What do you think that Poland's long-term fate would have been had there been no World War I?

[Futurist]

What do you think that Poland's long-term fate would have been had there been no World War I? Do you see any of the three "captor empires" (in regards to Poland) ever experiencing a revolution without World War I? Or was Poland's best long-term hope without World War I to see internal reform in Hohenzollern Germany, Hapsburg Austria, and Romanov Russia that would have all given Poland a large degree of home rule? If so, would Poland have to permanently give up on its dream of renewed independence in this scenario?

[Steve]

Even if one of the three empires collapsed because of revolution or had a sudden attack of kindness independence for Poland was unlikey. The other two would not have allowed an independent Poland to be set up because this would have caused their Polish minority to want to join it. The part lost by one empire would be divided up by the other two.

[Futurist]

Even if one of the three empires collapsed because of revolution or had a sudden attack of kindness independence for Poland was unlikey. The other two would not have allowed an independent Poland to be set up because this would have caused their Polish minority to want to join it. The part lost by one empire would be divided up by the other two.

It seems like a more Machiavellian move on Germany's and Austria-Hungary's part might be to promise to support Polish independence on the condition that Poland will agree to ally with them against Russia, no? Heck, Austria-Hungary can even give Poland Galicia in exchange for Poland choosing a Hapsburg King.

[Futurist]

By the way, I don't think that Germany's Social Democrats were particularly large fans of unprovoked wars of aggression and conquest--were they?

[Steve]

To be honest all I know about Imperial Germany could probably be written on the back of a small envelope. The Kaiser becoming leader of Germany is a good example of why hereditary leadership is not a good idea. The chances are that sooner or later a half wit or megalomaniac will take over or in the case of the Kaiser perhaps both.

[Futurist]

To be honest all I know about Imperial Germany could probably be written on the back of a small envelope. The Kaiser becoming leader of Germany is a good example of why hereditary leadership is not a good idea. The chances are that sooner or later a half wit or megalomaniac will take over or in the case of the Kaiser perhaps both.

Amazingly enough, in 1913, just one year before the start of WWI, Kaiser Wilhelm II was labelled a peacemaker by the New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/1913/06/08/arch ... world.html

[Futurist]

I know that YouTube has at least one good documentary on German Kaiser Wilhelm II. I previously watched it and it was pretty good.

There's also this great 1970s BBC series about various European royal houses between 1848 and 1918:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Eagles

I watched all of their episodes several years ago and they were great!

[Futurist]

@wm: Any thoughts on this?

[Futurist]

Interestingly enough, it looks like the results of the partitions of Poland were still visible on a map as late as 1931, when the ex-German parts of Poland had the highest literacy rates, followed by the ex-Austrian parts of Poland (especially the Polish-majority parts in the west), and then followed by the ex-Russian parts of Poland:

https://i.redd.it/kodnuqeo0w041.jpg