POLONAISE
written by STANISLAUS KOWALSKI
translated by S. Eiler, Winter 1980
revised and edited by the translator, Winter 1986 
published by the translator, Summer 2006
What if, for a period of decades, some government of some nation made all the most advantageous decisions?  Some nations, if this happened, would surely rule the world. The United States, Britain, France, Germany and Russia qualify...  And so does Poland.
It could have happened. This history, obtained from an alternate reality by means which may not yet be divulged, is living proof.  It speaks from a point of view unlike any in today's world:  the Polish point of view in a world where Poland is free from all power blocs.
This history also provides a good intellectual exercise for the reader, both Western and Eastern. Could it have happened in the world we know? Decide for yourself...
(signed) S. Eiler, translator.

CHRONOLOGY
1918    Reemergence of Poland as a nation.
1919    Defeat of Soviet forces in Russia.
1920    Creation of Polish constitution.
1925    Crisis in the Ukraine.
1929    Great Depression begins; worldwide political disorder.
1930    King of Lithuania assassinated.
1931    Kolchak gains control of Russia; institutes Fascist government.
1933    Hitler, with National Socialists (Fascists), assumes leadership in Germany.
1938    War of Poland and Czechoslovakia against Fascist Germany.
1939    Merger of the Czechs, Slovaks, Prussians, Pomeranians, and Silesians with Poland.
1939    Polish Constitution amended.
1939    Russia attacks Finland with no success.
1940    Italy attacks Greece; Italian government overthrown.
1943    Baltic States merge with Poland.
Polish Constitution amended.
"Slow war" against Russia begins.
1941-2  United States defeats Japan in Pacific.
1943    Civil war in China continues; ends in 1949.
1950    United States fights China in Korea.
1952    End of the "Slow War".
1956    Poles launch a satellite into Earth orbit.
1960s    United States fights Communalists in Viet Nam.
1965    Poland puts a man on the Moon.
1969    United States puts a man on the Moon.
1969    Poland establishes "Novy Warszawa" lunar colony.
1974    Oil quadruples in price, worldwide economic effects.
1982    "Polonaise" is executed. League of Nations session cedes world leadership to Poland.
Reference Map 1; Poland Today
The territory within the Polish kingdom today roughly corresponds to the territory she ruled at the height of her glory in the Middle Ages.  Then she held domain over Poland proper and Lithuania, which at that time extended to Smolensk, Kiev and the Ukraine, and almost to the Black Sea coast which was under Moslem dominion.
Today Poland has decided to leave the Ukraine outside Poland's direct dominion. (Political sentiment in the Ukraine makes this expedient.)  Aside from this, the modern borders of the Grand Kingdom reach the ancient borders in the east, and exceed them in the west.
Reference Map 2; The war against Fascist Germany
The initial attack of the Fascist Germans succeeded at only one point:  directly north of Vienna. The Czechoslovak fortification line had anticipated a German attack via Austria, but not a German annexation of Austria. The Czech armored reserve had to meet this attack until Polish assistance could arrive. The main chapter details the results.
A Note on Terminology;
The term "Poland", as used by the rest of the world since 1943, uniformly refers to the full Grand Kingdom of Poland, Lithuania, the Czechs and Slovaks, Silesia, Belarus, Prussia, and the Baltic States.  Within this text, the terms "Grand Poland" and "Grand Kingdom" are used to refer to the Grand Kingdom and whatever territories it contains at the time. The term "Poland" also refers to the full Grand Kingdom, unless it is used in a regal office (e.g. "King of Poland") or mentioned in conjunction with other territories (e.g. "Poland, Belarus and Lithuania"), The Polish homeland, referred on its own, is called "Poland proper".
Other nations have similarly confusing terminologies. The United States of America calls itself "America"; this terminology is shared by men of Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. (The remainder of the Americas calls the United States "North America".)  In this text, "United States", "U.S.", and "America" are used interchangeably.
Alt other nations are labeled in this text by the names of the dominant peoples. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland/Northern Ireland is labeled "Britain" or "England".  The Empire of Russia, the Republic of the Russias, the Slavic National Socialist Republic, and the Grand Republic of Russia are all labeled “Russia”.  The People’s Republic of China is labeled “China”; likewise is the Republic of China, but only when it holds territories on the mainland.  When the Republic of China holds the island of Taiwan only, it is labeled “Taiwan”.  The other national terminology in this text may be understood without ambiguity.

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What is history but the dance of nations? The countries of the world weave about each other in an intricate procession, sometimes stately, oft-times chaotic.  But in the dance of nations, the most influential dancers also call the tune. The tempo depends on the goals the strongest nations set - prosperity and power, as in the west, or power alone, the goal of Eastern governments.  When the dance ends, the final tempo is that of power.
This manuscript tells how, in the twentieth century. Poland joined the dance of nations, gained the power, and eventually called the tune for the stately procession of peace, the Polonaise.
