battle of warsaw 1920

Omissions? Again, Lenin rejected the opinions of the doubters in his midst. Marcel Camus, French film director (Black Orpheus). On July 12, Minsk, the Belorussian capital, fell to the Red,s followed by Wilno on the 14th and Grodno on the 19th. (Wikipedia, Polish) One-hundred years ago, on August 16, 1920, the Soviet Army reached the outskirts of Warsaw… The text is also available in French and Russian (see attached pdf files). Questions or concerns? Those Red units in a position to do so immediately bolted for the East Prussian border before the Poles could close the ring. Pilsudski ignored both messages. Although such campaigns had little effect, by the turn of the century only the most optimistic Polish patriots could still dream of independence. By that time, London and Paris were greatly alarmed at the reports they were getting of the Polish war preparations. It was a hard-fought battle, which took place in August 1920 near Warsaw and ended in a decisive Polish victory over the Red Army of Soviet Russia. It was released in September 2011. On October 7, 1918, with the Central Powers clearly on the brink of defeat, the Regency Council in Warsaw declared Polish independence. The resurgent Poles, meanwhile, quickly established a Western-style parliamentary government and chose a 51-year-old romantic, a conspiratorial and avidly Russophobic military hero named Jozef Klemens Pilsudski as chief of state. The great Polish victory over the Red Army outside Warsaw ensured the survival of an independent Poland and may have prevented a Bolshevik invasion of Germany. Media in category "Battle of Warsaw (1920)" The following 20 files are in this category, out of 20 total. Languages Polish Polish Three national insurrections had failed to dislodge the occupying powers; severe Germanization and Russification efforts, aimed at the destruction of the Polish language and culture, were imposed upon the population during the 19th century. Bitwa warszawska 1920) is a Polish historical film directed by Jerzy Hoffman depicting the events of the Battle of Warsaw (1920) of the Polish–Soviet War. While the Allies were able to produce a tentative settlement for Poland’s western frontiers, they had no means of establishing any agree-upon border between the new Polish state and the Russian colossus. The result was the treaty of Riga, signed on March 18, 1921, in the Latvian capital. Pilsudski’s swift drive to Kiev had severely overextended his supply lines, and his troops found little comfort in the Ukraine, whose population, though anti-Russian, was also historically anti-Polish. Despite the more pressing threat posed by Tukhachevsky in the north, the Poles were reluctant to pull out their troops facing Budyonny on the Southern Front — the Galician region that had never been under Russian control, not even temporarily. In his order of the day for July 20, Tukhachevsky sounded an ominous note: ‘The fate of the world revolution is being decided in the west; the way leads over the corpse of Poland to a universal conflagration…To Warsaw!’. As Tukhachevsky planned his strategy, the Polish forces had grown much stronger than his 150,000 men. In vain Poles warned Lenin that an invasion by Russians would unite all Polish classes against Russia, their historic oppressor. Historical Map of Russia & the former Soviet Union (12 August 1920 - Battle of Warsaw: In the west, the Soviets had beaten back a Polish invasion of the Ukraine and reached the gates of Warsaw. Pilsudski rejected Lenin’s offer of a frontier settlement that corresponded somewhat to the existing front line; he deliberately dragged his feet, convinced that the Red offer was insincere, a ploy masking Moscow’s real intentions — a transfer of troops from the crumbling White fronts to the Polish line. The Allies, meanwhile, had arranged for another round of Polish-Soviet peace negotiations, apparently believing that only a truce could save Warsaw now. The Russian failure to capitalize on such an opportunity was the result of a lack of communications — disrupted by the Poles — and a lack of cooperation among the Bolshevik commanders. The Battle of Warsaw was one of the most important moments of the Polish-Bolshevik war, one of the most decisive events in the history of Poland, Europe and the entire world. Soviet losses allowed rough numerical parity between the two armies, and during the Battle of Warsaw, the Poles may have even gained a slight advantage in numbers and logistics. After 15 days of haggling, Prime Minister Wladislaw Grabski finally managed to form a crisis government. While Budyonny’s horsemen of the Southern Front pushed the Poles out of the Ukraine, a northern attempt at evicting the Poles from Lithuanian and Belorussian territory was underway. Meanwhile, General Sikorski’s Fifth Army attacked the Red Fourth Army northwest of Warsaw and broke through, seriously exposing the Polish flank in the process. The Western Allies, too, were decidedly against Pilsudski’s plans. These articles have not yet undergone the rigorous in-house editing or fact-checking and styling process to which most Britannica articles are customarily subjected. The new Bolshevik government, besieged by a multitude of armies commanded by a politically diverse collection of generals ranging from tsarist aristocrats to disillusioned socialists to provincial warlords, had its hands full at the time. Adam Ferency - Czekista Bykowski 3. The roots of the war ran deep. In December, the British foreign minister, Lord George Nathaniel Curzon, proposed a frontier that roughly corresponded to the ethnic limits of Poland but failed to include the two predominantly Polish cities of Lwow and Wilno. The border proposed by the British, although never meant to be a final frontier, was rejected by the Poles, for