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Polish - Romanian Military Cooperation International Conference KNOWLEDGE-BASED ORGANIZATION Vol. XXIV No 1 2018 POLISH - ROMANIAN MILITARY COOPERATION Tomasz BĄK Instytut Analizy Ryzyka Wyższa Szkoła Informatyki i Zarządzania w Rzeszowie [email protected] Abstract: Reborn after WWI, Poland needed to secure its borders properly against a potential enemy. As a result of the undertaken negotiations, the state strengthened the protection of its eastern border with a Polish-Romanian alliance. Before WWII, Romania was an important ally of Poland in the region and the only neighbour with whom Poland had a good relationship. Currently, both states are members of the EU and NATO, and their interests in security converge, especially in the face of deteriorating security in Eastern Europe. Closer military cooperation is also favoured by extensive political contacts and increasing expenditure on defence in both those states. In fact, Romania may well become the main ally of our country in the region within the next few years. [1] Keywords: cooperation, military cooperation, Polish-Romanian alliance. Introduction In autumn of that same year, the Romanian 1. Military cooperation of Poland and minister of foreign affairs contacted the Romania before WWII Polish government with a direct proposal of After the First World War ended, Polish cooperation within the Little Entente. Yet diplomacy faced the difficult challenge of the mission met with a full fiasco, as it ensuring strong borders of the reborn state. would mean the need for Poland’s Another objective was to define the place of cooperation also with the Czechoslovakian Poland in Central and Eastern Europe anew. diplomacy. At that time, Polish diplomacy The planned system was supposed to be were not fond of Czechoslovakia due to e.g. based on an alliance of Poland, Romania the trouble with Cieszyn Silesia. Thus the and Hungary. Yet an alliance treaty first attempt at Polish-Romanian agreement between Hungary and Romania could failed. hardly be expected at a time when Hungary Yet Romanian diplomacy did not surrender still held e.g. the annexation of the idea. Expansion from the East was Transylvania against Romania. becoming an ever growing danger for the After Poland signed a peace treaty with state. In that situation, the issue of an Soviet Russia in October 1920, Bucharest’s agreement with Poland was revived, and fears of aggression from the East Warsaw also wanted to benefit from the intensified. It was considered highly likely favourable circumstances in the desire to that Soviet troops would be used against ensure Poland’s eastern border for the Romania in the nearest future. That threat future. caused higher interest of Romanian By the end of November, the Polish diplomacy in closer relations with Poland. minister of foreign affairs started DOI: 10.1515/kbo-2018-0001 © 2015. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License. 9 developing a draft of the alliance treaty. binding both Poland and Romania, The draft provided for a Polish-Romanian concerning the transformation of the alliance which would include political, defensive alliance against Russia into a military and trade agreements and a general one, aimed also against Germany. confidential protocol. The Polish side, on the other hand, feared The political agreement was supposed to that it would be involved in a potential guarantee integrity of the eastern borders, Balkan conflict against its will. Both geographically separate for Poland and Romania and Poland were afraid that the Romania. Both states agreed to provide alliance might cause more harm than good, immediate military assistance to the engaging them into an unplanned war respective ally if the border were violated against their will. by a “foreign military force”. The scope of In January 1921, Polish diplomats assistance was to be defined in a separate presented a detailed project of a military agreement. A three-year validity period was convention, which included e.g. the planned for the political treaty. The treaty obligation of both sides to a joint defence was to be public, ratified and officially against Russian attack, regardless of its submitted to the secretary of the League of systemic form, and to providing ca. 85 000 Nations. soldiers by both allies (fourteen infantry The military agreement was meant to divisions and two cavalry ones) if the need specify the principles of military arise. Final provisions obliged both parties cooperation between the allies, and a to jointly conclude truces or peace treaties. detailed scope of the potential mutual The convention was initialled (not signed) assistance. The issue of a trade agreement by both parties. was not closely specified except for a plan The thus developed convention was to to have it signed at a later time. The some extent useless, since each ally could, confidential protocol assumed a in fact, evade providing actual military confirmation of border integrity between assistance at