But how could a nation which was born anew in 1918 (created by a peace treaty, some say) come to wield supreme power over the world in barely over three score years?  Consider it:  Poland is ideally situated at the crossroads of Europe between East and West, able to influence events to either side. Her soil is rich, yielding both minerals and bountiful crops. Her people fear God, and are virtuous and hardworking. Her government is the finest possible, and she draws from a thousand years of glorious tradition, both virtuous and pragmatic.
The Roman Republic, with similar (but lesser) advantages, came to dominate the Mediterranean basin within the space of one century, 200 years before Christ. In the year 246 B.C. it was only the figurehead of a confederation of neighboring states in Italy, fighting against Carthage; in the year 146 B.C. it destroyed its last active enemy (the lone city of Corinth) in the Mediterranean basin. The Roman Republic developed into the Roman Empire soon after.
Rome had circumstances on its side in its time. Likewise does Poland in our own time. With that considered, how could Poland help but dominate the nations in this modern age?
After the World War Poland took her first steps upon the dance floor of the nations, but her gait was strong and sure.  Josef Pilsudski, a general in the Russo-Allied armies, was the national hero of the liberation of Poland from Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary. As Poland became independent, he became her acting chief of state.
He made a wise decision concerning Poland's foreign policy; the neighbors of Poland were worthy of her full concern, and the other nations of the world were not worthy of Poland's involvement. So much as possible, the nations should be left to their own courses - except when they impinged upon Poland herself.  (This policy is reminiscent of that of Rome in the second century B.C.)
Thus, the ongoing civil war in Russia caught Poland's interest.
There, the Communalist or "Red" faction guided by V.I. Lenin (and guided in the field by N. Trotsky) had assumed power in Moscow, Petrograd and the area between, but was struggling with disorganized but powerful "White" troops throughout the remainder of Russia.  In this struggle Red troops subdued the old Russian Empire as "they were able.  In February of 1919 Red troops appeared on Poland's eastern border. Poland was an obvious target for them. This was worthy of Poland's attention.
» Translator's Note:  The Polish word for the Marxist/Leninist political philosophy translates roost closely into "Communalist", not "Communist".  There is evidence that "Communalist" is the English language name for Marxist factions in the Polonaise world.
By this time Poland had a quickly recruited but effective army. Pilsudski had reason to wait six month or even a year to send Poland's army against the Reds within Russia; after all, the Reds might have considered the independent Poland too powerful to attempt to conquer, and thus spared it the fate they assigned the other states that they reconquered.  But Poland's steward showed an inclination to make things sure, against all enemies.  The Polish army moved eastward into Russia in April 1919.
It must be understood that this was not an invasion of Russia united.  Napoleon himself, with nearly the full resources of Europe behind him, was unable to invade a united Russia successfully. Russia was still in civil war in 1919.  (One year later, had Poland not intervened when it did, Russia might have been united under the Reds.)  Poland's army, as it moved forward in 1919, gained assistance from the other nationalist forces that Russia had held subject under its empire. In particular, several factions in the Ukraine and the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) joined with the Poles.
Poland advanced easily toward Moscow, Lenin's seat of government; her troops defeated the Reds in a battle near Smolensk, on the Moscow road. Through the Baltic states, Poland's troops advanced nearly to the suburbs of Petrograd, the Tsar's traditional seat of government.
With the Poles advancing rapidly from the west and the White forces mounting offensives from north, east and south, Lenin and the other Red leaders despaired and escaped from Russia in July 1919 by the best means available; a ship out of Petrograd. But their escaping liner was boarded by troops from a Polish destroyer (acquired from the former German Imperial Navy via the Treaty of Versailles which ended the world war), and they were taken into custody.
Upon the news of Lenin's desertion and capture the Red armies fell apart.  The White generals set up a somewhat shaky coalition government in Moscow:  the Republic of the Russias. Though they claimed the full territory of the old Russian Empire, they did not press their claims against Poland - or any other state.  The separatist movements of Finland, the Baltic states Estonia and Latvia, the Ukraine, Transcaucasia, and Central Asia were given their independence from any new Russian empire - for the next few years, at least.
Polish troops were within the Ukraine when the Red armies fell, but Pilsudski withdrew them; Ukraine nationalist sentiment would not have tolerated their continued presence.  But the separatist movements of Belarus and Lithuania gained the direct protection of Poland: Poland herself annexed them under her protection at that time.
Now it came time to construct a Government worthy of Poland and her people, a wise government to hold the Poles, Belarusi and Lithuanians together as in the days of old when Poland ruled ancient Lithuania and stretched nearly to the Black Sea.  But this government must account for modern conditions and nationalist sentiment, or Poland's cause is lost.
What Poland did (with Pilsudski's acquiescence*) threw the western powers, triumphant in the world war, into consternation.  Instead of imposing a chaotic democracy upon Poland, Pilsudski presided upon the recreation of the traditional Polish monarchy, the Grand Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania.
