Whipsaw

When thinking of the word whipsaw, defined by Dictionary.com as  –noun
1. a saw for two persons, as a pitsaw, used to divide timbers lengthwise.
–verb (used with object)
2. to cut with a whipsaw.
3. to win two bets from (a person) at one turn or play, as at faro.
4. to subject to two opposing forces at the same time: The real-estate market has been whipsawed by high interest rates and unemployment.
–verb (used without object)
5. (of a trailer, railroad car, etc.) to swing suddenly to the right or left, as in rounding a sharp curve at high speed.

In the late 18th Century, the heavily militaristic Prussian empire (which would eventually unite the German speaking peoples under a singular German reign in the midddle-to-late 19th century) whipsawed the Polish state in three partitions in unison with the Russian and Austro-Hungarian states.

This initial domination and expansion of the Prussian state led to the unification of Germany and a new hunger for power eventually culminating in World War I and successively WWII.

This is the partitions of Poland.