Vidurio Europos šalių požiūris į Keturių paktą ir jų konsolidacijos problemos 1933–1934 metais
Approach of Central European Countries towards the Four-Power Pact and Their Consolidation Problems in 1933–1934

Summary/Abstract: The early 1930s witnessed the change in the balance of powers of international policy in Europe. The lasting tension between the great and the small powers brought the issues of security and consolidation in the continent to the fore. The consolidation of countries was determined by the changes in the balance of powers in Europe, first and foremost, the aggressive policy of Nazi Germany in respect of individual countries, the interests of Fascist Italy in the Balkans and South European countries and a more active policy pursued by the USSR in respect of Central European and Balkan countries. Like other small European countries, Lithuania sought for a peculiar way for ensuring its security, by balancing between the interests of the Great Powers and its neighbours. The unsettled Lithuanian-Polish relations and the growing Klaipėda issue forced Lithuania to manoeuvre amidst the USSR and Germany and to search for allies among the Baltic States. At Italy’s initiative, in 1933 the Great Powers of Europe – Great Britain, Germany and France – entered into the Four-Power Pact, which served as the grounds for solving foreign policy issues by the said countries beyond the borders of the League of Nations or, in other words, they could agree to the prejudice of the small countries without even asking for their opinion. It triggered considerable discontent among the members of the Little Entente and Poland, which strongly protested against the arrangements of the Great Powers at the cost of the small states. The Balkan countries were not satisfied with the conclusion of the Pact as well. Central European countries were aware that the parties to the Pact may seek to revise the borders between countries settled after the Paris Peace Conference. Political tension between the great and the small powers and between revisionist and antirevisionist countries gained momentum. The Lithuanian diplomacy actively followed the international relations among European countries; Lithuania’s envoys to Rome, Paris and Prague were particularly active; however, they failed to express their official position, despite the fact that the envoy of Italy to Kaunas Giovanni Amadori addressed Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dovas Zaunius expressing such a request. The latter discussed European security issues with the Czechoslovakian chargé d’affaires in Lithuania Jan Skalicky for quite a number of times. In the face of the eventual threat posed by the Great Powers, Central European countries were more and more active in negotiating over various collaboration opportunities and took specific steps towards entering into political alliances. In 1920, the Little Entente was established as a response to the potential Hungarian revisionist policy...

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