Poland Rises in the East I BETWEEN 2 WARS I 1921 Part 2 of 2 - YouTube (2)

Covered by the chaos of the strikes, forces led by Alfons "Rakoczy" Zgrzebniok

destroy the entire communication infrastructure of the region

to stop the Germans from coordinating a response.

The insurgents then waged skirmishes all over the region to intimidate the German-speaking population.

The uprising succeeds, a mixed Polish-German police force is introduced and the militias on both sides are disbanded.

Although the Polish militia continues to exist clandestinely in the guise of a sport association

under the new name : "Headquarters of Physical Education".

The plebiscite can go ahead. But before it does, both sides come up with a new trick :

they start bringing in ethnic Poles and ethnic Germans that were born in Silesia but have since moved away.

By the rules of the plebiscite, these people can vote as long as they move back "home".

The population of Upper Silesia suddenly increases by over 20% to over 2 million people.

In the end the vote comes out with a majority of over 59% for staying in Germany.

Regionally, the results are very different,

with some areas voting with huge majorities to go with Poland and others the opposite.

Also, the plebiscite was only supposed to happen for the regions with Polish language majority,

but was then extended to the whole region?

Enraged by all the machinations and attempts at manipulation,

although to be fair both sides were trying to manipulate the results,

Polish militias re-emerge and start the third Silesian uprising.

The whole affair causes uproar all over Poland, Germany and in diplomatic circles worldwide.

Finally, instead of keeping the whole region in Germany, the inter-allied Commission on Upper Silesia

decides to split the region with the eastern parts going to Poland, and the western parts remaining in Germany.

Two problems though : first, there are still ethnic poles in Germany and ethnic Germans in Poland

that feel like they're in the wrong country ; and second,

the part that goes to Poland is the most valuable part from an industrial and natural resource perspective.

So there we are, at the end of 1921,

and instead of resolving ethnic strife on the borders between Poland and Germany,

the impossibility of dividing culturally mixed regions has created tensions that won't disappear over the next 18 years.

Although Piłsudski has failed to establish a new Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,

he has created what looks like a stable polish Republic that has stood both the tests of international diplomacy

and war against a much larger enemy.

The wars in Eastern Europe are over, for now, and in the next few years

Poland and the Baltic States will experience growing prosperity and quality of life.

But as we shall see, the good years will eventually end in economic depression, fascism

or renewed communist agitation and eventually a new world war that will physically begin in Poland.

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