Treaty of Riga: Difference between revisions

Treaty of Riga
Signed	18 March 1921
Location	Riga, Latvia
Ratified	15 April 1921 14 April 1921; 17 April 1921
Expiration	17 September 1939
Parties	Poland; Soviet Russia; Soviet Ukraine;
Ratifiers	SejmRussian Soviet; Ukrainian Soviet

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The Treaty of Riga was signed in Riga, Latvia, on 18 March 1921 between Poland on one side and Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus) and Soviet Ukraine on the other, ending the Polish–Soviet War (1919–1921).^[2] The chief negotiators of the peace were Jan Dąbski for the Polish side^[3] and Adolph Joffe for the Soviet side.

Under the treaty, Poland recognized Soviet Ukraine and Belarus, abrogating its 1920 Treaty of Warsaw with the Ukrainian People's Republic. The Treaty of Riga established a Polish–Soviet border about 250 kilometres (160 mi) east of the Curzon Line, incorporating large numbers of Ukrainians and Belarusians into the Second Polish Republic. Poland, which agreed to withdraw from areas further east (notably Minsk), renounced claims to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's border prior to the 1772 First Partition of Poland, recovering only those eastern regions (Kresy) lost to Russia in the 1795 Third Partition. While Russia and Ukraine agreed to withdraw their claims to lands west of the demarcated border line. Poland, by recognising the puppet states of the USSR and simultaneously withdrawing recognition of the UPR (its only ally in the Polish-Bolshevik war), was in fact giving up on the federation programme, while Russia approved of the fact that the whole of Galicia, as well as the territories of the former Russian Empire, inhabited largely by non-Polish people, were to be found within Poland's borders. The treaty also addressed matters of sovereignty, citizenship, national minorities, repatriation, and diplomatic and commercial relations. The Treaty lasted until the invasion of Poland by the Soviet Union in 1939, and their borders were redefined by an agreement in 1945.

Background

World War I removed former state borders across Europe. Following the Russian Revolution which had renounced Tsarist claims to Poland, as well as the Central Powers provisions for Congress Poland in the March 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, The Great War had ended with the collapse of the Central Powers. The Treaty of Versailles had re-established Poland's independence after a century and a half of being divided by three empires.

The Russian Civil War presented an opportunity for Poland, under the leadership of Józef Piłsudski, to regain parts of the territories of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that had been incorporated into the Russian Empire during the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania. In 1920, Piłsudski's initially successful military offensive into Ukraine, whose aim was to establish an independent Ukraine in alliance with Poland, was met with a Soviet counter-offensive into central Poland. Poland was seen by the Soviets, who intended to extend the revolution westwards, as a land bridge to Western Europe. The Polish–Soviet War culminated in the Battle of Warsaw, won by the Poles. Further military setbacks persuaded Soviet Russia to enter into peace treaty negotiations.^[4] This was a relief for the government of Poland, a country heavily damaged and exhausted by the war, who also wanted to conclude peace talks. Piłsudski and his supporters, however, having failed in their quest, opposed the peace process.

Negotiations

Peace talks began in Minsk on 17 August 1920, but the talks were moved to Riga, and resumed on 21 September.^[5] The Soviets proposed two solutions, the first on 21 September and the second on 28 September. The Polish delegation made a counter-offer on 2 October. Three days later the Soviets offered amendments to the Polish offer, which Poland accepted. An armistice was signed on 12 October and went into effect on 18 October 1920.^[6] The chief negotiators were Jan Dąbski for Poland^[3] and Adolph Joffe for the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.^[5] The Soviet side insisted, successfully, on excluding non-communist Ukrainian representatives from the negotiations.^[5]

The Soviets' military setbacks made their delegation offer Poland substantial territorial concessions in the contested border areas. However, to many observers, it looked as though the Polish side conducted the Riga talks as if Poland had lost the war. The Polish delegation was dominated by members of the National Democrats, who were Piłsudski's political opponents.^[3] The National Democrats did not want non-Polish minorities in the reborn Polish state to constitute more than one-third of the overall population, therefore, prepared to accept a Polish-Soviet border substantially to the west of what was being offered by the Soviets even though it would leave hundreds of thousands of ethnic Poles on the Soviet side of the border.

