Polish–Romanian alliance
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The Polish–Romanian alliance was a series of treaties signed in the interwar period by the Second Polish Republic and the Kingdom of Romania. The first of them was signed in 1921 and, together, the treaties formed a basis for good foreign relations between the two countries that lasted until World War II began in 1939.[1]
European context
Immediately after
Having established contacts with Poland in January–February 1919 (after
"A dam that can put a stop to Bolshevik pressure on the West is constituted of Poland to the north, and Romania to the south. [...] There is a natural necessity, but also a historical necessity, that, based on the mutual interests of Romania and Poland, a military alliance be sealed in front of the common threat facing them."[4]
Romania was not engaged in the
Count Aleksander Skrzyński, acting with the acknowledgement of Polish leaders Ignacy Jan Paderewski and Józef Piłsudski, extended an offer to the Romanian government of Ion I. C. Brătianu to participate in the future administration of Ukraine in its entirety (August 1919); the message was again stated after Skrzyński became ambassador in Romania the following month.[5] Alexandru G. Florescu, the ambassador to Warsaw, reported back that the plan for a common military administration was:
"[...] an inaccuracy and a fantasy which I suppose one should not take into account for anything other than making stock of them."[6]
Agreeing with Florescu's assessment, the Brătianu cabinet expressed a will to establish contacts with the Ukrainian People's Republic.[5] In 1920, a similar plan was proposed by Piłsudski himself to the Alexandru Averescu government; the offer was more specific, indicating that Romania was to extend its administration to the east (the Black Sea shore, Odessa, and Transnistria).[5] Averescu refused to accept the proposal, as it meant his country's involvement in the Russian Civil War.[5]
The first treaty
The first treaty was the Convention on Defensive Alliance, signed on March 3, 1921, in Bucharest.
In the early 1920s, Romania, along with
"Poland's policy towards the Little Entente [...] becomes clearer. Poland will not wish to join it. [...] This attitude may be related to Mr. Beneš's, who seems to have declared that Poland's joining the treaty is not currently possible."[10]
However, in 1925, the Locarno Treaties were signed in which Germany committed to preserve the status quo in the Rhineland. Germany also signed arbitration conventions with Poland and Czechoslovakia, but the Polish government felt betrayed by France.
Under the circumstances, the Polish-Romanian treaty's renewal was discussed in the early months of 1926. The Romanian foreign minister, Ion G. Duca, wrote in a telegram to the Romanian ambassador in France:
"Our treaty with Poland expires on the 3rd of March. The Poles will not renew it in the present form, as they have to take into account the atmosphere created by the League of Nations and the Locarno Treaties. They also do not want to keep an exclusively anti-Russian treaty [...] Poland wishes to obtain our help in case it were attacked by Germany."[11]
Further treaties
On March 26, 1926, Poland and Romania signed a Treaty of Alliance to bolster security in Eastern Europe.[1] It was directed against any attack, not just one coming from the Soviet Union. Ratifications were exchanged in Warsaw on February 9, 1927. The treaty was registered in the League of Nations Treaty Series on March 7, 1927.[12]
The convention was replaced by the Treaty on Mutual Assistance against Aggression and on Military Aid, signed on February 9, 1927, in Warsaw.[8]
In both countries, political changes were taking place. The
Relations became colder as their interests diverged. Romania created the Balkan Pact in 1934, together with Yugoslavia, Turkey and Greece.
