Szwecja wobec koncepcji Związku Bałtyckiego w latach 1920–1925

• Authors: Adam Staniszewski

Title variants

EN

Sweden in the face of the concept of the Baltic Union

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The First World War changed the geopolitical situation at the Baltic. The main two political powers of the region – Germany and Russia- lost their position for the benefit of Sweden, which thanks to its policy of neutrality during the world conflict had become the most important country in the Baltic area. In Stockholm all the activities shaping the situation in this part of Europe were monitored with attention. The focus was directed to Baltic conferences which had been taking place there regularly since 1920 and at which the representatives of Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland discussed various aspects of cooperation. One of them was the plan of a political and military alliance within the so-called Baltic Union. According to the assumptions of the Polish diplomacy it was to protect the eastern border of Poland against the Russian aggression. However, the Swedes perceived the union quite differently. They considered it to be a source of future conflicts in the Baltic area and , consequently, a threat to Sweden. The participation of Finland, which directly shared the land border with Sweden, was the cause of the concern for the Swedish. Thus, all the initiatives to create the military alliance with the participation of Finland met a discreet counteraction of the Swedish diplomacy. The question of the Baltic Union was frequently raised by the head of the Swedish diplomatic post in Warsaw, Per Gustaw Anckarsvärd, in his talks with the Foreign Office. A similar activity was demonstrated by Swedish diplomats in the Baltic States and Finland. Swedish Prime Minister Hjalmar Branting got involved in the issue. In his talks with Foreign Secretary Rudolf Holsti he attempted to undermine the legitimacy of the union. Simultaneously, at the beginning of March 1922 there was initiated a press campaign against the Polish-Finnish cooperation. Supporters of the Scandinavian orientation in Finland found an ally in the person of Swedish Foreign Secretary Carl Hederstiern, whose public speech concerning the Swedish-Finnish military cooperation ended in one of the biggest scandals in the history of the Swedish interwar diplomacy. The idea of the Baltic Union with the participation of Poland was never put into life. It lost its importance after 1925. In the face of signing the Rhine Treaty Poland had to revise its policy not only in the West, but also in the East. The Baltic issue receded into the background. Poland knew that one of the factors which had influenced the failure of the idea of the Baltic Union was the negative attitude of Sweden. Nevertheless, mutual relations between the countries were not affected, and thanks to signing a trade-navigation treaty and a conciliatory-arbitrary treaty the relations acquired a new form.

• Publisher: Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu
• Journal: Zapiski Historyczne
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 74
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 19-37

Contributors

author

Adam Staniszewski

• Instytut Historii i Archiwistyki, Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika