“When the First World War started in 1914, Poland was partitioned and under the rule of three different powers, namely Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Germany with Russia ruling over the largest chunk. All three of them were involved in the war with Germany and Austria-Hungary, pitted against Russia on the eastern front and against France and Britain (later joined by Italy and the United States) on the western front. The Polish question had not been an issue for generations, because all three partitioning powers had a common interest in avoiding the problem. For other Western powers, Poland was insufficiently important to risk confrontation with any of the three occupying powers; hence the Poles were left to their fate. Events during the War was to bring the Polish question to the forefront of the world’s attention. (Biskupski, p. 38)”