This research paper discusses the Polish reaction to the Treaty of Locarno which was signed on October 16, 1925 and the implications and consequences for Poland of that treaty.
Under the Treaty of Locarno, the principal European powers guaranteed the western borders of Germany which were determined by the Treaty of Versailles. They did not, however, guarantee Germany's eastern borders, which became the principal focus of Polish dissatisfaction. To most Poles, the Locarno arrangements undermined Polish security vis-a-vis its resurgent German neighbor and weakened its alliance with France. Although the Polish government participated in the negotiations which led up to the signing of the treaty, its terms were presented to it as a fait accompli. The failure of the western Entente to pay closer heed to Polish security concerns helped produce the successful coup d'etat of May 11-15, 1926 mounted by Marshall Jozef Pilsudski (1867-1935). His authoritarian regime (1926-1935) pursued an even more nationalistic and independent foreign policy than had its predecessors, partly in reaction to Locarno.
Goals of Polish foreign policy in the early 1920s
In 1772, 1793 and 1795, Poland was partitioned among its Germanic (German and Austrian) and Russian neighbors. Davies noted that "the overwhelming experience for all Poles for five long generations was one of foreign rule, and political oppression" (158). Poland's post-1918 independence was the result of the political vacuum created by Germany's defeat and subsequent turmoil and the Russian Revolution of 1917. Its western borders were determined by the victorious Entente and incorporated in the Versailles Treaty. Poland received the Poznan and Pomeranian provinces. The latter contained the Polish Corridor that assured Poland free access to the sea and cut off East Prussia from Germany. A council of League of Nations ambassadors awarded Poland the eastern or coal-rich half of Upper Silesia....