Polish-Romanian Alliance
Encyclopedia
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.
Immediately after the World War I
, the peace treaties
recognized the reestablishment of a Polish state for the first time in over 100 years
. Romania emerged from the war as a victorious nation, enlarging its territory (as Greater Romania
). Both states had serious reasons to stand by these treaties.
Having established contacts with Poland in January-February 1919 (after Stanisław Głąbiński's visit to Bucharest
), Romania oriented itself towards a cordon sanitaire
alliance aimed at Bolshevist Russia
and the newly-created Comintern
; the proclamation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic
, the German insurrection
, and the Red Army
's capture of Odessa
alarmed politicians in both countries. The diplomat Czesław Pruszyński reported to the Polish government:
Romania was not engaged in the Polish-Soviet War
, but accepted and supported Polish military transit through its territory. According to another of Pruszyński's reports, Romania facilitated the transit of Polish nationals from Russia to their native areas, as well as furnishing armament and grain at preferential prices. In this context, the Romanian Army intervened in the Polish-Ukrainian War
against the West Ukrainian People's Republic (created in Galicia in the summer of that year), helping the Poles in Pokuttya
(see Romanian occupation of Pokuttya
).
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. Alexandru G. Florescu, the ambassador to Warsaw
, reported back that the plan for a common military administration was:
Agreeing with Florescu's assessment, the Brătianu cabinet expressed a will to establish contacts with the Ukrainian People's Republic
. 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
). Averescu refused to accept the proposal, as it meant his country's involvement in the Russian Civil War
.
The first treaty was the Convention on Defensive Alliance, signed on March 3, 1921 in Bucharest. The treaty, concluded for a period of five years, committed both parties to rendering armed assistance to one another "in case one of the sides is attacked at its present Eastern frontiers", and was aimed at containing Russia —from, 1922, the Soviet Union
—, which had just lost the Polish-Soviet War. Among the diplomats engaged in negotiations were Polish general Tadeusz Rozwadowski and Romanian general Ion Antonescu
. Ratifications for that treaty were exchanged in Bucharest on July 25, 1921. The treaty was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series
on October 24 of the same year.
In the early 1920s, Romania, along with Czechoslovakia
and Yugoslavia
, initiated the Little Entente
, an alliance whose primary goal was to counter Hungary
's revanchism
(which involved Romania's Transylvania
). Romania's Foreign Minister, Take Ionescu
, attempted to bring Poland and Greece
into the alliance, but could not because of the border disagreements
between Poland and Czechoslovakia. The Romanian representative in Warsaw
reported:
However, in 1925, the Locarno Treaties
were signed. Through these treaties, Germany
committed to preserve the status quo
in the Rhine region
. Germany also signed arbitration
conventions with Poland and Czechoslovakia, but the Polish government felt betrayed by France
.
Under these 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 to Paris
:
.http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1926.htm This time, the treaty was directed against any attack, not just one coming from Soviet Russia. Ratifications were exchanged in Warsaw on February 9, 1927. The treaty was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on March 7, 1927.
The Convention was replaced by the Treaty on Mutual Assistance against Aggression and on Military Aid, signed on February 9, 1927 in Warsaw
.
At this time, in both countries, political changes were taking place. The Romanian king
Ferdinand I
died in 1927, leaving the throne to his grandson, Mihai. Mihai was, however, underage, and a regency
took over the administration of the monarchic institution until the 1930 takeover of Carol II
. In Poland, the Sanacja
movement took the power after the May coup, marking the beginning of the Piłsudski's dictatorship. On January 15, 1931, Poland and Romania signed a Guarantee Treaty. Around October, rumors spread in Poland that Piłsudski was considering Prince Nicholas
, Romania's former regent, for the vacant Polish throne; they were encouraged by conservative
politicians such as Janusz Radziwiłł — during the Polish leader's visit to Romania in that month, Radziwiłł spoke in the Senate
about the possibility of a monarchic revival (interpreted by Zdzisław Lubomirski to be the result of "an indication coming from [Piłsudski]").