That decision was also motivated by political objectives. The National Democrats' base of public support was among Poles in central and western Poland. In the east of the country and in the disputed borderlands, support for the National Democrats was greatly outweighed by support for Piłsudski, and in the countryside, outside the cities, Poles were outnumbered by Ukrainians or Belarusians in those areas. A border too far to the east would thus be against not only the National Democrats' ideological objective of minimising the minority population of Poland but also their electoral prospects.^[7] Warweary public opinion in Poland also favoured an end to the negotiations,^[5] and both sides remained under pressure from the League of Nations to reach a deal.

A special parliamentary delegation, consisting of six members of the Polish Sejm, held a vote on whether to accept the Soviets' far-reaching concessions, which would have left Minsk on the Polish side of the border. Pressured by the National Democrat ideologue, Stanisław Grabski, the 100 km of extra territory was rejected, a victory for the nationalist doctrine and a stark defeat for Piłsudski's federalism.^[5]^[3]

Regardless, the peace negotiations dragged on for months because of Soviet reluctance to sign. However, the matter became more urgent for the Soviet leadership, which had to deal with increased internal unrest towards the end of 1920, such as the Tambov Rebellion and later the Kronstadt rebellion against the Soviet authorities. As a result, Vladimir Lenin ordered the Soviet plenipotentiaries to finalise the peace treaty with Poland.^[4]

The Treaty of Riga, signed on 18 March 1921, partitioned the disputed territories in Belarus and Ukraine between Poland and Russia and ended the conflict.

Terms

The Treaty consisted of 26 articles.^[8] Poland was to receive monetary compensation (30 million rubles in gold) for its economic input into the Russian Empire during the Partitions of Poland. Under Article 14 Poland was also to receive railway materials (locomotives, rolling stock, etc.) with a value of 29 million gold roubles.^[9] Russia was to surrender works of art and other Polish national treasures acquired from Polish territories after 1772 (such as the Jagiellonian tapestries and the Załuski Library). Both sides renounced claims to war compensation. Article 3 stipulated that border issues between Poland and Lithuania would be settled by those states.^[8]

TREATY OF PEACE BETWEEN POLAND, RUSSIA AND THE UKRAINE
Riga, March 18, 1921
Article 3. Russia and the Ukraine abandon all rights and claims to the territories situated to the west of the frontier laid down by Article 2 of the present Treaty. Poland, on the other hand, abandons in favour of the Ukraine and of White Ruthenia all rights and claims to the territory situated to the east of this frontier.
Article 4. Each of the Contracting Parties mutually undertakes to respect in every way the political sovereignty of the other Party, to abstain from interference in its internal affairs, and particularly to refrain from all agitation, propaganda or interference of any kind, and not to encourage any such movement.^[10]

Article 6 created citizenship options for persons on either side of the new border.^[8] Article 7 consisted of a mutual guarantee that all nationalities would be permitted "free intellectual development, the use of their national language, and the exercise of their religion."^[8] In the treaty, it was agreed that Poland would refuse to form federations with Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.^[11]

Aftermath

The Allied Powers were initially reluctant to recognise the treaty, which had been concluded without their participation.^[8] Their postwar conferences had supported the Curzon Line as the Polish-Russian border, and Poland's territorial gains in the treaty lay about 250 km east of that line.^[12]^[13] French support led to its recognition in March 1923 by France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan, followed by the United States in April.^[8]

In Poland, the Treaty of Riga was met with criticism from the very beginning. Some characterised the treaty as short-sighted and argued that much of what Poland had gained during the Polish-Soviet war was lost during the peace negotiations. Józef Piłsudski had participated in the Riga negotiations only as an observer and called the resulting treaty "an act of cowardice".^[14] Piłsudski felt the agreement was a shameless and short-sighted political calculation, with Poland abandoning its Ukrainian allies.^[5] On 15 May 1921, he apologised to Ukrainian soldiers during his visit to the internment camp at Kalisz.^[15]^[16]^[17] The treaty substantially contributed to the failure of his plan to create a Polish-led Intermarium federation of Eastern Europe, as portions of the territory that had been proposed for the federation were ceded to the Soviets.^[7]

Lenin also considered the treaty unsatisfactory, as it forced him to put aside his plans for exporting the Soviet revolution to the West.^[4]

