Today we’re going to talk about when Poland won its independence.
Won its independence from Russia, from Russia in the 20th century,
From Russia in the 20th century through the means of conventional warfare.
There we go, thank you.
Hello and welcome to Feature History, featuring the Polish-Soviet War, a war that came immediately
after the war to end all wars. Ironic, isn’t it?
In fact, a lot of conflicts didn’t even wait for the great war to end before starting.
The Russian revolution, the rise of the Bolsheviks, and the period of a very confusing Eastern
European map all started in about 1917. Of course, it wasn’t just Russians getting
in on the fun, it was a whole Slavic salad of conflict, and for this episode we’re
shining the spotlight on our beloved friends, brothers, and plumbers; the Polish.
Let’s go back to the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, which was a state that existed from 1569 to,
spoilers, 1795. As well as being a mouthful to say the commonwealth was a fairly serious
regional power, hell, in the 17th century it almost annexed Russia.
But as said, it came to an end as it had weakened further and further until it was partitioned
by three empires; Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Their sovereignty had been eliminated, however
their culture never died. Polish nationalism would be a genuine concern for a long time.
Skipping to the First World War; Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia, and also the
rest of the world went to war. A plethora of fighting, dying, and destruction was suffered
by the Polish as the empires engaged a back and forth across the region. It was frustrating,
sure, but the Polish nationalists saw it as an opportunity for independence.
The statesman, Józef Piłsudski, proposed that the Polish would have to be active in
the war, fighting for an empire so that empire would fight for them, which empire though?
Well, y’know - yeah, that wasn’t so clear.
Germany and Austria-Hungary gave a shot at winning Polish loyalty, as they seriously
needed it. From 1915 Germany had been pushing itself as the liberators of the Polish suffering
Russian subjugation; because Germany would never subjugate the Polish.
In 1916 the two empires, after talks with the esteemed Pilsudski and a Polish delegation,
created the Kingdom of Poland, which even had a constitution, but no pesky sort of government
or borders.
The former would spawn in 1917, but Pilsudski foresaw Germany’s defeat and urged all Polish
troops to not swear any oath, leading to his resignation and arrest. Regardless, through
his actions the chance of Polish independence started to look more like a sure-thing, though
of course Poland wasn’t just a part of Germany and Austria-Hungary, but also Russia, who
too saw its own fair share of the woes of war.
In the Tsardom of Russia things had been going tits up for Nicholas II since 1905. Constantly
urged to reform or resign, he’d constantly respond with cracks downs and middle fingers.
The World War turned unrest to crisis, and the Tsar’s days dwindled alongside every
moment the war continued. In February 1917 a women’s protest would turn into a worker’s
protest, which turned into an army mutiny, which turned into a riot, eventually turning
into the Tsar’s abdication.
The power of rule had been passed from Romanov to Revolution.
The seat of power rested in Petrograd, formerly known as St Petersburg before it was decided
that German shit don’t fly here. The State Duma, or national assembly, set up a provisional
government, but given circumstance, their power was in fact shared with Petrograd’s
Soviet, or council.
The Duma would continue the war, which wasn’t a great idea as people began to flock to the
smaller Bolshevik party, whose leader, Vladimir Lenin, on top of promising to stop the war
promised the redistribution of land, destruction of the bourgeoisie, transfer of power to the
local soviets, and a bloody and brutal revolution.
To make a long story a little shorter, October 1917 saw the Bolsheviks and their Red Army
seize Petrograd in the name of revolution, forcing Russia’s descent into all out civil
war.
Well hello there Feature History Guy. My lord! Is that THE Indy Neidell from THE
Great War channel, which you can find at www.youtube.com/TheGreatWar, and enjoy new videos every monday, thursday
AND saturday? Uh...yeah. I came over here to tell your viewers
that if they're enjoying learning all about the Polish-Soviet War and the Russian Revolution
that over on our channel we have a new video about the Bloody Baron, who forged his own
interesting tale in the conflict all the way on the other end of Russia.
Well that sounds just marvelous, I think I'll be watching that myself
Also... where did my eyes go? Ah, don't mention it! Glad to have had you
on! I can't see.
Jeez, what a nerd
As the First World War came to a close the map of central and eastern europe changed
drastically. Many smaller nations had seen a chance to break away from foreign powers,
and the US president Woodrow Wilson made special note on Polish independence in his 14 points
presented at Versailles.
The Second Polish Republic was birthed with Marshal Józef Piłsudski at the helm. This
new state though was a tad smaller than maybe it should’ve been, the Greater Polish Uprising
in 1918 saw insurgents attack the weakened Germany and pressure Versailles to grant them
an expanded Western border.
The Eastern border however? well those writing the treaty must’ve skipped the question
and forgot to come back to it. The Bolshevik-controlled Soviet Russia viewed states like Poland, Ukraine,
Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania as just temporary breakways, Lenin was confident they’d
come back for them, just as soon as the White Army in Russia had been defeated.
Not only was this dispute a matter of de jure claims, but Lenin saw Poland as the bridge
to Germany, and if the revolution was to continue it was important the German socialist movement
united with the Bolsheviks to create a communist Europe.
