The Riga border in the assessments of the British government circles in the first half of the 1920s
Keywords:
Riga Peace Treaty of 1921, Great Britain, Poland, Soviet Russia, border, international relationsAbstract
The article analyses the assessments given by the representatives of Great Britain government circles to the results of the Polish-Soviet territorial division, installed in the text of the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921. It is revealed, that on the eve of Riga peace negotiation British politicians negatively characterised Poland’s claims to significant advance of its borders in the eastern direction. The line of the Riga border was assessed skeptically, considered as possible only in the conditions of the RSFSR temporary weakness. It is established that British politicians did not exclude Riga border line revising, taking into account the position of the Soviets at the conclusion of the pan-European agreement in Genoa in 1922. It is shown that when deciding not to ratify the Geneva Protocol of 1924, one of the arguments was the assessment of the Riga border region as a potential conflict zone in Europe, in which the UK sought to avoid involvement.
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