Curzon Line
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (November 2021) |
Historical demarcation line of World War II | |
The Curzon Line was a proposed demarcation line between the Second Polish Republic and the Soviet Union, two new states emerging after World War I. Based on a suggestion by Herbert James Paton, it was first proposed in 1919 by Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary, to the Supreme War Council as a diplomatic basis for a future border agreement.[1][2][3]
The line became a major geopolitical factor during World War II, when the
Following a private agreement at the Tehran Conference, confirmed at the 1945
Territorial evolution of Poland in the 20th century |
---|
Early history
At the end of World War I, the Second Polish Republic reclaimed its sovereignty following the disintegration of the occupying forces of three neighbouring empires. Imperial Russia was amid the Russian Civil War after the October Revolution, Austria-Hungary split and went into decline, and the German Reich bowed to pressure from the victorious forces of the Allies of World War I. The Allied victors agreed that an independent Polish state should be recreated from territories previously part of the Russian, the Austro-Hungarian and the German empires, after 123 years of upheavals and military partitions by them.[6]
The
Characteristics
The Northern half of the Curzon Line lay approximately along the border which was established between the
End of World War I
The US President
The Supreme Council continued to debate the issue for several months. On 8 December, the Council published a map and description of the line along with an announcement that it recognized "Poland's right to organize a regular administration of the territories of the former Russian Empire situated to the West of the line described below."[14] At the same time, the announcement stated the Council was not "...prejudging the provisions which must in the future define the eastern frontiers of Poland" and that "the rights that Poland may be able to establish over the territories situated to the East of the said line are expressly reserved."[14] The announcement had no immediate impact, although the Allies recommended its consideration in an August 1919 proposal to Poland, which was ignored.[14][15]
Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921
Polish forces pushed eastward, taking Kiev in May 1920. Following a strong Soviet counteroffensive, Prime Minister Władysław Grabski sought Allied assistance in July. Under pressure, he agreed to a Polish withdrawal to the 1919 version of the line and, in Galicia, an armistice near the current line of battle.[16] On 11 July 1920, Curzon signed a telegram sent to the Bolshevik government proposing that a ceasefire be established along the line, and his name was subsequently associated with it.[14]
Curzon's July 1920 proposal differed from the 19 December announcement in two significant ways.[17] The December note did not address the issue of Galicia, since it had been a part of the Austrian Empire rather than the Russian, nor did it address the Polish-Lithuanian dispute over the Vilnius Region, since those borders were demarcated at the time by the Foch Line.[17] The July 1920 note specifically addressed the Polish-Lithuanian dispute by mentioning a line running from Grodno to Vilnius (Wilno) and thence north to Daugavpils, Latvia (Dynaburg).[17] It also mentioned Galicia, where earlier discussions had resulted in the alternatives of Line A and Line B.[17] The note endorsed Line A, which included Lwów and its nearby oil fields within Russia.[18] This portion of the line did not correspond to the current line of battle in Galicia, as per Grabski's agreement, and its inclusion in the July note has lent itself to disputation.[16]
On 17 July, the Soviets responded to the note with a refusal. Georgy Chicherin, representing the Soviets, commented on the delayed interest of the British for a peace treaty between Russia and Poland. He agreed to start negotiations as long as the Polish side asked for it. The Soviet side at that time offered more favourable border solutions to Poland than the ones offered by the Curzon Line.[19] In August the Soviets were defeated by the Poles just outside Warsaw and forced to retreat. During the ensuing Polish offensive, the Polish government repudiated Grabski's agreement with regard to the line on the grounds that the Allies had not delivered support or protection.[20]
Peace of Riga
At the March 1921
As a concern of possible expansion of Polish territory, Polish politicians traditionally could be subdivided into two opposite groups advocating contrary approaches: restoration of Poland based on its former western territories one side and, alternatively, restoration of Poland based on its previous holdings in the east on the other.
During the first quarter of the 20th century, a representative of the first political group was Roman Dmowski, an adherent of the pan-slavistic movement and author of several political books and publications[24] of some importance, who approached the issue pragmatically, but advocating for incorporation of available land based on a ethnographic principle combined with a theory of easy assimilation of Belarusians within a centralised Polish state- the task potentially to be shared with Russia concerning Belarusians beyond the border which he viewed it would be possible to incorporate and assimilate.
This resulted in a modification of the
The most powerful representative of the opposed group was
World War II
The terms of the
In 1944, the Soviet armed forces recaptured eastern Poland from the Germans. The Soviets unilaterally declared a new frontier between the Soviet Union and Poland (approximately the same as the Curzon Line). The Polish government-in-exile in London bitterly opposed this, insisting on the "Riga line". At the Tehran and Yalta conferences between Stalin and the western Allies, the allied leaders Roosevelt and Churchill asked Stalin to reconsider, particularly over Lwów, but he refused. During the negotiations at Yalta, Stalin posed the question "Do you want me to tell the Russian people that I am less Russian than Lord Curzon?"[25] The altered Curzon Line thus became the permanent eastern border of Poland and was recognised by the western Allies in July 1945. The border was later adjusted several times, the biggest revision being in 1951.
