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Anglo-Polish alliance
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Anglo-Polish alliance
The military alliance between the United Kingdom and Poland was formalised by the Anglo-Polish Agreement on 31 March 1939, with subsequent addenda of 1940 and 1944, for mutual assistance in case of a military invasion from Nazi Germany, as specified in a secret protocol.
The United Kingdom ( First Chamberlain ministry) had been attempting to create a four-way alliance to contain Nazi Germany, with France (then governed by Édouard Daladier), Poland and the Soviet Union. Polish Foreign Minister Józef Beck was disturbed by the prospect of any alliance with the Stalinistic Soviet Union because it conflicted with Poland's policy of maintaining distance from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. He also feared the reaction of the Hitler regime to the four-way alliance, which might be seen as the encirclement of Nazi Germany. Beck, however, saw an opportunity and so he proposed a secret agreement on consultation to British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax that was received on 24 March 1939. When questioned by Halifax, Polish Ambassador to the United Kingdom Raczyński said that Beck had British aid in mind in the event of an attack on Poland, but it would not be a mutual agreement.
On 31 March 1939, in response to Nazi Germany's defiance of the Munich Agreement and its occupation of Czechoslovakia, in Parliament, Chamberlain pledged the support of the UK and France to assure Polish independence:
...in the event of any action which clearly threatened Polish independence, and which the Polish Government accordingly considered it vital to resist with their national forces, His Majesty's Government would feel themselves bound at once to lend the Polish Government all support in their power. They have given the Polish Government an assurance to this effect. I may add that the French Government have authorised me to make it plain that they stand in the same position in this matter as do His Majesty's Government.
The British Chiefs of Staff at the time however noted that "we could give no direct help by land, sea or air."
On 6 April, when the Polish foreign minister visited London, it was agreed to formalise the assurance as an Anglo–Polish military alliance, pending negotiations. The text of the "Anglo-Polish Communiqué" stated that the two governments were "in complete agreement on certain general principles" and that it was "agreed that the two countries were prepared to enter into an agreement of permanent and reciprocal character." The British Blue Book for 1939 indicates that formal agreement was not signed until 25 August.
That assurance was extended on 13 April to Greece and Romania, after Fascist Italy had begun the invasion of Albania.
On 25 August 1939, two days after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union with a secret protocol that partitioned Central and Eastern Europe between them, Britain and Poland signed an agreement for mutual assistance. The agreement contained promises of mutual military assistance between the nations if either was attacked by some "European country". The United Kingdom, sensing a trend of German expansionism, sought to discourage German aggression by this show of solidarity. In a secret protocol of the pact, the United Kingdom offered assistance in the case of an attack on Poland specifically by Germany, but in the case of attack by other countries, the parties were required only to "consult together on measures to be taken in common". Both the United Kingdom and Poland were bound not to enter agreements with any other third countries that were a threat to the other. Because of the pact's signing, Hitler postponed his planned invasion of Poland from 26 August until 1 September.
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Anglo-Polish alliance
The military alliance between the United Kingdom and Poland was formalised by the Anglo-Polish Agreement on 31 March 1939, with subsequent addenda of 1940 and 1944, for mutual assistance in case of a military invasion from Nazi Germany, as specified in a secret protocol.
The United Kingdom ( First Chamberlain ministry) had been attempting to create a four-way alliance to contain Nazi Germany, with France (then governed by Édouard Daladier), Poland and the Soviet Union. Polish Foreign Minister Józef Beck was disturbed by the prospect of any alliance with the Stalinistic Soviet Union because it conflicted with Poland's policy of maintaining distance from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. He also feared the reaction of the Hitler regime to the four-way alliance, which might be seen as the encirclement of Nazi Germany. Beck, however, saw an opportunity and so he proposed a secret agreement on consultation to British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax that was received on 24 March 1939. When questioned by Halifax, Polish Ambassador to the United Kingdom Raczyński said that Beck had British aid in mind in the event of an attack on Poland, but it would not be a mutual agreement.
On 31 March 1939, in response to Nazi Germany's defiance of the Munich Agreement and its occupation of Czechoslovakia, in Parliament, Chamberlain pledged the support of the UK and France to assure Polish independence:
...in the event of any action which clearly threatened Polish independence, and which the Polish Government accordingly considered it vital to resist with their national forces, His Majesty's Government would feel themselves bound at once to lend the Polish Government all support in their power. They have given the Polish Government an assurance to this effect. I may add that the French Government have authorised me to make it plain that they stand in the same position in this matter as do His Majesty's Government.
The British Chiefs of Staff at the time however noted that "we could give no direct help by land, sea or air."
On 6 April, when the Polish foreign minister visited London, it was agreed to formalise the assurance as an Anglo–Polish military alliance, pending negotiations. The text of the "Anglo-Polish Communiqué" stated that the two governments were "in complete agreement on certain general principles" and that it was "agreed that the two countries were prepared to enter into an agreement of permanent and reciprocal character." The British Blue Book for 1939 indicates that formal agreement was not signed until 25 August.
That assurance was extended on 13 April to Greece and Romania, after Fascist Italy had begun the invasion of Albania.
On 25 August 1939, two days after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union with a secret protocol that partitioned Central and Eastern Europe between them, Britain and Poland signed an agreement for mutual assistance. The agreement contained promises of mutual military assistance between the nations if either was attacked by some "European country". The United Kingdom, sensing a trend of German expansionism, sought to discourage German aggression by this show of solidarity. In a secret protocol of the pact, the United Kingdom offered assistance in the case of an attack on Poland specifically by Germany, but in the case of attack by other countries, the parties were required only to "consult together on measures to be taken in common". Both the United Kingdom and Poland were bound not to enter agreements with any other third countries that were a threat to the other. Because of the pact's signing, Hitler postponed his planned invasion of Poland from 26 August until 1 September.