any time. the allies and neutralisation of any attempt On conclusion of the talks between military of Eastern Galicia to separate or become agents, it was time to develop a suitable independent. political agreement and adjust it to the Conclusion of the negotiations was delayed convention. The Romanian side issued a by the fact that Romanians feared Polish- statement to the effect that it was Hungarian friendship, which in their view consciously striving towards an alliance could be harmful to Romania in the future. with Poland, but wished to have no The pace of the negotiations was also relations with Hungary or Bulgaria. Both slowed down by a note from Russia which states took steps to obtain support for the reassured Romania of Russia’s peaceful agreement from France and Great Britain. intentions towards the state. Romanians France expressed a favourable stand in the also feared the possibility of being included matter, as it saw the future alliance as in the ongoing Polish-Soviet war. They complementing the Polish-French one. The were afraid that once they signed the two allies were apprehensive of the reaction treaties, their new ally might take further of British politicians, but that obstacle was military actions. also lifted. The Romanian side suggested adding an However, the Polish government was not in article to the public part of the treaty stating a hurry to conclude the matter, because that Romania could conclude separate signing a Polish-Romanian alliance during agreements, which could later evolve into peace talks with the Bolsheviks could cause alliance treaties. The confidential protocol serious complications at the negotiation would also have an additional provision table. On the other hand, they also waited 10 for conclusion of an alliance with France, no major differences from the one initialled which would strengthen Poland’s position on 29th January. It consisted of 11 in talks with Romania. The allies-to-be also paragraphs which defined e.g. specific preferred to wait for the right moment to times for mobilisation and assumed joint conclude the treaty. Polish-Soviet actions of the staffs of both armies in negotiations came to a deadlock, and mobilisation conditions. rumours from Warsaw brought news of a Thus the several-month-long negotiations planned offensive. Signing an alliance at brought results in the shape of a Polish- such a moment could result in immediate Romanian alliance which was to ensure the engagement of the Romanian army in the protection of our eastern borders. maelstrom of military actions. After five years since the treaty was first Finally, on 19th February the negotiations effective, both sides signed a “guarantee and settlements concerning the military contract” with a military annex named convention came to a close. An obligation “arrangements techniques” in 1926. [2] An was written into the political agreement to important political change as compared to have war declared by the respective party if the convention of 1921 was the obligation its ally was attacked, and to jointly of mutual defence in the case of any attack, conclude truces and peace treaties. A and not just one from the East. The military provision was also included that the part of the treaty assumed that the other alliance would be ratified by Poland only party would actively and automatically join after the negotiations in Riga were the war only in the case of an attack from concluded and a peace treaty signed, yet it the East. On 15th January 1931, the political would be effective from the moment of convention was prolonged without any signing in Bucharest. Signing a trade treaty major changes to the content. The modified was also planned, but it was not a priority arrangements techniques were signed in to the Polish government, hence the matter June 1931, specifying mutual obligations. was postponed. They provided e.g. for joining the war in Finally, the Convention on a Defence the case of an attack on the eastern border Alliance Between the Republic of Poland and of one or both states, even in the case of the Kingdom of Romania was signed on 3rd previous engagement in a conflict with a March 1921. The final version of the military different enemy, and if the attacker was convention was signed on the same day. other than the USSR, the parties were The convention on a defence alliance obliged to provide aid to the attacked consisted of eight articles and three partner in the area of supplies, transport and confidential protocols. They obliged the transit. The agreement was to remain in allies e.g. to provide mutual help in the case effect for five years and be automatically of an attack from the eastern borders. The prolonged if not previously terminated; thus convention established the obligation for 1936 saw an automatic prolongation. communication in the matters of foreign The resumed Polish-Romanian inter-staff affairs and relations with eastern conferences continued joint operational neighbours.
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