Authors

Discussion

When listing the reasons of the Second World War one usually starts with imperfections and failures of the Paris Peace Conference and newly established Versailles-Riga world order. Nevertheless, after the German aggression on Poland and then after this bilateral conflict evolved into a world war, another peace started grabbing everyone’s attention: the one that was supposed to end the ongoing war and establish a new order.

In my paper I would like to discuss how Polish ruling circles after September 1^st imagined not only next months of war but also ultimately defeating the enemy and reaching a peace. A special subject of my interest are visions of postwar Poland and her place in a new world order. It is already well known that during the war there was a heavy criticism towards a Sanacja regime which was blamed for Poland’s defeat in September 1939. However, Polish government-in-exile believed that there was a need for improvement not only in the sphere of internal politics. In order to prevent an outbreak of another war and any further aggression against Poland, they wanted to establish in Poland a new political system (a non-authoritarian one) allowing for better – safer – relations with neighboring countries. My argument is that “safe” is a key word here, written into most of Polish goals of war and aims for future.

In the title of my paper I cite Edward Raczyński, Polish ambassador in London, who in his speech in May 1941 said that: “Then, the new post-war settlement should not be made at the expense of the security of Poland and Czecho-Slovakia. The frontiers and economic resources of these two countries should be made as secure as possible.” The issue of new borders was of a crucial importance. Even though Poland was fighting for integrity of its territories, it was recognized that some changes in regard to state borders were necessary in order to improve safety. The Polish government-in-exile was also working on improving its relations with Czecho-Slovakia as a part of a bigger concept of creating a federation of countries in East-Central Europe in order to safeguard itself from two dangerous powers: Germany and the Soviet Union. Moreover, Polish politicians in exile recognized a need for another international organization after a failure of the League of Nations.