When the Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991, the Curzon Line became Poland's eastern border with Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.
Ethnicity east of the Curzon Line until 1939
The ethnic composition of these areas proved difficult to measure, both during the interwar period and after World War II. A 1944 article in
Ukrainians and Belarusians if counted together composed the majority of the population of interwar Eastern Poland.[30] The area also had a significant number of Jewish inhabitants. Poles constituted majorities in the main cities (followed by Jews) and in some rural areas, such as Vilnius region or Wilno Voivodeship.[30][31][32]
After the Soviet deportation of Poles and Jews in 1939–1941 (see
Ukrainian nationalists continued their partisan war and were imprisoned by the Soviets and sent to the Gulag. There they revolted, actively participating in several uprisings (Kengir uprising, Norilsk uprising, Vorkuta uprising).
Polish population east of the Curzon Line before World War II can be estimated by adding together figures for Former Eastern Poland and for pre-1939 Soviet Union:
1. Interwar Poland | Polish mother tongue (of whom Roman Catholics) | Source (census) | Today part of: |
---|---|---|---|
South-Eastern Poland | 2,249,703 (1,765,765)[37] | 1931 Polish census[38] | Ukraine |
North-Eastern Poland | 1,663,888 (1,358,029)[39][40] | 1931 Polish census | and |
2. Interwar USSR | Ethnic Poles according to official census | Source (census) | Today part of: |
Soviet Ukraine | 476,435 | 1926 Soviet census
|
Ukraine |
Soviet Belarus | 97,498 | 1926 Soviet census | Belarus |
Soviet Russia | 197,827 | 1926 Soviet census | Russia |
rest of the USSR | 10,574 | 1926 Soviet census | |
3. Interwar Baltic states | Ethnic Poles according to official census | Source (census) | Today part of: |
Lithuania | 65,599 [Note 1] | 1923 Lithuanian census
|
Lithuania |
Latvia | 59,374 | 1930 Latvian census[41] | Latvia |
Estonia | 1,608 | 1934 Estonian census | Estonia |
TOTAL (1., 2., 3.) | 4 to 5 million ethnic Poles |
Largest cities and towns
In 1931 according to the Polish National Census, the ten largest cities in the
City | Pop. | Polish | Yiddish | Hebrew | German | Ukrainian | Belarusian | Russian | Lithuanian | Other | Today part of: |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lwów | 312,231 | 63.5% (198,212) | 21.6% (67,520) | 2.5% (7,796) | 0.8% (2,448) | 11.3% (35,137) | 0% (24) | 0.1% (462) | 0% (6) | 0.2% (626) | Ukraine |
Wilno | 195,071 | 65.9% (128,628) | 24.4% (47,523) | 3.6% (7,073) | 0.3% (561) | 0.1% (213) | 0.9% (1,737) | 3.8% (7,372) | 0.8% (1,579) | 0.2% (385) | Lithuania |
Stanisławów | 59,960 | 43.7% (26,187) | 34.4% (20,651) | 3.8% (2,293) | 2.2% (1,332) | 15.6% (9,357) | 0% (3) | 0.1% (50) | 0% (1) | 0.1% (86) | Ukraine |
Grodno | 49,669 | 47.2% (23,458) | 39.7% (19,717) | 2.4% (1,214) | 0.2% (99) | 0.2% (83) | 2.5% (1,261) | 7.5% (3,730) | 0% (22) | 0.2% (85) | Belarus |
Brześć | 48,385 | 42.6% (20,595) | 39.3% (19,032) | 4.7% (2,283) | 0% (24) | 0.8% (393) | 7.1% (3,434) | 5.3% (2,575) | 0% (1) | 0.1% (48) | Belarus |
Borysław | 41,496 | 55.3% (22,967) | 24.4% (10,139) | 1% (399) | 0.5% (209) | 18.5% (7,686) | 0% (4) | 0.1% (37) | 0% (2) | 0.1% (53) | Ukraine |
Równe | 40,612 | 27.5% (11,173) | 50.8% (20,635) | 4.7% (1,922) | 0.8% (327) | 7.9% (3,194) | 0.1% (58) | 6.9% (2,792) | 0% (4) | 1.2% (507) | Ukraine |
