Baltic Entente - Factors of Disintegration

Factors of Disintegration

Were it was not for the “internal weaknesses” and a conflict with Poland, the Baltic Entente “could have been a significant entity”. One of the first incidents which led to the demise of this union was the Polish-Lithuanian crisis. The crisis resulted from the death of a Polish soldier on the Lithuanian border. The Polish government used this incident as leverage to force Lithuania back into diplomatic contact with Poland. Moreover, the Entente never materialized into a real political force because of maintaining its initial policy of neutrality on the verge of World War II ― the time when maintaining neutrality was evident miscalculation. The following are the additional factors which, in the end, led to the collapse of the Baltic Entente:

1. A vague definition of what was considered to be a threat and who was the mutual enemy. From the very day of its establishment the Entente lacked a unified conception of what they consider to be a threat and who their enemies were. This ambiguity led to the loss of common goals among the member countries, and brought the feeling that cooperation was not beneficial for mutual advantage.
2. Lack of ability to create mutual safety. Since the Baltic Entente did not become a military alliance, its members could not rely on the organization to provide for their security.
3. Lack of an economic foundation. The fact that all three countries were not integrated into a mutually beneficial economic domain took its toll on significant weakening the alliance. Having had similar economic structures, all three were forced to compete with each other, rather than to cooperate.
4. Failure to establish the feeling of unity. Differences in the nations’ destinies, mentalities and cultures set precedent for misunderstandings. Since the Baltic nations felt no common historical identity, the union of the estranged nations intensified these sentiments and made the Baltic people diverge from one another even further.