Open Conflict In Place of Unification | Polish–Lithuanian Relations between 1918 and 1921

Lithuanian political leaders in the German Empire, in the Russian Empire and in the diaspora in the United States tried to take advantage of the changes that World War I caused. While during the initial stage of the war their goal was to form an autonomous territory out of the areas where Lithuanians lived, in the last two years of the war their goal was the realization of independent Lithuania. It was a favourable development that due to the German advances in 1915 the front no longer cut across these areas. Yet, the economy served German military purposes and this caused misery for the inhabitants. As a result, 300 000 Lithuanians left for the interior zone of Russia. Although initially Germany banned all kind of nationalist Lithuanian activities, after the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk it looked as if Germany was willing to recognize a Lithuanian state as long as it was a German protectorate. This change served to counter balance Polish efforts.

Lithuanian leaders began to organize the state from Wilno/Vilnius, which was a city of 180 000 people with a Polish majority and sizeable Jewish and Russian minority.

The proportion of Lithuanians was around 2% at that time. Yet, the Lithuanian Council (Taryba) was established there and following the German defeat it became a legislative body. The leaders of the Lithuanian independence movement considered Wilno/Vilnius to be their capital.

The proportion of the Polish population in Lithuania on a map representing ethnic groups in 1929.

(Source: Wikipédia)

Lithuanian leaders were sceptical regarding the revival of Polish–Lithuanian federation since in that case independence would not have been realized (the Lithuanian Declaration of Independence dates to 16 February 1918) or it would have had important limitations. At the same time, in Poland, Józef Piłsudski and his supporters – worked on preparing the revival of the federation with Belarussia and Lithuania – which ceased with the partition of 1795 – in the sense of the so-called “Jagellonian idea”. This, however, would have meant giving up the homogenous Polish nation state. This is why Roman Dmowski and his national democrats were opposed to this idea. Although they also considered Lithuania to be integral part of Poland, they would only have granted autonomy to a restricted area.

At any rate, both political camps in Poland and the Polish in Lithuania thought it unacceptable that Lithuania should revive independently of Poland. For them, and for Pilsudski who hailed from the region of Vilnius, the question was the way in which Lithuania would join. The issue of the position of Belarusians and their possible inclusion was also a question. In the case of the region of Vilnius, it was a further difficulty that identities had not crystallized yet. The Lithuanian side referred to the historical legal situation arguing that the inhabitants of the area were Lithuanians that adopted Slavic languages. The boundary between the Polish and Belarussian population, which constituted the vast majority, was moving due to the impact that the Catholic Church had on identities.

In the autumn of 1918, the Lithuanian government did not have civil servants or police forces on the ground. Borders were not fixed and there was threat from all sides. After the Lithuanian government had moved to Kaunas, the Polish volunteer army occupied Wilno/Vilnius in December 1918. However, the Red Army captured it from them on 15 January 1919. German troops that were still left in the area joined the Lithuanian army, which was in the making at that time, and they managed to halt the advance of the Red Army and, thus, prevented the consolidation of Soviet–Lithuania that was declared on 16 December 1918. In order to strengthen the Soviet power in the area, the Lithuanian–Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Litbel) was declared in February 1919. However, Marshall Piłsudski’s army crushed this formation soon thereafter.

Regarding the relationship between Poland and Lithuania, the goal of Lithuanian leadership was to gain Poland’s official recognition for Lithuanian statehood, while, as mentioned above, Polish leaders wished for a close link between the two countries since November 1918. This is when open conflict started over Wilno/Vilnius. In the spring of 1919, Polish troops occupied the city and this led to the deterioration of Polish–Lithuanian relations. Piłsudski issued a call for the inhabitants of the region in both Polish and Lithuanian language, however, there was no time to consolidate Polish rule before the renewed Soviet attack. For the Lithuanian government, it was also a difficulty that in the course of the peace treaty negotiations near Paris Western powers did not recognize the independence of Lithuania. Moreover, Poland – as an official party to the negotiations – demanded that Lithuania should be annexed to Poland.

