The Soviet–Polish Non-Aggression Pact ( pl, Polsko-radziecki pakt o nieagresji, russian: Договор о ненападении между СССР и Польшей, transliterated as ) was a

non-aggression pact A non-aggression pact or neutrality pact is a treaty between two or more states/countries that includes a promise by the signatories not to engage in military action against each other. Such treaties may be described by other names, such as a tr ...

signed in 1932 by representatives of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. The pact was unilaterally broken by the Soviet Union on September 17, 1939, during the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subse ...

Background

After the

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (Polish–Bolshevik War, Polish–Soviet War, Polish–Russian War 1919–1921) * russian: Советско-польская война (''Sovetsko-polskaya voyna'', Soviet-Polish War), Польский фронт (' ...

, the Polish authorities pursued a policy of "equal distance" between Germany and the Soviet Union. Most Polish politicians, both on the left and on the right, believed that Poland should rely mostly on the crucial

Franco-Polish Military Alliance The Franco-Polish Alliance was the military alliance between Second Polish Republic, Poland and French Third Republic, France that was active between the early 1920s and the outbreak of the Second World War. The initial agreements were signed in ...

, which dated back to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and not support either Germany or the Soviet Union. To normalise bilateral contacts with the Soviet Union, talks were started in January 1926 to prepare a non-aggression pact to fortify the Polish gains of the

Peace of Riga The Peace of Riga, also known as the Treaty of Riga ( pl, Traktat Ryski), was signed in Riga on 18 March 1921, among Poland, Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus) and Soviet Ukraine. The treaty ended the Polish–Soviet Wa ...

that was to be balanced by a similar pact signed with Germany. However, the talks with Germany were not started, and the Polish–Soviet talks were interrupted in June 1927, when Britain broke off diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and Soviet plenipotentiary

Pyotr Voykov Pyotr Lazarevich Voykov (russian: Пётр Ла́заревич Во́йков; ua, Петро Лазарович Войков; party aliases: Пётрусь and Интеллигент, or ''Piotrus'' and '' Intelligent'') ( – June 7, 19 ...

was killed in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. Instead, Poland applied to the Briand-Kellogg Pact of 1928. Polish-Soviet negotiations were resumed in Moscow in 1931. The pact was signed on July 25, 1932, effective for three years. Ratifications were exchanged in Warsaw on December 23, 1932, and the pact went into effect on the same day. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on January 9, 1933.''League of Nations Treaty Series''
vol. 136, pp. 42-53.
/ref> On May 5, 1934, it was extended to December 31, 1945 without amendment.

Terms

Both sides agreed to renounce violence in bilateral relations, to resolve their problems through negotiations and to forgo any armed conflict or alliances aimed at the other side.

Aftermath

On September 23, 1938, the Soviet Union sent a note to the Polish government to inform it that the pact would be considered null and void if Poland participated in the

occupation of Czechoslovakia Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

br>
However, the threat was not carried out since the Soviet government stated on October 31, after Poland had occupied

Zaolzie Trans-Olza ( pl, Zaolzie, ; cs, Záolží, ''Záolší''; german: Olsa-Gebiet; Cieszyn Silesian: ''Zaolzi''), also known as Trans-Olza Silesia (Polish: ''Śląsk Zaolziański''), is a territory in the Czech Republic, which was disputed betwee ...

area, that the pact remained in forc

and the pact was reaffirmed by the two powers on November 26, 1938 (se

. It was finally broken by the Soviets on September 17, 1939, when the Soviet and German jointly invaded Poland, in accordance with the secret protocols of the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , long_name = Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H27337, Moskau, Stalin und Ribbentrop im Kreml.jpg , image_width = 200 , caption = Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking ...

. The pact was considered at the time as a major success of Polish diplomacy, which had been greatly weakened by the toll war with Germany, the renouncement of parts of the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

and the loosened ties to France. The pact also reinforced the Polish negotiating position with Germany, which finally resulted in the signing of the

German–Polish declaration of non-aggression The German–Polish declaration of non-aggression (german: Erklärung zwischen Deutschland und Polen über den Verzicht auf Gewaltanwendung, pl, Deklaracja między Polską a Niemcami o niestosowaniu przemocy), also known as the German–Polish ...

18 months later.

References

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Sources

External links