they had already pushed beyond it. The Reds had little time in 1918 to worry about Polish schemes to expand on Russia’s western periphery. To accomplish that goal, the veteran revolutionary resurrected the old Polish idea of federalism, first championed in the Middle Ages by the kings of the Jagiellonian dynasty. To all three of the potential federal members, it appeared that they might be exchanging the former Russian yoke for a Polish one. The Polish argument that none of those three nations could stand next to Russia alone fell on deaf ears. Bitter, centuries-long memories of Polish oppression could not be raised by raising the revolutionary red flag in Warsaw. Undersupplied, outgunned, outnumbered and outmaneuvered, the Poles fought hard but could not stop the Urssians’ northern drive. The Battle of Warsaw in 1920 was not only a culminating moment of the Polish-Bolshevik war but also one of the decisive events in the history of Europe and the world. The re-establishment of Poland’s pre-partition 1772 frontiers, which included substantial parts of the Ukraine and Belorussia (‘White Russia,’ now Belarus), was a matter of top priority for Pilsudski. A 1920 painting by Zdzisław Jasiński depicting the breakthrough on the northwestern front. Bitwa warszawska 1920) is a Polish historical film directed by Jerzy Hoffman depicting the events of the Battle of Warsaw (1920) of the Polish–Soviet War. Pilsudski ordered a halt at that point, his intelligence service having informed him that the Whites under General Denikin were pressuring Moscow from the south and could possibly capture the seat of the Bolshevik regime. On November 6, 1916, Austria-Hungary and Germany, in a desperate bid to ensure the loyalty of their Polish populations, jointly agreed to the formation of a semi-autonomous ‘Kingdom of Poland.’ In Paris, France, Polish spokesmen beat the ears of Allied statesmen on behalf of an independent Poland, but none of the Western powers cared to antagonize their imperial Russian ally, which was opposed to such a move. On Aguust 8, Tukhacehvsky, confident the Poles were on the verge of collapse, issued his orders for the capture of Warsaw. By using powerful idealism awakened in the revolution, and invovling fears that the landowning aristocrats might return to power, Trotsky built a formidable force of workers, peasants and ex-soldiers of the old imperial army, complete with a tough cavalry corps, to protect the Bolshevik regime. To Lenin’s great surprise, the promulgations of this Moscow-organized regime fell on deaf ears. The Fourth Army could not escape and was forced to surrender in Poland. Also the Polish commander, Józef Piłsudski, drew up a bold, if not foolhardy, plan of counterattack. Such an action, the Poles knew, would be tantamount to a full-blown anti-Soviet war. In the heated arguments that followed, Lenin vehemently and repeatedly insisted that the time was right to spread the revolution westward. Pilsudski knew that a dramatic counteroffensive was the only possible way to save Warsaw, but where, he wondered, could he muster the forces necessary for such a move? When the Red Army launched what was expected to be the final assault on Warsaw, Piłsudski had to begin his counterattack twenty-four hours early, with some units not yet in position, for fear that Warsaw might fall if he waited. The British were represented by Viscount Edgar Vincent d’Abernon and Maj. Gen. Percy de B. Radcliffe, an old-time cavalryman with a reputation for logical thinking. The campaign featured a remarkable cast of characters on both sides and mixed ferocious cavalry charges with early blitzkrieg tactics in quest of exceptional objectives. more A few more engagements followed, but the war was effectively won. Paderewski, Polish Politics, and the Battle of Warsaw, 1920 In 1920 the Polish army defeated the Bolsheviks before the gates of Warsaw. Tukhachevsky’s forces had left behind more than 200 artillery pieces, more than 1,000 machine guns, 10,000 vehicles of every kind and nearly 66,000 prisoners of war. Battle of Warsaw, (12–25 August 1920), Polish victory in the Russo-Polish War (1919–20) over control of Ukraine, which resulted in the establishment of the Russo-Polish border that existed until 1939. Polish spies reported to Warsaw that more Red troops, fresh from victory over the Whites, were transferring west to the front every day. On August 17, delegates from both sides met in Mink, where Moscow presented its conditions for a cease-fire: the Polish army was to be dismantled and the Allied military commission was to be sent packing. Although Moscow had detached Budyonny’s cavalry from General Aleksandr Yegorov’s Southern Front and assigned the horsemen to Tukhachevsky, the latter appears not to have planned to use those additional forces for the protection of his flank. His publications include. Portraits of the bushy-browed, heavily mustachioed old revolutionary were hung in all public buildings. With Daniel Olbrychski, Natasza Urbanska, Borys Szyc, Jerzy Bonczak. At the start of the battle, the Red Army appeared to be on the verge of advancing through Poland into Germany to expand the Soviet revolution. Had the war spread into Germany, another great European war would have ensued, dragging in France and Britain. They preferred to build their military strength by conscription and volunteers. This incredibly ambitious designed was destined to disintegrate almost immediately. In August 1920, the Polish Army had reached a total strength of 737,767 soldiers, half of whom were on the frontline. In the aftermath of World War I, Poland fought to preserve their newly regained independence, lost in the 1795 partitions of Poland, and to carve out the borders of a new multinational federation (Intermarium) from the territories of their former