The Belarusian and Ukrainian independence movements saw the treaty as a setback.^[18] Four million Ukrainians and over a million Belarusians lived within areas ceded to Poland. In one estimate, only 15% of the population was ethnically Polish.^[19]^[20] The Ukrainian People's Republic, led by Symon Petliura, had been allied with Poland under the Treaty of Warsaw, which was abrogated by the Treaty of Riga.^[4] The new treaty violated Poland's military alliance with the UPR, which had explicitly prohibited a separate peace. Doing so worsened relations between Poland and the Ukrainians who had supported Petliura. The supporters felt that Ukraine had been betrayed by its Polish ally, which would be exploited by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and contribute to the growing tensions and eventual anti-Polish massacres in the 1930s and the 1940s. By the end of 1921, most Poland-allied Ukrainian, Belarusian and White Russian forces had been annihilated by Soviet forces or had crossed the border into Poland and laid down their arms.

According to the Belarusian historian Andrew Savchenko, Poland's new eastern border was "military indefensible and economically unviable" and a source of growing ethnic tensions, as the resulting minorities in Poland were too large to be ignored or assimilated and too small to win their desired autonomy.^[3]

Further consequences

While the Treaty of Riga led to a two-decade stabilisation of Soviet-Polish relations, conflict was renewed with the Soviet invasion of Poland during World War II. The treaty was subsequently overridden after a decision by war's Allied powers to change Poland's borders once again and transfer the populations.

In the view of some foreign observers, the treaty's incorporation of significant minority populations into Poland led to seemingly insurmountable challenges, because the newly formed organizations such as OUN engaged in terror and sabotage actions across ethnically mixed areas to inflame conflict in the region.^[8]^[12]^[21] Nevertheless, many groups representing national minorities welcomed Piłsudski's return to power in 1926 providing opportunities to play a role in the Polish government.^[22]

The populations separated from Poland by the new Polish-Soviet border experienced a different fate from their fellow citizens. Ethnic Poles left within Soviet borders were subjected to discrimination and property confiscation.^[23] At least 111,000 were summarily executed in the NKVD operation in 1937/38, preceding other ethnic repression campaigns perpetrated during World War II, while others were exiled to different regions of the Soviet Union.^[24]^[25]^[26]

Belarusians and Ukrainians, having failed to create their own states, were subjects of repression in the Soviet Union, and even liquidation e.g. Executed Renaissance or persecuted kobzars and bandurists.^[27] Belarusians and Ukrainians living on the Polish side of the border were subjected to Polonization; which contributed to the rise of Ukrainian nationalist organisations and the adoption of terrorist tactics by Ukrainian extremists.^[28]^[29]

The Soviet Union, although thwarted in 1921, would see its sphere of influence expand as a result of World War II. After the Soviet Union established its control over the People's Republic of Poland, the Polish-Soviet border was moved westwards in 1945 to roughly coincide with the Curzon Line. This shift was accompanied by large population transfers which led to the expulsion of the Poles living east of the new border, and also moved most of the Ukrainian minority remaining in Poland to the former German territories that were ceded to Poland in compensation. The unified Belarusian and Ukrainian territories were fully incorporated into the USSR.

However, in 1989, Poland would regain its full sovereignty, and soon afterwards, with the fall of the Soviet Union, Belarus and Ukraine would go on to become independent nations.