* Translator's Note; In our own world, Pilsudski held the reins of power firmly, as dictator of Poland.  Almost certainly some force in his alternate world must have prevented this.  Scandal?  Intimidation?  We may never know.  However, the League of Assassins (see below) may figure prominently.  The innovative ideas for Polish government which are described below must likewise have originated where we may never know.
Lithuania (defined to include Belarus) and Poland proper each received her own king, with absolute power over purely internal affairs.  These Kings would be chosen from the noble class by means of a comprehensive test to select the most capable ruler. A new monarch would take the throne every ten years in each region.
One Regent, who would wield superior power over foreign affairs, would serve both Kings.  Every ten years he was to pick a successor. The Kings and their Regent among themselves held all power in the realm, except that they could not exceed their times of reign or violate certain agreements between the two kingdoms, Poland and Lithuania.
To provide a check against the rulers, a most ancient tradition was reestablished and made legitimate. Expert soldiers from throughout the recent wars were enlisted to form The League of Assassins, with a charter devoted to justice.  The League was given leave to move and act throughout the realm and against all enemies of the realm, according to their charter.  They would be constitutionally independent from all Poland's laws and royal decrees, so long as their charter was observed.
The first Grand Polish monarchs took office in 1920 (Pilsudski himself became Regent). The Western powers, calling the tune of individual freedom* for all of Europe to dance by, labeled the Grand Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania a barbarous return to the past and a step toward repression - even though all citizens of the Grand Kingdom retained basic human rights such as religious freedom.
* Translator's Note: The Polish term indicates chaos, as in a gas whose atoms are free.
But the Grand Kingdom drew upon the strength of Poland's tradition in a way that no democracy or dictatorship could have.  It ruled the land as in the days of Poland's former greatness, with three minds - not ten million, as in a democracy, nor one, as in a dictatorship.  Three guiding minds served Poland far better than ten million or one.
The two Kings ruled their lands according to the modern age; they commenced industrialization programs designed to entice foreign investment in Grand Poland. Pilsudski; as Regent, kept watch over Poland's neighbors for any threat to Poland's people.
Such a threat emerged from Russia in 1925. Stricken by massive crop failures, the tenuous White government cast covetous eyes on the breadbaskets of the Ukraine.  And from the Ukraine it is a simple matter to invade the living heart of Poland.
The Regent responded.  He decreed to the Russians that if they invaded the Ukraine, Grand Polish troops would again march on Moscow - this time from staging points within the Grand Kingdom's territory just west of Smolensk. The Russian leaders were quickly acquiescent. (It is whispered that the League of Assassins pinned copies of the decree to the bedcovers of every Russian cabinet member - with knives.)
The Russians called off their invasion; they sent their armies instead into Transcaucasia and Central Asia, for all that the mountains and desert of Asia were worth to them.
Within the Grand Kingdom all was well until 1929.  In that year the greed of individual Americans touched off a stock failure in the United States, triggering a world-wide depression.
The economic crash brought political crisis to many European countries.  Within Poland herself, riots broke out among the workers of Belarus. The Lithuanian king refused to step down in 1930 - his realm needed an experienced monarch to deal with the situation, he said.  After his removal by the League of Assassins the change of governments went unimpeded.  A judicious aid program to the Belarusi and throughout the Grand Kingdom removed the problem of social unrest.
Crisis overwhelmed Poland's two most powerful neighbors, however.  In Russia, the shaky "White" coalition government finally shook apart early in 1931.  Each of the leading generals in the government had retained his private army throughout the 1920s, and each general sent it into action.  Alexander Kolchak, who had based his army in Siberia in the previous civil war, now had an army recruited from among the Muscovite area.  Again drawing supplies from Siberia, Kolchak's army quickly captured Muscovy, defeated all his opponents one by one, and gained victory after eight months.  He proclaimed a right-wing "national" Russian government, the Slavic National Socialist Republic, based upon the principles Mussolini was employing in Italy.  The subject nations which rebelled during 1931 were reconquered and dealt with harshly.
Meanwhile, the fascist "National Socialist" party in Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, had decided to assume power by means which passed for legal in the West. Their propaganda machine mounted several political campaigns, each one more vitriolic than the last, and each one backed by the power of thugs in the streets. Hitler won the election of 1933.
Both Hitler and Kolchak quickly established total rule; they suppressed all human rights and began to herd their subject populations into concentration camps. They also expanded their armed forces. With two powerful militarist nations calling the tunes of war on either side of her, Poland started to upgrade her army with the latest airplanes, armored vehicles, and even experimental hand-held rocket launchers for the horse cavalry.
1938 proved to be a year of decision.  Having taken control of Austria in April via "Anschluss" (a pan-German national sentiment in Austria), Hitler next planned to annex Czechoslovakia.  He intended to start with the mountainous region along the German border in which the Czechs and Slovaks had built a strong line of forts.  Hitter put forward as his justification the fact that the population of that area was partly German by race. He promised Europe war if he could not get the fortified area peacefully.
