Polish-Soviet War - Names and Dates

Names and Dates

The war is called by several names. “Polish–Soviet War” may be the most common, but is potentially confusing as “Soviet” refers to the Soviet Russia not the Soviet Union, which did not officially exist until 31 December 1922. Alternative names include “Russo–Polish War of 1919–1921” (to distinguish it from earlier Polish–Russian wars) and “Polish–Bolshevik War”. This second term (or just “Bolshevik War” (Polish: Wojna bolszewicka)) is most common in Polish sources. In some Polish sources it is also referred as the "War of 1920" (Polish: Wojna 1920 roku).

There is disagreement over the dates of the war. The Encyclopædia Britannica begins its article with the date range 1919–1920 but then states, "Although there had been hostilities between the two countries during 1919, the conflict began when the Polish head of state Józef Pilsudski formed an alliance with the Ukrainian nationalist leader Symon Petlyura (21 April 1920) and their combined forces began to overrun Ukraine, occupying Kiev on 7 May." while the Polish Internetowa encyklopedia PWN as well as some Western historians like Norman Davies—consider 1919 as the starting year of the war. The ending date is given as either 1920 or 1921; this confusion stems from the fact that while the ceasefire was put in force in the autumn of 1920, the official treaty ending the war was signed months later, in March 1921.

While the events of 1919 can be described as a border conflict, and only in early 1920 did both sides realize they were engaged in all-out war, the conflicts that took place in 1920 were an inevitable escalation of fighting that began in earnest a year earlier. In the end, the events of 1920 were a logical, though unforeseen, consequence of the 1919 prelude.