POLAND AND THE EASTERN PACT

Abstract

The article features the activities of the Soviet and the Polish governments aimed at creating the so-called Eastern Pact in 1933 – the spring of 1935. The archives of Soviet intelligence declassified in the 2000s show that while the Soviet government fought for the pact, the governments of Poland, Germany and Japan were secretly preparing to conduct a policy of aggression against the USSR as early as in 1935; the secret sponsor and mastermind behind the plan was representatives of the British ruling circles. The major figures of the group were the head of the Bank of England M. Norman and the head of the House of Lords and the Minister of War, Lord Hailsham. By the spring of 1935, the Soviet political authorities already possessed all the information of strategic importance, which allowed them to take the necessary action. In March 1935, the Chinese Eastern Railway was sold, in April they publicized the secret Polish-German treaty signed on 25 February, 1934; on 2 May the Franco-Soviet treaty of mutual assistance was signed, and a similar treaty with Czechoslovakia was concluded on 16 May. Thus, the minor collective security system was established, which would put an end to the plans of Berlin, Tokyo and Warsaw to unleash their anti-Soviet intervention before the end of 1935.