Editing Polish Corridor (section)

== Incorporation into the Second Polish Republic ==

During [[World War I]], the [[Central Powers]] had forced the [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russian]] troops out of [[Congress Poland]] and [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]], as manifested in the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Russia–Central Powers)|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] on 3 March 1918. Following the [[Battle of Vittorio Veneto|military defeat of Austria-Hungary]], an [[Second Polish Republic|independent Polish republic]] was declared in western [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]] on 3 November 1918, the same day [[Armistice of villa Giusti|Austria signed the armistice]]. The collapse of [[German Empire|Imperial Germany]]'s [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], and the subsequent withdrawal of her remaining occupation forces after the [[Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)|Armistice of Compiègne]] on 11 November allowed the republic led by [[Roman Dmowski]] and [[Józef Piłsudski]] to seize control over the former [[Congress Poland|Congress Polish areas]]. Also in November, the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919|revolution in Germany]] forced [[Kaiser Wilhelm II]]'s abdication and gave way to the establishment of the [[Weimar Republic]]. Starting in December, the [[Polish-Ukrainian War]] expanded the Polish republic's territory to include [[Volhynia]] and parts of eastern Galicia, while at the same time the German [[Province of Posen]] (where even according to the German made 1910 census 61.5% of the population was Polish) was severed by the [[Greater Poland Uprising (1918–1919)|Greater Poland uprising]], which succeeded in attaching most of the province's territory to Poland by January 1919. This led Weimar's [[Otto Landsberg]] and [[Rudolf Breitscheid]] to call for an armed force to secure Germany's remaining eastern territories (some of which contained significant Polish minorities, primarily on the former [[Prussian partition]] territories). The call was answered by the minister of defence [[Gustav Noske]], who decreed support for raising and deploying volunteer ''{{ill|Grenzschutz|de|Grenzschutz_Ost}}'' forces to secure East Prussia, [[Silesia]] and the [[Netze District]].<ref>T. Hunt Tooley, ''National identity and Weimar Germany: Upper Silesia and the eastern border, 1918–1922'', [[University of Nebraska]] Press, 1997, pp.&nbsp;36–37, {{ISBN|0-8032-4429-0}}</ref>

On 18 January, the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris peace conference]] opened,<ref>T. Hunt Tooley, ''National identity and Weimar Germany: Upper Silesia and the eastern border, 1918–1922'', [[University of Nebraska]] Press, 1997, p.38, {{ISBN|0-8032-4429-0}}</ref> resulting in the draft of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] 28 June 1919. Articles 27 and 28 of the treaty<ref>[[Treaty of Versailles]], §§1–30 [http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/versailles1-30.htm]</ref> ruled on the territorial shape of the corridor, while articles 89 to 93 ruled on transit, citizenship and property issues.<ref>[[Treaty of Versailles]], §§31–117 [http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/versailles31-117.htm]</ref> Per the terms of the Versailles treaty, which was put into effect on 20 January 1920, the corridor was established as Poland's access to the [[Baltic Sea]] from 70% of the dissolved province of [[West Prussia]],<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.bpb.de/publikationen/00557823048780774195080500255372,3,0,Tausend_Jahre_wechselvoller_Geschichte.html#art3| title = BPB on Poland}}</ref> consisting of a small part of [[Pomerania]] with around 140&nbsp;km of coastline including the [[Hel Peninsula]], and 69&nbsp;km without it.<ref>{{cite book
|last=Leśniewski
|first=Andrzej
|display-authors=etal
|editor-surname=Sobański
|editor-given=Wacław
|year=1959
|title=Western and Northern territories of Poland : Facts and problems
|series=Studies and monographs 
|location=Poznań – Warszawa
|publisher=Wydawnictwo Zachodnie (Publishing House of the Zachodnia Agencja Prasowa)
|page=7
}}</ref>

The primarily German-speaking seaport of Danzig (Gdańsk), controlling the [[estuary]] of the main Polish waterway, the [[Vistula]] river, became the [[Free City of Danzig]] and was placed under the protection of the [[League of Nations]] without a plebiscite.<ref>Eberhard Kolb, ''The Weimar Republic'', 2nd edition, Routledge, 2004, p.27, {{ISBN|0-415-34442-5}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=lKPn5WBBaHYC&dq=plebiscite+East+Prussia+Danzig&pg=PA27]</ref> After the dock workers of Danzig harbour went on strike during the [[Polish–Soviet War]], refusing to unload ammunition,<ref>''The Danzig dilemma a study in peacemaking by compromise'' by John Brown Mason Stanford university press 1946, page 116</ref> the Polish Government decided to build an ammunition depot at [[Westerplatte]], and a seaport at [[Gdynia]] in the territory of the Corridor, connected to the [[Upper Silesia]]n industrial centers by the newly constructed [[Polish Coal Trunk Line]] railways.