At a time when the Romanians were swaggering in Germany and Austria for talent, negotiations were also underway in Warsaw about the Polish foreign situation.

After the establishment of the Second Republic, Poland had poor diplomatic relations with its neighbors. This was mainly due to the fact that Poland had territorial disputes with the new Lithuania, Belarus, the Czech Republic, the defeated Germany, and Romanian-occupied Galicia.

The territorial dispute with Germany was supported by Britain and France in the Treaty of Versailles, and Poland took the opportunity to acquire West Prussia, Posen, and parts of Silesia.

The territorial dispute with the Czech Republic was also resolved in the Polish-Czech War at the beginning of the year (with a big fist). This is different from the original history in that Poland won the Polish-Czech War. The disputed territory of Silesia is now firmly in the hands of the Warsaw government.

Ceschen Silesia is a territory on the intersection of Poland and the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with an area of 2,004 square kilometers and a population of 435,000 people. The main ethnic groups are Poles (48.2%), Czechs (21.7%) and Slovaks (23.8%).

The region is also rich in coal and, more importantly, has a railway connecting the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which is very important for the Czech Republic. So for this disputed territory, both sides insist on not letting go. It's just that at the moment it seems that Poland has the advantage, and it is unknown whether it will need to be done in the future.

In addition, Poland has always made no secret of its desire to merge with the newly born Lithuania to form the United Republic of Lithuania and Poland. However, in February 1919 Lithuania and Belarus united to form the Lithuanian-Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. This made the Polish army quite unhappy and invaded Lithuania in April, and waited until August when the Lithuanian bourgeoisie came to power and declared independence. Poland could not wait to merge with it to become a federal state, after all, the Polish-Lithuanian United Kingdom was at its most glorious. It's just that because Poland has been unable to negotiate a result on the merger for a long time, this goal has been stuck in mid-air.

As for the Belarusian Soviet government, Poland had a different mind. In the eyes of Pilsudski, the de facto ruler of Poland, Poland's main problem at present was the restoration of its former territory. After the Rosso War, he threw the idea of an "inter-sea federation" (Baltic to Black Sea) in the trash.

Moreover, in this war, we not only saw the strength of the Romanian army, but also saw the strong assistance of Britain and France and other countries.

Poland has so much to learn from this war, such as the disputed Belarusian territory and how to deal with the conflict with Soviet Russia.

In fact, after Poland became independent, it was deeply involved in the Russian Civil War. But what is interesting is that the Poles fought not only with the Russian Red Army, but also with the White Guards.

As the founder of the Polish army, Pilsudski had always believed that the Russians would be the main threat to Poland in the future, and that both White and Red Russia would be hostile to the nascent Poland. At present, it is necessary to take advantage of their civil war to vigorously weaken the power of Russia in the future in order to ensure the security of Poland. So the Polish army, under the command of Pilsudski, intervened in the Russian Civil War.

At this time, the White Army, which had the upper hand in the civil war, was advancing on Moscow, and in the face of the aggressive Polish army, Soviet Russia was overwhelmed by the internal and external wars. To this end, Lenin once again resorted to the tactic of dealing with the Germans - "strategic compromise", proposing to transfer the Minsk and Khmelnitsky regions to Poland.

The Poles, of course, were pleased, and they thought the proposal was even better than they expected to ask. In December, the two sides sat down at the negotiating table, and a marathon of negotiations began, and four months later, the Poles suddenly realized that Soviet Russia was "using negotiations to buy time to regain strength and prepare for war."

In the Belvedel Palace, the official residence of the Polish head of state, talks are underway on the seizure of territory by force.

"The territorial dispute between us and Belarus, I think the time has come that needs to be completely resolved. We should restore Poland to its pre-1772 position, and negotiations with Soviet Russia cannot continue. Lenin is a liar, his negotiations with us are nothing but a delaying tactic, and we cannot wait for them to calm down before intervening in our territorial disputes. We are going to march into Belarus at once and take back the territories that belong to us. ”

As Pilsudski's comrade-in-arms, Prime Minister Morachevsky was the first to speak out about his plans.

