{"id":2507,"date":"2018-03-03T15:28:54","date_gmt":"2018-03-03T15:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/?page_id=2507"},"modified":"2026-05-23T10:43:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T10:43:24","slug":"pre-war-policy-towards-poland","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/world-history\/interwar-period-c1918-1945\/pre-war-policy-towards-poland\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-War Policy towards Poland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Poland and Germany had mixed relations in the inter-war period. The Treaty of Versailles ceded German land to Poland. Poland had an interest in lands that bordered Germany. Both nations were wary of the Communist threat of the Soviet Union. This mixture of factors led to Poland and Germany concluding Non Aggression agreements. Poland was consulted on some areas of Nazi expansion. Then, in 1939, Poland was the object of the secret elements of the Nazi-Soviet Pact.<\/strong><\/p>\n

German<\/span>\u00a0– Polish relations 1933 – 1939.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Terms of the Treaty of Versailles<\/a> ceded parts of Germany to Poland. This was not something that the\u00a0Germans<\/span>\u00a0liked and given Hitler’s desire to tear up the Treaty and have Grossdeutschland you would expect that\u00a0German-Polish relations would\u00a0deteriorate<\/span>\u00a0soon after the Nazi’s gained power. However, quite the opposite happened at first. In 1934 the two nations agreed a ten year non-aggression pact. There then followed attempts to form an anti-communist pact, which Poland declined to agree to as this would antagonise the Soviet Union<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Polish leader, Pilsudski, meeting Goebbels 5 months after the signing of the Polish-German Non Aggression Agreement<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Relations between Germany and Poland continued to be relatively good throughout most of this period. Why? Germany had two aims. First, to weaken the friendship between the Poles and France. Second, to strengthen opposition to\u00a0communism<\/span>\u00a0and the Soviet Union. The reasons were purely tactical, Hitler had territorial\u00a0ambitions<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in Poland, both in the form of forming Grossdeutschland and in acquiring Lebensraum but there were other, easier, objectives that could and would be targeted first.<\/p>\n

Following the\u00a0Munich Agreement<\/a>\u00a0it became increasingly clear that the next territorial claims by Hitler could only be for areas of Poland that had formerly been within Germany. As a result they formalised their agreements of\u00a0mutual<\/span>\u00a0assistance with Britain and France.<\/p>\n

Following the conquest of Czechoslovakia Hitler did indeed begin to make demands of the Polish government. In March 1939 he demanded that the ‘Polish Corridor’ be returned to Germany and that the port of Danzig return to\u00a0German\u00a0control. The Polish Government rejected these demands and began preparations for an\u00a0invasion<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The expected\u00a0invasion of Poland occured on\u00a0September 1st, 1939. The war had begun<\/a>.<\/p>\n

International Relations in the Inter-war Years<\/a><\/h3>\n

Treaty of Versailles, 1919<\/a> – League of Nations<\/a> – The Dawes Plan, 1924<\/a> – Locarno Pact<\/a> – Kellogg-Briand Pact<\/a> – The Young Plan<\/a> – Litvinov Protocol<\/a> – Wall Street Crash<\/a> – Impact of the Great Depression<\/a> –\u00a0Manchurian Crisis, 1931<\/a> – Abyssinia Crisis, 1935<\/a> – League of Nations response to Abyssinia and Manchuria<\/a> – Spanish Civil War, 1936<\/a> – Hitler’s Aims: Lebensraum and Grossdeutschland<\/a> – Reoccupation of the Rhineland: International Response<\/a> – Anschluss<\/a> – Appeasement<\/a> – Sudetenland plebisite<\/a> –\u00a0Munich Agreement<\/a> –\u00a0Allied Pre-War policy towards Poland<\/a> – Nazi Soviet Pact<\/a> – Pact of Steel<\/a><\/p>\n

China 1930 \u2013 1976<\/a> –\u00a0Germany 1919-1945<\/a> –\u00a0USA 1919 -41<\/a> –\u00a0 History of the Soviet Union<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Poland and Germany had mixed relations in the inter-war period. The Treaty of Versailles ceded German land to Poland. Poland had an interest in lands that bordered Germany. Both nations were wary of the Communist threat of the Soviet Union. This mixture of factors led to Poland and Germany concluding Non Aggression agreements. Poland was… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2547,"parent":146,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":100,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2507","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t