Why did efforts to create a broader Baltic security alliance face difficulties in the 1920s and 1930s?

Efforts to establish a broad security alliance among the Baltic states, Finland, and Poland in the 1920s and 1930s faced significant obstacles that ultimately prevented a comprehensive regional pact.1

Several key factors contributed to these difficulties:

• Territorial Disputes: The most prominent barrier was the long-standing conflict between Lithuania and Poland over the city of Vilnius. This "frozen conflict" made the construction of a unified regional security entente extremely difficult.23
• Western Hesitation: Various projects for regional security failed to materialize due to a lack of commitment from Western powers, which sought to avoid entangling alliances in the region.2
• Conflicting Interests: While the Baltic states shared a fear of aggressive policies from the Soviet Union, they struggled to align their foreign policies effectively.1

By the mid-1920s, the vision of a broad league was abandoned in favor of a more limited bilateral agreement between Estonia and Latvia, which was later expanded into the Baltic Entente in 1934 when Lithuania joined. However, this pact also failed as a viable means of defense against the geopolitical pressures of the late 1930s.12