Yet, Piłsudski failed to realize his plan to install a Polish-friendly government in Lithuania since the Lithuanian authorities arrested members of the conspiracy in August 1919. When the Polish political leaders realized that Lithuanians rejected the restauration of the Polish–Lithuanian union, they changed their strategy and – apart from maintaining their claim for Wilno/Vilnius aimed at expanding the territory of Poland at the expense of Lithuania. Lithuanians successfully resisted Polish conquest outside the Wilno/Vilnius region. At the same time, the opportunity for cooperation between Poland and Lithuania diminished. The open conflict surprised the Westerns powers and there were efforts to facilitate reconciliation and for drawing a provisional border line. (General Foch’s Line). We shall note that these efforts meant that these powers de facto recognized the existence of Lithuania.

When Piłsudski realized that it would be impossible to integrate Lithuania to Poland as long as the war with the Soviet Union continued, he tried to isolate Lithuania in terms of international relations. In order to achieve this objective, he mainly sought the support of France. Great Britain was more sympathetic to Lithuania. However, the new Soviet campaign changed the framework of the situation.

During the negotiations between Lithuania and the Soviet Union began (causing uproar among Poles), the Soviets tried to make use of the hostile feelings that Lithuanians had for Poland. Yet, they did not succeed in bringing Lithuania to their war against Poland. In the Lithuanian–Soviet peace treaty of 12 July 1920, the Soviets recognized the towns of Vilnius, Suwałki, Augustów, Grodno and Lida as part of Lithuania. Moreover, Soviet soldiers were authorized to cross Lithuania in the course of actions related to the Polish–Soviet war.

The agreement changed the situation due to developments on another front of diplomacy: the Polish government accepted Lloyd George’s offer according to which it would be up to the supreme council of the Allied Powers to decide on the status of Vilnius. The Polish were planning to hand over the city to the Lithuanians on 13 July 1920. However, the Soviets marched to the city even before the arrival of Lithuanians and also began transporting Red Army units to the Polish front via a route that crossed the city. As a result of the treaty with the Soviet Union, Lithuania did not remain fully neutral in the Polish–Soviet war, even if it did not participate with troops, and an eventual Soviet victory would have led to the Sovietization of Lithuania. Soviets handed over Vilnius to the Lithuanian authorities on 6 August 1920 and eventually evacuated Vilnius on 27 August. However, we need to see that the reason behind the Red Army leaving Vilnius was not the treaty but the Polish victory near Warsaw and the eventually counter-attack that was approaching the Lithuanian–Polish border.

The commanders of the Polish units accused the Lithuanian government of facilitating a secret Russian–Lithuanian military pact and of letting the Red Army through the country. Great Britain and France did not recognize these claims. In the new situation, Lithuania tried to practice strict neutrality but Red Army units retreating across Lithuanian damaged the credibility of the Lithuanian government not to mention the violence that the Red Army committed against civilians. Lithuanians could not deny the presence of Soviet army and this was a good enough reason for Poland to invade Lithuania.

Signing of the treaty of Suwałki. Members of the Polish delegation are on the left, Lithuanian representatives are on the right

(Source: Wikipédia)

In August 1920, a Polish and a Lithuanian military delegation negotiated in Kaunas. Yet, while the negotiations were on, Polish and Lithuanian units clashed and the Polish captured Augustów, Seiny and Suwałki. The Polish considered armed Lithuanian defence of the ethnically mixed but Polish majority areas as collaboration with the Soviets and launched a full-scale attack on 22 September 1920. Both parties sought external help. Warsaw approached the League of Nations while Lithuania reached out to Great Britain. It soon became obvious that the only objective that the League of Nations had was to avoid armed Lithuanian–Polish conflict but they did not have a viable proposal regarding the contested territories. There were also bilateral negotiations but it took long for the parties to agree on a demarcation line. The treaty at Suwałki was eventually signed on 7 October 1920. After this date both armies ceased hostilities and Vilnius stayed on the Lithuanian side of the line.

However, two days earlier Soviet–Russia and Poland had agreed about the ceasefire and on a preliminary peace treaty that allowed Poland to take any action related to Wilno. Dmowski and the national democrats advocated for launching an attack on Lithuania and capturing Wilno. On the other hand, Piłsudski did not consent to open conflict with Lithuania (that would have brought about disapproval from Western allies). He told General Lucjan Żeligowski to pretend a mutiny and march to Wilno with the units that hail from the area. According to the advice, the general had to stress the local nature of the action and also emphasize the idea of national self-determination.