Notes

^ ^a ^b Text of the document. Германо-советско-польская война 1939 года website.
^ K. Marek. Identity and Continuity of States in Public International Law. Librairie Droz 1968. pp. 419–420.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Andrew Savchenko (2009). Belarus: A Perpetual Borderland. Brill. pp. 98–100. ISBN 978-9004174481.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d The Rebirth of Poland. University of Kansas, lecture notes by Professor Anna M. Cienciala, 2004. Last accessed on 2 June 2006.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Piotr Stefan Wandycz (1962). France and Her Eastern Allies, 1919–1925: French-Czechoslovak-Polish Relations from the Paris Peace Conference to Locarno. U of Minnesota Press. pp. 178–180. ISBN 978-0816658862.
^ Soviet foreign policy: 1917–1980, in two volumes, Volume 1. Progress Publishers. p. 181.
^ ^a ^b Timothy Snyder (2004). The reconstruction of nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999. Yale University Press. pp. 68–. ISBN 978-0300105865. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Michael Palij (1995). The Ukrainian-Polish defensive alliance, 1919–1921: an aspect of the Ukrainian revolution. CIUS Press. pp. 165–168. ISBN 978-1-895571-05-9.
^ J.C. Johari (2000). Soviet Diplomacy 1925–41. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. p. 42. ISBN 978-81-7488-491-6.
^ Partial English text of the Treaty of Riga as Appendix C in G.V. Kacewicz (2012), Great Britain, The Soviet Union and the Polish Government in Exile (1939–1945), p. 229–230. The full text has 26 articles. "Treaty of Peace Between Poland, Russia and the Ukraine" (PDF). Riga, March 18, 1921. Resource: Appendix C. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ Butkus, Zenonas; Aleknavičė, Karolina. "Stebuklas prie Vyslos: kaip 1920 metais lenkai sutriuškino bolševikus". 15min.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 29 March 2022.
^ ^a ^b Dennis P. Hupchick (1995). Conflict and chaos in Eastern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 210. ISBN 978-0-312-12116-7.
^ Michael Graham Fry; Erik Goldstein; Richard Langhorne (2004). Guide to International Relations and Diplomacy. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 203. ISBN 978-0-8264-7301-1.
^ Norman Davies (2003). White Eagle, Red Star: the Polish-Soviet War, 1919–20. Pimlico. p. 399. ISBN 978-0-7126-0694-3. (First edition: New York, St. Martin's Press, inc., 1972.)
^ Jan Jacek Bruski (August 2002). "Sojusznik Petlura". Wprost (in Polish). 1029 (2002–08–18). ISSN 0209-1747. Retrieved 28 September 2006.
^ Jerzy Borzęcki (2008). The Soviet-Polish Peace of 1921 and the Creation of Interwar Europe. Yale University Press. p. 232. ISBN 978-0-300-12121-6.
^ Polityka. Wydawn. Wspólczesne RSW "Prasa-Książka-Ruch". 2001. p. 74. Ja was przepraszam, panowie, ja was przepraszam – to miało być zupełnie inaczej
^ Jan Zaprudnik (1993). Belarus: at a crossroads in history. Westview Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-8133-1794-6.
^ Antony Evelyn Alcock (2000). A history of the protection of regional cultural minorities in Europe: from the Edict of Nantes to the present day. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-312-23556-7.
^ Raymond Leslie Buell (2007). Poland – Key to Europe. Read Books. p. 79. ISBN 978-1-4067-4564-1.
^ Richard J. Crampton, University of Oxford (1994). Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century. Routledge. p. 148. ISBN 978-0415106917 – via Google Books.
^ Peter D. Stachura (2004). Poland, 1918–1945: An Interpretive and Documentary History of the Second Republic. Psychology Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0415343589.
^ J. M. Kupczak "Stosunek władz bolszewickich do polskiej ludności na Ukrainie (1921–1939)Wrocławskie Studia Wschodnie 1 (1997) Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego , 1997 page 47–62" IPN Bulletin 11(34) 2003
^ Marek Jan Chodakiewicz (15 January 2011). "Nieopłakane ludobójstwo (Genocide Not Mourned)". Rzeczpospolita. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
^ Goldman, Wendy Z. (2011). Inventing the Enemy: Denunciation and Terror in Stalin's Russia. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-19196-8. p. 217.
^ Snyder, Timothy (27 January 2011). "Hitler vs. Stalin: Who Was Worse?". The New York Review of Books. p. 1, paragraph #7. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
^ Jones, Adam (2010). Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction. Taylor & Francis. p. 194. ISBN 9780415486187.
