Download Lecture notes 11

Jakub Basista, PhD, D.Litt
Institute of History,
Jagiellonian University
[email protected]
Poland in Europe in the 20th Century
Meeting 11. The Second World War – Poland. Between London, Moscow and
Washington DC.
1939
14 March – announcing of the forming of Fascist Slovakia of rev. J.Tiso
16 March – proclamation of Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
23 March – Hitler signs an alliance with Slovakia
31 March – Chamberlain’s speech on guarantees for Poland
7 April – Italy starts a war against Albania
16 April – Calling to life of Czechoslovak National Committee by Jan Masaryk
22 May – “Steel Pact” signed between Mussolini and Hitler
23 August – Ribbentrop-Molotov Treaty
25 August – Polish – British Treaty
1 September – Nazi attack on Poland
3 September – Great Britain and France declare war on Germany
17 September – Red Army enters Poland– announcements are made that Russians’ kinsmen in
Byelorussia and Ukraine are liberated from Polish “lords”
17/18 September – Polish government leaves Polish territory heading for Romania – Romania
interns Polish authorities
30 September – Władysław Raczkiewicz becomes president of Poland in France
1 October – Władysław Sikorski becomes p.m. and forms government-in-exile in France
(Angers): Polish Army in France numbers 80,000
18 October – agreement about organising Polish Military Fleet in Great Britain
October – talks in London; question of Polish borders (British politicians suggest the Curzon
line); British proposal of a post-war union of Poland-Czechoslovakia-Hungary
17 November – Czechoslovak National Committee recognised by France as representative of
Czech interests in France (20 Dec. By GB)
9 December – calling to life of Rada Narodowa (State Council) – a representative advisory
semi-parliament under Ignacy Paderewski
1940
4 January – agreement concerning the status of Polish army in France (constructed since
September 1939)
10 May – Germany begins war in Western Europe(France)
June – Polish government transferred to G. Britain
9 July – Temporary Czechoslovak Government established in London (recognized by British
on 21 July)
July – Spring 1941 – Battle of Britain – Polish planes within RAF; 203 German planes shot
down by Poles out of the total of 1733
5 August – Polish-British military treaty signed concerning the forming and financing of
Polish armed forces in Great Britain
August – Baltic States become Soviet Republics
30 August – Second Vienna Award – Hungary receives Transylvania
7 September – Romania gives Dobrudja to Bulgaria under Hitler’s pressure
27 September – “Pact of Three” signed in Berlin (Germany, Italy and Japan)
11 November – Polish and Czechoslovak governments-in-exile sign a declaration about future
co-operation after the war
1941
Four Freedoms Speech
In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon
four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the
world.
The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic
understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide
reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be
in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor -- anywhere in the
world.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in
our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called “new
order” of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.
Lend-Lease Act
A law passed by Congress on March 11, 1941, during World War II, allowing the president to
“sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of” weapons and materials
to help defend nations vital to U.S. security. Suggested by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in
December 1940 to help countries fighting the Axis, it provided $31.6 billion to Britain and
$11 billion to the USSR.
US Military Dictionary
6 January – 4 Freedoms proclamation by FDR (speech, worship, from want, from fear)
31 January – a Polish- Czechoslovak Committee formed
11 March – Lend-Lease Act – empowers the President to supply war materials to any country
whose defence appears vital for USA
March – Head of Yugoslav government travels to Berlin to join Germany and Italy; coup
d’etat in Belgrade
6 April – new Yugoslav government; an attack on Yugoslavia begins (Germany, Italy,
Bulgaria, Hungary)
22 June – German attack on USSR; Churchill offers USSR help
5 July – beginning of Polish-Soviet talks in London (USSR agrees to the forming of Polish,
Czechoslovak and Yugoslav committees in USSR and the creating of independent Poland
within the borders of Nazi-Soviet agreement of 18 September 1939)
12 July – GB and USSR sign a treaty concerning common action of both governments against
Germany during the war
18 July – Treaty of collaboration against Germany signed between Czechoslovak government
in London and USSR (28 September – agreement on Army forming)
30 July – Sikorski-Mayski treaty signed in London (question of Polish borders). Forming of
