Two countries established their relations in the interwar period when Poland regained its independence for the first time after the partitions while Yugoslavia was created after the unification of pre-World War I Kingdom of Serbia with the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (former South Slavic parts of the Austria-Hungary).

[1] The Poles then further escaped via Italy and Greece to Polish-allied France, where the Polish Army was reconstituted to continue the fight against Germany.

[1] Eventually, Yugoslavia, fearing Germany, became reluctant to further allow Poles to evacuate through its territory, causing the escape route to be diverted to Bulgaria.

Situation escalated in 1948 Tito–Stalin split after which Yugoslav relations with all Eastern Bloc countries, including Poland, were either suspended or significantly strained.

Relations of Poland normalized with significant number of Polish tourists spending their summer holidays on the Adriatic coast primarily in the Socialist Republic of Croatia.