^ Jan S. Prybyla (2010). When Angels Wept: The Rebirth and Dismemberment of Poland and Her People in the Early Decades of the Twentieth Century. Wheatmark, Inc. pp. 46–. ISBN 978-1-60494-325-2. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
^ Aviel Roshwald (2001). Ethnic nationalism and the fall of empires: central Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, 1914-1923. Routledge. pp. 168–. ISBN 978-0-415-17893-8. Retrieved 16 February 2011.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|1921 treaty which ended the Polish-Soviet War}}
 {{About|Polish–Soviet peace treaty of 1921|Latvian–Soviet treaty of 1920|Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty}}
+{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
 {{Infobox Treaty
-| name                = Peace of Riga<br>(18 March, 1921)
+| name                = Treaty of Riga
 | long_name           =
-| image               =
+| image               = Peace treaty of Riga 1921.png
-| image_width         = 300px
+| image_width         = 250px
 | caption             =
 | type                =
@@ Line 11: / Line 13: @@
 | location_signed     = [[Riga]], [[Latvia]]
 | date_sealed         =
+|date_ratified={{flagicon|Second Polish Republic|1919}} 15 April 1921<hr>{{flagicon|Russian SFSR|1918}} 14 April 1921<br />{{flagicon|Ukrainian SSR|1919}} 17 April 1921| date_effective      =
-| date_effective      =
 | condition_effective =
-| date_expiration     =  17 September 1939
+| date_expiration     = 17 September 1939
 | signatories         =
-*{{flag|Poland}}<hr>
+| parties             =* {{flag|Second Polish Republic|1919|name=Poland}}<hr>
-*[[File:Flag of Russian SFSR (1918-1937).svg|24px]] [[Russian SFSR]]
+* {{flag|Russian SFSR|1918|name=Soviet Russia}}<ref name=tor>[http://poland1939.ru/content/mirnyy-dogovor-mezhdu-rossiey-i-ukrainoy-s-odnoy-storony-i-polshey-s-drugoy-rizhskiy-mirnyy Text of the document]. Германо-советско-польская война 1939 года website.</ref>
-*[[File:Flag_of_the_Ukrainian_SSR_(1919-1929).svg|24px]] [[Ukrainian SSR]]
+* {{flagicon|Ukrainian SSR|1919}} [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet Ukraine]]<ref name=tor/>
-| parties             =
+|ratifiers=[[Sejm]]<hr>[[All-Russian Congress of Soviets|Russian Soviet]]<br />[[All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets|Ukrainian Soviet]]| depositor           =
-| depositor           =
 | languages           =
 | website             =
 | wikisource          =
 }}
+{{Territorial evolution of Poland}}
-{{Polish borders}}
-{{Borders of the Baltic states}}
-[[Image:Rzeczpospolita 1938.svg|thumb|right|250px|Central and Eastern Europe after the Treaty of Riga]]
-The '''Peace of Riga''', also known as the '''Treaty of Riga'''; {{lang-pl|Traktat Ryski}} was signed in [[Riga]] on 18 March 1921, between [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]] (acting also on behalf of [[Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet Belarus]]) and [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet Ukraine]]. The treaty ended the [[Polish-Soviet War]].<ref>K. Marek. ''Identity and Continuity of States in Public International Law''. Librairie Droz 1968. pp. 419-420.</ref>
+The '''Treaty of Riga''' was signed in [[Riga]], [[Latvia]], on {{awrap|18 March 1921}} between [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] on one side and [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]] (acting also on behalf of [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet Belarus]]) and [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet Ukraine]] on the other, ending the [[Polish–Soviet War]] (1919–1921).<ref>K. Marek. ''Identity and Continuity of States in Public International Law''. Librairie Droz 1968. pp. 419–420.</ref> The chief negotiators of the peace were [[Jan Dąbski]] for the Polish side<ref name="Savchenko2009" /> and [[Adolph Joffe]] for the Soviet side.
+Under the treaty, Poland recognized Soviet Ukraine and Belarus, abrogating its 1920 [[Treaty of Warsaw (1920)|Treaty of Warsaw]] with the [[Ukrainian People's Republic]]. The Treaty of Riga established a Polish–Soviet border about {{Convert|250|km}} east of the [[Curzon Line]], incorporating large numbers of [[Ukrainians]] and [[Belarusians]] into the Second Polish Republic. Poland, which agreed to withdraw from areas further east (notably [[Minsk]]), renounced claims to the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]'s border prior to the 1772 [[First Partition of Poland]], recovering only those eastern regions ([[Kresy]]) lost to Russia in the 1795 [[Third Partition of Poland|Third Partition]]. While Russia and Ukraine agreed to withdraw their claims to