By 1932, Adolf Hitler
had come close to taking power in Germany. Therefore, Poland tried to secure its Eastern border by negotiating a treaty with the Soviets and signing a Soviet-Polish Non-Aggression Pact
. Romania could not do the same, however, given that the Soviets had not recognized the Soviet-Romanian border on the river Dniester
(namely, Romania's rule over Bessarabia
). In the same year, Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Iorga
was informed by the ambassador in Warsaw, Grigore Bilciurescu, that conservative groups were considering the possibility of a personal union
, with Carol as king of both countries.
The relations between the two grew colder as their interests diverged. Romania created the Balkan Pact
in 1934, together with Yugoslavia, Turkey
and Greece.
During the premiership of Gheorghe Tătărescu
(1934–1937), Romania's attempt to balance its alliances with Poland and Czechoslovakia was put to the test by a political scandal, after Jan Šeba, the Czechoslovak ambassador to Bucharest
, published a volume overtly sympathetic to a rapprochement between the Soviet Union and the Little Entente, one prefaced by the Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Kamil Krofta
; in early 1937, Krofta denied knowledge of the book's content and, after Tătărescu visited Milan Hodža
, his counterpart in Prague
, Šeba was recalled. Later in the same year, Tătărescu met with the Polish Foreign Minister
Józef Beck
in Bucharest — the latter, who had previously opposed the pro-status quo
policies of Nicolae Titulescu
, unsuccessfully proposed that Romania withdraw its support for Czechoslovakia and attempt to reach a compromise with Hungary.
In 1938, in the wake of the Czechoslovak crisis, Beck urged the Romanian government of Miron Cristea
, formed by the National Renaissance Front
, to participate at the partition of Czechoslovakia (the Munich Agreement
), by supporting Hungary's annexation
of Carpathian Ruthenia
, in the hope that Hungary's Miklós Horthy
would no longer sustain claims over Transylvania. The offer was refused by the Romanian king Carol II.
As the situation was becoming increasingly volatile in the eve of World War II, the two countries improved their relations again. In 1938, Richard Franasovici, the Romanian ambassador in Warsaw reported that:
Both countries soon offered each other assistance. After the partition of Czechoslovakia, the Romanian government feared that their country could be next. Ambassador Franasovici reported in March 1939 that:
The annulment of Polish-Romanian treaties was one of the demands of Soviet Union
during the French, British
, Polish and Soviet negotiations in the months preceding the World War.
Polish diplomacy also secured British guarantees to Romania in the Polish-British Common Defense Pact of 1939. Diplomats and strategists in Poland viewed the alliance with Romania as an important part of Polish foreign and defense policy — nevertheless, it eventually proved to be mostly irrelevant. In the period immediately preceding the war, Poland and Romania avoided specifically aiming their agreements against Germany, a country with which both were still seeking a compromise — Beck and Grigore Gafencu
agreed on this point after April 1939 negotiations in Kraków
).
plan.
After the Red Army
joined the Nazi attack on September 17, 1939, and Western assistance was not forthcoming (see Western betrayal
), the Polish high command abandoned this plan, and ordered its units to evacuate to France; many units went through Romanian borders, where they were interned
, but Romania remained friendly towards Poles, allowing many soldiers to escape from the camps and move to France, and treating Polish interned soldiers and immigrants with relative respect throughout the war, even when it joined the Axis Powers
in 1941 (see Romania during World War II
). However, as a result of German pressures, Romania could not openly aid the Poles.
On September 21, 1939, Romanian pro-British Premier Armand Călinescu
was killed in Bucharest
by a squad of local fascist
activists of the Iron Guard
, acting with Nazi support. Immediately afterwards, German authorities issued propaganda
blaming the action on Polish and British initiative; notably, the Nazi journalist Hans Fritzsche
attributed the assassination to Polish and British resentments over Romania's failure to intervene in the war.
(Intermarum) federation at the end of World War I
—had attempted to forge a grand coalition of Central
, Eastern
and Balkan
European states, a series of conflicts in those areas had prevented the establishment of anything but a series of smaller, mostly bilateral
treaties.
Poland, for example, had good relations with Latvia
, Romania, Hungary
and France
(Franco-Polish Military Alliance
) but poor relations with Czechoslovakia
(see Border conflicts between Poland and Czechoslovakia
) and Lithuania
(see Polish-Lithuanian War
). Similarly, there were tensions between Hungary on one side, and Romania and Czechoslovakia on the other. Such conflicts had prevented Poland and Hungary from joining the Little Entente
, and over the next two decades the region's political arena had been largely dominated by treaties and alliances resembling the Polish–Romanian Alliance.
