In the inter-war period the states of the Eastern Baltic embarked upon numerous efforts at collective security. The Poles achieved the greatest coup, an alliance with France that provided for French intervention in the event of war. Unfortunately for all of the parties involved, the progress of technology in the late 1930s, as well as the rearmament of Germany, made this agreement tenuous at best. After 1933 the French could not keep their naval commitment to Poland in the event of a war with Germany without paying a devastating cost. British intervention in the region, even if they had not already abandoned the area to its more aggressive residents, would have been just as disastrous. Immediately preceding the outbreak of war, Britain and France did guarantee Poland. By this time though, it was too late, and the promise proved hollow... (read the full article here)

• Photo caption: Polish destroyers during the Peking Plan. View from Błyskawica of Grom and Burza (Photo published in book: Jerzy Pertek: "Wielkie dni małej floty", Wyd. Poznańskie, Poznań 1976)