lands west of the demarcated border line. Poland, by recognising the puppet states of the USSR and simultaneously withdrawing recognition of the [[Ukrainian People's Republic|UPR]] (its only ally in the Polish-Bolshevik war), was in fact giving up on the federation programme, while Russia approved of the fact that the whole of Galicia, as well as the territories of the former Russian Empire, inhabited largely by non-Polish people, were to be found within Poland's borders. The treaty also addressed matters of sovereignty, citizenship, national minorities, repatriation, and diplomatic and commercial relations. The Treaty lasted until the [[Soviet invasion of Poland|invasion of Poland]] by the [[Soviet Union]] in 1939, and their borders were redefined by [[Polish–Soviet border agreement of August 1945|an agreement in 1945]].
-The Soviet-Polish borders established by the treaty remained in force until the [[Second World War]]. They were later redrawn during the [[Yalta Conference]] and [[Potsdam Conference]].
 == Background ==
-{{details|Polish-Soviet War}}
+{{Further|Polish–Soviet War}}
+[[World War I]] removed former state borders across Europe. Following the [[Russian Revolution]] which had renounced Tsarist claims to [[Poland]], as well as the [[Central Powers]] provisions for [[Congress Poland]] in the March 1918 [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]], [[The Great War]] had ended with the collapse of the Central Powers. The [[Treaty of Versailles]] had re-established Poland's independence after a century and a half of being divided by three empires.
-World War I destabilized national borders in Europe. [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]]When the Russian Revolution renounced Tsarist claims to Poland at Brest-Litovsk, Poland established its independence in 1918, but its borders were not formally determined. The Russian Civil War presented an opportunity for Poland under the nationalist, Pilsudski, to regain the Ukrainian territories of the former [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]] lost to the Russian Empire during the late 18th century [[Partitions of Poland]]. Meanwhile, many in the Soviet leadership desired to respond to Pilsudki's moves into the Ukraine by[export the revolution]dispatching two Red armies into Poland, and to extend the revolution by military force if necessary. [and]Poland was seen by the Soviets as a land bridge to the West. The [[Polish-Soviet War]] ensued, culminating in the 1920 [[Battle of Warsaw (1920)|Battle of Warsaw]]. Both sides were receptive to ending the conflict. After the military setbacks that followed their defeat near Warsaw, the Soviets were eager to begin peace treaty negotiations.<ref name="Cienciala">[http://www.ku.edu/~eceurope/hist557/lect11.htm THE REBIRTH OF POLAND]. University of Kansas, lecture notes by professor [[Anna M. Cienciala]], 2004. Last accessed on 2 June 2006.</ref> Likewise the Poles, pressured by the [[League of Nations]], were willing to negotiate since its army controlled most of the disputed territories but was nearing exhaustion.
+The [[Russian Civil War]] presented an opportunity for Poland, under the leadership of [[Józef Piłsudski]], to regain parts of the territories of the former [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] that had been incorporated into the [[Russian Empire]] during the [[Partitions of Poland–Lithuania]]. In 1920, [[Kiev offensive (1920)|Piłsudski's initially successful military offensive into Ukraine]], whose aim was to establish an independent Ukraine in alliance with Poland, was met with a Soviet counter-offensive into central Poland. Poland was seen by the Soviets, who intended to extend the [[October Revolution|revolution]] westwards, as a land bridge to [[Western Europe]]. The [[Polish–Soviet War]] culminated in the [[Battle of Warsaw (1920)|Battle of Warsaw]], won by the Poles. Further [[Battle of the Niemen River|military setbacks]] persuaded Soviet Russia to enter into peace treaty negotiations.<ref name="Cienciala">[https://web.archive.org/web/20090403175920/http://web.ku.edu/~eceurope/hist557/lect11.htm The Rebirth of Poland]. University of Kansas, lecture notes by Professor [[Anna M. Cienciala]], 2004. Last accessed on 2 June 2006.</ref> This was a relief for the government of Poland, a country heavily damaged and exhausted by the war, who also wanted to conclude peace talks. Piłsudski and his supporters, however, having failed in their quest, opposed the peace process.
-== Preparations for the Treaty ==