Treaty
A treaty is an express agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an agreement, protocol, covenant, convention or exchange of letters, among other terms...
signed in the interwar period
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
by the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
and the Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
. The first of them was signed in 1921 and, together, the treaties formed a basis for good foreign relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
between the two countries that lasted until World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
began in 1939.
European context
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the peace treaties
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
recognized the reestablishment of a Polish state for the first time in over 100 years
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
. Romania emerged from the war as a victorious nation, enlarging its territory (as Greater Romania
Greater Romania
The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...
). Both states had serious reasons to stand by these treaties.
Having established contacts with Poland in January-February 1919 (after Stanisław Głąbiński's visit to Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
), Romania oriented itself towards a cordon sanitaire
Cordon sanitaire
Cordon sanitaire — or quarantine line — is a French phrase that, literally translated, means "sanitary cordon". Though in French it originally denoted a barrier implemented to stop the spread of disease, it has often been used in English in a metaphorical sense to refer to attempts to prevent the...
alliance aimed at Bolshevist Russia
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
and the newly-created Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
; the proclamation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic
Hungarian Soviet Republic
The Hungarian Soviet Republic or Soviet Republic of Hungary was a short-lived Communist state established in Hungary in the aftermath of World War I....
, the German insurrection
German Revolution
The German Revolution was the politically-driven civil conflict in Germany at the end of World War I, which resulted in the replacement of Germany's imperial government with a republic...
, and the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
's capture of Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
alarmed politicians in both countries. The diplomat Czesław Pruszyński reported to the Polish government:
"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."
Romania was not engaged in the Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
, but accepted and supported Polish military transit through its territory. According to another of Pruszyński's reports, Romania facilitated the transit of Polish nationals from Russia to their native areas, as well as furnishing armament and grain at preferential prices. In this context, the Romanian Army intervened in the Polish-Ukrainian War
Polish-Ukrainian War
The Polish–Ukrainian War of 1918 and 1919 was a conflict between the forces of the Second Polish Republic and West Ukrainian People's Republic for the control over Eastern Galicia after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary.-Background:...
against the West Ukrainian People's Republic (created in Galicia in the summer of that year), helping the Poles in Pokuttya
Pokuttya
Pokuttya or Pokuttia is a historical area of East-Central Europe, between upper Prut and Cheremosh rivers, in modern Ukraine. Historically it was a culturally distinct area inhabitated by Ukrainians and Romanians on the previously unpopulated borderlands between the lands of Lviv and Halych...
(see Romanian occupation of Pokuttya
Romanian occupation of Pokuttya
The Romanian occupation of Pokuttya took place in early 1919, when, as a result of alliances concluded between Romania and Poland, the former entered the southeastern corner of the former Austro-Hungarian ruled province of Galicia. During the interwar period, Romania was Poland's main ally in...
).
Count Aleksander Skrzyński
Aleksander Skrzynski
Aleksander Józef Skrzyński |Galicia]] – 25 September 1931 in Łąkociny near Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland) was a Polish politician who served as the country's prime minister from 1925 to 1926...
, acting with the acknowledgement of Polish leaders Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Ignacy Jan Paderewski GBE was a Polish pianist, composer, diplomat, politician, and the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland.-Biography:...
and Józef Piłsudski, extended an offer to the Romanian government of Ion I. C. Brătianu
Ion I. C. Bratianu
Ion I. C. Brătianu was a Romanian politician, leader of the National Liberal Party , the Prime Minister of Romania for five terms, and Foreign Minister on several occasions; he was the eldest son of statesman and PNL leader Ion Brătianu, the brother of Vintilă and Dinu Brătianu, and the father of...
to participate in the future administration of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
in its entirety (August 1919); the message was again stated after Skrzyński became ambassador in Romania the following month. Alexandru G. Florescu, the ambassador to Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, 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."
Agreeing with Florescu's assessment, the Brătianu cabinet expressed a will to establish contacts with the Ukrainian People's Republic
Ukrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic or Ukrainian National Republic was a republic that was declared in part of the territory of modern Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura.-Revolutionary Wave:...