The leaders of the other Polish political factions in the negotiations whispered to each other in the face of Moraczewski's words.

"I have a question."

At this time, a voice came out, and everyone saw that it was Dmowski, the leader of the National Democratic Party. He is also the author of the book "The Thoughts of a Modern Pole", which influenced later Polish thinking. In this book, Edmowski sees all minorities as the ghosts who make the state weak, and argues that they should be cleaned up.

For example, Dmowski's views on minority Jews are described in detail in the book.

“…… In the characteristics of this racial Jew, quite a few values that are alien to our moral fundamentals and harmful to our lives have been increasingly manifested. If we were assimilated by a considerable number of Jews, we would be destroyed, and the Jews would replace us with the foundations of the Fall, not those young and creative foundations that we needed to create the future. ”

And the delay in merging with Lithuania is due to him.

This is a rather narrow nationalist who believes that all minorities must be like the Poles in their habits and perceptions. Pilsudski, on the other hand, was a multi-ethnic federal statist, and as long as he identified with Poland as a state or federation, all nationalities could live in peace with each other. So the two of them are completely to the left, which also causes Dmowski to be Pilsudski's sworn enemy all along. And in January 1919, some of Dmowski's supporters tried unsuccessfully to stage a coup d'état against Pilsudski and Prime Minister Morachevsky.

Seeing that Dmowski was going to give his opinion, Prime Minister Morachevsky could only let him speak. "Please tell us what you think, Mr. Dmowski."

Immediately after receiving permission, Dmowski said: "As for the recovery of our territory, of course I am in favor of it. But we cannot but pay attention to the actions of the Germans in our territory, knowing that there are so many Germans in West Prussia, Posen and Silesia that we must be guarded against. In addition, we can continue to talk with Soviet Russia, as long as we set a time limit. ”

Yes, Dmowski was contrary not only to Pilsudski on the national question, but also to the opposite in his opinion on who was the Polish threat. In his view, Germany was the main threat to Poland. He was even disappointed by the Treaty of Versailles, believing it to be an "international Jewish conspiracy." British Prime Minister David Lloyd George was bribed by a German-Jewish financial syndicate to make the border between Poland and Germany (in Dmowski's eyes) so unfavorable to Poland. In his opinion, the German-Polish border should be pushed further west.

This is also the foreshadowing for Poland to be partitioned again in the future, after all, after Pilsudski's death, Poland, which has been beaten by Soviet Russia and Germany, really no one can save it.

And Dmowski actually seized Belarus and part of the former Polish territory of Soviet Russia, which is actually very much in favor, of course, it would be best if he could get it back through negotiations.

Dmowski's words also caused others to whisper about it, and I could see that many people were very interested in it. At this time, Prime Minister Morachevsky had to speak to interrupt their illusions.

"Lenin is not credible, you look at the Brest Treaty with Germany, they abolished it as soon as Germany was defeated, and we don't have the strength of Germany yet. When Russia ends the civil war, it will be our turn next. Moreover, the Russian government was no different from the previous Russian government, they believed more in force, and only by retaking our territory while they were now weak could Poland's safety be guaranteed. ”

Speaking of which, Moraczewski took the opportunity to take Romania as an example. "If you look at the attitude of Soviet Russia after the war with Romania, you can see before you compare it, the Russians do not remember to eat. Even the Brest Treaty was signed after the Germans had beaten them up. ”

Two examples were cited in succession, so that the people of the various political parties present also put aside the desire to regain the territory through the peace talks, and finally the negotiations agreed to the plan to enter Belarus.

Of course, the Poles were not alone in the fight, and after deciding to continue their march on Belarus, they immediately approached the British and French ambassadors for assistance. As for the Soviet-Polish conflict that Poland would trigger because of the reconquest of territory, the British and French ambassadors were quite supportive, and they not only sent a telegram to state Poland's demands, but even personally offered advice to provide information to Poland.

Among them, Maxime Vegan, of the French military mission to Poland, was the most active.

So with the support of Britain and France, the Poles finally took a solid step towards the dream of greatness. As for whether this step can be taken steadily, it is unknown.

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