Territorial Changes of Poland - How Poland's Borders Shifted to the West

Have you ever wondered how after WW II the territory of Poland changed? Before the First World War Poland didn't excist as a sovereign nation. What is now Poland used to be part of the German, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empire. During WW1 the central powers set up the Polish Legion. They also set up the Polish Kingdom which was a vasal state of Germany. In 1917 the Russian Revolution took place and after the bolsheviks seized power they signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk leaving large strips of land in the German sphere of influence.

After 11/11 the Germans lost the First World War. Józef Piłsudski led the Greater Poland Uprising and the Silesian Uprisings. On the east the Poles were fighting the Ukrainians and the Soviets. During the Polish–Soviet War (1919 - 1921) the Red Army was defeated and the Second Polish Republic was now here.

In 1939 the German invasion of Poland took place. A few weeks later the Soviets marched in from the east. Later the Germans attacked the Soviet Union. After WW II Poland came under the Soviet sphere of influence. Poland's borders shifted 200 kilometers to the west at the Oder–Neisse line. During Operation Vistula ethnic Ukrainians were resettled. Poland would be communist til 1989.

Here a history of Poland documentary. History Hustle at Home presents: Territorial Changes of Poland - How Poland's Borders Shifted to the West.

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[HistoryHustle]

Learn more about the Partitions of Poland:

[luxembourgishempire]

Poland has always been an interesting country. Another awesome video Stefan! Keep these coming!

[ФёдарМаліноўскі]

Thanks a lot for the video. I'm a part of the Polish minority in Belarus from Hrodna (or Grodno in Polish). Part of my family was expelled but another part managed to stay here. It's great that you picked up the topic because it's mostly ignored in favor of Germans trying to claim sole victimhood on that topic.

[Judekutten]

Thank you for the video. Stalin was the Political Commissar of the Red Army during the Polish-Soviet war of 1920. The Soviets wanted to Sovietize Poland and then export Communism to Germany and other parts of Europe. Since the Poles defeated the Red Army, Lenin and Trotsky's dream of spreading Communism to Central Europe collapsed. And due to that, Stalin bore a personal grudge against the Poles. He always regarded Poland as a threat to the Soviet state, and used the Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty as an opportunity to weaken the Polish state and get more land at Poland's expense in 1939. The fact that the Western Allies did little help (except through diplomacy, besides FDR and Churchill was forced to accept Stalin's demand due to the fact that, the Red Army bore the brunt of fighting the Germans) to save Poland from the Soviets is known as "the Great Western Betrayal". However, the original pre-1939 Polish Govt continued (only in name) to organize in London and remained so until the end of the cold war. During the Communist rule, the Soviets pressurized the Polish People's Republic to maintain the fact that the Katyn massacre of 1940 were carried out by the Nazis (which was originally a doing of the Soviet Secret Police N.K.V.D.) and anyone mentioning the truth was persecuted. The Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa), who fought bravely against the German Wehrmacht were labelled as "fascists" and thrown in prisons by the post-war Communist Govt. It was only in the final years of the USSR, that the Soviet Govt finally admitted Stalin's role in the Katyn massacre. Also, Polish deaths (abt 3 million) in the Holocaust is often a forgotten matter. Poland survived Nazi brutality and Soviet treachery. A big salute to the brave Polish people.

[sandstorm]

France: So Poland, how many republics have you had?
Poland: Four
France: Not bad!

[mikemancuso]

My Polish relatives told me terribles stories about it. Greetings from Canada.

[kriftoft]

Polish fate is very crazy. My grandmother was taken from the east for forced labor to Germany. From there, she returned with her husband to his homeland on the border with Germany. They got a German home in the regained territories. Next to us was one German family. They didn't speak Polish, but they had a Polish surname and claimed to be Polish. The rest of my grandmother's family stayed near Pinsk. Before the war, they were Poles. After the war, they became Belarusians. It was dangerous to be Poles in the USSR. I recommend visiting the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk and next to the World Solidarity Center.

[Martek]

What Red Army did we don't call liberation. We call it the shift of occupant

[gaditya]

Geography played a major obstacle in Poland's success. Its surrounded by powerful kingdoms and hard to defend terrains.

[adamwnt]

your channel deserves much more, you'll get there eventually and thank you so much for posting this video and for stating the facts accurately. 
Greetings from Poland.

[olsterb]

Hi All,

I find this subject so interesting and been reading about European history for the last couple of years. I have some friends who have both German and Polish backgrounds and all emigrated to the UK to avoid persecution because of their beliefs and nationality. The videos produced by you are brilliant and provide some great content and information. Sadly, in the UK, it is not so well informed how we didn't help the Polish nation either through the beginning of its creation post WW1, how the 'Entente' or Allied powers, headed up by Lloyd George, didn't provide enough credit, support or even men/armaments to fight the Soviets during the Soviet-Polish wars of 1919-21.

It's hushed up even more with the lack of support during WW2, especially in 1939, when it's almost been seen as a war over there, instead of over here. It's also embarrassing how the allies treated the Polish government in exile and their armed forces that had escaped to fight against tyranny in the forms of Nazism and Bolshevism, only to be sidelined and used when convenient i.e. Battle of Britain, the invasion of Italy, Storming Monte Cassino, D-Day and Operation Market Garden. Sadly, at the end of the war, with two political leaders out of the frame (1 died, the other voted out), I wonder if Eastern Europe would've looked slightly different if both leaders were still in power and if they had the gumption to tell Stalin where to stuff it. However, no Polish armed forces were invited to the military parade down the Mall in London 1945 because of potentially upsetting Stalin and the Soviet army.

Where I am in London, there is a memorial for the Polish pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain and which is still remembered today, especially those how fought or families living here, but also the RAF and young people part of those groups wanting to be in RAF in the future. There has also been a Polish community where I am which has been here since the 1940's.

[bartoszpankiewicz]

Thank you for the ending of the video.

[lubliner]

Thank you very much. It's a topic that someone rarely picks up Ł.
We also have a history of expulsion: My family came from Wilno/Vilnius, Lithuania until the Soviet Union invaded them and expelled the Polish population. Unfortunately, after the war Poles weren't allowed to mourn their homes.

[youradventure]

Thanks mate good video with an unbiased reporting on Poland .

[tada]

Stefan, I am just humble watcher of your videos, but what I want to say is that you are doing a very good job! Thank you for that! Again, this is not about this material about Poland, but about all of your videos. Greetings!

[polskiszlachcic]

Thank you for this video. As a Pole whose family has been expelled from the East, I cannot thank you enough ☺ The expulsion of the Polish population is often overlooked because of Germans from the East 😔

[Wilhelm]

Very glad that you've done this video of Poland's tragic history, Thanks

[baileygregory]

What happened to eastern Europe after WW2 always makes me angry.

[misterbacon]

HH, again a very good video, very informative. I did not know this part of the war history.

[zadadazadada]

I'm a history buff and I haven't heard this in such detail, thank you!❤