. In 1920, a similar plan was proposed by Piłsudski himself to the Alexandru Averescu
Alexandru Averescu
Alexandru Averescu was a Romanian marshal and populist politician. A Romanian Armed Forces Commander during World War I, he served as Prime Minister of three separate cabinets . He first rose to prominence during the peasant's revolt of 1907, which he helped repress in violence...
government; the offer was more specific, indicating that Romania was to extend its administration to the east (the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
shore, Odessa, and Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
). Averescu refused to accept the proposal, as it meant his country's involvement in the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
.
The first treaty
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
—, which had just lost the Polish-Soviet War. Among the diplomats engaged in negotiations were Polish general Tadeusz Rozwadowski and Romanian general Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
. Ratifications for that treaty were exchanged in Bucharest on July 25, 1921. The treaty was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series
Treaty series
A Treaty series is an officially published collection of treaties and other international agreements.-League of Nations:The League of Nations Treaty Series was a result of article 18 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, which stated:...
on October 24 of the same year.
In the early 1920s, Romania, along with Czechoslovakia
First Republic of Czechoslovakia
-Independence:The Czechoslovak declaration of independence was published by the Czechoslovak National Council, signed by Masaryk, Štefánik and Beneš on October 18, 1918 in Paris, and proclaimed on October 28 in Prague...
and Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
, initiated the Little Entente
Little Entente
The Little Entente was an alliance formed in 1920 and 1921 by Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia with the purpose of common defense against Hungarian revision and the prevention of a Habsburg restoration...
, an alliance whose primary goal was to counter Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
's revanchism
Revanchism
Revanchism is a term used since the 1870s to describe a political manifestation of the will to reverse territorial losses incurred by a country, often following a war or social movement. Revanchism draws its strength from patriotic and retributionist thought and is often motivated by economic or...
(which involved Romania's Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
). Romania's Foreign Minister, Take Ionescu
Take Ionescu
Take or Tache Ionescu was a Romanian centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Starting his political career as a radical member of the National Liberal Party , he joined the Conservative Party in 1891, and became noted as a social...
, attempted to bring Poland and Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
into the alliance, but could not because of the border disagreements
Border conflicts between Poland and Czechoslovakia
Border conflicts between Poland and Czechoslovakia began in 1918 between the Second Polish Republic and First Czechoslovak Republic, both freshly created states. The conflicts centered on the disputed areas of Cieszyn Silesia, Orava Territory and Spiš...
between Poland and Czechoslovakia. The Romanian representative in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
reported:
"Poland's policy towards the Little Entente [...] becomes clearer. Poland will not wish to join it. [...] This attitude may be related to Mr. Beneš'sEdvard BenešEdvard Beneš was a leader of the Czechoslovak independence movement, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the second President of Czechoslovakia. He was known to be a skilled diplomat.- Youth :...
, who seems to have declared that Poland's joining the treaty is not currently possible."
However, in 1925, the Locarno Treaties
Locarno Treaties
The Locarno Treaties were seven agreements negotiated at Locarno, Switzerland, on 5 October – 16 October 1925 and formally signed in London on 3 December, in which the First World War Western European Allied powers and the new states of central and Eastern Europe sought to secure the post-war...
were signed. Through these treaties, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
committed to preserve the status quo
Status quo
Statu quo, a commonly used form of the original Latin "statu quo" – literally "the state in which" – is a Latin term meaning the current or existing state of affairs. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are...
in the Rhine region
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
. Germany also signed arbitration
Arbitration
Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...
conventions with Poland and Czechoslovakia, but the Polish government felt betrayed by France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Ion G. Duca
Ion Gheorghe Duca was prime minister of Romania from November 14 to December 30, 1933, when he was assassinated for his efforts to suppress the fascist Iron Guard movement.-Life and political career:...
wrote in a telegram to the Romanian ambassador to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
:
"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 NationsLeague of NationsThe League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
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."
Further treaties
On March 26, 1926 the Polish and Romanian governments signed a Treaty of Alliance to bolster security in Eastern EuropeEastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
.http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1926.htm This time, the treaty was directed against any attack, not just one coming from Soviet Russia. Ratifications were exchanged in Warsaw on February 9, 1927. The treaty was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on March 7, 1927.
The Convention was replaced by the Treaty on Mutual Assistance against Aggression and on Military Aid, signed on February 9, 1927 in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
.
