Vladimir Putin’s two-hour-plus conversation with Tucker Carlson was fascinating and terribly troubling. It was quite a lesson in history, or at least Putin’s twisted, dangerous history.

Putin began with an eye-opening historical discourse. He politely replied to Carlson’s opening question on Ukraine by asking, “If you don’t mind, I will take only 30 seconds or one minute of your time to give you a brief historical background.” Putin then took listeners to the years 862, 988, 1862, and names like “Rurik, a Varangian prince from Scandinavia,” and Rurik’s successor Prince Oleg, and then Prince Vladimir, Prince Yaroslav, and on and on.

It was quite a ride. But what really stood out in Putin’s historical sweep is that he views Ukraine as Russian territory — what he calls “the Fatherland.”

What also was clear was how prominently the nation of Poland figures in Putin’s historical understanding and potential plans. Poland is Putin’s historical bad guy. And, in that regard, Putin’s most grotesque false history were his stunning claims about how World War II was launched not by Hitler collaborating with Stalin’s Soviet Union (as it was), but by Hitler allegedly collaborating with Poland.

Putin said several times that “Poland collaborated with Hitler,” that “Poland cooperated with Hitler,” and that Poles had even “pushed Hitler to start World War II by attacking them … . Poland turned out to be uncompromising, and Hitler had nothing else to do but start implementing his plans with Poland.”

That slanted history is egregiously wrong.

In truth, WWII was launched by Hitler collaborating with Josef Stalin, namely, via the signing of their Hitler-Stalin Pact on Aug. 24, 1939. That pact called for a mutual invasion of Poland, which promptly commenced just a week later, with the Nazis invading from the west. Two-and-a-half weeks after that, the Soviets invaded Poland from the east. The war was on.

Why does this old history matter now? Well, because to Vladimir Putin, it isn’t old history. To Putin, it’s history relevant right now. And beyond the border of Ukraine is Poland.

For two years now, going back to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, I’ve warned readers to keep their eyes on Poland. If this ongoing battle between Russia and Ukraine spreads to Poland, then all hell could break loose. Unlike Ukraine, Poland is a NATO member, which means the United States is committed by treaty to intervene to protect it. If Putin’s Russia enters Poland, our response would be much heavier — and more grave — than anything we’ve done in helping Ukraine. We could find ourselves in a hot war with Russia.

Coincidentally, the same week Carlson asked questions to Putin, I asked questions to Lech Walesa, the former president of Poland and the founder of the Solidarity movement. Walesa was in Washington speaking to a small group at the Victims of Communism Memorial Museum. What was fascinating about Walesa’s remarks was his intense focus on Putin’s Russia, which he views as the world’s leading menace, a threat not only to Poland but to America.

These historical wounds run deep. Putin understands that and is happy to exacerbate them — in Ukraine, with Poland and who knows where else. His twisted views of Russian history could have yet more twisted results. Be forewarned, this could get uglier.

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