Polish People's Republic
The Polish People's Republic (, ) was a state in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989, and the predecessor of the modern democratic Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million inhabitants near the end of its existence, it was the most populous state of the Eastern Bloc after the Soviet Union. Having a unitary Marxist–Leninist communist government, it was also one of the main signatories of the Warsaw Pact. The official capital since 1947 and largest city was Warsaw, followed by industrial Łódź and cultural Kraków.
Territorial evolution of Poland
The non-historical West Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed on November 1, 1918, with Lviv as its capital. The Republic claimed sovereignty over Eastern Galicia, including the Carpathians up to the city of Nowy Sącz in the west, as well as Volhynia, Carpathian Ruthenia and Bukovina. Although the majority of the population of the Western-Ukrainian People's Republic were Ukrainians, hereto an unknown nationality, large parts of the claimed territory were considered Polish by the Poles. In Lviv the Ukrainian residents supported the proclamation, the city's significant Jewish minority accepted or remained neutral towards the Ukrainian proclamation, and the Polish majority was shocked to find themselves in a proclaimed Ukrainian state.