The invasion of Ukraine in February of last year was far from the first attempt by the Russians to advance to the center of Europe. Informed opinion among specialists in Russian history suggests that this Russian expansionist tendency finds its source in the ideological legacy left by Peter the Great and his successor on the throne, Tsarina Catherine. So, it is known that in Russian strategic thinking, westward expansion is a desire that they have never hidden.

The episode that we will touch on today is chronologically located after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. This is a conflict that sources call by different names. This is how Polish historiography calls it the Bolshevik war or the Polish-Soviet war, although the USSR was officially created in 1922.

In Soviet works, it is called the war against White Poland, and other authors consider this conflict to be part of the Russian civil war.

In addition, the authors also do not agree on the exact duration of the war, although most support the years 1919-1920. Moreover, this was not the first attempt by the Russians to expand westward in the 20th century.

Immediately after the revolution of 1917, the Soviet authorities tried to provoke a Bolshevik uprising in Germany in the midst of the First World War.

Historical context after the First World War

With the end of the First World War, in November 1918, Poland began to return to the map of Europe. In addition, the territory of the entire Central Europe is undergoing major changes. Thus, after gaining independence of some nations that were previously part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Tsarist Russia, new states appear.

This is also the case of Poland, which is regaining its independence after more than a century when it did not exist on the map of Europe. After the Great Polish Uprising of 1918, the Second Polish Republic was proclaimed under the leadership of Marshal Józef Piłsudski. A visionary, he correctly predicted both the defeat of Russia by the Germans and the final victory of the Entente in the First World War.

The new Polish state was not ready for a new conflict. The hostilities with ZUNR were almost over, as was the suppression of the uprisings in Silesia. On the other hand, Russia was also not very interested in a new conflict. Thus the Bolshevik forces were heavily involved in the civil war against White Czarism, but Lenin’s plan was for the Red Army to march through Poland to aid the communist movements in Western Europe.

Another goal was to return the territories that Russia had lost to Germany after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, territories that now belonged to Poland. There are opinions that Lenin would have prepared an attack on Poland, even if Poland had not launched an attack on Kyiv.

It should also be noted that, according to Pilsudski, Russia (in any form) was a traditional enemy of Poland. At the same time, he sought to create a “Polish Federation” (Meedzymorze), led by Poles, which would include Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania.

Waging battles. The Kyiv operation and Petlyura’s role

Back in November 1918, the Bolsheviks formed the Western Army, and two days later Leon Trotsky called for a march west to join the revolution in Germany and Hungary. The revolutionary government of Russia, which did not consider it necessary to recognize international agreements, systematically seized the territories liberated by the retreating German army.

Pilsudsky begins the Kyiv operation in 1920. Polish troops are making constant offensives to the east. The goal was the expulsion of Russians from Ukraine, an action in which Ukrainian soldiers led by Simon Petliura took part. Differences still exist between the two allies, Ukrainians do not trust the Poles, but Kyiv was liberated in May. The victory of the Poles was short-lived.

Concentrating important forces and benefiting from the input of experienced officers such as Brusylov or Budjonai, the Russians seize the initiative, achieving a series of significant victories and forcing the Polish army to retreat, which nevertheless continues in an organized manner.

The Soviets occupy the major cities of Belarus and Western Ukraine, heading headlong for Warsaw. In the summer of 1920, against the background of the rapid advance of the Russians, the Moscow press openly declared that the Red Army should not stop near Warsaw, its final destination was Western Europe.

In desperation, the Poles are asking for foreign help, especially Great Britain. However, the British are reluctant to accept the Polish request, wanting to draw the border according to ethnic criteria, without taking into account historical realities.

It should be noted that in Great Britain there was discord on the political scene about supporting the Polish cause, as well as the Whites in the civil war in Russia.

Labor openly supported the Soviet cause, a situation similar to that of the French socialists, who openly sided with the Russians. International aid to the Poles came, albeit modestly, mainly in the form of military advisers and international volunteers.

Battle for Warsaw or “Miracle on the Vistula”

The expression “Miracle on the Vistula” entered the Polish consciousness and acquired a religious dimension, the victory is connected with the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is celebrated on August 15, a particularly important holiday in Polish tradition. A few years later, on the same day, the Day of the Polish Army was established.

Starting from the end of July and the beginning of August, the Polish army will carry out a counteroffensive, which had as its starting point the capital Warsaw itself, which was directly threatened by the Red Army.

From the beginning of the fighting, the Polish special services benefited from the fact that a group of mathematicians managed to decipher the radio communications of the Soviet troops. Virtually any action they planned was already known to the Poles, an aspect that was of enormous importance in the economics of the final result.

Taking advantage of this fact, Pilsudski will launch a counteroffensive, speculating on the mistakes of the Soviet command. Although among them there were such brilliant strategists as Brusylov or Budyonai, their contribution was significantly reduced by the involvement of a politician.