Tarnopol | 35,644 | 77.7% (27,712) | 11.6% (4,130) | 2.4% (872) | 0% (14) | 8.1% (2,896) | 0% (2) | 0% (6) | 0% (0) | 0% (12) | Ukraine |
Łuck | 35,554 | 31.9% (11,326) | 46.3% (16,477) | 2.2% (790) | 2.3% (813) | 9.3% (3,305) | 0.1% (36) | 6.4% (2,284) | 0% (1) | 1.5% (522) | Ukraine |
Kołomyja | 33,788 | 65% (21,969) | 19.3% (6,506) | 0.9% (292) | 3.6% (1,220) | 11.1% (3,742) | 0% (0) | 0% (6) | 0% (2) | 0.2% (51) | Ukraine |
Drohobycz | 32,261 | 58.4% (18,840) | 23.5% (7,589) | 1.2% (398) | 0.4% (120) | 16.3% (5,243) | 0% (13) | 0.1% (21) | 0% (0) | 0.1% (37) | Ukraine |
Pińsk | 31,912 | 23% (7,346) | 50.3% (16,053) | 12.9% (4,128) | 0.1% (45) | 0.3% (82) | 4.3% (1,373) | 9% (2,866) | 0% (2) | 0.1% (17) | Belarus |
Stryj | 30,491 | 42.3% (12,897) | 28.5% (8,691) | 2.9% (870) | 1.6% (501) | 24.6% (7,510) | 0% (0) | 0% (10) | 0% (0) | 0% (12) | Ukraine |
Kowel | 27,677 | 37.2% (10,295) | 39.1% (10,821) | 7.1% (1,965) | 0.2% (50) | 9% (2,489) | 0.1% (27) | 7.1% (1,954) | 0% (1) | 0.3% (75) | Ukraine |
Włodzimierz
|
24,591 | 39.1% (9,616) | 35.1% (8,623) | 8.1% (1,988) | 0.6% (138) | 14% (3,446) | 0.1% (18) | 2.9% (724) | 0% (0) | 0.2% (38) | Ukraine |
Baranowicze | 22,818 | 42.8% (9,758) | 38.4% (8,754) | 2.9% (669) | 0.1% (25) | 0.2% (50) | 11.1% (2,537) | 4.4% (1,006) | 0% (1) | 0.1% (18) | Belarus |
Sambor | 21,923 | 61.9% (13,575) | 22.5% (4,942) | 1.7% (383) | 0.1% (28) | 13.2% (2,902) | 0% (4) | 0% (4) | 0% (0) | 0.4% (85) | Ukraine |
Krzemieniec | 19,877 | 15.6% (3,108) | 34.7% (6,904) | 1.7% (341) | 0.1% (23) | 42.4% (8,430) | 0% (6) | 4.4% (883) | 0% (2) | 0.9% (180) | Ukraine |
Lida | 19,326 | 63.3% (12,239) | 24.6% (4,760) | 8% (1,540) | 0% (5) | 0.1% (28) | 2.1% (414) | 1.7% (328) | 0% (2) | 0.1% (10) | Belarus |
Czortków | 19,038 | 55.2% (10,504) | 22.4% (4,274) | 3.1% (586) | 0.1% (11) | 19.1% (3,633) | 0% (0) | 0.1% (17) | 0% (0) | 0.1% (13) | Ukraine |
Brody | 17,905 | 44.9% (8,031) | 34% (6,085) | 1% (181) | 0.2% (37) | 19.8% (3,548) | 0% (5) | 0.1% (9) | 0% (0) | 0.1% (9) | Ukraine |
Słonim | 16,251 | 52% (8,452) | 36.5% (5,927) | 4.7% (756) | 0.1% (9) | 0.3% (45) | 4% (656) | 2.3% (369) | 0% (2) | 0.2% (35) | Belarus |
Poles east of the Curzon Line after expulsion
Despite the expulsion of most ethnic Poles from the Soviet Union between 1944 and 1958, the Soviet census of 1959 still counted around 1.4 million ethnic Poles remaining in the USSR:
Republic of the USSR | Ethnic Poles in 1959 census
|
---|---|
Byelorussian SSR | 538,881 |
Ukrainian SSR | 363,297 |
Lithuanian SSR | 230,107 |
Latvian SSR | 59,774 |
Estonian SSR | 2,256 |
rest of the USSR | 185,967 |
TOTAL | 1,380,282 |
According to a more recent census, there were about 295,000 Poles in Belarus in 2009 (3.1% of the Belarus population).[42]
Ethnicity west of the Curzon Line until 1939
According to Piotr Eberhardt, in 1939, the population of all territories between the Oder-Neisse Line and the Curzon Line—all territories which formed post-1945 Poland—totalled 32,337,800 inhabitants, of whom the largest groups were ethnic Poles (approximately 67%), ethnic Germans (approximately 25%), and Jews (2,254,300 or 7%), with 657,500 (2%) Ukrainians, 140,900 Belarusians and 47,000 people of all other ethnic groups also in the region.[43] Much of the Ukrainian population was forcibly resettled after World War II to Soviet Ukraine or scattered in the new Polish Recovered Territories of Silesia, Pomerania, Lubusz Land, Warmia and Masuria in an ethnic cleansing by the Polish military in an operation called Operation Vistula.
