Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2017

Abstract

Early in the Second World War 21,857 Polish soldiers vanished with no trace. Later in the war, these soldiers were discovered in mass graves in the Western Soviet Union. Soviet culpability to the crime meant that international relations with the Soviet Union were effected to a varying extent. This investigation explores the short and long term effects the Katyn massacre had on Polish-Soviet relations, British-Soviet relations and American-Soviet relations, during and after the Second World War. Examining historical evidence such as, reports, letters and historian observations, this essay argues that international relations with the Soviet Union were effected to a greater extent in Poland, than in Britain or America.