Hitler's feeble explanation seemed enough for Britain and France. Their hope was that he would be satisfied to rule all the German race, plus whoever might be mixed among them.  This would leave their own nations untouched.  (The French should have known better; they had a border dispute with Germany going back to 1870, and beyond that into the Middle Ages.) To appease Hitler, the two powers of western Europe literally ordered Czechoslovakia to cede the border region to him.  (Fascist Russia, which, unlike Italy, had refused ideological alliance with Germany, declared neutrality in the matter.)
The Grand Kingdom, on the other hand, realized the grave danger to Poland should the Germans take the forts and then all of Czechoslovakia.  By unanimous decision among the Kings and Regent, the Grand Kingdom promised aid to the Czechs and Slovaks against the German army.  Emboldened, the Czechoslovak government refused Hitler's demands to the end.  Hitler was enraged; he hurled his Fascist legions to war on 1 October 1938.
Hitler failed to realize that Czechoslovakia alone had nearly as many men in their army as Germany did in 1938, holding one of the strongest fortified lines in Europe.  With the modernized Grand Army of Poland and Lithuania fighting along valiant Czechoslovakia, Hitler's army stood no chance. That the dictator declared war none the less lends credence to tales of his insanity.
For days the Fascist troops beat against the Czech forts, to no avail.  The only German force that proved dangerous was a corps of armored troops striking north from Vienna.  Czechoslovakia had no fortifications against an attack out of the heart of Austria; her own troops had to meet this attack.  The fighting was fierce.  But with the aid of the Grand Kingdom's aerial force, the Czechs and Slovaks brought the German attack to a halt 20 miles within their border with Austria.
Hitler had insisted that virtually all German forces mass to attack Czechoslovakia.  This left the border with Poland nearly undefended. Masses of the Grand Army's tanks and rocket cavalry sliced through German Silesia, reaching the Czech border and surrounding several German divisions. At the same time, the Grand Army struck into East Prussia, capturing the province except for the environs of its capital, Konigsburg.
In despair, several of the German generals carried out a hastily - planned revolt against Hitler. The dictator was assassinated on 18 October (by a member of the League of Assassins who had contacted the generals, quite possibly). Germany dissolved into a chaos of civil disorder, with the Fascist secret police battling rebels in the streets of many cities. Poland's men and tanks had to roll west into Germany to restore order.  When Berlin fell to the Poles on 26 October, the Fascist forces surrendered.  The Germans reestablished their democratic government under Polish occupation; the nightmare song of total rule was over for them.
Poland, having defeated the menace of Fascist Germany and snatched control of the dance from the West for a short while, reaped the gains from her heightened prestige.  Slovakia (which Hitler had enjoined to secede from the Czechs) finally seceded, and petitioned for entrance into the Grand Kingdom.
This posed a new problem for the Kings and Regent; should they annex provinces from their allies? It so, would Slovakia fit into Poland's system of government? They decided to give them the chance. Slovakia was admitted into the Grand Kingdom on 2 February 1939, with a provisional constitution allowing them autonomy on a level with Poland and Lithuania themselves.  The secessionist leader was decreed their king.
Amazingly (or perhaps not), the German provinces Silesia and Pomerania next petitioned for entry.  (They may have lacked confidence - or desire - in Germany's ability to sustain a democratic government.) They were admitted as the province of Silesia on 17 April, on Slovakia's level; a mutually elected parliament acted in stead of a king. This brought all Germany east of the Odra-Nysa line, except for East Prussia, into the Grand Kingdom.  The Czech homelands of Bohemia-Moravia followed suit and were admitted as the province of Bohemia, with their existing par1lament, on 3 June.
Lastly, the Kings and Regent of the Grand Kingdom chose to solve the so-called "Polish Corridor" problem once and for all. East Prussia, conquered from Nazi Germany, was annexed on 1 July.  The inhabitants were given their choice of incorporation as an autonomous province, or individual resettlement in Germany.  Most chose to stay in the Grand Kingdom, alongside their brethren from Silesia and Pomerania. A king was chosen to rule them.  (They would have preferred an emperor, a Kaiser. The Grand Polish constitution did not allow this.)
The constitution of the Grand Kingdom had never been meant for expansion beyond the ancient territories of the Poles and Lithuanians, nor for co-rule by more than three people. The peoples who had petitioned for entry could not be treated as subject peoples, though; the Russians were still living with that manner of mistake. This meant the constitution had to change.
The system of government of the Grand Kingdom by three people was retained.  Effective 1940, Belarus was to be given autonomy to select its own monarch via the process in effect in Poland and Lithuania.  The "King of Lithuania" would be chosen by decision among the chosen monarchs of Belarus, Lithuania, and the ruler of Prussia, and was to be one of the three.  The three of them would form the Royal Council of Lithuania.
