Poland's fate after the German occupation ended became one of the major issues of contention between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union and one of the earliest issues of that series of exacerbated diplomatic exchanges and military posturing that came to be called the Cold War. Indeed, the Polish crisis of the mid-1940s developed the themes and the tone of the East–West confrontation probably more than any other episode. The principal questions were the location first of Poland's eastern and then its western border as well as the composition of its provisional government, which would sit until national elections could be held.

There are two reasons to examine the Polish issues. First, they demonstrate clearly Britain's dependence on American collaboration in order to achieve its diplomatic objectives. Second, a related but more specific point, they show the effort of Great Britain to stiffen American diplomacy vis-à-vis the Soviet Union as the British worked concertedly to bring the US into line with their positions.

Great Britain, Poland's ally and the home of its émigré government, became involved in Polish affairs from the earliest days of the war and, consequently, found itself frequently mediating between the emigres and the Russians. Washington, in general, stood aside from Polish affairs until 1945, although occasionally giving Whitehall support upon request. Those requests, beginning in 1942, were mostly for American good offices in repeated efforts to calm Polish–Soviet quarrels and maintain Allied solidarity.