Chapter 432： Wind from Warsaw

While the Romanians are scrambling for talents in Germany and Austria, a discussion on Poland's foreign situation is also going on in Warsaw.

After Poland established the Second Republic, its diplomatic relations with neighboring countries were relatively bad. The main reason is that Poland has territorial disputes against newly born Lithuania, Belarus, the Czech Republic, defeated Germany, and Galicia occupied by Romania.

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

The territorial dispute with the Czech Republic was also resolved in the Polish War at the beginning of the year (the big fist had the final say). The difference between this and the original history is that Poland won the Polish-Portuguese War. The disputed territory of Cieszyn Silesia is currently firmly in the hands of the Warsaw government.

Cieszyn Silesia is located in a territory intersecting Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. It covers an area of ​​2004 square kilometers and has 435,000 people. The main ethnic groups are Polish 48.2%, Czechs 21.7%, and Slovaks 23.8%.

Moreover, the region is rich in coal resources. More importantly, the region has a railway connecting the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which is very important to the Czech Republic. Therefore, both parties insist on not letting go of this disputed territory. It just seems that Poland has an advantage at the moment. As for whether there will be another game in the future, it is unclear.

In addition, for the newly born Lithuania, Poland has always made no secret of its intention to merge with it to form the United Republic of Lithuania and Poland. It was only in February 1919 that Lithuania and Belarus jointly formed the Thuanian-Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. This made the Polish army quite dissatisfied and invaded Lithuania in April, and waited until the Lithuanian bourgeoisie came to power in August and declared independence. Poland can't wait to merge with it and become a federal state. After all, the United Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, but Poland's most glorious time. It's just that Poland's delay in negotiating on merger matters has failed to come up with a result, so this goal has been stuck in mid-air.

For the Belarusian Soviet government, Poland is thinking differently. In the eyes of the actual Polish ruler Piłsudski, the most important problem in Poland is the restoration of the past territory. After the Rosso War, he threw the idea of ​​the "Sea Federation" (Baltic Sea to Black Sea) into the trash can.

Moreover, in this war, not only did we see the Romanian army being powerful, but also the powerful assistance from Britain and France and other countries.

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, there was a deeper involvement in the Russian Civil War. But what is interesting is that the Poles are not only fighting against the Soviet Red Army, but also against the White Guards.

Because as the founder of the Polish army, Piłsudski has always believed that the Russians will be the main threat to Poland in the future, whether it is White or Red Russia, they will be hostile to the new Poland. At present, they must take advantage of their civil war to vigorously weaken the future strength of Russia in order to ensure the security of Poland. Therefore, under the command of Piłsudski, the Polish army intervened in the Russian Civil War.

At this time, the White Army, which had the upper hand in the civil war, was advancing towards Moscow. Facing the aggressive Polish army, Soviet Russia was devastated by the internal and external wars. For this reason, Lenin once again resorted to a "strategic compromise" against the Germans, and proposed to transfer Minsk and Khmelnitsky areas to Poland.

The Poles are of course happy, and they think this proposal is better than they expected. In December, the two sides sat at the negotiating table, and a marathon-style negotiation began. Four months later, the Poles suddenly realized that Soviet Russia was "using negotiations for time to restore strength and prepare for war."

In the Belveder Palace, the official residence of the Polish head of state, talks about the seizure of territory by force are underway.

"The territorial dispute between us and Belarus, I think it is time for a thorough settlement. We should restore Poland's territory before 1772, and negotiations with Soviet Russia cannot go on. Lenin is a liar, and he negotiated with us. It’s just a postponement strategy. We can’t wait for them to slow down before intervening in territorial disputes with us. We must enter Belarus immediately and take back our territory.

As Piłsudski’s comrade-in-arms, Prime Minister Morachevski was the first to speak out his plan.

The leaders of the other Polish political factions in the talks faced Morachevsky's words, and they all talked quietly.

"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 was also the author of the book "The Thoughts of a Modern Polish Man" that influenced the later thinking of Poles. In this book, Ridmowski treats all ethnic minorities as demons that weaken the country and believes that they should be cleaned up.

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

"... In the characteristics of this race of Jews, quite a lot of values ​​that are different from our moral fundamentals and harmful to our lives have been increasingly manifested. If we are assimilated by a considerable number of Jews, we will be destroyed, and the Jews will take advantage of the degeneration. The foundation replaces us instead of using the young and creative foundation we need to create the future."

The reason for the delay in merging with Lithuania is because of him.

This is a very narrowly defined nationalist, who believes that all ethnic minorities must be like Polish nationalities regardless of their living habits or cognition. Contrary to him, Piłsudski is a multi-ethnic federal nationalist. As long as they identify with Poland as a country or federation, all ethnic groups can live in peace. So the two people's views are completely left, which also caused Dmowski to be Piłsudski's mortal enemy. Moreover, in January 1919, some of Dmowski’s supporters tried to launch a coup against Piłsudski and Prime Minister Morachevski, but it did not succeed.

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

After getting permission, Dmowski said: "Of course I support the regaining of our territory. But we have to pay attention to the actions of the Germans in our territory. We must know that in West Prussia, Posen and Silesia. There are too many Germans in Russia, and we must take precautions against them. In addition, we can continue to talk with Soviet Russia, as long as we set a limited time."

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

This is also the foreshadowing of Poland being divided up again in the future. After all, after Piłsudski's death, Poland, which has been attacked by Soviet Russia and Germany, really cannot be saved.

In fact, Dmowski seized part of the former Polish territory of Belarus and Soviet Russia. He was in fact very in favor. Of course, it would be best if he could get it back through negotiation.

Demowski's words also caused other people to talk quietly, and many people were very interested in it. At this time Prime Minister Morachevsky must speak to interrupt their illusions.

"Lenin is not credible. Look at the Brest treaty he signed with Germany. They abolished this treaty when Germany lost the war, and we still don't have the strength of Germany. When Russia ends the civil war, the next round will be Here we are. And the Soviet Russian government is no different from the previous Russian government. They believe in force more. Only when they are weak now can they retake our territory to ensure the safety of Poland."

Speaking of this, Morachevsky took the opportunity to take Romania as an example. "Look at the Soviet-Russian attitude after the war with Romania. Before you compare it, you can see that the Russians remember whether they can eat or not. Even the Brest Treaty was signed after the Germans hurt them. ."

To cite two consecutive examples, let the people of the various political parties present also let go of the peace talks to regain the territories, and finally the negotiations agreed to the plan to enter Belarus.

Of course, the Poles are not fighting alone. After deciding to continue their march into Belarus, they immediately found the British and French ambassadors who wanted their assistance. Regarding the Soviet-Polish conflict that will be triggered by Poland's recapture of territories, the British and French ambassadors are quite supportive. They not only send reports to tell Poland's requirements, but also personally provide advice to Poland.

Among them, Maxime Wigan of the French military envoy in Poland is the most active.

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

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