W. Averell Harriman and the Polish Question, December 1943-August 1944
W. Averell Harriman and the Polish Question, December 1943-August 1944

Summary/Abstract: One of the key elements that initiated the Cold War was the Polish question: In the last two years of World War II the issue of Poland came up during every general discussion among American, British, and Soviet statesmen. Polish-Soviet wrangling over their common border caused the breakdown of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Controversy over the composition of the Polish government in London-and increasingly over what kind of regime should represent the Polish people-raised tensions, and the period between the October 1943 Conference of Foreign Ministers in Moscow and the dramatic start of the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944 was critical for Poland's post-war fate. British and American statesmen looked at the Polish matter through the prism of relations with their ally, the Soviet Union, and wartime exigencies and pressures forced such an approach. [...]

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