Polska a sprawa rumuńsko-sowieckiego paktu o nieagresji w latach 1931–1932

Abstract

Ever since the emergence in 1931 of the idea of signing a non-aggression pact with the USSR, the Romanians, bound since 1921 by an alliance with Poland, remained sceptical about their own benefits from such an agreement. The politicians in Bucharest feared that the negotiations would evoke the question of Bessarabia, a region which underwent a controversial unification process with Romania that remained unapproved by the international community and unrecognised by the USSR. They also worried that the pact would result in the establish­ment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, thus opening the Kingdom of Romania to communist influence, which, in the light of the acute social troubles it raises, could strongly destabilise the internal situation in the country. Polish diplomacy attempted to bring both sides closer, yet the uncompromised demands made by the influential Romanian diplomat Nicolae Titulescu, as well as the critical attitude of French Prime Minister Andre Tardieu towards the whole initiative resulted in a total standstill.