Abstract
The author considers the position of the writings of Anna Cienciala within the historiography of Polish foreign relations of the interwar years and argues that the author of Poland and the Western Powers 1938–1939 upheld a consistent point of view throughout her lengthy career: that Polish policy of those years, though often criticized, had no realistic alternative. In this, Cienciala had much in common with the point of view of her mentor, Piotr S. Wandycz, and departed from the standard view of Western historians. In particular, she defended the general thrust of the policies of foreign minister Józef Beck in the difficult circumstances of the run- up to World War II and insisted that main responsibility for the calamity of 1939 rests with the weak, inconsistent, or malevolent diplomacy of the great powers.
