Romanian Eagle

As the Romanians scavenge for talent in Germany and Austria, talks are underway in Warsaw on Poland's foreign situation.

After the establishment of the Second Republic of Poland, its diplomatic relations with neighboring countries were relatively poor. Mainly because Poland had territorial disputes with the nascent Lithuania, Belarus, the Czech Republic, the defeated Germany, and the Romanian-occupied Galicia.

Among them, the territorial dispute with Germany was supported by Britain and France in the Treaty of Versailles, and Poland took the opportunity to gain West Prussia, Posen and parts of Silesia.

And the territorial dispute with the Czech Republic was also resolved in the Bo Czech War at the beginning of the year (the big fist has the final say). This is different from the original history, this time Poland won the Polish war. The disputed territory of Ceszyn Silesia is currently firmly in the hands of the Warsaw government.

Ceszyn Silesia is located in a territory where Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia intersect, with an area of ​​2,004 square kilometers and a population of 435,000 people. The main ethnic groups are Polish 48.2%, Czech 21.7% and Slovak 23.8%.

Moreover, the region is rich in coal resources, and more importantly, the region has a railway connecting the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which is very important to the Czech Republic. Therefore, both sides insist on not letting go of this disputed territory. It's just that Poland seems to have an advantage at the moment. As for whether there is still a need to do it in the future, it is unknown.

In addition, Poland has made no secret of its desire to merge with Lithuania to form the United Republic of Lithuania and Poland. Only in February 1919 Lithuania and Belarus jointly formed the Lithuanian-Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. This made the Polish army quite dissatisfied and invaded Lithuania in April, and in August the Lithuanian bourgeoisie came to power and declared independence. Poland can't wait to merge with it to become a federal state. After all, the Polish-Lithuanian United Kingdom is the most glorious time of Poland. It's just that this goal has been stuck in the air because of the delay in negotiating the merger in Poland.

As for the Belarusian Soviet government, Poland has a different mind. In the eyes of Piłsudski, the actual ruler of Poland, the main problem for Poland at present is to restore the territory of the past. After the Russo-Soviet War, he threw the idea of ​​an "intermarine federation" (Baltic to Black Sea) in the trash.

And in this war, not only saw the strength of the Romanian army, but also saw the powerful assistance from Britain and France.

And Poland can learn too much from this war, such as the disputed Belarusian territorial issue, and how to face the conflict with Soviet Russia, he can learn how to deal with it.

In fact, after Poland became independent, it had a deeper involvement in the Russian Civil War. But what is interesting is that the Poles fought not only with the Soviet Red Army, but also with the White Guards.

Because as the founder of the Polish Army,

Piłsudski had always believed that the Russians would be the main threat to Poland in the future, and that both White Russia and Red Russia would be hostile to the new Poland. To ensure Poland's security, they must now take advantage of their civil war to vigorously weaken future Russia. So the Polish army, under the command of Piłsudski, got involved in the Russian Civil War.

At this time, the White Army, which had the upper hand in the civil war, was advancing towards Moscow. In the face of the aggressive Polish army, Soviet Russia was devastated by the internal and external wars. To this end, Lenin once again resorted to a trick to deal with the Germans - "strategic compromise", and proposed to assign the Minsk and Khmelnitsky areas to Poland.

Of course the Poles liked it, and they thought the offer was better than they expected. In December, the two sides sat at the negotiating table, and a marathon negotiation began. Four months later, the Poles suddenly realized that Soviet Russia was "exchanging negotiation for time to restore strength and prepare for war".

In the Belvedere Palace, the official residence of the Polish head of state, talks are under way about the use of force to seize territory.

"Our territorial dispute with Belarus, I think it's time for a complete solution. We should restore the territory of Poland before 1772, and the negotiations with the Soviet Union cannot continue. Lenin is a liar, and he negotiated with us. It’s just a tactic to delay the army. We can’t wait for them to relax before intervening in the territorial dispute with us. We must immediately march into Belarus and take back the territory that belongs to us.”