So a freshly independent Poland was already threatened with annexation, again. That didn’t
sit well with Pilsudski. So as the Russian Civil War dragged and the Red Army was bogged
down, it seemed better to start now rather than later, and the Polish Army made its first
offensive in February, 1919.
This initial and disorganised offensive saw some victories and stalemates, being a slow
but steady advance eastward. If this was to be a serious war some work had to be done.
A diplomatic effort was swiftly undertaken. Pilsudski dreamed of a federation of friendly
states revolved around Poland. The supportive Romania and Hungary agreed to send Poland
arms, but for a military alliance Poland only managed to befriend Ukraine, or what was left
of it after the Soviets had shown up there.
Diplomacy wasn’t the only struggle, logistics called, and god was she ugly. The infrastructure
and army of Poland was almost like it had been built by 3 different empires. What Poland
did have though was spirit, and y’know that actually did count for something.
In early 1920 the Polish and Ukrainians began a southern offensive against the Red Army.
Pilsudski claimed it was in effort to restore the Ukrainian state, but the fact of the matter
was this alliance was purely temporary; the Polish and Ukrainians hated one another.
They took some easy victories, entering the abandoned Kiev by May, 1920. However around
this same time the civil war had begun to wrap up, Lenin believed it was the end of
the Red Army’s defensive war, and now it was time to begin an offensive one. Leon Trotsky,
his Commissar of Military Affairs, disagreed with a westward charge so soon, but tough
shit, it was his job to get it done.
The front, from the Soviet perspective, was to be split between a northern Polish one,
and a southern Ukrainian one. Trotsky’s job was to coordinate this joint-offensive
between, for the sake of simplicity, let’s say, Mikhail Tukhachevsky in the north, and
Joseph Stalin in the south.
Facing a now organised, outnumbering and direct opponent, a string of Red Army victories forced
the Polish into retreat as the Soviets aimed to, in Tukhachevsky’s words “move onward
to Berlin over the corpse of Poland.”
Poland’s only effective resistance was their ability to intercept Soviet orders, using
this and their legendary cavalry they harassed the enemy in a guerilla-like fashion. Panic
looked to grip Polish resistance however, and Pilsudski only managed to pull in the
reins at the almost final moment - as the Red Army drew nearer and nearer to Warsaw.
Now the French, UK, and US looked to support Poland in small ways, now seeing the threat
of the Soviet advance. The Polish people also prepared to throw everything they had at the
enemy, because everyone armed with anything was going to fight.
At the same time it seemed there was an issue in the Soviet side, because as Tukhachevsky
prepared for battle, Stalin’s army was still in the south besieging Lwów, he was determined
to take the glory of having seized the city, and against orders continued the siege. Stalin
may’ve sabotaged the battle for Warsaw before it began.
Regardless though Tukhachevsky still had a reasonable chance of taking the capital, and
so Pilsudski looked to employ an audacious plan. Interestingly the Red Army would intercept
this, and thought it was so silly that it was just an attempt to deceive them, dismissing
it.
Once the battle commenced every Polish person, and even some not Polish people, gave it their
all in the defense of the city. Pilsudski had set up his army almost stupidly close
the enemy’s south, and so when he caught the Red Army off guard and launched a counterattack
the offensive was completely disrupted and the army routed. The Polish took a decisive
and important victory.
It wasn’t enough to route the Red Army though, it had to be destroyed. The legendary Polish
cavalry took on the attackers of Lwow, in what would be the last cavalry battle in history,
the Battle of Komarów. The Soviet cavalry, ten times in number, were decisively defeated.
Destroying the once feared Red Army as an effective fighting force.
At this time Trotsky was attempting to sue for peace, presumably telling Lenin ‘I told
you so’.The Polish continued to chase Tukhachevsky’s army, leading to one last battle where Poland
took one last victory. After that both sides were deeply exhausted and Pilsudski, under
the pressure of the west as well, accepted the request to negotiate.
The Peace of Riga was signed in March, 1921. The Polish stuffed their faces in the treaty,
and did a brilliant job screwing over the Ukrainians, as Ukraine was split between the
Soviets and Poland.
Pilsudski himself was only able to observe, and denounced the peace as an “act of cowardice”.
It permanently destroyed Poland’s relations with neighbouring states and made for a ticking
time-bomb between the Soviets and Polish.
The new eastern border was militarily indefensible and economically unviable, and this put a
real dampener on their victory.
Poland did achieve something a little less superficial though. In the defense of Warsaw,
not only had they gate kept their country, but also the rest of Europe from the spread
of communism, causing the Bolsheviks to shelve the idea of a war for communism.
They had also affirmed themselves as a new, strong and independent Poland. One the world
had not witnessed in centuries. And yes, the Second Republic did end in 1939 and they spent
much time as a Soviet republic, but that was reversible, if they had fallen in 1920? Well,
who’s to say what would’ve happened.
And truly it is for the best Poland stood tall, as without that how could I have wasted
an entire month playing Witcher 3?
Remember to check out the Great War’s video on the Bloody Baron, Ungern Sternberg, I’ll
probably have linked it in front of your face right about now. And also big thank to the
Patrons, David Kendle, Thomas Kerley, Your Mum, Anal_Scrubs, and all the other ones.
And that’s it, I’ll be back, probably 2022, with the next episode. Ciao