On 9 October, Lucjan Żeligowski captured Wilno and declared Central-Lithuania (Litwa Środkowa) and proclaimed himself president.

While local Polish inhabitants celebrated Żeligowski’s move, the Jewish community – recalling anti-Semitic atrocities that took place in 1919 – would have preferred Lithuanian authority. Later, the community gave voice to their dissent by boycotting the elections of 1922. The Lithuanian government was not sure if Żeligowski would stop along the Foch line mentioned above or march beyond it towards Kaunas. This uncertainty forced the Lithuanian government to heed to Żeligowski’s demands. At that moment, Lithuanian armed forces were in the South-western part of the country and Żeligowski’s action triggered chaos in Lithuania. The national assembly suspended its activities while the government prepared for the evacuation of Kaunas. Allied Powers did not seem to be eager to change the course of events and let the case to be discussed at the League of Nations, instead. Polish representatives in the League of Nations refuted the claim that the Polish government was behind Żeligowski’s action. Then, the Polish government renewed its proposal for the Polish–Lithuanian union and this in fact eased the pressure coming from the Allied Powers. However, Lithuania still opposed to the idea. Initially, the Council of the League of Nations did not endorse Żeligowski’s steps and believed that the dispute over territories should be resolved via a referendum. Since Lithuanians were minority in the area, their representatives were not at all enthusiastic about this possibility.

Betting all in, Lithuania trusted that the Soviets would keep the agreement that was made in Moscow and hoped to recapture the region around Vilnius with Soviet help.

In November 1920, Lithuanian troops managed to contain Żeligowski’s troops along the demarcation line and on 29 November there was a new agreement about a neutral zone. This replaced the terms that representatives had agreed on at Suwalki earlier.

In subsequent years, the Polish government tried to deny that they were aware of what Żeligowski was going to do. Since the Lithuanian government was not willing to accept Żeligowski as a party to negotiations, the Polish government tried to mediate between Kaunas and the general but refused to recognize that the territories included in the Moscow Treaty belonged to Lithuania. Moreover, it was not willing to withdraw Żeligowski’s army from Vilnius.

Eventually, the Western powers – partially because the parties were uninterested – gave up the idea of holding a referendum and left the territorial questions to be decided during bilateral negotiations.

The “Black Monument” in Kaunas, which marked the ten-year anniversary of the loss of Vilnius.

(Source: NAC 1-E-9562)

However, none of the proposals that Paul Hymans, the former Belgian minister of foreign affairs, prepared (that included creating cantons in Lithuania, federative structure, autonomous region around Vilnius). Interventions of the League of Nations and bilateral negotiations (May 1921 in Brussels and September 1921 in Geneva) also failed. On the contrary, the referendum in Central Lithuania and the integration of this splinter state to Poland contributed to the growing tension in 1922. This tension manifested in the cessation of postal and communication services along the demarcation line. Moreover, official diplomatic relations were also terminated.

Although the Council of Ambassadors recognized the Polish–Lithuanian border and considered the territorial conflict to have ended on 15 March 1923, Lithuania did not consent to this. This international level decision created a gap between the Soviet–Lithuanian treaty and the Treaty of Riga, too. Georgy Chicherin, the Soviet People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs, stated that the Soviet–Lithuanian agreement should stay in place despite the Treaty of Riga. Although the Soviet Union did not have a common border with Lithuania in the interwar period, the Voivodeship of Vilnius under Polish control was a security risk and so was the Belarussian minority living in the area.

Bibliography

• Alfonsas Eidintas, Vytautas Žalys, Alfred Erich Senn: Lithuania in European Politics. The Years of the First Republic, 1918–1940. St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1999.
• Gábor Lagzi: Városok a határon. Wrocław, L’viv és Vilnius multikulturalizmusa a múltban és a jelenben. Gondolat Kiadó, Budapest, 2016.
• Lietuvos ir Lenkijos santykiai: Nuo pirmojo pasaulinio karo pabaigos iki L. Żeligowskio įvykdyto Vilniaus užėmimo. 1918. m. lapkritis–1920. m. spalis (Lengyel–litván kapcsolatok: Ed. Edmundas Gimžaukas. Vilnius, 2012.
• Piotr Lossowski: Konflikt polsko–litewski 1918–1920. Książka i Wiedza, Warszawa, 1996.