West Poland (1983: Doomsday)

The Polish People's Republic, commonly known as West Poland, is a communist state based around the city of Poznań, which miraculously avoided destruction on Doomsday. It maintains tentative control over most of the territory of Poland west of the Vistula river except for Pommerania and parts of Lubusz Voivodeship which were ceded to Prussia at the end of the Prussian-Polish war.

Prussian-Polish War
On March 21, 2006 King Christian of Prussia declared war. With most of the PRP army devoted to police actions and reconstruction, the highly trained Prussian army quickly overcame Polish forces, reaching Poznań within two weeks. Fighting was furious within the city, but many residents believed the Prussians to be bringing about the downfall of the opressive Communist regime and joined the Prussian invaders. The city was taken within hours. Polish defeat resulted in the Treaty of Poznań, ceding Polish Pomerania except for the ruins of Gdansk, and much of eastern Lubusz Voivodeship. Despite the hopes of many of the people, the Prussian invaders were not a liberating army, and left the Communist regime in place.

Aftermath
With the embarassing defeat by the Prussians, the weakening of their army and position, the Communist Party felt that the only way to maintain their power was to offer concessions to the people in order to keep them from rising up against them. While the Communist party remained the only legal party, free democratic elections were promised, and several "Free Economic Zones" were promised as well. Economic restrictions were lessened slightly to encourage private investment in reconstruction projects. Press licensing rules were changed to allow license revokation only at the time of renewal, allowing for a much less restricted press. The first of the Free Economic Zones was revealed to be Gdansk, which while in ruins with no usable port facilities and even less infrastructure, turned out to be an excellent move for the Communist government, as many people were pulled by the temptation of building something new and something they could call their own. While essential service industries such as power and telecommunications remained state-owned in the Free Economic Zones, no other restrictions on business ownership were in effect in the zones. With private industry focusing on Gdansk, the Communist government focused their attention on improving agricultural development and decontamination of the countryside, salvaging the ruins of destroyed cities, and rebuilding the armed forces in order to defend against possible future incursions by Prussia or East Poland.

Economy
The economy of West Poland is heavily agrarian in order to meet the needs to the relatively large population no longer served by food imports. With the introduction of Free Economic Zones, many new businesses are beginning to spring up, mostly in the construction industry.

Foreign Relations
West Poland is a member of the CSTO and submitted an application for membership in the League of Nations in December 2009.