Under the premiership of
In 1938, in the wake of the Czechoslovak crisis, Beck urged the Romanian government of
As the situation was becoming increasingly volatile in the eve of World War II, the two countries began improving their relations. In 1938, Richard Franasovici, the Romanian ambassador in Warsaw, reported:
"[There is] an obvious improvement of Poland's sentiments towards Romania [...]. The main idea here is maintaining, above everything, the alliance with Romania, of course, due to the growing pressure from Germany, as well as due to the desire to not be completely isolated in the Ukrainian problem [...] Also, [the Poles] consider that the German influence in Budapest and Prague is too powerful [...]."[16]
Both countries soon offered each other assistance. After the partition of Czechoslovakia, Romania feared being next. Ambassador Franasovici reported in March 1939 that:
"[...] as with their appeasing intervention in Budapest, the Polish government pointed out that any action of Hungary against Romania could lead to a new world war, and guaranteed Romania's peaceful intentions."[17]
The annulment of Polish-Romanian treaties was one of the Soviet demands during prewar French, British, Polish and Soviet negotiations.[18]
Polish diplomacy also secured British guarantees to Romania in the
Outbreak of World War II
After the
After the
On September 21, 1939, the pro-British prime minister of Romania, Armand Călinescu, was killed in Bucharest by a squad of local fascist activists of the Iron Guard, with German support. Immediately afterwards, German authorities issued propaganda blaming the action on Polish and British initiative.[22] Notably, the Nazi journalist Hans Fritzsche attributed the assassination to Polish and British resentments over Romania's failure to intervene in the war.[22]
Diplomatic alternatives
Though some politicians, such as Poland's
Poland, for example, had good relations with
). Hungary had similar tensions with both Romania and Czechoslovakia. Such conflicts had prevented Poland from joining the Little Entente. Over the next two decades, the region's political arena had been largely dominated by treaties and alliances similar to the Polish–Romanian alliance.See also
- German–Polish declaration of non-aggression
- Balkan Pact
- Balkan Pact (1953)
- Croatian–Romanian–Slovak friendship proclamation
- Latin Axis (World War II)
- Little Entente
- Intermarium
- Romanian Bridgehead
Notes
- ^ Ragsdale
- ^ a b Mareş
- ^ a b Anghel, "1918–1920..."; Mareş
- ^ a b Pruszyński, in Mareş
- ^ a b c d Anghel, "1918–1920..."
- ^ Florescu, September 1919, in Anghel, "1918–1920..."
- ^ Titulescu, Potra & Turcu 1994, p. 101.
- ^ a b c Osmanczyk
- ^ League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. 7, pp. 78–83.
- ^ Alexandru G. Florescu, August 13, 1923, in Preda
- ^ Telegram from Ion G. Duca to Constantin I. Diamandy, February 4, 1926, in Preda
- ^ League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. 60, pp. 162–167.
- ^ Otu
- ^ Anghel, "Mareşalul Piłsudski...", p.75
- ^ Hitchins, p.432-433
- ^ Franasovici, December 16, 1938, in Preda
- ^ Franasovici, in Preda
- ^ Lukowski & Zawadzki, p.224
- ^ Prazmowska, p.69-70
- ^ Baliszewski; Peszke; Włodarkiewicz
- ^ Cave & Paczkowski, p.38
- ^ a b Ignat & Matei, p.76
- ISBN 0313260079.
References
- (in Polish) Więzi – wystawa o Polonii i uchodźstwie wojennym 1939 w Rumunii, retrieved on 13 September 2006
- (in Romanian) Florin Anghel, "Mareşalul Piłsudski, în peţit la București" (September 1997), and "1918–1920. România refuză să ocupe Ucraina", in Magazin Istoric, retrieved on 28 January 2007
- (in Polish) Dariusz Baliszewski, "Most honoru", in Wprost, Nr. 1138 (September 19, 2004), retrieved on 24 March 2005
- Jane Cave, Andrzej Paczkowski, The Spring Will Be Ours: Poland and the Poles from Occupation to Freedom, ISBN 0-271-02308-2
- Humanitas, Bucharest, 1998 (translation of the English-language edition Rumania, 1866–1947, Oxford University Press USA, New York City, 1994)
- Petru Ignat, Gheorghe Matei, "Asasinarea lui Armand Călinescu" ("Armand Călinescu's Assassination"), in Magazin Istoric, October 1967
- Jerzy Lukowski, Hubert Zawadzki, A Concise History of Poland, ISBN 0-521-55917-0
- (in Romanian) Nicolae Mareş, "Alianţa cu România trebuie să existe", in Magazin Istoric, retrieved on 7 October 2006
- , 2002, p. 1815
- (in Romanian) Petre Otu, "Cazul Şeba", in Magazin Istoric, retrieved on 13 September 2006
- ISBN 0-7864-2009-X
- ISBN 0-521-52938-7
- Dumitru Preda (January–February 2001). "O alianţă cu interese asimetrice" (in Romanian). Magazin Istoric. Archived from the original on 2003-09-08. Retrieved 18 July 2006.
- Hugh Ragsdale, The Soviets, the Munich Crisis, and the Coming of World War II, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge ISBN 0-521-83030-3
- Titulescu, Nicolae; Potra, George; Turcu, Constantin I. (1994). Romania's Foreign Policy: 1937. Bucharest: Encyclopaedic Publishing House. ISBN 978-9-73450-092-5.
- ISBN 83-11-09255-9