Disinfo: During the Polish-Soviet War, the Poles were driven by Russophobia and anti-Semitism

Summary

As soon as Poland gained independence, its dreams about the regain of the Eastern territories of Rzeczpospolita had immediately revived. The main arguments in this propaganda were the Polish nationalism, Russophobia and anti-Semitism.

Present-day Poland loves to remember its credits for the fight with “Bolshevism”. In reality, the Poles in the Polish-Soviet War were driven by other things – the most important was to take the lands from the Russians, regardless of their banners.

Disproof

This message is part of the Kremlin’s policy of historical revisionism – it accuses Poland of “falsification and re-writing” of its history. According to this policy, the Russian official historiography is the only “true” way of interpretation of historical events for the countries of Eastern and Central Europe.

It is a clear historical manipulation to describe the actions of the Poles during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1920 as a “desire to take lands from the Russians” – in this war, the Poles defended the independence of their state from the Bolshevik invasion.

The Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1920 started in February 1919, immediately after the end of WWI. As a result of the Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919, the Bolshevik troops tried to advance as deep as possible into the territory of the former Western regions of the collapsed Russian Empire. In February 1919, the advancing Bolshevik forces entered into clashes with the units of the Polish Army. The Polish-Soviet War lasted until October 1920 – it resulted in the signing of the Peace of Riga (March 1921), in which Soviet Russia recognized the independence of the Polish state.

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publication/media

Sputnik Poland (Archived)

Reported in: Issue189
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 17/03/2020
Language/target audience: Polish
Country: Russia, Poland
Keywords: Anti-Semitism, WWI, USSR, Anti-Russian, Historical revisionism, Russophobia

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