Silesian Uprisings
| Silesian Uprisings | |||||||||
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| Part of the aftermath of World War I and the Revolutions of 1917–1923 | |||||||||
Silesian insurgents | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Polish Military Organization of Upper Silesia Supported by: Poland | Germany | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Alfons Zgrzebniok Franciszek Szkudło † Wojciech Korfanty Maciej Hrabia Mielzynski |
Friedrich Wilhelm von Schwartzkoppen Karl Höfer | ||||||||
The Silesian Uprisings (Polish: Powstania śląskie; Silesian: Ślōnske aufsztandy; German: Aufstände in Oberschlesien, Polenaufstände) were a series of three uprisings from August 1919 to July 1921 in Upper Silesia, which was part of the Weimar Republic at the time. Ethnic Polish and Polish-Silesian insurrectionists, seeking to have the area transferred to the newly founded Polish Republic, fought German police and paramilitary forces which sought to keep the area part of the new German state founded after World War I and the subsequent revolutions in Germany. Following the conflict, the area was divided between the two countries. The rebellions have subsequently been commemorated in modern Poland as an example of Polish nationalism. Despite central government involvement in the conflict, Polish historiography renders the events as uprisings reflecting the will of ordinary Upper Silesians rather than a war. In total, several thousand people may have died violently in the militant clashes in Upper Silesia between 1919 and 1921. About four fifths of the victims were killed during the three Silesian uprisings, three fifths alone during the Third Silesian uprising in 1921. However, due to the success of the Silesian Uprisings, Poland gained coal mines and territory that accelerated their economic development. If it were not for the success of the third Silesian Uprising, most of the Silesian industrial area would have ended up in Germany's hands, leaving Poland an agrarian state. Additionally, the reconstruction of Poland, post WWI, would have been slower, hindering currency reform and the establishment of the Bank of Poland.