Glad to see this in Memorial Park in
Hope BC today. Germany on this day in 1945 surrendered unconditionally. Canada did a great job in WW1 and WW2 and Korea. Glad I attended the Rememberance Day ceremony about 200 people showed up.
I just wish the real reason for this war would be named instead of these lies about to free certain countries and certain groups. It was solely led for power and economical reasons. Of all parties involved. There was not one drop of blood shed out of altruism.
Hitler invaded Poland for no good reason. Same with neutral Belgium and Holland. Greece and Luxembourg and other nations were invaded. Canada and other nations did a noble thing by shedding the lives of their citizens to defeat the German nation to unconditional surrender. Fast forward 80 years and Canada and Germany are trading partners and military allies.
Ah yes, I totally forgot. Everyone joined to save the Polish and Jewish civilians. Thatâs like saying Hitler only attacked the Chechs to protect the Germans there from oppression. You are so naive.
So you are saying Canada and America and Britain should have done nothing as Hitler invaded other countries. Forget about the Jews and Slavs and JWâs being murdered what was wrong with stopping Hitler from invading other nations.? Germany declared war on America not the other way around so had no choice but to respond.
No, not at all. Just like with Russia invading Ukraine, I hope our countries would support Ukraine as best as we could, incl. soldiers if necessary. Same in WWll. I just wish the real reasons are said when it comes to why every nation entered the war and it was all solely out of reasons for power and economy for a very few. Canada and Australia were cheap Allieâs for the big players. Not to save Poland and itâs citizens for example (Poland wasnât represented in Jalta, neither was France or the Chinese etc.). That Russia even got to keep polish land for which they killed many polish soldiers and even more polish civilians had to leave their homes and land for good after the war, says it all. It was for a new World Order serving mainly best for the USA and Russia. Same reason why Hitler started the war. I donât see any basic difference.
That is the second time youâve repeated that nonsense, and this is the second time Iâve corrected you on it. Not one square meter of pre-WW2 Polish land is now Russian territory.
None. Zero.
The land that Poland lost in WW2 is now Lithuania, Belarus and part of Ukraine.
Look it up yourself.
Sorry, my bad. The Sovjets. Must be a habit, because my parents and my grandma never said Sovjets but only called them Russians when we talked about politics and especially WWII in my youth.
So, the Sovjets were allowed to keep the polish land they stole and sat in Jalta, defining the new world order together with the other guys. Not the ones they came to ârescueâ, cough.
Yes, the Soviets took Polish land, but thatâs only a tiny part of the story.
Poland hadnât existed for 150 years when it was reconstituted after WW1. It had been part of Russia and Prussia and Austria/Hungary for a century and a half. Then it was briefly recreated after WW1 and then invaded and divided again thirty years later by the Germans and Soviets. The Soviets clearly felt they were reclaiming (and liberating) their former territories.
Even before 1795 (the last time there was a nation called Poland before this modern version), the Kingdom of Poland had come up with a commonwealth deal with the Grand Dutchy of LIthuania and thatâs the only wild stretch youâd have to go down to say that territory was ever âPolishâ. It wasnât Polish. It was never Polish. The territories they âlostâ were never theirs. Ask a Lithuanian if he is Polish. Or a Ukrainian. Or a Belarusian. None of them want anything to do with Poland.
The truth is that the Polish were the ones who stole the land after WW1. Losing it again after WW2 was a restoration of the natural order in that area.
This is plain wrong, Reggie. Those territories belonged to different entities incl. Poland, depending which year you check. Same with for example the region of Ostpreussen, which the Sovjets and now Russia didnât give back to anyone of the many former owners. Or ask the Krim Tatars, if their home always belonged to Russia or the Sovjets etc.
What the Russians and former Sovjets donât want to hear is, that Stalin wanted a chunk from Poland out of the same reason the Poles wanted (and got) a chunk from the Chechs after Hitler attacked the Chechs and Poland. Just like Hitler, not to free the suppressed Germans or in case of the Sovjets and Poles, their fellow folks or to give that area back to the âtrue former ownerâ, but solely to gain power and influence. Who knows if WW II even would have happened if Stalin wouldnât have made that deal with Hitler to attack and divide Poland. Whole Poland. Again, Stalin didnât give a damn about Poland. His soldiers killed captured polish soldiers in cold blood and hid it as long as possible.
lol, there was absolutely nothing wrong about what I wrote. I just know the history of that area better than you do, apparently.
