Territory of II Rzeczypospolita in Central European Classical Geopolitics

There are many arguments for distinguishing Central Europe that can be understood as the belt of countries which runs west of the border of Germany, Austria and Italy, and to the east of the border of Russia (without the Kaliningrad enclave), Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. Geographical conditions of the central part of Europe had also their impact on a formation of “the region of the centre". In the north the transitional character of land relief reflects the transient of Polish Plains. In the center of the region the existing highlands, old mountains and the Carpathian Mountains clearly separated some countries in the region from neighbors closing even the tribes of Magyars on the Hungarian Plain. In so changing its borders and extent Europe of Centre the borders of the Polish state have been also changing. It was connected with many historical facts like: the formal division between Austria, Germany and Russia and the independence period between 1918 and 1939. Together with the new geopolitical boundaries and circumstances a Polish point of view for Central Europe has changed.

Tomasz Wiskulski