ABSTRACT
The aftermath of World War I in Eastern Europe saw the emergence of a number of independent states from the shattered remains of the German, Russian, Austrian, and Turkish empires. Poland was one of these and, like its compatriots, established naval forces as one of the planks of its national defense. From early in its existence the Polish navy benefited from the assistance of foreign advisors. The help the Polish army received from the French is well known, but few know of the French naval mission to Poland and its impact on the creation of a Polish naval force. But the mission’s dispatch to the new state was hardly magnanimous. Beginning in the late-nineteenth century one of the primary purposes of military missions was to sell arms. This practice continued into the period between the world wars, and the French mission to Poland provides an excellent picture of the interconnectedness between military advising, the arms trade, and alliance politics. In Poland the French sought influence, and fought the British for it, but they sought it to sell weapons, often of dubious quality, and to weld Poland to its own strategy for a future, expected war with Germany.