The "King of Poland" was to be chosen by decision among the chosen monarch of Poland, the ruler of Slovakia, and the Prime Ministers of Silesia and Bohemia, and was to be one of the four; deadlocks for this position would be decided by the "King of Lithuania". The four of them would form the Royal Council of Poland.  The office of the Regent was unaffected.  The Regent, the "King of Poland", and the "King of Lithuania" would continue to make all decisions regarding national security.
The constitution was so amended in time for the selections of 1940, which went to completion unhindered.
In retrospect, this was a most intricate government, and potentially unwieldy.  Had it continued for ten years or more, adamant in its structure even under conditions where Poland was threatened, it might have broken under stress. Fortunately this never happened.
One Fascist menace had been overthrown, yet two - Russia and Italy - remained.  Kolchak, Supreme Ruler of the Russias, declared war on the minor breakaway state of Finland in December of 1939 - and made absolutely no headway for two months. Throughout the winter the Finnish troops held the Russians back in that most Arctic climate. By that time volunteers from Britain. France, Germany (newly liberated) and Grand Poland had enlisted in the Finnish army. The Grand Kingdom saw fit to give its volunteers official liaison with their government.  This gave the volunteers a guaranteed supply to arms, and gave the Grand Kingdom a link to events. Meanwhile, the Grand Army of Poland massed on Grand Poland's eastern border, pinning down Russian troops.
With the volunteers of four nations on their side, the Finns had the strength to drive the bumbling Russians back to the Murmansk Railroad where they drew their supplies - and even to the outskirts of Petrograd.  Russia's armies had been victimized by purges in the 1930s. Russia's other troops in Europe had to face the Ukraine and the Grand Kingdom; troops from Asia could not be drawn in time to make a difference.  Kolchak sued the Finns for peace in March of 1940. He died soon after.
In October of 1940 Italy attacked Greece through Albania, which Italy occupied at the time. The Greeks mounted a counteroffensive, which drove deep into Albania. Volunteers from Poland and the three western European powers enlisted in this war as well; they reinforced the Greek army and helped drive the Italians into the sea.  Grand Poland reaffirmed its link with its volunteers; it continued supplies to the volunteers, and allowed personnel from its army to join the effort with no loss of military benefits. Entire units of the army - and ships of the Grand Polish Navy - were allowed to go to Greece, upon vote of the officers.  (No doubt some of the western powers did likewise, though probably without vote of the officers.)
The next note of this war seemed a reprise of an earlier era, where the will of free men counted for more in the conduct of war. After the liberation of Albania, a captain of the Grand Polish Navy (acting under orders from the Regent, perhaps?) called for volunteers to invade Italy itself. The response was stupefying, among all nations. After a combined Polish-British naval force defeated the Italian navy, soldiers from five nations were ferried over to invade Brindisi, the heel of the Italian boot. Almost before they could move a kilometer, the fascist Italian government was overthrown from within, in April 1941. Italy returned to a democratic government.
The volunteers returned to their home countries with the dances of war done, the ways of war all but forgotten - except for Poland.  Fascist Russia was still dancing to its own tunes in the east, upgrading their army and menacing all nations in their path.  Grand Poland stood directly across that path.  The western nations were too preoccupied chasing after prosperity, after recovering from the worldwide depression they helped cause, to stand against the Russians.  They could afford to; they had no need to worry unless Grand Poland fell to the Russians.
The Regent of the Grand Kingdom signed mutual defense treaties with Finland and the Ukraine in 1942 and stationed the Grand Kingdom's troops in those countries by agreement.  Russia, in response, massed its troops on all its western borders.  Latvia and Estonia, perhaps feeling exposed between Russia and the Grand Kingdom and without the firm protection of either, petitioned to join the Grand Kingdom in 1943.
Fascist Russia did not take kindly to this.  They had formed a mutual defense pact with Hungary and Romania. Romania, like Russia, had a longstanding argument with the Ukraine over the possession of border territories, and Hungary signed a treaty with Russia shortly after Slovakia joined the Grand Kingdom.  All three nations now massed troops against Finland, the Ukraine and Grand Poland.
Grand Poland's nine provinces - regent, kings and parliaments - quickly responded to this new step of the dance, and avoided tripping over their skirts.  Together they allowed the Regent of Poland and Lithuania the authority to deal with the crisis most quickly.  The Grand Army was concentrated against the Balkan states.  The King of Poland and his Royal Council supervised this force; the King of Lithuania and his Royal Council led the prospective defense against the impending Russian attack.
Both Hungary and Romania soon lost their gait when facing the force which had crushed Nazi Germany, now marching to the tune called by one well-integrated command.  They called their forces off.  Grand Poland's army began to entrain for the eastern border.
The Russians, now alone facing Grand Poland and its allies from the Arctic to the Black Sea, quickly halted their warlike tune.  Estonia and Latvia entered the Grand Kingdom without incident on July 13, 1943.
