The Polish–Czechoslovak confederation, or federation, was a political concept from the time of World War II, supported by the Polish government-in-exile and, to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom and the United States. It was a revitalisation of the Międzymorze concept, proposing the creation of a federation based on Poland and Czechoslovakia. The project had less support in the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, which believed it did not need Polish support against the Soviet Union, and was eventually sunk by the growing Soviet dominance, as Joseph Stalin did not want a strong and independent federation in Europe that could threaten his designs for Eastern Europe. Background Soon after the Polish defeat in the Polish September Campaign, both the Polish and Czechoslovak governments (Czechoslovakia having been reduced to a German puppet state following the Munich Agreement) formed in exile in the West. However, despite a common enemy, Czechoslovakia–Poland relations were less than friendly because of Polish–Czechoslovak border conflicts. The Polish government aimed to revitalize the Międzymorze federation concept and to create a strong federation of states in Central and Eastern Europe, revolving around Poland and Czechoslovakia, as a barrier to further German and Soviet aggression. The Czechoslovak government, initially split between two groups (those of Milan Hodža and Edvard Beneš), was tentatively supportive of the idea, at least publicly. Negotiations Czechoslovak politicians Hodža and Jan Masaryk both wanted a confederation, Beneš was more lukewarm; his goal was to ensure that the disputed Zaolzie territory that had passed to Poland in the aftermath of the Munich Agreement was regained by Czechoslovakia, and that became one of the major issues of contention in the ongoing negotiations. Beneš, who saw regaining the territory as a primary objective, saw the Soviet Union, particularly in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Poland, as a potential ally and as a counterbalance to Poland, and he would steadily align his government more with the Soviet Union than Poland in the belief that an alliance with a powerful country would be more beneficial to Czechoslovakia than a federation with several other smaller powers. That was quite contrary to the Polish attitude, as the Polish leader of that time, Władysław Sikorski, saw the Soviet Union as a major threat to the postwar European order. Thus, when Sikorski approached Beneš and proposed discussions over a future Polish-Czechoslovak federation in 1939, aiming to create a stronger postwar Poland and Czechoslovakia, Beneš's response was