Britain and Poland 1939–1943

Abstract

Poland was a problematic issue for the Big Powers throughout the Second World War. For Britain, Poland was a major stumbling block in British-Soviet relations as Polish-Soviet territorial disputes clashed with the needs of the British-Soviet-United States alliance. As the Polish government-in-exile attempted to obtain a guarantee of British support, and many thousands of Polish troops fought for the British cause, the perception grew that the Churchill government had a debt to pay. Ultimately, however, it was a debt which Britain could not discharge because of its dependence on Soviet participation in the war. In this book Anita Prazmowska looks at British policies from the point of view of wartime strategy, relating this to Polish government expectations and policies. She describes a tragic situation where Polish soldiers were trapped between the grandiose and unrealistic plans of their government and the harsh realities of a war which they fought with no prospect of a satisfactory outcome for them or their country.

A Historical Case of Anglo-Ottoman Musical Interactions: The English Autopiano of Sultan Abdulhamid II

“…37 After the death of Prince Brancoveanu, Princess Rachel (Musurus) Brancoveanu, described by many as passionate and intriguing, had a love affair with Paderewski. 38 Paderewski dedicated many of his compositions to Rachel, including his 'Op. 19 Polish Fantasy on Original Themes for Piano and Orchestra', composed in 1893 and published by Bote & Bock, Berlin, in 1895 (Figure 8).…”

The Polish Underground Resistance During the Second World War: A Study in Political Disunity During Occupation

“…Thus, the Sikorski government hoped to secure for Poland a place at the post-war conferences which he calculated would make the key decisions on the restoration of borders. 2 The fact that the AK was discussed by the wartime allies as a European fighting force might explain why historians of the Second World War are clearly aware of the AK and assume that information which Sikorski conveyed to Churchill was correct. In reality, while not being entirely inaccurate, it was always in the Polish government's interest to gloss over any organizational weakness within the AK while stressing its great potential to the wartime allies.…”