partitioners, Russia, Germany, and Austria–Hungary. The celebrated Frenchman brought along his aide-de-camp, a trim and proper junior officer names Charles de Gaulle. …back to the outskirts of Warsaw, but Piłsudski’s counterattack on August 16 (the “Miracle of the Vistula”) saved the country from catastrophe. The Battle of Warsaw was a decisive Polish victory in 1920 in the Polish–Soviet War. The Polish government passed a resolution of praise for Pilsudski on May 18, and a Te Deum Mass was sung in his honor in every Polish church. While playing the Bolshevik negotiating game throughout the winter months, Pilsudski prepared for battle. Bogusław Linda - major Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski 4. The Battle of Warsaw 1920 Photos View All Photos (13) Movie Info. The fiercest combats were fought for Radzymin, Ossów and Zielonka. John Swift is a Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Cumbria. If the Poles expected the Supreme Council to help arrange a truce with the angered Bolsheviks, the price would be high. The Poles were fighting to preserve their newly regained independence, lost in the 1795 third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and to carve out the borders of a new multinational federation ( Międzymorze) from the territories of their former partitioners, Russia, Germany and the Austria-Hungary. In the meantime, more information about the article and the author can be found by clicking on the author’s name. In spite of the progress of the Polish defense plans, the situation remained grave. The capital’s defense was augmented by a motley but enthusiastic force of 80,000 workers and peasants. By August 1, the Polish leader realized that the Bolsheviks intended destination was Warsaw. The thinly stretched Polish forces could not contain the Soviet counterattack and immediately retreated westward toward Volhynia and Podolia. On August 3, the committee issued a ‘Manifesto to the Polish Working People of Town and Country,’ proclaiming a revolutionary socialist government. The representatives of France, Great Britain, Italy and the united States met in the mirrored halls of Versailles in 1919 to dismember the German and Austro-Hungarian empires and set the world right. By August 12, it was apparent to the Allied military mission in Warsaw that Tukhachevsky intended to attack the city from the northwest. In fact, it was much more — at once a reflection of the age-old enmity between two Slavic neighbors and a Marxist crusade bent on varying the torch of revolution into the heart of Europe. Pilsudski, a longtime member of the Polish Socialist Party’s right wing, had always placed the achievement of Polish independence ahead of the social reforms advocated by some of his more ideological colleagues. Friedrich Froebel, founder of kindergarten. The severity of those terms masked the actual alarm felt by the Allies as Tukhachevsky’s forces crossed the Bug River and headed for Warsaw. The Battle of Radzymin (Polish language: Bitwa pod Radzyminem) took place during the Polish–Soviet War (1919–21). The fierce Soviet counterattack was part of a two-pronged strategy. The metaphor was invented afterwards, "miracle", a Polish idea and image about grandeur and heroic events at River Vistula as on the verge of total defeat the Polish Army repulsed and gained a victory over the Red Army. The problem came from pro-Bolshevik German and Czech railroad workers, and even some British dockworkers, who refused to load the Polish-bound equipment in their countries. Soviet losses allowed rough numerical parity between the two armies, and during the Battle of Warsaw, the Poles may have even gained a slight advantage in numbers and logistics. Directed by Jerzy Hoffman. Arrested and imprisoned in Magdeburg for two years, he was released on November 10, 1918, and returned home to be acclaimed as a national hero. The Battle of Warsaw took place from August 12 to 15, 1920. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. A Polish cavalryman (Borys Szyc) is called away on the day of his wedding to a … Using tanks, trucks, armored cars and mobile columns, the Polish general has been credited with employing the first blitzkrieg tactics of the 20th century. The latter nation would, according to the Pilsudski scheme, play the leading role. IntroductionAugust 1920 marks the first decisive defeat of the Red Army: the battle on the ground before Warsaw. Pilsudski’s army had grown to 185,000 by August 12, and in two more weeks the Poles could count 370,000 hastily trained, poorly equipped soldiers on their rolls, including almost 30,000 cavalry. It was filmed in 3D using the Fusion Camera System and is one of the most expensive movies in the history of cinema in Poland. opened a massive campaign at the beginning of July. Pilsudski finally decided that the war would be decided in the north. For the fourth time since 1918, the Ukrainian Soviet government under Christian Rakovsky was forced to flee its capital; once again, the anti-Bolshevik regime of Petlyura ensconced itself in the city and announced the end of Russian domination of the Ukraine. The battle which turned the tide in the Polish-Soviet War, it sent the Western Front under Tukhachevsky into full retreat and forced the Soviet diplomats to negotiate the Treaty of Riga, signed October 1920. Even the old aristocratic old tsarist General Aleksei Brusilov, the last Imperial Army commander, responded to this approach and joined in an anti-Polish campaign; many other patriotic ex-tsarist officers followed his example. A 20,000-man strike force, commanded by General Edward Smigly-Rydz, was to smash through Tukhachevsky’s Mozyr Group and begin a sweeping, encircling movement to cut off the Soviet northern forces. 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