Russo-Polish Relations 1855-1964
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- Created by: bertiebishop11
- Created on: 29-05-18 11:19
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- Russo-Polish relations - Tsars
- Context
- By 1855 Poland was firmly under Russian control although had a long history of attempting to break away
- After decades of repression the Polish grew hopeful that Alexander IIs reformist attitude might improve their situation
- Independence had been achieved with the Napolenic invasions when a polish state and monarchy was set up however this collapsed in 1815
- Polish revolt (1863)
- Marquis Alekisander Wielopolski was appointed Polish Prime Minister in 1862 and accepted Russian rule but attempted to introduce liberal reforms such as Christian and Jewish equality
- Staunch nationalists viewed him as a Tsarist lapdog and in reality his push for reform was done only with Russian approval
- The swell of nationalism and dissatisfaction at the leadership led to mass demonstrations and assassination attempts on Wielopolski
- From Jan 1863 to spring 1864 there was wide scale rebellion against the Polish government
- There were no military confrontations as the rebels threatened stability with guerrilla tactics
- The rebel leader Dabrowski was an officer trained and deployed by the Russian army - however the nationalist movement did not gain enough peasant support and by mid 1864 the Russian gov had regained control and leaders were executed
- Marquis Alekisander Wielopolski was appointed Polish Prime Minister in 1862 and accepted Russian rule but attempted to introduce liberal reforms such as Christian and Jewish equality
- Milyutin Plan
- Milyutin believed in order to stop a repeat of the revolt Poland had to be fully integrated into the Russian state
- He argued Polish gentry had to be purged as they lost control of the countryside - Wielopolski fled and direct control was imposed under the MP
- Rural district councils similar to Zemstva's set up
- Hundreds of Polish nobility were exiled to Siberia and their estates transferred to incoming Russians
- Polish serfs were emancipated and gained the rights to their alloted land - paid for through a taxation system all had to pay (no redemption dues)
- Long Term Tsarist Relations
- Poland had lost all autonomy becoming a Vistula region of Russia
- The Catholic Church was not allowed to communicate with the Vatican
- Russian became the official language of administration and was taught in schools
- By the 1890s Poland had become an industrial hub and a Polish proletariat with an enthusiasm for Marxism emerged
- In 1892 the Polish Socialist Parys creation predated the Social Democrats (became Bolsheviks)
- The Miyutin Plan succeeded in diminishing nationalism as difficult nobility were exiled and peasants were economically better off
- Poland had lost all autonomy becoming a Vistula region of Russia
- Context
- War and Revolution 1918-21
- Russo Polish Relations - Communists
- Inter-War Years 1920-39
- German expansionist policies became clear and their non aggression treaty with Poland was seen by Stalin as a means to allow a German invasion of Russia and so he removed his own non-aggression treaty
- Because Stalin was left out of the Munich agreement (1938) he felt the West was conspiring to allow a Nazi invasion of Russia and so signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact dooming Poland to invasion
- However Hitler had a clear lebensraum agenda and if Poland allowed an invasion through its territory they might never leave
- Impact of WW2
- Nazi-Soviet Pact led to a souring of relations
- In April 1943 Nazis found the graves of 4000 Polish officers in the Katyn Forest each corpse had its hands behind its back and a bullet through the head - likely the NKVD's work
- The gov in exil pushed for a Red Cross investigation which let to Soviet accusations of their collaboration with Germany and the termination of relations
- This was followed in 1944 with the Red Army allowing the Nazis to crush the Warsaw Uprising and the establishment of the Lublin Committee
- Yalta and Potsdam
- At Yalta it was agreed the Russo-Polish frontier would be the Curzon line and the whole of Poland would be backed by Lublin
- At Potsdam the Western border was semi-agreed to be the Oder-Neisse line
- In 1948 the Communists were the only party and those who questioned the move away from democracy e.g. the Church were imprisoned
- By 1952 it had been physically sealed off and new concentration camps had been created at Mielcin for dissenters
- Khrushchev
- Brutal response to strikes led to the fall of a Stalinist gov in 1956 and Gomulka taking over
- Despite the row over WP membership and the mobilisation of Red Army troops relations improved after 1956
- Peasants were allowed to leave collective farms and the Catholic church could teach religion in schools
- Inter-War Years 1920-39
- Poland gained independence under the TBL and German surrender
- The Civil War brought their new independence under threat as the Red Army began to advance into its lost territory
- Lenin was not welcomed in the way he though he would be and the Red Army was halted at Warsaw and pushed back
- On October 16th 1920 with the Red Army needing to consolidate their Russian victory they signed an armistice and Polish independence was confirmed
- Lenin believed that by invading Poland he could 'free the workers from their tyranny' and lay a platform for communist revolutions in Western Europe
- On October 16th 1920 with the Red Army needing to consolidate their Russian victory they signed an armistice and Polish independence was confirmed
- Lenin was not welcomed in the way he though he would be and the Red Army was halted at Warsaw and pushed back
- Russo Polish Relations - Communists
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