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On This Day...

: 1920
In 1920 a truce between Russia and Poland began ending fighting in the Polish-Soviet War.

During World War I Austro-Hungary and Germany (which was the unification of Prussia, Saxony and Bavaria in 1871) wanted the Polish people to remain loyal and not take advantage of the situation and begin a rebellion. So on the 6^th of November 1916, Austro-Hungary and Germany agreed to the formation of a semi-autonomous Kingdom of Poland. When the Central Powers seemed all but defeated on the 7^th of October 1917 Poland declared their independence and with the defeat of Germany and Austro-Hungary came the Independence of Poland and Lithuania.

The Western leaders recognised the independence of Poland but Russia was still initiating their new Communist Government after their Revolution in 1917. The New Polish leader, Jozef Klemens Pilsudski, wanted to return the sovereignty of all Poland back to the territory it had before its first Partition in 1772. He believed that Russia would not accept the Independence of these nations and return of the territory which technically still remained part of Russia and the Ukraine. Pilsudski proposed a union once more between Poland and Lithuania as their combined strength may be more of a deterrent against Russian hostilities. But Pilsudski also wanted Poland to take the lead in this “Union” and this made Lithuania un-easy. Pilsudski also proposed an alliance with Ukraine but they too felt uneasy.

The new Communist regime in Russia was preoccupied with suppressing their anti-communist enemies at home. Meanwhile, Polish forces had been relatively free to forcibly claim land from the new Lithuanian Republic, the Ukraine and Belorussia (now Belarus). The Poland army continued to take ground despite several requests by the British Government to desist from their campaign. Pilsudski ignored the request from Britain and continued pushing forward. The Communist Russian leader, Vladimir Lenin, made a proposal to Pilsudski that they would recognise the Polish territory up to the point they now occupied but Pilsudski wanted to continue negotiations. As the negotiations continued Pilsudski became increasingly untrusting of Lenin and began to prepare for possible war. On the 1^st of November 1918, The Polish-Ukrainian war began and Britain once again sent a request for Poland to end their campaign and warned that they would not aid Poland if they began a war with Russia. On the 7^th of May 1920, the Polish forces captured Lviv, the capital of Kyiv, which had caused condemnation from all the Allied leaders from WWI.

But Russia had now settled its own internal affairs and the entire force of its army was ready to strike at the Polish forces. At the beginning of July 1919, Russian forces began to drive the Polish out of Ukraine. The Russian advance was quick and decisive, pushing the Polish army back towards Poland. The Allied leaders feared that Russia may use their advance into Europe as a way of expanding their revolution onto the rest of Europe so when requests came for aid the British and French governments sent military advisors to aid the Polish. The Russian forces soon reached the Polish capital of Warsaw but Britain had pushed for talks between the two nations and an armistice. Soviet Russia made some very strong demands giving Russia a lot of power over Poland. But in the interests of saving Polish forces and preventing Russia’s advance into Germany Britain advised the Polish government to accept the terms. But Poland where not willing to accept defeat and on the 13^th of August 1920 they fought back against the Russian occupiers. The Russian advance into Poland was so quick that their supply lines were very weak and the huge Polish forces which included tens of thousands of civilians overwhelmed the Russians by the 25^th of August 1920 the Battle of Warsaw was over and Poland had won.

The Russians sought peace and Poland was also convinced by the League of Nations to also come to a diplomatic solution. After several months of negotiations, both sides eventually signed an armistice on the 12^th of October which began on the 18^th of October 1920. The signing of the Treaty of Riga, signed on the 18^th of March 1921, officially ended the war.

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