Historical calendar: the anniversary of the Ententa Powers' release of the alleged Versailles Declaration, under which the resurrection of independent Poland was guaranteed.
Today in our calendar we will look at the circumstances accompanying this event.
The powers in deciding to make a declaration of Versailles had a war situation in mind. On the 1 hand, they wanted to limit the influx of Polish volunteers to the army of central states and encourage Poles who were in exile to join the Polish army formed in France. On the another hand, they knew perfectly well that they could not deprive a fewer million people of their own country due to the fact that it threatened to erupt another conflict. Without regulation of the Polish case, it was impossible to accomplish order in Central Europe.
The Versal Declaration was besides an expression of support for the previously expressed concept of president Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the alleged "Fourteen Wilson Points", which included a point concerning Polish independence.
However, both texts shared an approach to post-war Poland. Wilson wanted the country to include areas "absolutely inhabited by the Polish population", while Ententy representatives assumed the general uprising of "a united and independent Polish state with free access to the sea". specified impreciseness of the Versailles Declaration resulted from the current war situation. It is adequate to remind that at that time – in the spring and summertime of 1918, the full Polish territory was occupied by the central states, which destroyed the Russian carat. What's more, they just stormed the Western front.
In the view picture: French Prime Minister George Clemenceau, British Prime Minister David-Lloyd George and Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.
