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Originally Posted by slapass
I was surprised to learn that after WWII they shifted Poland to the West. Just learned this the other day. I never would have been able to determine what states would leave the USSR.
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That's why nearly all the pre ww2 buildings in western and northern Poland look just like the same in Germany and why Lviv (Lwow) in Ukraine looks like any other city in (what is now) eastern Poland.
Predicting what states would break away from the Soviet Union was as simple as looking at a early 1920's map of Europe. The same ones that broke away then did so again when next they had the chance.
Czechoslovakia split in two just before ww2 before doing so again in the 90's and Yugoslavia broke up along pretty much the same lines as it did in the 90's during ww2.
And not surprisingly, the same former Soviet bloc states that did well economically before ww2 are doing well now and vice versa.
History does tend to repeat itself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by slapass
I am always surprised when anyone chooses to leave a larger union. Size matters in politics and being small is almost never an advantage.
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Never underestimate the compelling power of local politics.