Scholarly record

THE VISIT OF KING CAROL II OF ROMANIA TO POLAND (1937)

D. Citiriga

Abstract

The dismissal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicolae Titulescu, which occurred on 29 August 1936, and which was based, inter alia, on a potentially dangerous approach to the USSR, with unfavorable consequences for the relationships with states such as Germany, Italy or Poland, determined a change of tone in Romania`s foreign policy. Thus, the obsessions with collective security, with France as a mentor, but also with the pacts promoted under League of Nations` patronage by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, were no longer the main goals of Bucharest`s diplomacy. In this context, we observe an active involvement of King Carol II in the foreign policy. The King`s visit to Czechoslovakia, in 1936, was followed by his visit to Poland, from 26 June to 1 July 1937, accompanied by his son, the Great Voivode Mihai, after he had received the Polish president, Ignacy Mosicky in Bucharest. In spite of the fact that at first sight, this kind of visits just seemed to be an act of courtesy, the reactions of the officials of the Great Powers and of Romania`s neighbours, did not show the same thing. If in Warsaw, Romania`s King was received with great pomp, and the Polish newspapers dedicated enormous space to the King and His country`s achievements, at the same time, in Paris, where the strengthening of the Romanian-Polish relationships was welcomed, there were, however, suspicions of a change in the direction of the Romanian foreign policy in favor of Germany. On the other hand, in Moscow, Maxim Litvinov, the Commissioner for Foreign Policy, even had a violent reaction, considering the Romanian-Polish exchange visits to have a clear anti-Soviet character. Of course, a possible change in Romania`s foreign policy would not have been a favorable development for the Czechoslovak officials, either. In this context, our paper aims to analyze the Romanian-Polish relationship, but, at the same time, the perceptions of the other actors involved in Central and Eastern European politics.

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