Polish–Soviet War
| Polish–Soviet War | |||||||||
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| Part of Central and Eastern European military campaigns that included the Western Front of the Russian Civil War, Ukrainian War of Independence, Lithuanian Wars of Independence and Latvian War of Independence | |||||||||
Top left: Polish FT-17 tanks of the 1st Tank Regiment during the Battle of Dyneburg, January 1920 Below left: Polish troops enter Kiev, May 1920 Top right: Polish Schwarzlose M.07/12 machine gun nest during the Battle of Radzymin, August 1920 Middle: Polish defences with a M1895/14 machine gun position near Miłosna, during the Battle of Warsaw, August 1920 Bottom left: Russian prisoners following the Battle of Warsaw Bottom right: Polish defences in Belarus during the Battle of the Niemen River, September 1920 | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Support: | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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Early 1919: ~50,000 Summer 1920: 800,000–950,000 5 million reservists, Ukrainian Galician Army (about 1,000 soldiers), Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia |
Early 1919: ~80,000 Summer 1920: 348,286 troops on front, about 700,000 reservists approx. 1,000,000 Ukraine: 20,000 Russian volunteers: 20,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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Total: c. 242,000–247,000 c. 60,000 dead c. 102,000 wounded c. 80,000–85,000 captured |
Total: 212,420 47,551 dead
51,351 captured or missing | ||||||||
The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution.
After the collapse of the Central Powers and the Armistice of 11 November 1918, Vladimir Lenin's Soviet Russia annulled the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and moved forces westward to reclaim the Ober Ost regions abandoned by the Germans. Lenin viewed the newly independent Poland as a critical route for spreading communist revolutions into Europe. Meanwhile, Polish leaders, including Józef Piłsudski, aimed to restore Poland's pre-1772 borders and secure the country's position in the region. Throughout 1919, Polish forces occupied much of present-day Lithuania and Belarus, emerging victorious in the Polish–Ukrainian War. However, Soviet forces regained strength after their victories in the Russian Civil War, and Symon Petliura, leader of the Ukrainian People's Republic, was forced to ally with Piłsudski in 1920 to resist the advancing Bolsheviks.
In April 1920, Piłsudski launched the Kiev offensive with the goal of securing favorable borders for Poland. On 7 May, Polish and allied Ukrainian forces captured Kiev, though Soviet armies in the area were not decisively defeated. The offensive lacked local support, and many Ukrainians joined the Red Army rather than Petliura's forces. In response, the Soviet Red Army launched a successful counteroffensive starting in June 1920. By August, Soviet troops had pushed Polish forces back to Warsaw. However, at the decisive Battle of Warsaw (1920), Polish forces achieved an unexpected victory between 12 and 25 August 1920, turning the tide of the war. This battle, often referred to as the "Miracle on the Vistula", is considered one of the most important military triumphs in Polish history.
The war ended with a ceasefire on 18 October 1920, and peace negotiations led to the Peace of Riga, signed on 18 March 1921. The treaty divided disputed territories between Poland and Soviet Russia. Poland's eastern border was established about 200 km east of the Curzon Line, securing Polish control over parts of modern-day Ukraine and Belarus. The war resulted in the official recognition of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic as Soviet states, undermining Piłsudski's ambitions for an Intermarium federation led by Poland. Despite this, Poland's success at the Battle of Warsaw cemented its position as an important player in Eastern European geopolitics in the interwar period.