From Chat GPT:
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
- c. 1236 â Grand Duchy of Lithuania established.
- 1385 â Union of Krewo: dynastic union with Poland (Jogaila marries Queen Jadwiga).
- 1569 â Union of Lublin: forms PolishâLithuanian Commonwealth.
PolishâLithuanian Commonwealth
- 1569â1795 â Commonwealth period.
- 1772, 1793, 1795 â Three Partitions of Poland by Russia, Prussia, Austria.
- 1795 â Commonwealth dissolved; Poland and Lithuania erased from map.
Russian-Dominated Period
- 1795â1918 â Most of former Poland/Lithuania under Russian Empire (some parts under Austria/Prussia).
- 1830 & 1863 â Polish uprisings crushed by Russia.
Second Polish Republic
- 1918 â Poland re-established after WWI.
- 1919â1921 â PolishâSoviet War; Poland takes eastern territories (e.g., LwĂłw, Wilno).
- 1921 â Treaty of Riga sets eastern borders.
WWII & Soviet Annexation
- 1939 â Nazi Germany and USSR invade Poland (MolotovâRibbentrop Pact).
- 1945 â USSR keeps eastern Poland (now parts of Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine).
- Post-1945 â Poland compensated with German lands (e.g., Silesia, Pomerania).
Totally agree with your last 4 sentences.
Thanks for the history lesson. You and Isa have a good weekend.
Letâs bring this down to a simple question: in 1919 to 1921, Poland had a war with the Soviets and took over Lviv (Ukraine) and Vilnius (the capital of Lithuania). After WW2, these were returned to Ukraine and Lithuania respectively. My question is this:
If the Soviets âstoleâ Lviv and Vilnius from Poland, should they now be returned to Poland?
Obviously, the answer is no, these were never legitimately Polish territories, and they should remain part of Ukraine and Lithuania, respectively. They have their own language and culture which are totally distinct from Polish language and culture, and the people there generally donât even like Poles. Anyone who thinks these are legitimately Polish territories obviously knows nothing about that regionâs history.
And if they should not be returned, letâs cut this crap about how the Soviets âstoleâ them.
You are ignorant, Reggie. First, I answered your question and said those areas shouldnâât be given back to Poland. But you also ignore the fact that not all those areas for the most part of history belonged to one certain entity. Most of Preussen belonged to Austrian-Hungary, before the old Fritz conquered it. The owners changed constantly throughout history. The Sovjets even attacked Finland. Their motives wasnât to free the people but to gain those territories. Why didnât they give back the occupied area around Königsberg to Poland or Lithuania too?
I get that the winner chooses one point of time and justifies stealing of land once they even signed off. I have no quarrels with that. Hence everyone shall consider carefully if to start or enter a war. I just dislike their arguements of freeing people. The only reason ever for any country joining a war is power, influence and economy. Just spare me the hypocrisy and white washing.
Whatâs especially hilarious is Putin arguing, that Ukraine never was a state and thus has no right to exist.
The Vietnam govt invaded Kampuchea in 1979 after their spies confirmed what refugees said about the starvation and torture and murder going on there especially that directed at the Vietnamese minority there. They drove out the Khmer Rouge govt then left. Despite winning a decisive victory the Vietnamese military left and did not keep one inch of Kampuchea territory.
India sent its troops to Sri Lanka amid the civil war there brought that to an end and withdrew taking none of its sovereign territory.
I reject your cynicism but totally like your comment about Putin. I have made scathing comments about the Liberal govt here in Canada the last 9 years but agree with everything they did regarding Ukraine and the boycott and sanctions against Russia.
Excuse my cynism when the current Russian leader, who does to Ukraine for years the same Hitler did, including the deliberate bombing of civilians, denying even Ukraine the right to exist as a state, while at the same time celebrates Russia and the former Sovjet Union as the defender and rescuer, despite Stalin was Hitlers complice, then pardon my vomiting.
So Poland stole the land and Russia returned it to the correct state of affairs, without keeping one single square meter for itself. Got it.
I donât ignore that. I just donât care. The entire UK is the unceded territory of the Roman Empire. At some point, you say, âOk, you lost, they won, itâs over.â
If you continue to incorrectly claim that the Soviets âstoleâ that land (as you did twice on this forum), then as far as Iâm concerned, you are arguing that Lithuania was never a state and has no right to exist, which is as silly as Putinâs position.