Grand Poland's nine provinces had worked united, and with effect, against Russia's threat.  Now they showed the wisdom and inclination to continue singing this chord as one.
The existing government of Poland, Lithuania and the Grand Kingdom had shown its worth in the Russian crisis.  But the traditions of Poland and Lithuania had shown their worth as well, in the war against Germany.  All the peoples of Grand Poland now chose the best of both. 
The provinces retained their local governments as they felt best.  Estonia, Latvia, Silesia and Bohemia retained their parliaments; the others retained their regal rule.  (At this time Slovakia instituted the traditional Polish system of selecting their local ruler by examination; Prussia did not.)
But the tradition of the new Grand Kingdom - government by three - was instituted over all.  A national government was established, separate from the provinces.  The regal examination system was established throughout the realm to choose two Grand Kings, each for half the realm.  And now all citizens were allowed, after primary school, to enter the 15-year educational sequence to prepare them for possible rule of the Grand Kingdom.  The graduates of this sequence would continue to form the bureaucracy of the kingdom.
Each Grand King would govern commerce among his provinces, and would arbitrate provincial disputes.  As before, one Regent of the Grand Kingdom would serve both kings and be chosen by his predecessor.  The Regent, with the Grand Kings, could levy troops, but he alone had authority over the Grand Army in times of war.  A requirement of 4 years in the officer corps was instituted for the Regent's position.
The League of Assassins, until now restricted to the borders of Poland, Lithuania and Belarus (the Grand Kingdom of 1921) by agreement with the newly entered provinces, was again given leave to move and act throughout the realm and against the enemies of the realm in the name of the Grand Kingdom.  All Grand Poland now agreed they had shown their worth.  In 1943 the League still had no problem in enlisting members from throughout the world, experienced in arms and willing to devote themselves to justice.
Fascist Russia remained an enemy.  The Regent promptly commenced a program of agitation within Russia:  the "Slow War".  Though no invasion took place, Poland fought to win none the less.  Radio broadcasts told of the higher living standard and of the self-government of all nationalities within the Grand Kingdom.  This slowly nurtured the discontent already existing throughout the new Russian empire.
Power struggles continued among the leaders of the Fascist hierarchy in Russia, and were encouraged as a matter of policy by the Grand Kingdom.  Members of the League of Assassins (probably) made their services available whenever one Fascist bureaucrat wished to see another dead.  Throughout the 1940s Russia was effectively too fragmented to present much threat to Grand Poland.
But during this decade on the other side of the world the steps of war humbled one nation, exalted another, and transformed a third.  The song which resounded from this would later resound across the world upon Poland's expanded dance floor (even as the Polonaise must have resounded upon theirs).
In 1941 the Japanese opened a new offensive in China, whom they had taken territory from for decades and once more invaded in 1937.  The United States, now recovering from the great Depression of their making, joined this dance:  they placed Japan under embargo, and moved troops and ships from their Atlantic concerns to station them throughout their Pacific territories.  The Japanese as a nation were dependent upon the raw materials which were denied to them under embargo.  They saw only one option:  a fight to the death.
Early in December 1941 Japan attacked all American forces throughout the Pacific.  A fleet of Japanese aircraft carriers waged a surprise air strike against the main American naval base in the Pacific.  But it was no surprise.  The submarines of the expanded U.S. Pacific force had detected them days earlier, and America's military responded effectively.* The planes at Pearl Harbor were in the air awaiting the enemy as they attacked.  The Japanese planes took huge losses, as did their fleet when the U.S. counterattack came.  The Japanese raid was a total failure.

* Translator's Note:  There are theories on the lack of American response to the Japanese military buildup leading to the Pearl Harbor attack.  In general, these cite FDR's concentration on the European arena, and his need for a single infamous event to incite American enthusiasm for another world war.  In the Polonaise world, a war against Japan would not qualify as World War II.  But in any case...

The American fleet crossed the ocean, defeated the rest of the Japanese Navy in a hard-fought battle off the U.S. Philippine Islands, and relieved the troops the Japanese had besieged there.  After the American army had stormed a few islands within striking range of Japan, the emperor sued them for peace.* Under the treaty's terms Japan effectively retained territories taken from China before 1937.

* Translator's Note:  In the Polonaise world, the lack of the American military / industrial power developed during World War II was probably decisive in Poland's ascent to world dominion.  The lack of an American Atom Bomb for several years was probably important as well.  At the time, the United States had little concern about the dispute between Japan and China.  The Japanese puppet government of Manchuria would probably have survived (for the moment) if a quick settlement between the U.S. and Japan had been reached.

China had a Communalist (Red) faction in rebellion against their government since the 1920s.  One of their goals was the expulsion of all foreign forces from all China. In 1942, at the end of the American / Japanese war, this still meant the Japanese.  In their civil war, Red guerrillas infiltrated Japanese territories in China, drawing the Japanese Army into the bloody war.  (The United States supported the Chinese government in principle, but saw no interest in moving material from America to totally squelch this Communalist rebel faction which had no external allies. America remained neutral.)