See also
- 1893 Afghanistan’s Durand Line
- 1914 India–China McMahon Line
- 1947 India–Pakistan Radcliffe Line
- I Saw Poland Betrayed by Arthur Bliss Lane
- Lewis Bernstein Namier
- Molotov Line
- Oder–Neisse line
- Spa Conference of 1920
- Territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II
- Zakerzonia
Notes
- interwar Lithuaniain 1923 was 202,026.
References
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- ^ a b "Curzon Line | Definition, Facts, & Border | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
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- ISBN 978-0-300-10851-4. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
It also happened to coincide with the eastern limits of pedominantly ethnic Polish territory.
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curzon line ethnographic.
- ISBN 978-0-7425-1705-9. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
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A peace was finally concluded and a boundary, much less favourable to Russia than the Curzon Line, was determined at Riga in March 1921 and known as the Riga Line.
- ISBN 978-0-8264-7301-1. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
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- ISBN 978-0-670-02141-3. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ^ The Times of 12 January 1944; cited according to Alexandre Abramson (Alius): Die Curzon-Line, Europa Verlag, Zürich 1945, p. 45.
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- ^ a b Anna M. Cienciala. "The foreign policy of Józef Piłsudski and Józef Beck 1926-1939: Misconceptions and interpretations". The Polish Review. Vol. LVI, Nos 1-2. 2011. p. 112.
- ^ Rafal Wnuk. "The Polish underground under Soviet occupation, 1939-1941". Stalin and Europe: Imitation and Domination, 1928-1953. Oxford University Press. 2014. p. 95.
- ^ Piotr Eberhardt, Jan Owsinski (2003). Ethnic Groups and Population Changes in Twentieth Century Eastern Europe: History, Data and Analysis. Routledge. p. 29.
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- ^ a b "Polish census of 1931".
- ^ "Liczebność Polaków na Kresach w obecnej Białorusi". Konsnard. 2011.
- ^ "Liczba i rozmieszczenie ludności polskiej na obszarach obecnej Litwy". Konsnard. 2011.
- ^ "Third Population and Housing Census in Latvia in 1930 (in Latvian and in French)". State Statistical Office.
- ^ "Population census 2009". belstat.gov.by. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
- ^ Eberhardt, Piotr (2000). "Przemieszczenia ludności na terytorium Polski spowodowane II wojną światową" (PDF). Dokumentacja Geograficzna (in Polish and English). 15. Warsaw: 75–76 – via Repozytorium Cyfrowe Instytutów Naukowych.
Sources
- Borsody, Stephen. 1993. The New Central Europe. Chapter 10: "Europe's Coming Partition". New York: Boulder. ISBN 0-88033-263-8.
- Byrnes, James F. Speaking Frankly. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1947, pp. 25–32. From the memoirs of James F. Byrnes, on the Yalta Conference.
- Churchill, Winston S. Closing the Ring. 2nd ed. The Second World War Volume 5. London: The Reprint Society Ltd, 1954, pp. 283–285; 314-317. From the memoirs of Winston Churchill.
- Churchill, Winston S. Triumph and Tragedy. 2nd ed. The Second World War Volume 6. London: The Reprint Society Ltd, 1956, pp. 288–292. From the memoirs of Winston Churchill, on the Yalta Conference.
- Crimea Conference, in Parliamentary Debates. 1944–45, No. 408; fifth series, pp. 1274–1284. Winston Churchill's statement to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, 27 February 1945, describing the outcome of the Yalta Conference.
- Nabrdalik, Bart. April 2006. "Hidden Europe-Bieszczady, Poland". Escape from America Magazine. Vol. 8, Issue 3.
- Rogowska, Anna. Stępień, Stanisław. "Polish-Ukrainian Border in the Last Half of the Century" (in Polish). (The Curzon Line from the historical perspective.)
- Wróbel, Piotr. 2000. "The devil's playground: Poland in World War II" Archived 2018-07-02 at the Wayback Machine. The Wanda Muszynski lecture in Polish studies. Montreal, Quebec: Canadian Foundation for Polish Studies of the Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences.
Further reading
- Bohdan, Kordan (1997). "Making Borders Stick: Population Transfer and Resettlement in the Trans-Curzon Territories, 1944–1949". International Migration Review. 31 (3): 704–720. PMID 12292959.
- Rusin, B., "Lewis Namier, the Curzon Line, and the shaping of Poland's eastern frontier after World War I"