260 Chapter 3
the Freikorps made another successful attack on Polish positions. For the next two
months the Freikorps continued to slowly push the Polish back with guerrilla warfare,
and at the end of July Allied troops intervened and fighting ceased. On October 12,
the Council of the League of Nations recommended that Poland receive 3,221 square
kilometers of the plebiscite area’s 10,753 square kilometers, including most of the
coalfield, and on October 20, the Council of Ambassadors accepted the recommenda-
tion. Germany and Poland signed the German-Polish Accord on East Silesia on May
15, 1922, which legally transferred Upper Silesia from Germany to Poland.
Coding changes: Start Date changed from March 15, 1921.
MID#258
Dispute Number: 258
Date(s): March 25, 1939 to August 14, 1945
Participants: 140 Brazil, 2 United States of America, 20 Canada, 200 United King-
dom, 210 Netherlands, 211 Belgium, 290 Poland, 325 Italy, 345 Yugoslavia, 350
Greece, 355 Bulgaria, 360 Romania, 365 Russia, 375 Finland, 385 Norway, 530
Ethiopia, 560 South Africa, 710 China, 712 Mongolia, 900 Australia, 920 New Zea-
land/220 France, 230 Spain, 255 Germany, 310 Hungary, 325 Italy, 355 Bulgaria, 360
Romania, 365 Russia, 375 Finland, 740 Japan
Outcome (and Settlement): Victory for side A (Imposed)
Fatalities: >999 deaths
Narrative: Germany was served a traumatic punishment for its role in World War I,
including being stripped of much of its territories and forced to pay off the debt for the
victorious allies. Germany, under Nazi leadership, began to rebound and demand more
alterations to the Versailles agreement, testing the commitment of the European pow-
ers more frequently. Importantly, it began making demands on its neighbors, resulting
in several crises in central Europe over Austria and the Sudetenland. An appeasement
policy was infamously pursued by Britain and France, with the assumption that all
Hitler wanted was restoration of some predominantly German territories. When this
proved wrong following continued threats to central European neighbors, the French
and British tried to threaten Hitler to cease any additional territorial aggrandizement.
For Hitler, though, the next target was Poland.
When Germany invaded Poland, the Allies declared war. Alliance commitments
and colonial holdings ultimately engulfed nearly the entire world in war. The Allied
powers won this conflict, albeit in separate phases. Germany was occupied by the Brit-
ish, French, Americans, and Soviets for the next few years, ultimately giving way to
the split into East and West. The French occupied Saar until 1957. Germany’s capital,
Berlin, was occupied by the British, French, Americans, and Soviets, resulting in a wall
to divide the growing East/West Communist/non-Communist split that defined interna-
tional politics until the collapse of the Soviet Union 50 years later. The United States
occupied Japan for the next several years, later removing its occupying forces from
mainland Japan in 1952 and from Ryukyu in 1972. The United States also assumed
administration of Japan’s former Micronesian territories, ultimately leaving in 1994.
The Soviets and United States, the major winners of the war and the superpowers for
the next several decades, jointly occupied Korea for a couple years, sewing the seeds
of the North (Soviet) and South (American) split that continues in Korea to this day.