At this time, in both countries, political changes were taking place. The Romanian king
King of Romania
King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....
Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I of Romania
Ferdinand was the King of Romania from 10 October 1914 until his death.-Early life:Born in Sigmaringen in southwestern Germany, the Roman Catholic Prince Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, later simply of Hohenzollern, was a son of Leopold, Prince of...
died in 1927, leaving the throne to his grandson, Mihai. Mihai was, however, underage, and a regency
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
took over the administration of the monarchic institution until the 1930 takeover of Carol II
Carol II of Romania
Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...
. In Poland, the Sanacja
Sanacja
Sanation was a Polish political movement that came to power after Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 Coup d'État. Sanation took its name from his watchword—the moral "sanation" of the Polish body politic...
movement took the power after the May coup, marking the beginning of the Piłsudski's dictatorship. On January 15, 1931, Poland and Romania signed a Guarantee Treaty. Around October, rumors spread in Poland that Piłsudski was considering Prince Nicholas
Prince Nicholas of Romania
| style="float:right;"|Prince Nicholas of Romania was the second son of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie of Romania.- Biography :Born in Peleş Castle, Sinaia, Nicholas was the younger brother of Carol, heir apparent, who renounced his rights of succession on 12 December 1925...
, Romania's former regent, for the vacant Polish throne; they were encouraged by conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
politicians such as Janusz Radziwiłł — during the Polish leader's visit to Romania in that month, Radziwiłł spoke in the Senate
Senate of Poland
The Senate is the upper house of the Polish parliament, the lower house being the 'Sejm'. The history of the Polish Senate is rich in tradition and stretches back over 500 years, it was one of the first constituent bodies of a bicameral parliament in Europe and existed without hiatus until the...
about the possibility of a monarchic revival (interpreted by Zdzisław Lubomirski to be the result of "an indication coming from [Piłsudski]").
By 1932, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
had come close to taking power in Germany. Therefore, Poland tried to secure its Eastern border by negotiating a treaty with the Soviets and signing a Soviet-Polish Non-Aggression Pact
Soviet-Polish Non-Aggression Pact
The Soviet–Polish Non-Aggression Pact ) 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 Nazi and Soviet invasion of Poland.-Background:After the...
. Romania could not do the same, however, given that the Soviets had not recognized the Soviet-Romanian border on the river Dniester
Dniester
The Dniester is a river in Eastern Europe. It runs through Ukraine and Moldova and separates most of Moldova's territory from the breakaway de facto state of Transnistria.-Names:...
(namely, Romania's rule over Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
). In the same year, Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Iorga
Nicolae Iorga
Nicolae Iorga was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, poet and playwright. Co-founder of the Democratic Nationalist Party , he served as a member of Parliament, President of the Deputies' Assembly and Senate, cabinet minister and briefly as Prime Minister...
was informed by the ambassador in Warsaw, Grigore Bilciurescu, that conservative groups were considering the possibility of a personal union
Personal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...
, with Carol as king of both countries.
The relations between the two grew colder as their interests diverged. Romania created the Balkan Pact
Balkan Pact
The Balkan Pact was a treaty signed by Greece, Turkey, Romania and Yugoslavia on February 9, 1934 in Athens, aimed at maintaining the geopolitical status quo in the region following World War I...
in 1934, together with Yugoslavia, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and Greece.
During the premiership of Gheorghe Tătărescu
Gheorghe Tatarescu
Gheorghe I. Tătărescu was a Romanian politician who served twice as Prime Minister of Romania , three times as Minister of Foreign Affairs , and once as Minister of War...
(1934–1937), Romania's attempt to balance its alliances with Poland and Czechoslovakia was put to the test by a political scandal, after Jan Šeba, the Czechoslovak ambassador to Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, published a volume overtly sympathetic to a rapprochement between the Soviet Union and the Little Entente, one prefaced by the Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Kamil Krofta
Kamil Krofta
Kamil Krofta was Czech historian and diplomat.-Life and career:Born and schooled in Plzeň, he studied philosophy in Prague starting in 1894, then from 1896 to 1899 in Vienna. From 1899 to 1901 he studied in the Vatican Archives. From 1901 he worked at the National Archives...
