Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
Secondly, Poland as a country has a much longer standing "disagreement" with Germany. Throughout several centuries, Poland has been invaded, split up, portioned out, traded and the people generally given little say in their own well-being and interests. Half of Poland even speaks German in preference to Polish because of this relative lack of national history.
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You're missing/ommitting a couple of very key points, Leg.
Poland's uncivil relationship with Russia is nearly as long and just as contentious. Russia/Ukraine has been claiming/ruling large portions of Poland for centuries- it's not just a Cold War issue. In the more recent past, before WWII, there were two major camps in the Polish government and military- those who felt Germany was the greater threat and those who felt Russia (USSR) was worse. Many rightly realized that both neighbors were enemies in waiting. Those folks turned out to be dead right (literally). Poland, however, didn't have the military resources to counter both threats and they knew this. It was a very difficult position to be in. No matter which way the Poles turned, there was clear and present danger lurking right next door.
During the Cold War, there were Polish protests against de facto Soviet occupation. They weren't good buddies, even though they were "allies".
The recent rioting wasn't just random "hooliganism" and it wasn't just directed against "fans of another country"- it was specifically directed against Russian fans conducting a Russia Day march through a Polish host city. Why such a march was even allowed on Polish soil is somewhat baffling, but some Polish citizens decided to do something about it themselves and Polish riot police had to be called in to stop the violence. Fact of the matter is, there is still a lot of bad blood between Poles and Russians.
http://espnfc.com/us/en/news/1102063...y-trouble.html
I do agree with your point that since NATO was the aggressor and brought the war to Poland, that the scales of Polish anger and hatred would probably have tipped more against Germany.
On the other hand, if the Soviets treated their Polish allies as canon fodder during WWIII, some of the leadership and men of those units might decide that it would be less risky to fight against the Soviets than for them.