The delimitation of the eastern borders of Poland: the war against Bolshevik Russia. (1919-1920)

This paper presents an historical survey of the Polish-Bolshevik war of 1919-1920. From an examination of mainly polish historiography, the author presents the conflict as a result of misinterpretation of the concept of Polish State and nationality inside polish politics at this time. The result was a kind of "Polish expansionism", which consisted on building a national State inside the limits of the former multinational Polish-Lithuanian State of XVIIIth century. This ambition of Polish government led to a series of military conflicts, particulary in the East where war broke up with Bolshevik Russia in 1919. In the edge of losing her recently acquired independence, Poland, nonetheless, won the war, and the Riga Treaty of 1920 create a difficult situation for her. Tensions with ethnic minorities inside her territory and diplomatic feud with her Eastern neighbors contribute to the constant instability of the Polish State during the Second Republic (1918-1939).