The Chinese civil war dragged into 1950.  The Reds finally won; by 1949 the Chinese government and the Japanese had both been expelled from the Asian mainland, and a short-lived independent government had been set up in Korea between China and Japan. China invaded Korea the next year, to complete their claim to their former imperial territories; the U.S. again took interest, and fought China there. There was no clear winner.
Japan's army had been drained against China as their navy had against America. America had become the dominant power in the Pacific. They now uneasily faced the new resurgent Chinese in Asia.
In Europe, Poland's long vigilance finally gained reward.  In February 1952 the Russian fascist leader died by an assassin's bullet, touching off another power struggle. The Regent of Poland took the opportunity to imply support to one of the two leading factions.  The other factions promptly took this as the first note of civil war; they mobilized their forces against each other. .The faction claiming Poland's support cried out for its aid.
The aid was withheld until the right moment. The forces which opposed the faction declaring for Poland had made progress against them, but had bogged down in the spring mud of Russia. As their offensive broke, they turned upon each other in distrust; soon they fought each other.  In July 1952 the Grand Army of Poland moved east, sweeping the chaotic resistance aside. Moscow and Petrograd were taken within weeks.
Under the Grand Kingdom's guidance the fascist government of Russia was finally swept away.  A monarchy modeled after Poland's (only the regent called himself a premier and the kings were presidents) was established, as the Grand Republic of Russia.  Siberia remained under Russian rule, but the subject nations in Transcaucasia and Central Asia were let free. The Slow War was over.
The attention of the Western powers now turned eastward. They saw Poland becoming the major trading partner of the Ukraine and all the Balkans, Poland overturning the Russian government seemingly at will, Poland dominating all of eastern Europe. They concluded, Poland had won its struggle with Russia for the power in Eastern Europe, and was therefore ready to conquer the west as Russia would have.  (Even Germany, which should have known Poland's good intentions, grew wary.)
Poland had no such intentions. Her kings and regent knew that better development occurs when the song of peace is played.  It was finally time to establish this song.  But western Europe was not expecting the opening chord of this song from the East, and was still conditioned to the songs of war.
Britain, France, the Low Countries, and the new governments of Germany and Italy created a treaty organization among themselves in 1954 to defend against incursion from the outside (namely, Poland).  They even invited the U.S. to participate, under the auspices of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Regent of Poland had to respond somehow, to finally end the song of distrust and war.
The Regent was one Maria Trovalaiski, the first female ruler in Poland's long history. Born into a long-impoverished branch of the Polish royal family, she was still eligible to enter the Polish bureaucracy in 1945 when she came of age.  Her native intelligence, quickly bolstered by experience, was such that the Grand Kings chose her as their Regent in 1950.
Before America responded to the offer of NATO, Regent Trovalaiski did the totally unexpected;   on behalf of the Grand Kingdom, she asked to join in this mutual defense organization. 
The powers of western Europe were caught with their shoes untied.  Their prospective organization was based upon mutual defense, after all. Poland's application to join the mutual defense of the treaty raised a moral point; could any nation claiming to commit itself to the treaty be refused?  Refusal would discourage other nations whose support NATO wanted (such as Austria, Yugoslavia and Greece).
The western powers delayed, created excuses, and finally disbanded the prospective NATO.  America, with its easy opportunity for military influence in Europe removed, returned to its concerns in Asia.  Within Europe, though, many individual* mutual defense treaties among the western powers replaced the discarded organization.  
Poland cared not in the least;  she had no reason to provoke the West into war, and the West was not likely to stumble into war into her unless provoked.  With the last stanza of war finally played, Poland turned to the waltz of peace.
• Translator's Note; "Individual" here means mutually redundant, and inefficient. The western European maintenance of oversized defense forces (more than large enough to defend against Polish attack, but not large enough to attack Poland) may well have given Poland an economic advantage in the Polonaise world.
While all other governments were making sure that the flow of consumer goods went from market to homestead uninterrupted, Poland provided generous incentives toward all scientific research, in whatever field.  In addition to Poland's native German, Czech and Polish researchers, scientists flocked to Poland from the entire world.
This provided unexpected benefits, as the pursuit of knowledge always does.  Poland split the atom in 1954, and built its first atomic power plant in 1959.  In 1956 Poland became the first nation to launch a satellite into Earth orbit.
In foreign policy Poland remained concerned only with the fates and actions of her neighbors.  America, Britain and France could have learned from her.  Instead, as they turned their worldwide colonies loose to become new nations, they tried to keep these nations bound to them - and nominally with the same democratic form of government. This was a step that the new nations had never practiced before. None of them could perform it properly.