-Peace talks were started on August 17, 1920, in [[Minsk]], but as the Polish [[counter-offensive]] drew near, the talks were moved to Riga, and resumed on September 21. The Soviets proposed two solutions, the first on September 21 and the second on the 28th. The Polish delegation made a counter-offer on 2 October. Three days later the Soviets offered amendments to the Polish offer, which Poland accepted. An [[armistice]] was signed on October 12.<ref>Geoff Eley, [http://books.google.com/books?&id=PrWkrL_nYiMC&pg=PA155&lpg=PA155 "Forging Democracy"]</ref> and went into effect on October 18. The chief negotiators were [[Jan Dąbski]] for Poland and [[Adolph Joffe]] for the [[RSFSR]].
+== Negotiations ==
-Due to their military setbacks, the Bolsheviks offered the Polish peace delegation substantial territorial concessions in the contested border areas. However, to many observers, it looked like the Polish side was conducting the Riga talks as if Poland had lost the war. In fact, a special parliamentary delegation consisting of six members of the [[Sejm]] held a vote on whether to accept the Soviets' far-reaching concessions, which would leave Minsk on the Polish side of the border. Pressured by the [[Endecja|national democrat]] [[Stanisław Grabski]], the 100&nbsp;km of extra territory was rejected, a victory for the nationalist doctrine and a stark defeat for Piłsudksi's [[federalism]].
+[[Image:Caricature_for_Riga_Peace_1921.png|thumb|right|250px|Belarusian nationalist caricature: "Down with the infamous Riga partition! Long live a free peasant indivisible Belarus!"]]
+Peace talks began in [[Minsk]] on 17 August<!--find ref for that date--> 1920, but the talks were moved to Riga, and resumed on {{awrap|21 September}}.<ref name="Wandycz1962">{{cite book|author=Piotr Stefan Wandycz|title=France and Her Eastern Allies, 1919–1925: French-Czechoslovak-Polish Relations from the Paris Peace Conference to Locarno|url=https://archive.org/details/francehereastern0000wand_w3|url-access=registration|date=1962|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0816658862|pages=[https://archive.org/details/francehereastern0000wand_w3/page/178 178]–180}}</ref> The Soviets proposed two solutions, the first on 21 September and the second on {{awrap|28 September}}. The Polish delegation made a counter-offer on 2 October. Three days later the Soviets offered amendments to the Polish offer, which Poland accepted. An [[armistice]] was signed on 12 October and went into effect on 18 October 1920.<ref>{{cite book|title=Soviet foreign policy: 1917–1980, in two volumes, Volume 1|publisher=Progress Publishers|page=181}}</ref> The chief negotiators were [[Jan Dąbski]] for Poland<ref name="Savchenko2009">{{cite book|author=Andrew Savchenko|title=Belarus: A Perpetual Borderland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmld75blKCwC&pg=PA99|year=2009|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-9004174481|pages=98–100}}</ref> and [[Adolph Joffe]] for the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]].<ref name="Wandycz1962"/> The Soviet side insisted, successfully, on excluding non-communist Ukrainian representatives from the negotiations.<ref name="Wandycz1962"/>
+The Soviets' military setbacks made their delegation offer Poland substantial territorial concessions in the contested border areas. However, to many observers, it looked as though the Polish side conducted the Riga talks as if  Poland had lost the war. The Polish delegation was dominated by members of the [[Endecja|National Democrats]], who were Piłsudski's political opponents.<ref name="Savchenko2009"/> The National Democrats did not want non-Polish minorities in the reborn Polish state to constitute more than one-third of the overall population, therefore, prepared to accept a Polish-Soviet border substantially to the west of what was being offered by the Soviets even though it would leave hundreds of thousands of ethnic Poles on the Soviet side of the border.
-The National Democrats envisioned the Polish state containing a population of no more than a third of minorities, a prerequisite, in their eyes, for any successful attempts at [[Polonization]]. The National Democrats were also motivated by internal political concerns. While the National Democrats' base of support was among Poles in central and western Poland, many of the hundreds of thousands of Poles left by them to live under Soviet rule were supporters of Piłsudski. The elections within the territories of the Treaty of Riga were evenly split.
