Before World War I, Polish coal mining was divided between three countries. Upper Silesia served the German Empire, Zagłębie Dąbrowskie sold its coal to the Ukraine (part of Russian Empire), and the "Kraków Coal Basin" was part of Austria-Hungary. Altogether, in 1914, 40 million tons of coal were excavated in the divided Polish lands. After the war, however, Polish coal lost its markets. Production remained high, still at 40 million tons, while demand in the newly created Second Polish Republic was some 18 million tons. The only solution was to export Polish coal, but by 1925, Poland exported only .5 million tons a year: "The coal strike in England came in 1926, at the best possible time for Poland, but we had no means to transport our coal to Scandinavia, which had been main market of British coal. Gdynia was not ready yet, the Free City of Danzig was out of question, and the Polish Coal Trunk-Line was not completed (...) So, a Polish David was facing a British Goliath" (pages 208 - 211).