Changes

====Atlantic Charter====

====Atlantic Charter====

[[File:Oder-Neisse Line.PNG|right|300px|thumb|Oder-Neisse Line]]

[[File:Oder-Neisse Line.PNG|right|300px|thumb|Oder-Neisse Line]]

Soon after the [[Third Reich]] had invaded the Soviet Union in [[Operation Barbarossa]], the Polish government in exile signed a pact with [[Joseph Stalin]]. Although the Poles wanted a declaration that all pacts the USSR had signed with the Nazis were null and void, Stalin refused to consider any suggestion that he surrender the territory he seized consequent to the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]]. It was for Poland that Britain entered the war in the first place and Britain was sympathetic to Polish interests. Britain nonetheless pressured the Poles to withdraw this demand, since, in Churchill's words, "We could not force our new and sorely threatened [Soviet] ally to abandon, even on paper, regions on her frontier which she regarded for generations as vital to her security." The London Poles conceded but only after Britain agreed to state in writing that all agreements that adjusted Poland's pre-war borders were null and void. The Soviet-Polish agreement was signed on July 30, 1941, and [[Anthony Eden]] formally notified the [[House of Commons]] of the arrangements that same day. In response to a parliamentary question about Britain's commitment, however, Eden stated that "The exchange of notes which I have just read to the House does not involve any guarantee of frontiers by His Majesty's Government."

Soon after the [[Third Reich]] had invaded the Soviet Union in [[Operation Barbarossa]], the Polish government in exile signed a pact with [[Joseph Stalin]]. Although the Poles wanted a declaration that all pacts the USSR had signed with the Nazis were null and void, Stalin refused to consider any suggestion that he surrender the territory he seized consequent to the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]]. It was to uphold security guarantees given to Poland at the [[Treaty of Versailles]] that the British Empire entered the war in the first place and empire was sympathetic to Polish interests. The british Empire nonetheless pressured the Poles to withdraw this demand, since, in Churchill's words, "We could not force our new and sorely threatened [Soviet] ally to abandon, even on paper, regions on her frontier which she regarded for generations as vital to her security." The London Poles conceded but only after the British Empire agreed to state in writing that all agreements that adjusted Poland's pre-war borders were null and void. The Soviet-Polish agreement was signed on July 30, 1941, and [[Anthony Eden]] formally notified the [[UK House of Commons]] of the arrangements that same day. In response to a parliamentary question about Britain's commitment, however, Eden stated that "The exchange of notes which I have just read to the House does not involve any guarantee of frontiers by His Majesty's Government."

The Poles were more successful in obtaining Soviet agreement to the creation of the [[Polish Army in the East]], and obtaining the release of Polish citizens from the [[Gulag|Soviet labor camps]]. Despite the difficulties the Soviet government made, many were freed from confinement and permitted to join the Polish Army formed formally on August 12, 1941. However, after the troops were withdrawn to the [[Middle East]] in March 1942, Stalin revoked the amnesty and in June and July arrested all Polish diplomats in the USSR.

The Poles were more successful in obtaining Soviet agreement to the creation of the [[Polish Army in the East]], and obtaining the release of Polish citizens from the [[Gulag|Soviet labor camps]]. Despite the difficulties the Soviet government made, many were freed from confinement and permitted to join the Polish Army formed formally on August 12, 1941. However, after the troops were withdrawn to the [[Middle East]] in March 1942, Stalin revoked the amnesty and in June and July arrested all Polish diplomats in the USSR.