In the interwar period, Gdańsk lay in a disputed region between Poland and Germany, which became known as the Polish Corridor. The city's ambiguous political status was exploited by Germany, furthering tension between the two countries, which would ultimately culminate in the Invasion of Poland and the first clash of the Second World War just outside the city, followed by the ethnic cleansing and executions of Polish-speaking minority population and ultimately flight and expulsion of the German-speaking majority of the city's population in 1945.