The Battle of Warsaw – Poland’s victory for Europe’s freedom
15.08.2020
On August 15, 2020, we commemorate the centennial of the Battle of Warsaw - the culmination of the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1920 and one of the most decisive events in the history of Poland, Europe and the world.
When Poland was reborn as an independent nation in 1918, its existence became endangered by Soviet Russia. Under the pretense of extending self-determination to other nations, it instead aimed to impose its totalitarian communist ideology upon them, and Poland was the first step on its path towards a continental conquest.
The Battle of Warsaw in August 1920, however, determined not just Poland's future, but that of Europe as a whole. Not only did the Polish Armed Forces' victory bring defeat to the Red Army, but it also suppressed the latter's attempts to sovietize European nations by the forceful, armed spread of the proletarian revolution. At the time, the Polish Army, thanks to the determination and bravery of its soldiers, as well as the talent of its chief commanders, saved Europe from being engulfed in war yet again. The losses on the Polish side in the 1919-1920 war with the Bolsheviks were, for that time, heavy – 100,000 dead, including many killed in action, or missing, and twice as many wounded.
Repelling the Bolsheviks’ attack on the Polish capital was a landmark moment for reinforcing Poland's independence as well as other, newly established nation states in Central Europe. It averted the risk of the Versailles system's collapse and provided Europe with an opportunity to attempt peaceful international co-existence.
The Battle of Warsaw sends a universal message - that we must thwart dictators and that making sacrifices is vital to protecting freedom.
Lord Edgar Vincent D’Abernon, an English diplomat and a member of the Interallied Mission to Poland who witnessed the events of August 1920, described them in his book titled The Eighteenth Decisive Battle of the World. Warsaw, 1920 in such words: "The modern history of civilisation knows but few events of greater importance than that of the Battle of Warsaw of 1920. And it knows of none other which would be so little valued…"