The 1920 Ukrainian-Polish Alliance and Its Implications

Abstract

The article describes the internal political situation in the UPR and Poland before the conclusion of the Treaty of Warsaw in 1920. The authors argue that in the context of the end of World War I and the rebuilding of the world geopolitical order the UPR and the Republic of Poland were destined to establish allied relations with a view to strengthening their restored statehood and ensuring security in the Baltic-Black Sea region. However, the signature of the Treaty of Warsaw failed to preserve stable interstate cooperation between Ukraine and Poland due to a range of internal political and external factors. This situation cast a shadow over the preservation of the independence of the UPR and Ukrainian-Polish partnership. The military and political alliance of Ukraine and Poland broke apart due to inextricable external and internal aspects. It was a rearguard action and could not struggle against the strengthened Bolshevist Russia without the support of the Entente states. In the meantime, the 1920 Treaty of Warsaw was significant not only for Ukrainians who continued to fight for the independence of the UPR with the assistance of Poland until the end of 1921. The authors assume that the joint opposition of Ukraine and Poland in the summer of 1920 dashed the Kremlin’s marches on Poland, Romania, and Germany that could turn into a tragedy for those states and Europe as a whole. The authors stress that the Baltic states such as Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania gained their independence because of the military and political alliance of Ukraine and Poland and its struggle against the Bolshevist Russia. Poland got a chance to strengthen its statehood, as Moscow was significantly weakened by the war with the UPR and peasants’ insurrections in Ukraine. Keywords: UPR, Republic of Poland, Entente, Treaty of Warsaw, allied relations.