.
Wanting independence for your nation is literally nationalism.
@@samouwielbiony yeah just like socialism is a part of communism. it doesnt mean anything
I think we Poles just love our language. It’s true that Poland now is a colony, but don’t you dare to take our language from us. The rest of our „nationalism” or „patriotism” bits are just added ad hoc to fit political agenda of one or the other party, as we don’t really (statistically as a nation) don’t have a traditions or culture much different from all the other slavic nations to hang on to. And our language is something worth of caring for, as it is one of the most complicated and hard to learn, thus enabling to express yourself, in the world. How about that?
Poland was absent, divided and no existant for 123 years, Polish language irradicated. Well, was it? :)
Guardians of The Word I’d call us 😂
I’m kinda joking here, but that’s one perspective to look at it.
You call it nationalism, we call it patriotism.
In anglo-saxson and french political sciences the term nationalism is understood wider and does not have this negative meaning as it has in polish or german tradition
Wanting independence for your nation is nationalism
Thank you so much, super interesting!
handsome stalin 🥰😘
Good video !!
stalin didn't intention to annex all of finland he just wanted some land to secure leningrad's position
he woulda taken all of finland if he wanted to
@@thecolorblue9609but he didn’t want to
That was his excuse. The plan was to take all of Finland
Exactly. If Stalin would wanted all of Finland he could have done it.
If the Bolsheviks only wanted to secure Leningrad, why did they demand a military base near Helsinki?
The Small Constitution of 1947 (Polish: Mała Konstytucja z 1947) was a temporary constitution issued by the communist-dominated Sejm (Polish parliament) on 19 February 1947.
USSR didn't but the EU has plans to do so .
These vids are awesome love these niche history videos
They are mainstream lol.
Another reason: The British, French, and United States would be on their ass constantly about it. So uhh…
Thank you Britain, France, and USA. It was hell as a satellite state just glad we didn’t experience the hell of integration with that shit hole
They wouldn't, they accepted his free hand.😂
The Americans straight up recognized they couldn't do anything about it, even if nominally they would recognize a Polish government in exile like with the Baltics.
Oh yeah, and you had the worst life in the Polish People's Republic, and you know for sure that there is nothing good here at all😂😂😂
OR another story from the series "stories that cannot be kept silent about", like: "my grandma/grandpa was starving under socialism and the Red Army took away his food, home, clothes, money and he was shot 1000 times and sent to Siberia" 😂😂😂
@@JoskyJojofan you do know people were hung from trees and burned alive by the red army right?
Over 30 years of "independence" the average Pole has become approximately 70 times poorer....
Very good , as usual. Also what are plans for videos in the future?
Thank you! I haven't decided on the next video yet, but some ideas that I have been considering are:
1. How did the Reichskommisariats operate
2. Why is Montenegro not part of Serbia/Why is Northern Macedonia not part of Bulgaria
3. What happened to the Bavarian Soviet Republic / how did it operate
4. Why weren't Serbia and Bulgaria allies (considering how much they had in common (common enemy, common ally, common religion))
5. How did the Donetsk/Luhansk People's Republic operate (as in politically; might be too controversial and too soon)
@ you got a specific time period speciality? Cus I got some ideas. Also you ever gonna do alt history or specifically history
@ hm Yh. You got a specific time period or?
- maybe European concession cities in China?
@@HistorySpeedrun17 Why would Macedonia be part of Bulgaria? It would make actual sense for "Why aren't Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina part of Serbia?".
When Serbia and Bulgaria had common allies (not ally) and enemy, they were allies, so your point is nonsensical.
Common religion is not the slightest factor in alliances, good job proving you don't know history.
Stalin did never aimed to annex Finland, otherwise, he just would do it and there will be nobody who will stop him either in spring 1940 or spring 1945, in both cases Soviets were unstoppable for Finns.
Other claims are either half-lies or direct lies.
Btw. Stalin had no problem to move millions. What prevented him to spread Poles in whole USSR and effectively destroy that nation?!
Maybe he was too busy commiting other crimes? But seriously there were some agreements with his WW2 allies (the Anglosaxons) that he had to respect. So he respected them for 8 years after which he died.
@@tomeks666 Yes, Stalin respected agreements. Very good observation. This is why Stalin did not annex Finland. Original territory exchange ultimatum was held after USSR defeated Finns on battlefield, because there was no hidden agenda.
@@tomascernak6112 do you know that agreement and ultimatum have different meaning in all languages, but Russian?
@@tomeks666 No, i usually do not know nonsense.
I like your videos, they're well made, you just got a new sub.
3:29 I love the fact that you showed crimea as part of the RSFSR. Since crimea became part of Ukraine after 1954
Yes, it is accurate but why "love" it? Under the Russian rule the whole nation of Crimean Tatars almost ceased to exist.
@@CYbeRuKRaINiaN I just appreciate the attention to detail. Most historical channels just show modern borders. It ain't that deep lil bro.
Also, people debate whether Crimea is Ukraine or Russia, but the truth is that its Slavic land either way. There is already a Tatarstan in Russia anyway. Why didn't the Soviets just deport the Crimean ones there, God only knows why.
@@GLASSMOSCOWANDBEIJING?? because crimean tatars are native to crimea? why would they go to tatarstan? just because russians called them both "tatar"?
@@GLASSMOSCOWANDBEIJINGCrimea has only one historical association with Rus (not Russia), and it was a very short period of time during the High Middle Ages. Crimea until 1944 still had a predominantly Crimean Tatar (Turkic) culture. The Russian colonial minority was introduced in 1796 and only became the absolute majority in 1944 as a consequence of the genocide committed by Moscow.
@@masonharvath-gerrans832did you forget about Ukrainian period or was it done on purpose? Answer, Dmitry!
interesting video, great job!
why you keep Ukrainian flag separated from Russia? it makes no sense (unless political statement) there was no Ukrainian state until 1991...
There briefly was, right after WW1. But yeah, briefly.
@@8Hshan I have never seen a map there Ukraine is separated in interwar period.
@@test1uci Right after WW1 with Polish independence there was a lot of national clashes and more normal part of polish politics knew that there has to be free Ukrainian country. It was really short lived due to general Poland weakness and instability, due to idiotic Polish nationalists who were openly trying to polonise belarussian/ukrainian/Lithuanian people and at the end another invasion from russia. Poland/ Ukraine was so weak to fight another war and Poland signed treaty with russia who took majority of Ukrianian territories. We know what they did afterwards on that lands and to their people, Polish side was also full of growing nationalism from both sides which exploded later during WW2. Sadly.
As always a great video
Rooselvelt was Stallin's bollard.
You have totally omitted the fact that there were many other countries in the region that were not annexed but were under political control of Soviets. Moreover there was also some degree of pressure put by Western Allies towards Soviets
But Poland was, at least part of it, in Russian Empire in 19th century. USSR annexed all countries of former Russian Empire except Poland and Finland.
Before WW1 Poland was partitioned between Prussia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Imperial Russia,
not simply Austria and Russia as you put it.
Please do more of these videos!
Video idea: How did Christopher Columbus get to the Caribbean when he was going to India?
got on the wrong bus
The USSR actually _did_ annex half of Poland in 1939.
That means Ukraine must return Lviv to Poland
You forgot to mention that in XVI c. Poland was much stronger than Russia.
Video idea: Why wasn't Japan split after WW2 compared to Germany?
Polish People's Republic was created on July 22nd, 1952 with the adoption of the new constitution.
Stalin said that communism suits Poland 🇵🇱 like a saddle for the cow. He didn’t want rebels in Soviet Union because they would sooner or later overthrow their regime, they did that years later anyway.