The Double-Edged Sword of the Polish Crisis

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the domestic origins of the crisis in Poland and the various issues with which the Western states were confronted as a consequence. For example, there was a risk of instability on the European continent as the uprising could spread to other East European states, destabilise the Soviet bloc and provoke a Warsaw Pact military intervention. The process of détente had led to a considerable degree of political and economic interaction between the NATO and Warsaw Pact states, which made Western Europe even more vulnerable to instability in the Eastern bloc. At the same time, this increased interdependence had probably made Western states more sensitive to political conditions in the other half of Europe, making it difficult for them to stand idly by as events unfolded in Poland.