Polish-Czechoslovak talks on the confederation in 1938–1943

Abstract

The Polish defeat in September 1939 prompted Gen. Władysław Sikorski, appointed to the position
of Supreme Commander and Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, to take steps to implement
his earlier concept of a close relationship between Poland and Czechoslovakia. The purpose
of the project undertaken in Sikorski’s talks with Edward Beneš was to create a strong entity
capable of resisting the German and Soviet threats in the future. The implementation of such
a plan, assuming in the future enlargement of the union with successive states of the region,
would give a real opportunity to change the then geopolitical system in Central and Eastern Europe.
Sikorski-Beneš talks took place from the autumn of 1939 to the spring of 1943, when the
Czechoslovak party adopted a pro-Soviet option in its policy and in practice withdrew from the
joint preparatory work for the establishment of the Confederation.