; in early 1937, Krofta denied knowledge of the book's content and, after Tătărescu visited Milan Hodža
Milan Hodža
Milan Hodža was a prominent Slovak politician and journalist, serving from 1935 to 1938 as the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia and in December 1935 as the acting President of Czechoslovakia...
, his counterpart in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Šeba was recalled. Later in the same year, Tătărescu met with the Polish Foreign Minister
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the Polish government department tasked with maintaining Poland's international relations and coordinating its participation in international and regional supra-national political organisations such as the European Union and United Nations. It is considered to be...
Józef Beck
Józef Beck
' was a Polish statesman, diplomat, military officer, and close associate of Józef Piłsudski...
in Bucharest — the latter, who had previously opposed the pro-status quo
Status quo
Statu quo, a commonly used form of the original Latin "statu quo" – literally "the state in which" – is a Latin term meaning the current or existing state of affairs. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are...
policies of Nicolae Titulescu
Nicolae Titulescu
Nicolae Titulescu was a well-known Romanian diplomat, at various times government minister, finance and foreign minister, and for two terms President of the General Assembly of the League of Nations . He was a member of the Freemasonry.-Early years:...
, unsuccessfully proposed that Romania withdraw its support for Czechoslovakia and attempt to reach a compromise with Hungary.
In 1938, in the wake of the Czechoslovak crisis, Beck urged the Romanian government of Miron Cristea
Miron Cristea
Miron Cristea, was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian cleric and politician....
, formed by the National Renaissance Front
National Renaissance Front
The National Renaissance Front was a fascist Romanian political party created by King Carol II in 1938 as the single monopoly party of government following his decision to ban all other political parties and suspend the 1923 Constitution, and the passing of the 1938 Constitution of Romania...
, to participate at the partition of Czechoslovakia (the Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
), by supporting Hungary's annexation
Annexation
Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
of Carpathian Ruthenia
Carpathian Ruthenia
Carpathian Ruthenia is a region in Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast , with smaller parts in easternmost Slovakia , Poland's Lemkovyna and Romanian Maramureş.It is...
, in the hope that Hungary's Miklós Horthy
Miklós Horthy
Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya was the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary during the interwar years and throughout most of World War II, serving from 1 March 1920 to 15 October 1944. Horthy was styled "His Serene Highness the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary" .Admiral Horthy was an officer of the...
would no longer sustain claims over Transylvania. The offer was refused by the Romanian king Carol II.
As the situation was becoming increasingly volatile in the eve of World War II, the two countries improved their relations again. In 1938, Richard Franasovici, the Romanian ambassador in Warsaw reported that:
"[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 GermanyNazi GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, as well as due to the desire to not be completely isolated in the UkrainianUkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
problem [...] Also, [the Poles] consider that the German influence in BudapestBudapestBudapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
and PraguePraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
is too powerful [...]."
Both countries soon offered each other assistance. After the partition of Czechoslovakia, the Romanian government feared that their country could be 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."
The annulment of Polish-Romanian treaties was one of the demands of Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
during the French, British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Polish and Soviet negotiations in the months preceding the World War.
Polish diplomacy also secured British guarantees to Romania in the Polish-British Common Defense Pact of 1939. Diplomats and strategists in Poland viewed the alliance with Romania as an important part of Polish foreign and defense policy — nevertheless, it eventually proved to be mostly irrelevant. In the period immediately preceding the war, Poland and Romania avoided specifically aiming their agreements against Germany, a country with which both were still seeking a compromise — Beck and Grigore Gafencu
Grigore Gafencu
Grigore Gafencu was a Romanian politician, diplomat and journalist.-Political career:Gafencu studied law and received his Ph.D. in law from the University of Bucharest. During World War I, he participated as a lieutenant and received the Mihai Viteazul Order for courage in battle...
agreed on this point after April 1939 negotiations in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
).
Outbreak of World War II
After the German invasion of Poland on September 1, Poland declined Romanian military assistance, but it expected to receive assistance instead from its British and French allies through Romanian ports; thus the reason for the Romanian BridgeheadRomanian Bridgehead
The Romanian Bridgehead was an area in southeastern Poland, now located in Ukraine. During the Polish Defensive War of 1939 , on September 14 the Polish Commander in Chief Marshal of Poland Edward Rydz-Śmigły ordered all Polish troops fighting east of the Vistula to withdraw towards Lwów, and...
plan.
