The breakdown of Europe's Eastern Bloc proves that the map of Europe cannot be redrawn merely to serve political ends. Perhaps no country illustrates this more clearly than Poland, whose borders often have been a negotiating tool of the Big Powers. This presentation enlightens our understanding of the current drama in Eastern Europe.

The World's Political Hot Spots series explains the basis of conflicts in some of the world's most politically sensitive areas. Many of these regions are in today's headlines, and tensions recently have become violent in virtually all of them. Each presentation covers up to ten centuries of background, revealing how and why today's problems occur.