The Eagle Unbowed by Halik Kochanski

Author:Halik Kochanski [Kochanski, Halik]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141962412
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2012-08-27T16:00:00+00:00

Clark Kerr felt that these fears were exaggerated.79 Whatever Stalin’s motives were, it was now more apparent that there was an urgent need for the leaders of the Allies to have a face to face meeting to discuss the numerous challenges facing them.

With relations severed between Poland and the Soviet Union, Mikołajczyk’s government was entirely dependent on the goodwill of Britain and the United States to act as intermediaries. Mikołajczyk himself was inexperienced in international affairs, and Retinger noted that Churchill showed little sympathy and: ‘He acted like a kind of steam-roller, hating any obstacle in his path and trying by sheer force of personality to crush anything which stood in the way of his own wishes and views on Polish-Russian relations.’ Frank Roberts, who had many dealings with Mikołajczyk, believed that he ‘had a very practical approach to what could be done and what couldn’t’.80 The question was: what did the Polish Government want, and to what extent were the British and American governments prepared to take on Stalin to achieve Polish wishes?

Mikołajczyk was never in a strong enough position in London to conduct foreign relations with the degree of independence demonstrated by Sikorski. Both Raczkiewicz and Sosnkowski were so strongly anti-Soviet that Mikołajczyk was in no position to make compromises on the issue of the future frontiers of Poland, nor did he have the permission of the main four political parties in Poland. On 15 August 1943, they issued a declaration setting out their aims in war and peace. Among the principles were:

a. The basic principle of the foreign policy should be the collaboration with the Allies, based on equality with a distinct emphasis on self-determination in affairs concerning Poland, her sovereign rights and the integrity of her territory.

b. A constant watchfulness concerning Soviet influence, which is becoming increasingly marked in the Allied countries and a ceaseless recalling to their consciousness of the latent danger in Russian-Communist totalitarian peace aims.

c. The securing to Poland of a Western and Northern frontier, which would guarantee to her a wide access to the sea, together with integrity of her Eastern frontier, as well as suitable indemnities.

d. The formation of a confederation of states of which the Polish-Czechoslovak union might be the nucleus.81

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.