Contributor(s): Professor Anita J Prazmowska | When the First World War broke out many assumed that it would inevitably lead to the re-emergence of a Polish state. As the war drew to an end the battle for Poland commenced on several fronts, both diplomatic and military. In the end, an independent Polish state would bear the mark of the way Poland re-emerged, placing the importance of nationalism above the need to build a modern democratic state. Anita J Prazmowska is professor of international history at LSE. She is the author of a number of monographs on Poland's place in European politics.