Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2017

trust in Soviet leaders.

Considering the pre-war context to the massacre, it could be inferred that the Katyn massacre did not necessarily affect Polish-Soviet relations to a significant extent due to their already tainted relationship. Many Poles strongly resented the Soviets, from the 18 th century to the end of the First World War, there was no Poland. (Berdyaev, 2017) Poland was infamously partitioned and dismembered by the Kingdom of Prussia, Habsburg Austria and the Russian Empire in the late 18 th century and by 1795, the state of Poland would cease existence for the next 123 years. Political violence to this extent was unique in 18 th century Europe (Gierowski, 1978). Polish-Soviet relations were very complicated during this time due to the overwhelming dissatisfaction among Poles who were subject to severe efforts of Russification with the objective of destroying Polish language and culture, however their efforts, though violent and widely enforced were to little avail (HistoryNet, 2006). The Russian Empire controlled nearly all of Poland because in 1813 after the French satellite state, the Duchy of Warsaw, launched a failed campaign against Russia under Napoleon’s command, even more of Eastern Poland became part of the Russian empire. These territorial gains were formalised at the Congress of Vienna, the Duchy of Warsaw was partitioned with Prussia, Austria, France and Russia, consequently Congress Poland was formed. Congress Poland went through varying stages of sovereignty and autonomy; however, it was still a puppet state of the Russian Empire and in reaction to various acts of insurgence and protest to Russian rule the Polish constitution, army and legislative assembly was abolished (Nasza Polska Rodzina, 2014). The military campaign that resulted in the abolishment of the Polish state and the abolishment itself played a huge role in the deterioration of Polish-Russian relations. Poland lost all its autonomy, it was renamed as the Vistula Land and was then integrated into the Russian Empire until November 1918 (Kamusella, 2013). In the interwar years, Polish-Soviet relations were very poor and tensions were high as a result of the Polish-Soviet war in 1919. According to the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, the Polish- Soviet War "largely determined the course of European history for the next 20 years or more.” (Suny, 1998) In 1919, the Supreme war council drew a demarcation line called the Curzon Line which marked the eastern border of the Second Polish Republic and the Soviet Union’s western border. A little over three months after the First World War had concluded the 1919-21 Polish- Soviet war begun. The Polish perspective of the war viewed the Bolsheviks as the aggressors. Nationalistic attitudes in Poland following their independence could explain how they stopped the Bolshevik advance and pushed them back eastwards (Polishgreatness.com, 2017). As the war continued Soviet territorial and human losses mounted and in March of 1921 the Soviet Union conceded and signed the Treaty of Riga. Because of this treaty, Poland gained an average of 250 kilometres worth of territory east of the Curzon line, totalling in new territories of 135,000 square kilometres (Tucker, 2010). The Curzon Line would continue to be an important geopolitical factor in Polish-Soviet relations. The change in borders did not sit well with the Soviet Union and was one of the main causes of the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact in Moscow in 1939, a piece of Realpolitik which represented a nonaggression pact between the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. In addition to the pact, the undersigned plenipotentiaries continued confidential mutual discussions regarding expansion and the boundaries of their