Soviet–Polish Non-Aggression Pact
The Soviet–Polish Non-Aggression Pact (Polish: Polsko-radziecki pakt o nieagresji, Russian: Pakt o nenapadenii mezhdu SSSR i Pol’shey) was an international treaty of non-aggression signed in 1932 by representatives of Poland and the USSR. The pact was unilaterally broken by the Soviet Union on September 17, 1939, during the German and Soviet invasion of Poland.
Background
After the Polish–Soviet War, the Polish authorities pursued a policy of "equal distance" between Germany and the Soviet Union. Most Polish politicians, both on the left and the right, believed that Poland should rely mostly on the crucial alliance with France, dating back to World War I, and should not support either Germany or the Soviet Union.
To normalize the bilateral contacts with the Soviet Union, talks were started in January 1926 to prepare a non-aggression treaty.to fortify the Polish gains of the Peace of Riga. It was to be balanced by a similar pact signed with Germany. However, the talks with Germany were not started, and the Polish–Soviet talks were interrupted in June 1927, after Britain broke off diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and Soviet plenipotentiary Pyotr Voykov was murdered in Warsaw. Instead, Poland applied to the Briand-Kellogg Pact of 1928.
Polish-Soviet negotiations were resumed in Moscow.in 1931. The pact was finally signed on July 25, 1932, effective for a three-year period. Ratifications were exchanged in Warsaw on December 23, 1932, and the pact went into effect on the same day. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on January 9, 1933.[1]
On May 5, 1934, it was extended to December 31, 1945, without amendment. Among other topics, both sides agreed to renounce violence in bilateral relations, to resolve their problems through negotiations and to forgo any armed conflict or alliances aimed at the other side.
On September 23, 1938, the Soviet Union sent a note to the Polish government informing it that the pact would be considered null and void in the case of Poland's participation in the occupation of Czechoslovakia [1]. However, that threat was not carried out, as the Soviet government stated on October 31, after Poland occupied Zaolzie area, that the remained in force [2], and it was reaffirmed by the two powers on November 26, 1938 (see [3]). The pact was finally broken by the Soviets on September 17, 1939, when the Soviet and German jointly invaded Poland, in accordance with the secret protocols of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
The pact was considered at the time as a major success of Polish diplomacy, which had been greatly weakened by the toll war with Germany, the enouncement of parts of the Treaty of Versailles and the loosened ties to France. The pact also reinforced the Polish negotiating position with Germany, which resulted in signing of the German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact 18 months later.
See also
- Soviet–Finnish Non-Aggression Pact
- Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance
- German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact
- Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact
- Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances
References
- Oleg Nikolayevich Ken (2003). Moskva i pakt o nenapadenii s Pol’shey ('Moscow and the Non-Aggression Treaty with Poland'). Sankt Petersburg: PIAF of Russian Academy of Sciences. p. 129. ISBN 5-86763-136-2.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Oleg Nikolayevich Ken (1996). Collective security or isolation? Soviet foreign policy and Poland, 1930–1935. St. Petersburg: Evropeyski Dom. p. 328. ISBN 5-85733-057-2.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Jan Tomasz Gross (2003). Revolution from Abroad. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 396. ISBN 0-691-09603-1.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Edmund Jan Osmanczyk (2002). Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements. Routledge (UK). p. 1817. ISBN 0-415-93923-2.
Notes
- ^ League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. 136, pp. 42-53.