After the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
joined the Nazi attack on September 17, 1939, and Western assistance was not forthcoming (see Western betrayal
Western betrayal
Western betrayal, also called Yalta betrayal, refers to a range of critical views concerning the foreign policies of several Western countries between approximately 1919 and 1968 regarding Eastern Europe and Central Europe...
), the Polish high command abandoned this plan, and ordered its units to evacuate to France; many units went through Romanian borders, where they were interned
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
, but Romania remained friendly towards Poles, allowing many soldiers to escape from the camps and move to France, and treating Polish interned soldiers and immigrants with relative respect throughout the war, even when it joined the Axis Powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
in 1941 (see Romania during World War II
Romania during World War II
Following the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the Kingdom of Romania officially adopted a position of neutrality. However, the rapidly changing situation in Europe during 1940, as well as domestic political upheaval, undermined this stance. Fascist political forces such as the Iron...
). However, as a result of German pressures, Romania could not openly aid the Poles.
On September 21, 1939, Romanian pro-British Premier Armand Călinescu
Armand Calinescu
Armand Călinescu was a Romanian economist and politician, who served as Prime Minister between March 1939 and the time of his death.-Early life:...
was killed in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
by a squad of local fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
activists of the Iron Guard
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...
, acting with Nazi support. Immediately afterwards, German authorities issued propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
blaming the action on Polish and British initiative; notably, the Nazi journalist Hans Fritzsche
Hans Fritzsche
Hans Georg Fritzsche was a senior German Nazi official, ending the war as Ministerialdirektor at the Propagandaministerium.- Career :...
attributed the assassination to Polish and British resentments over Romania's failure to intervene in the war.
Diplomatic alternatives
Though some politicians—such as Poland's Józef Piłsudski, who had proposed the creation of a MiędzymorzeMiedzymorze
Międzymorze was a plan, pursued after World War I by Polish leader Józef Piłsudski, for a federation, under Poland's aegis, of Central and Eastern European countries...
(Intermarum) federation at the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
—had attempted to forge a grand coalition of Central
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
, Eastern
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
and Balkan
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
European states, a series of conflicts in those areas had prevented the establishment of anything but a series of smaller, mostly bilateral
Bilateralism
Bilateralism consists of the political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. For example, free trade agreements signed by two states are examples of bilateral treaties. It is in contrast to unilateralism or multilateralism, which refers to the conduct of diplomacy by a...
treaties.
Poland, for example, had good relations with Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, Romania, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(Franco-Polish Military Alliance
Franco-Polish Military Alliance
The Franco-Polish alliance was the military alliance between Poland and France that was active between 1921 and 1940.-Background:Already during the France-Habsburg rivalry that started in the 16th century, France had tried to find allies to the east of Austria, namely hoping to ally with Poland...
) but poor relations with Czechoslovakia
First Republic of Czechoslovakia
-Independence:The Czechoslovak declaration of independence was published by the Czechoslovak National Council, signed by Masaryk, Štefánik and Beneš on October 18, 1918 in Paris, and proclaimed on October 28 in Prague...
(see Border conflicts between Poland and Czechoslovakia
Border conflicts between Poland and Czechoslovakia
Border conflicts between Poland and Czechoslovakia began in 1918 between the Second Polish Republic and First Czechoslovak Republic, both freshly created states. The conflicts centered on the disputed areas of Cieszyn Silesia, Orava Territory and Spiš...
) and Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
(see Polish-Lithuanian War
Polish-Lithuanian War
The Polish–Lithuanian War was an armed conflict between newly independent Lithuania and Poland in the aftermath of World War I. The conflict primarily concerned territorial control of the Vilnius Region, including Vilnius , and the Suwałki Region, including the towns of Suwałki, Augustów, and Sejny...
). Similarly, there were tensions between Hungary on one side, and Romania and Czechoslovakia on the other. Such conflicts had prevented Poland and Hungary from joining the Little Entente
Little Entente
The Little Entente was an alliance formed in 1920 and 1921 by Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia with the purpose of common defense against Hungarian revision and the prevention of a Habsburg restoration...
, and over the next two decades the region's political arena had been largely dominated by treaties and alliances resembling the Polish–Romanian Alliance.