The dance outside Europe and the United States degenerated into a chaos of missteps. As the new dancers took the floor, the elder ones would step in to call different tunes as they saw fit.  Sometimes two would call different tunes for the same nation; this caused renewed conflict between the U.S. and China more than once.  Other times the call did not take hold among the dancers. This often caused rebellion, and a change of the dance.
In the 1960s a United States president and a Polish regent each determined to put a man on the Moon. At that time the Regent of Poland was Roger Locarno, the son of a member of the League of Assassins - and a naturalized Polish citizen.  Having entered the 15-year royal educational sequence in 1944 shortly after it was instituted, he was eligible for rule in 1960.  He saw that Poland herself had adequate resources for her needs, but this could not be said for all nations. The Moon could help provide these resources.
Poland had an advance start on rocket research, due to the contributions of her naturalized Czech and German scientists.  She sent her man to the Moon by 1966. Three years later the Americans touched the Moon; in that same year the Poles founded the permanent colony "Novy Warszawa" (New Warsaw) on the Moon, with rotating teams of scientists. Scientists from the Western - dominated League of Nations were invited, but most refused. The colony quickly became self-sufficient, and repaid Poland with solar power, vacuum technology, and certain raw materials not to be found on the Earth.
Back on Earth a different U.S. president ordered his troops into Viet Nam, to fight Chinese-backed guerrillas in a war that lasted into the 1970s. The same Polish regent ordered a more peaceful advance, the attainment of energy self-sufficiency for all the Polish peoples.  The Regent selected in 1970 continued this advance. Nuclear power plants (with safeguards more than adequate) were constructed. Also, starting in 1972 satellites to transmit solar power to Poland were launched.
Plentiful electricity made possible some technological innovations in public transit. After a magnetic train line had been running between Warsaw and Danzig for three years, the country's rail system was phased out and mostly replaced by the magnetic trains.
By 1974, the year the oil-exporting countries quadrupled oil prices, Poland was producing enough energy to satisfy almost all her needs. Other nations suffered recession until oil prices dropped somewhat after a few years. Poland continued its course.
With all serene within Poland, the selected Regent of 1980 looked outward.  He saw the entire world dancing to the tune of war, called by the major powers and echoed throughout.  Indeed, throughout the world, governments had virtually declared war upon their peoples, treating them as conquered subjects and quelling their protests by arms. The Regent deemed it time for Poland's Grand Kingdom to put this situation right throughout the world, as they had before for themselves and for nations throughout Europe.  He consulted the Grand Kings of Poland and Lithuania, also selected in 1980, and they agreed with him.
They saw that all the major nations had goals that caused the tunes they called. China, by its doctrine, called for a totally Communalist Earth. America cared not for doctrine, so long as it had unlimited access to raw materials - without having to pay too steeply. Russia, Japan, and the countries of Western Europe had their own goals, and backed them in their politics.  The minor nations, by now, were all too willing to dance to any tune a patron nation would call.
The Kings and Regent all decided this had to cease. This is where the project "Polonaise" began.  This project would finally enforce the dance of the peoples of Poland upon the world.
In 1984 it seemed the madness of the world was reaching crescendo.  China was claiming ownership of a major portion of Russian Siberia, and the two nations were fighting border wars. As for America, after increasing tension with the Mideast oil-producing states, they were on the brink of war with Persia, which had just overthrown its American-backed government and taken all American diplomats as hostage.  Among all nations there were international wars and internal unrest on four continents, and several nations had the ability to detonate nuclear bombs - plus excuses for using them against their enemies.
Ironically, all war was extinguished just when war was at its strongest.
On 23 April 1982 this message interrupted commercial broadcasts throughout the globe and in all major languages:
"We are the Regent and the Grand Kings of Poland.  We speak from Space Station Copernicus.
"We see all Earth below us, and everywhere we look we see warfare, the chaos of greedy nations guided by no superior force.  With hunger rampant, finite resources dwindling to nothing, and many other deadly problems to be solved, the waste of our time and resources for warfare is a crime against our descendants. The world needs one guiding hand to put an end to strife - and Poland shall provide that guiding hand.
"We hereby announce completion of a delivery system for nuclear warheads.  Such warheads have never been used in anger in our world before.  We assure you, their power is deadly. Our delivery system is based in orbit; it can strike at any point in the world. And it boasts laser defenses that can incapacitate any attacking force, be it composed of missiles or men.
"Henceforth, any nation which causes warfare shall experience swift and matchless retribution, war shall be no more.
"Fare well."
Immediately afterward, ten nuclear explosions took place in uninhabited areas throughout the world. The nations could only conclude that Poland's leaders spoke the truth; the thwarting of three different attempts to destroy the system added force to the Regent's words.  Slowly, to save face, the nations called off their wars.
In today's world, as in the Grand Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania of 1920, all nationalities have nearly complete self-rule, but the Regent and Grand Kings of Poland have the final word. With the three leaders calling the peaceful Polonaise and guiding the employment of all resources, perhaps the world now has a chance to avert the apocalypse.