Why did Poland lose independence after World War II?

Following the end of World War II, Poland effectively lost its independence and became a communist satellite state of the Soviet Union due to a combination of military occupation and political maneuvering by Joseph Stalin.12

As the Red Army pushed back German forces, it occupied Polish territory, allowing the Soviets to install a pro-Soviet provisional government—the Polish Committee of National Liberation—while suppressing the legitimate government-in-exile based in London. Although the Yalta Conference agreements called for "free and unfettered" elections, Stalin failed to honor these commitments. Instead, the Soviet-backed communists systematically eliminated political opposition, falsified election results, and established a totalitarian regime that followed the Stalinist model.324

The Western Allies, including the United States and Great Britain, were unable to enforce democratic outcomes because the Soviet Union was the military occupier of the region. Consequently, Poland remained under communist control for nearly half a century, until the collapse of communist regimes across eastern Europe in 1989.21