Episode 38 - Polish Reboot

Out of all the unlucky nations I cover on this podcast, probably none had it quite like Poland. After over a century of non-existence, the interwar era saw the Polish nation birth itself back into being. Born in conflict, this version of Poland would never quite find its footing, whilst being wedged between two large nations who would love to partition the country yet again. But as I'll cover, much of their misfortune was self-inflicted, and the young state would tragically do itself few favors.    Bibliography for this episode:  Berend, Ivan Decades of Crisis: Central and Eastern Europe Before World War II University of California Press 1998 Gerwarth, Robert The Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to End Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 2016 Davies, Norman God's Playground: A History of Poland, Volume II Columbia University Press 2005 Kochanski, Halik The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War Penguin Books Ltd 2012   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]