Polish army on Soviet territories (questions of supplies; leadership; allowing Polish citizens to
join the army) – commander in chief – gen. Władysław Anders
9-12 August – Atlantic Charter drafted by Roosevelt and Churchill on board of “Prince of
Wales”; signed on 14th
14 August – Polish-Soviet military agreement – Polish army to be formed in USSR
4 December – the so-called Stalin-Sikorski Declaration announced (organizational issues and
the future of international relations)
7 December – Pearl Harbour; 8 Dec USA declares war on Japan;
11 December – Germany & Italy declare war on USA
1942
1 January – Washington Pact – declaration by 26 nations at war with the Axis powers not to
conclude separate armistice (Declaration of the United Nations)
January – 21 Polish embassy agencies start to function in USSR
23 January – Polish-Czechoslovak Treaty on confederation after the war (Sikorski-Beneš
Treaty)
24 March – 4 April – Polish army evacuated to Persia (34 thousand soldiers; 12.5 thousand
civilians). Last troops leave at the end of August (total of 116,543 including 78,631 soldiers)
26 May – USSR & GB alliance treaty concerning relations after the war
11 June – Treaty between USA and USSR on cooperation at war
18-26 June – 2nd Washington Conference – establishing of second front
August – talks in Moscow regarding measures against Germany (Harriman represents FDR)
30 August – evacuation of Polish army from USSR to Iran
Fall – Jan Karski finds his way from occupied Poland to Britain; meeting Churchill and
F.D.Roosevelt he tells them about Holocaust – no reaction; during a meeting with the US
president, the latter interrupted account about extermination of Jews asking what was the
situation of horses in Poland
1943
14-24 January – Casablanca Conference – Roosevelt and Churchill decide on landing in Sicily
and Germany’s “unconditional surrender”
19 April – rising in the Warsaw Ghetto
25-26 April – USSR breaks contacts with Polish government in London (the question of
Katyń)
12-25 May – Washington Conference – Roosevelt and Churchill decide on operation
“Overlord”
3 June – last meeting of Polish-Czechoslovak Committee – Czechoslovak politicians pull
out due to Soviet pressure
3 June – French Liberation Front of De Gaulle formed in Algiers
4 July – gen. Sikorski killed in a plane accident at Gibraltar
8 July – gen. Sosnkowski becomes commander in chief; Mikołajczyk (Peasant Party)
becomes P.M.
10 July-17 August – landing in Sicily by Allies
29 September – surrender of Italy
19-30 October – talks in Moscow regarding co-operation until final victory ; Polish case is
discussed by Eden, but Molotov attacked saying Poland violated the 1941 treaty
22-26 November – Cairo Conference – Roosevelt, Churchill, Chiang Kai-Shek - operations
against Japan
28 November-1 December – Teheran Conference – Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin – decisions
on war strategy and Polish borders; Stalin attacks Polish underground, but Churchill and
Roosevelt accept Poland’s borders on Curzon line and Oder river
December – Eden in talks with Polish government declares that Teheran is not binding (Allies
still need 114,000 Polish troops in Italy).
1944
3-4 January – Red Army crosses Polish pre-war border (initiation of „Burza” – anti-Nazi
Home Army rising lasting till January 1945)
18 January – Churchill demands of Poland (gvt in exile) that it recognises the Curzon line
24 January – Polish government announces that it will not negotiate on Soviet conditions
17-18 May – battle of Monte Cassino (923 killed in action) in Italy
May – Communists representing Krajowa Rada Narodowa visit Moscow; Stalin presents them
as Poland’s representatives
6 June – landing in Normandy (operation “Overlord”)
mid-July – Mikołajczyk announces his willingness to talk with Moscow
22 July – forming of Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego in Lublin (PKWN) –
Polish Committee for National Liberation
30 July – Mikołajczyk in Moscow
1 August – Warsaw Rising (till October 3rd)
21 August –7 October – Dumbarton Oaks Conference (USSR, USA, G. Britain, China) – draft
of UN Charter
9-18 October – Moscow meeting; spheres of influence (Churchill, Eden, Stalin)
15 December – Churchill speaks in the House of Commons claiming that there is no
possibility of co-operation between London government and PKWN (suggests the Curzon line
as border)
31 December – Rząd Tymczasowy (Temporary Government) called to life by Communists in
Poland
1945
4-11 February – Yalta Conference – future of liberated Europe
8 May – Germany surrenders
26 June – the United Nations charter signed in San Francisco
17 July – 2 August – Potsdam Conference (Truman, Churchill/Attlee, Stalin)
– decisions reached about the occupation of Germany, Poland’s western border, resettlement
of population of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, war with Japan