The Curzon line as the eastern boundary of Poland. The origins and the political background

Auteur(s) et Affiliation(s)



Description :
The paper presents the political history of the present-day eastern boundary of Poland (Polish-Ukrainian and Polish-Belarusian). The respective line was called the Curzon Line due to the initiative of the Foreign Secretary of Great Britain, George Nathaniel Curzon (1859-1925). On December 8th, 1919, he suggested a provisional demarcation line separating Poland from Bolshevik Russia. At that time, it was just one of many proposals for the course of the line of separation and did not play any significant political role. The name, the Curzon Line, was brought back into use during World War II by Stalin and accepted by Roosevelt and Churchill at the confer¬ences in Teheran in 1943 and in Yalta in 1945, as the eastern boundary of Poland. The causes and consequences of this decision are considered, based on the source documents and the literature on the subject. The political boundary which was forced upon Poland by the three superpowers after the defeat of the German Third Reich, and the inclusion of Poland in the Soviet zone of influence are the subjects of this article.


Type de document :
Article de périodique

Source :
Geographia polonica, issn : 0016-7282, 2012, vol. 85, n°. 1, p. 5-12, nombre de pages : 8, Références bibliographiques : 2 p.

Date :
2012

Editeur :
Pays édition : Pologne, Warszawa, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe