Fait Accompli and the Creation of Modern Poland, 1918-1923 a Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the College
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Dreams Won and Lost: Fait Accompli and the Creation of Modern Poland, 1918-1923 A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Joseph M. Zielinski August 2013 © 2013 Joseph M. Zielinski. All Rights Reserved. 2 This thesis titled Dreams Won and Lost: Fait Accompli and the Creation of Modern Poland, 1918-1923 by JOSEPH M. ZIELINSKI has been approved for the Department of History and the College of Arts and Sciences by Timothy David Curp Associate Professor of History Robert Frank Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3 ABSTRACT ZIELINSKI, JOSEPH M.,, M.A., August 2013, History Dreams Won and Lost: Fait Accompli and the Creation of Modern Poland, 1918-1923 Director of Thesis: T. David Curp The collapse of the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian Empires in 1918 created a power vacuum in Eastern Europe. Within this vacuum, an independent Poland emerged. The allied powers (France, Great Britain, the USA, and Italy) gathered in Paris to determine the peace settlements and the boundaries of new states. Each state arrived at the conference with their own visions, which, at times, conflicted with other nation’s concepts. Events in the East, however, interrupted allied discussions and revealed the uncertainty in allied policy toward Poland. The David Lloyd George papers, published document collections, memoirs, and secondary literature reveal the connection between allied visions for post-war Europe and the level of support provided to Poland. Furthermore, the sources reveal the connection between allied opposition to Polish goals and Poland’s use of its military to gain contested territory. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis is the result of over a year of research and writing. I know this project would not have been possible without the support from advisers, friends, and family. I would like to first thank my thesis advisor, Dr. T. David Curp. Dr. Curp guided me the past two years through the historiography of interwar Poland, directed me to primary source documents, and provided constant support for questions I developed during my research and writing. Furthermore, he generously offered copious edits that cleaned my writing and provide necessary clarity to my argument. Additionally, I would like to thank the other members of my committee – Dr. Steven Miner and Dr. John Brobst – for their guidance and introduction to the historiographies of their fields. I would be remiss not to thank the friends and family that supported this project and me. First, I would like to thank my mother, Sue Zielinski. Her grammatical edits were invaluable to creating a clean and well-written work. Furthermore, her questions allowed me to further develop and clarify my narrative and arguments. I would also like to thank my siblings: Nick and Anna Zielinski. Their constant encouragement provided the motivation to continue through graduate school and produce this work. Finally, for reminding me of life outside of school and limiting thesis-related stress through laughter, I would like to thank my fiancée, Kate Laissle. Finally, I would like to dedicate this thesis to my parents – Carl and Sue Zielinski – for their constant support and kind words of encouragement. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1: Poland’s Place in European Politics ................................................................ 14 Chapter 2: The Impossible Wish List ............................................................................... 38 Chapter 3: Stolen Victories ............................................................................................... 66 Conclusion: A Victory for Whom? ................................................................................. 104 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 109 6 INTRODUCTION Born out of the defeated empires of Russia, Austro-Hungary, and Germany, Poland emerged as an independent state following World War I. When the state’s borders were finalized, the new state occupied approximately 388,600 square miles and almost 30 million people. The state amalgamated portions of three empires and consequently distinct types of people with vastly different experiences. Of the 30 million people in Poland just under seventy percent were Polish, fifteen percent were Ukrainian, and eight percent were Jewish. It was a state divided by its population; even ethnic Poles comprised vastly different backgrounds: German Poles enjoyed some measure of prosperity, Austrian Poles possessed the most political experience, and Russian Poles were the least experienced politically.1 Many of the non-Poles in Poland resided along its eastern borderlands known as the Kresy, which incorporated territory in modern day Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine. The territory’s mixed ethnic composition created significant roadblocks to Polish claims on the territory during the Peace Conference and subsequent conferences and resulted in noteworthy consternation in Polish political circles regarding their treatment. Poland, however, did not incorporate the Kresy into their territory until 1922 and until 1923, the sixth largest nation in Europe failed to achieve recognition for its borders by the broader European community, especially by Great Britain. Poland represented one of many new states created after World War I and it borders were partially subject to debate and compromise by the victorious allied powers at the Paris Peace Conference. 1 Zara Steiner, The Lights that Failed: European International History, 1919-1933 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 260. 7 Following the collapse and defeat of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I, the creation of new European states in 1918-1919 complicated the peace process. Further confounding the process, Russia was embroiled in civil war following two revolutions in one year (the February and October Revolutions of 1917). Ultimately, these circumstances created a highly unstable situation for new states in Eastern Europe. Within this context, the Polish state declared its independence in November 1918. 123 years following the final partition that erased the Polish state from the map, the name Poland would exist on maps as a nation, not an idea or geographical region. For all the optimism Polish national leaders possessed, the nature of the new state was entirely undetermined and partially subject to the policies and wishes of the great powers of Europe. Polish leaders recognized this fact and lobbied Britain, France, and the United States for favorable treatment. Polish leaders began their efforts to create a free and independent Poland during the war. The collapse of Tsarist Russia and the creation of the Kerensky provisional government created an opportunity for Polish nationalists abroad to lobby allied governments without fear of alienating an important ally against Germany, especially since the provisional government sanctioned an independent Poland. The National Committee, led by Roman Dmowski, managed to successfully lobby allied governments during the war. The biggest boost to their cause was President Wilson’s demand of a free, independent Poland with access to the sea in his Fourteen Points. Despite their successes, the borders of Poland remained undecided and unclear with the proclamation of independence in 1918. Allied governments endorsed Polish independence within 8 ethnographic borders; however, the ethnographic map of Eastern Europe was decidedly muddled and could not be easily determined. Polish populations predominated in cities such as Lvov and Vilna but were the minority in the countryside. Conversely in Upper Silesia, Poles held the majority in the countryside but were the minority in urban spaces. Drawing borders through borderlands was fraught with difficulties for the victorious powers and resulted in numerous disagreements between France, Great Britain, the United States, and the various White Russian entities. Victorious powers were not the only interested nations in the creation of Poland’s borders. Poland would be carved out of defeated and chaotic states and therefore Poland contended with the interests and designs of Germany, Russia, and Lithuanian and Ukrainian national groups. The Russian Civil War began in 1917 and raged well into the peace process. The unsettled situation made creating states in Eastern Europe difficult as no one party controlled the political situation in Russia. Furthermore, the Bolsheviks and the White Russians possessed vastly different visions for Eastern Europe and the role of Russia in it. The Bolsheviks wished to export the revolution and the White Russians desired to reconstitute a Great Russian empire. The Lithuanians and the Ukrainians attempted to create independent states according with the principle of national self- determination. President Wilson’s Fourteen Points gave hope to maligned nationalist groups and provided a base for claims on legitimacy within their ethnic boundaries. Polish leaders, in particular Jozef Pilsudski,