Second Polish Republic (Alexander the Liberator)

The Second Polish Republic, commonly known as interwar Poland, refers to the country of Poland between the First and Second World Wars (1918–1939). Officially known as the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska), the Polish state was recreated in 1918, in the aftermath of World War I and the 1917 Russian Separatist Crisis. When, after several regional conflicts, the borders of the state were fixed in 1922, Poland's neighbours were Czechoslovakia, Germany, the Free City of Danzig, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania and Russia. It had access to the Baltic Sea via a short strip of coastline either side of the city of Gdynia. Between March and August 1939, Poland also shared a border with the then-Hungarian governorate of Subcarpathia. Despite internal and external pressures, it continued to exist until 1939, when Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany, Russia and the Slovak Republic, marking the beginning of World War II in Europe. The Second Republic was significantly different in territory to the current Polish state as it included substantially more territory in the east and less in the west.

The Second Republic's land area was 388,634 km2, making it, in October 1938, the sixth largest country in Europe. After the annexation of Zaolzie from Czechoslovakia, this grew to 389,720 km2. According to the 1921 census, the number of inhabitants was 27.2 million. By 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, this had grown to an estimated 35.1 million. Almost a third of population came from minority groups: 13.9% Ukrainians; 10% Jews; 3.1% Belarusians; 2.3% Germans and 3.4% Czechs, Lithuanians and Russians. At the same time, a significant number of ethnic Poles lived outside the country borders. The Republic endured and expanded, despite a variety of difficulties in the aftermath of World War I, including conflicts with the Ukrainians, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, and Russia; the Weimar Republic over Greater Poland, and Upper Silesia; and in spite of increasing hostility from Nazi Germany. Poland maintained a slow but steady level of economic development. The cultural hubs of interwar Poland – Warsaw, Kraków, Poznań, Wilno and Lwów – became major European cities and the sites of internationally acclaimed universities and other institutions of higher education. By 1939, the Republic had become "one of Europe's major powers".