• imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    Wouldn’t really call it a sale considering that the Western powers never actually had control of Poland at any point.

    The alternative would have been a brutal war with the USSR, given that the USSR had unilaterally asserted military and political control over Poland by the time negotiations began. Poland was also granted vast swathes of territory that had previously been part of Germany for centuries (approximately 1/4 of the pre-war territory of Germany, from which 12 million Germans were permanently expelled). So I’d have to argue they got a better deal than many other nationalities in the long run.

    • Slab_Bulkhead@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      well they were “sold” at the Yalta Conference imo. but don’t worry this Stalin guy seems like he’s a strong trustworthy guy “because the Russians had greatly sinned against Poland”, “the Soviet government was trying to atone for those sins” you know by completely controlling it as a buffer defense zone for WWIII

      • Shiggles@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        The “price”, again, would have been war with the Soviets. While it may well have been beneficial to do so, you can look to Churchill to see how much public opinion there was behind the idea.