Polish–Soviet War Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids

Polish defenses at Miłosna, during the decisive battle of Warsaw, August 1920.

Date	1919–1921
Location	Central and Eastern Europe
Result	Polish victory Peace of Riga

Belligerents

Russian SFSR

Ukrainian SSR

Republic of Poland

Ukrainian People's Republic

Commanders and leaders

Leon Trotsky

Mikhail Tukhachevsky (Western Front)

Joseph Stalin (Lviv/Lwów front)

Alexander Ilyich Yegorov (Southwestern Front)

Semyon Budyonny (1st Cavalry Army)

Flag of Poland.svg

Strength

From ~50,000 in early 1919 to almost 800,000 in summer 1920

From ~50,000 in early 1919 to ~738,000 in August 1920

Casualties and losses

estimated 60,000 killed
80,000 – 157,000 taken prisoner

(including rear-area personnel)

About 48,000 killed
113,518 wounded
51,351 taken prisoner
------------------------
Names of Polish Armed Forces mortal casualties
in period 1918 – 1920 totaling 47,055

The Polish–Soviet War (February 1919 – March 1921) was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine against the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic. It was for control of what is present day Ukraine and parts of present-day Belarus.

A formal peace treaty, the Peace of Riga, was signed on 18 March 1921. It divided the land between Poland and Soviet Russia. Much of the land given to Poland became part of the Soviet Union after World War II.

Images for kids

Partitions of Poland–Lithuania in 1795: the coloured territories show the extent of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth just before the First Partition. The land absorbed by the Kingdom of Prussia is in blue (north-west), by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy in green (south) and by the Russian Empire in red (east).
Map of areas where Polish was used as a primary language in 1916
Vladimir Lenin in 1919
Józef Piłsudski in 1919
Activists of the Polish Military Organisation in 1917
General Józef Haller swearing for the Polish flag when he was nominated to command the Blue Army
Five stages in the Polish–Soviet War
Piłsudski in Vilnius
Piłsudski in Minsk
Polish-held territory in December 1919
Polish soldiers enter Daugavpils, January 1920
Georgy Chicherin (left) with Maxim Litvinov in 1920
Józef Piłsudski (right in the train) and Symon Petliura, 16 May 1920
Petliura (right) with Polish General Antoni Listowski
Polish officers on the southern front in 1920
Polish fighters of the Kościuszko Squadron
Mikhail Kalinin and Leon Trotsky greet the Red Army troops
Semyon Budyonny
Tadeusz Rozwadowski
Polish Kiev Offensive at its height, June 1920
Vladimir Lenin, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Soviet Russia, delivers a speech to motivate troops to fight in the Polish–Soviet War on 5 May 1920
Polish troops in Kiev
Russian volunteers about to be sent to the Polish front
Soviet offensive successes, early August 1920
Hayk Bzhishkyan
Polish propaganda poster with the caption: "Beat the Bolshevik"
Bolshevik propaganda poster
The image of Leon Trotsky on Polish propaganda poster from July 1920. The large caption reads "Bolshevik freedom". The small caption on the right-hand side reads: "The Bolsheviks promised: We'll give you peace. We'll give you freedom. We'll give you land, work and bread. Despicably they cheated: They started a war with Poland. Instead of freedom, they brought the fist. Instead of land, confiscation. Instead of work, misery. Instead of bread, famine". (Issued by) "Ministry of Military Affairs, Propaganda Department".
Polrewkom
Polish propaganda poster. The text reads: "To arms! Save the fatherland! Remember well our future fate."
Antisemitic portrayal of a Bolshevik
The Interallied Mission to Poland
Maxime Weygand
Soviet delegates arrive for armistice negotiations before the Battle of Warsaw, August 1920
Mikhail Tukhachevsky
Władysław Sikorski and the 5th Army Staff in August 1920
Polish infantry at the Battle of Warsaw
Polish soldiers display captured Soviet standards after the Battle of Warsaw
Polish cavalry at the Battle of the Niemen River
Austin-Putilov armored car, captured from the Russians and renamed as Poznańczyk
Signing of the Peace of Riga
Adolph Joffe
Stanisław Grabski
Poland after the Peace of Riga with the pre-partition borders of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth also indicated

Polish–Soviet War facts for kids

Images for kids

See also