As Piłsudski's comrade-in-arms, Prime Minister Morachevsky was the first to speak out about his plans.

The leaders of the other Polish political factions in this negotiation all whispered to each other in the face of Morachewski's words.

"I have a question."

At this time, a voice came out, and everyone saw that it was Dmowski, the leader of the National Democratic Party. He is also the author of the book "Ideas of a Modern Pole" that influenced Poles later thinking. In this book Ridmowski sees all ethnic minorities as debilitating inner-gods and thinks they should be cleaned up.

For example, on the views of minority Jews, Dmowski described his views in detail in the book.

"...in the peculiarities of this racial Jew, quite a number of values ​​that are fundamentally different from our morals and detrimental to our lives are increasingly manifested. If we were assimilated by a considerable number of Jews, we would be destroyed, and the Jews would take advantage of the depraved The foundation replaces us, not the young creative foundation we need to create the future."

It was because of him that the merger with Lithuania was delayed.

This is a rather narrow nationalist, arguing that all minorities must be like the Poles, both in terms of living habits and cognition. Contrary to him, Piłsudski was a multi-ethnic federal statist. As long as they agreed with Poland as a country or a federation, all ethnic groups could live in peace. Therefore, the two people's views are completely left, which also caused Dmowski to be Piłsudski's mortal enemy. And in January 1919, some of Dmowski's supporters tried unsuccessfully to stage a coup against Piłsudski and Prime Minister Morachevsky.

Seeing that Dmowski wanted to express his opinion, Prime Minister Morachevsky could only let him speak. "Please state your opinion, Mr. Dmowski."

Immediately after receiving permission, Dmowski said: "As for the recovery of our territory, of course I support it. But we must pay attention to the actions of the Germans in our territory, knowing that in West Prussia, Posen and Silesia There are too many Germans, and we must take precautions against them. In addition, we can continue to talk with the Soviet Union, as long as we set a time limit.”

Yes, Dmowski is not only the opposite of Piłsudski on national issues, but also on who is a threat to Poland. In his view, Germany is the main threat to Poland. Even because of this he was disappointed with the Treaty of Versailles, believing that it was an "international Jewish conspiracy". British Prime Minister David Lloyd George was bribed by a German-Jewish financial syndicate to make the Polish-German border (in Dmowski's eyes) so unfavorable for Poland. In his opinion, the German-Polish border should be pushed further west.

This is also the foreshadowing of Poland being divided up again in the future. After all, after Piłsudski's death, there is really no one to save Poland from Russia and Germany.

And Dmowski actually seized part of the original Polish territory of Belarus and Soviet Russia. In fact, he is very much in favor of it. Of course, it would be best if he could get it back through negotiation.

Dmowski's words also caused other people to discuss in a low voice, and it can be seen that many people are very interested in this. At this time Prime Minister Morachevsky must speak to interrupt their fantasy.

"Lenin is not credible. Look at the Brest Treaty he signed with Germany. They abolished the treaty as soon as Germany lost the war, and we don't have the strength of Germany. When Russia ends the civil war, the next round will be It's our turn. And the Soviet Russian government is no different from the previous Russian government. They believe in force more, and only by taking back our territory when they are weak can they ensure the safety of Poland."

Having said that, Morachevsky took the opportunity to take Romania as an example. "Look at the attitude of Soviet Russia after the war with Romania. Before you compare it, you can find that the Russians don't remember to eat. Even the Treaty of Brest was signed after the Germans beat them. ."

Two examples were given in a row, and the people of various political parties present also gave up their thoughts of taking back the territory in the peace talks. In the end, this negotiation resulted in the agreement to enter Belarus.

Of course, the Poles were not alone in the fight. After deciding to move on to Belarus, they immediately sought the aid of the British and French ambassadors. The British and French ambassadors were quite supportive of the conflict between the Soviet Union and Poland, which would be triggered by Poland's recovery of territory.

Among them, Maxime Wegand of the French military envoy in Poland was the most active.

So with the support of Britain and France, the Poles finally took a solid step towards a great dream. As for whether this step will be stable or not, it is unknown.

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