There is clear evidence that the decisions of Stalin, who canceled many orders of the military command, as well as Kamenev, who was completely detached from reality on the ground, were the defining elements of the Soviet defeat. Obviously, the self-sacrifice of the Polish army should not be underestimated either.

Polish troops cut Soviet communications, managing to surround large parts. The armies of Generals Budyony and Tukhachevsky barely had time to retreat beyond the Bug, avoiding complete destruction. Under these conditions, in September, the Soviet authorities were forced to ask for an armistice, which, after negotiations, was finally accepted by the Poles.

Consequences of the Soviet-Polish conflict and patterns of the entire 20th century

The main consequence of the war was the establishment of Poland as an independent state, the status of which was seriously threatened by Soviet claims. It is true that Józef Piłsudski’s dream of creating a “Polish Federation” (Meedzymorze) did not come true, but this does not diminish the significance of his victory.

Likewise, the fact that the Red Army was stopped from advancing west meant a review of strategy on the part of the Soviets. In practice, they were supposed to stop, at least for a while, the westward spread of the “liberation of the working class from the capitalist yoke.”

At the same time, many experts believe that the Polish victory indirectly led to the failure of the Bolshevik uprisings, which manifested their presence in Hungary, Slovakia, or Germany. Furthermore, in the wake of this conflict, the Russians preserved the memory of their defeat, retaliating two decades later when they cowardly attacked Poland alongside Nazi Germany.

At the same time, throughout the 20th century, they declared the creation of buffer states between the capitalist west and the “Soviet sky”, which was one of the main causes of the Cold War, which fatally shaped world history for such long decades.

Sources:

– Richard M. Watt, Bitter Glory: Poland and Its Fate, 1918–1939

– Thomas Fiddick, Russia’s retreat from Poland, 1920

– Norman Richard Davies, White Eagle, Red Star: The Polish-Soviet War, 1919–20

– Piotr Abryszeński, Historia – “Miracle on the Vistula” 1920, the year of the defeat of the Red Army by the Poles.

Read other articles on this topic written by Andrii Stan:

• The Spartacist Uprising, or how close Germany came to becoming communist

• The battle of the Romanian army for Odesa in 1941 was a victory for Antonescu’s pride

• Horvath Ante Pavelic or how the crimes of the Ustasha horrified even the Nazis

• Operation Downfall or why the atomic bombs were dropped

• Operation Barbarossa or Why the Greatest Invasion in History Failed

• Dien Bien Phu – the French military disaster in Indochina and the end of colonialism in Asia
• The film life of Yoshiko Kawashima: the Chinese princess Qing and the chief Japanese spy

• Black Tulip is the ace with the most downed planes in history

• The Malvinas War: From the Historical and Political Context to the “Hand of God”

• The most successful tank driver of the Second World War. The legend of Kurt Knispel

• The story of one disaster: Romanian tanks on the Eastern Front / Marshal is a Romanian project stolen by the Soviets

• The Battle of Siganka is one of the loudest victories of the Romanian army and an ignored lesson that could have prevented disaster at Don’s elbow

• VIDEO Who was Ion Toba-Hatmanu, a hunter of Bolshevik partisans”,

• Will Bakhmut survive the siege? History of the “pockets” of Demyansk and Cherkasy – Korsun

• Witold Pilecki, a Polish hero whose memory the Russians want to erase

• The real story of the hit TV series “Valley of Sorrows” / A war in which Israel could be wiped off the world map

• Why are Russians afraid of Leopard-2 tanks? / The T-90 tank or where Russia went wrong

• “Uranus”, a very successful operation of the Russians near Stalingrad / Try the Kremlinthe same strategy for Kyiv?

• Why the Battle of Bakhmut is remarkably similar to the Battle of Verdun

• Operation “Maritsa” or the real reason why the Germans did not occupy Moscow

• “White shirt attack”, one of the most glorious and crazy Romanian military actions

• The military campaign of the Russians, which was a resounding success. The history of the counteroffensive, which was the basis of the German blitzkrieg

• The battle in which the Russian general sent 11 thousand Romanian soldiers to their deaths

• “Not a step back”: the famous Stalin’s order 227 and blockade special forces

• Battle of Wizna or “Polish Thermopylae”

• The story of Andriy Vlasov, Stalin’s successful general who defected to the Germans: Traitor or anti-communist?

• Who was Stepan Bandera: a hero for Ukraine, a terrorist for Russia/ Putin mentioned in his speech on Victory Day

• Lend-Lease or how the USA helped Russia not to disappear

• The Ukrainian genocide that Russia would like to forget

• Russia’s behavior then and now: from Katyn to Buchi, or how Russian propaganda tries to change history

• The Battle of Turtukaia is one of the most shameful defeats in the history of the Romanian army
• Will the Ukrainian army be able to resist the Russian invasion, like the Finns in 1939? / Similarities and differences

• The history of two Chechen wars: Russia “wanted” and then “quick and clean” intervention

• Why the blitzkrieg of the Russians in Ukraine failed