ABSTRACT
In the eyes of the Entente, the war was, until 1916, a Franco-Russian topic; in 1917, it became a Franco-British one. This evolution started in 1916 with the 27 March Inter-Allied Military Conference, which lead to the creation of the Inter-Allied War Council but was accelerated by the February Revolution. The upsurge from the Russian Revolution in the international system was as violent and disruptive as it had been from the French Revolution in 1789. Since 1914, the Polish cause had to find its place on the field of the Great Powers’ strategy and adapt itself to the opportunities dictated by the German or Russian tactical moves. A people’s right to self-determination is often seen as a principle that would have appeared during the Great War. The Polish negotiators in Paris, and Roman Dmowski in particular, even suggested that Eastern Galicia had to prevent contagion between Russia and Slavophile Czechoslovakia.
