‘To Avoid Incurring All Uncertain and Ill-Defined Responsibilities’. Poland and the Eastern Pact of Mutual Assistance (1934–1935)

Abstract

In spite of having quite a lot of studies on the Eastern Pact of Mutual Assistance the Polish attitude towards the whole idea had not been explained sufficiently in existing historiography. The studies are either outdated (dating back to the communist times before 1989) or focused on the Polish diplomacy marginally. The Franco-Soviet cooperation strengthened in 1933 and in the spring of 1934 Louis Barthou started to consult the concept of an Eastern Pact of Mutual Assistance which he developed with Maksim Litvinov. That was presented as a way to stop Adolf Hitler’s aggressiveness. Polish diplomacy presented reservations towards Barthou’s proposal. The most important question in the article is connected with the motives of Warsaw and the way Józef Beck presented them. He was accused for supporting Hitler’s expansionist plans and became very unpopular because of his resistance against the Franco-Soviet concept. Hence, it is important to know whether those accusation were justified. Finally, there exist the problem of Beck’s partners in tackling against the Eastern Pact.