Though Russia and Germany were far apart in their principal goals, their negative attitude toward the Europe of Versailles brought these two "outcasts" together. Poland, a “child” of the Versailles Peace Treaty, was a bar to the Soviet drive toward a revisionist policy. Therefore, in an atmosphere of mutual distrust and deceit, Russia and Germany entered into an intricate series of negotiations designed to destroy Poland either by military action or by diplomatic pressure. Josef Korbel traces the strange course of these negotiations, basing his work on original documents such as the files of the German Foreign Office, the personal papers of General von Seeckt, documents of the Soviet government, the Supreme Soviet, and the Third International, and on original Polish sources.

Originally published in 1963.

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