-If the Poles and eastern Slavs in the territories given to the Soviet Union had remained in Poland, the National Democrats would have never won an election.<ref name="Snyderriga">{{cite book|author=Timothy Snyder|title=The reconstruction of nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xSpEynLxJ1MC&pg=PA68|accessdate=16 February 2011|year=2004|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-10586-5|pages=68–}}</ref> Public opinion in Poland also favored an end to the hostilities. Both sides were also under pressure from the [[League of Nations]] to make peace.
+That decision was also motivated by political objectives. The National Democrats' base of public support was among Poles in central and western Poland. In the east of the country and in the disputed borderlands, support for the National Democrats was greatly outweighed by support for Piłsudski, and in the countryside, outside the cities, Poles were outnumbered by Ukrainians or Belarusians in those areas. A border too far to the east would thus be against not only the National Democrats' ideological objective of minimising the minority population of Poland but also their electoral prospects.<ref name="Snyderriga">{{cite book|author=Timothy Snyder|title=The reconstruction of nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xSpEynLxJ1MC&pg=PA68|access-date=16 February 2011|year=2004|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300105865|pages=68–}}</ref> Warweary public opinion in Poland also favoured an end to the negotiations,<ref name="Wandycz1962"/> and both sides remained under pressure from the [[League of Nations]] to reach a deal.
+A special parliamentary delegation, consisting of six members of the Polish [[Sejm]], held a vote on whether to accept the Soviets' far-reaching concessions, which would have left Minsk on the Polish side of the border. Pressured by the National Democrat ideologue, [[Stanisław Grabski]], the 100&nbsp;km of extra territory was rejected, a victory for the nationalist doctrine and a stark defeat for Piłsudski's [[federalism]].<ref name="Wandycz1962"/><ref name="Savchenko2009"/>
-Regardless, the negotiations for the peace treaty dragged on for months due to Soviet reluctance to sign. However, the Soviet leadership had to deal with increased internal unrest. Between February 23 and March 17, the [[Kronstadt rebellion]] occurred in [[Kronstadt]], which was suppressed; peasants [[Antonovschina|were also rising up]] against the Soviet authorities, who were collecting grain in order to feed the Red Army and this was causing food shortages. As a result of this situation, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] ordered the Soviet plenipotentiaries to secure the peace treaty with Poland.<ref name="Cienciala"/> The Peace of Riga was signed on March 18, 1921, partitioning the disputed territories in [[Belarus]] and [[Ukraine]] between Poland and Russia and ending the conflict.
+Regardless, the peace negotiations dragged on for months because of Soviet reluctance to sign. However, the matter became more urgent for the Soviet leadership, which had to deal with increased internal unrest towards the end of 1920, such as the [[Tambov Rebellion]] and later the [[Kronstadt rebellion]] against the Soviet authorities. As a result, [[Vladimir Lenin]] ordered the Soviet plenipotentiaries to finalise the peace treaty with Poland.<ref name="Cienciala"/>
+The Treaty of Riga, signed on 18 March 1921, partitioned the disputed territories in [[Belarus]] and [[Ukraine]] between Poland and Russia and ended the conflict.
 ==Terms==
-The Treaty consisted of 26 articles.<ref name=palij>{{cite book|title=The Ukrainian-Polish defensive alliance, 1919-1921: an aspect of the Ukrainian revolution|url=http://books.google.com/?id=2T9zYXqL56AC&pg=PA169&dq=treaty+of+riga+26+shall+be+ratified&cd=1#v=onepage&q=treaty%20of%20riga%2026%20shall%20be%20ratified|author=Michael Palij|publisher=[[CIUS Press]]|year=1995|pages=165–168 | isbn=978-1-895571-05-9}}</ref> Poland was to receive monetary compensation (30 million [[Russian ruble|rubles]] in gold) for its economic input into the [[Russian Empire]] during the times of [[partitions of Poland]]. Under Article XIV Poland was also to receive railway materials (locomotives, rolling stock, etc.) with a value of 29 million gold roubles.<ref>{{en icon}} {{cite book |author=J.C. Johari|coauthors=|title=Soviet Diplomacy 1925-41|year=2000|editor= |page=42|pages= |chapter=|chapterurl= |publisher=Anmol Publications PVT. LTD|location= |isbn=81-7488-491-2|url=|format= |accessdate=}}</ref> Russia was to surrender works of art and other Polish national treasures acquired from Polish territories after 1772 (such as the [[Jagiellonian tapestries]] and the [[Załuski Library]]). Both sides renounced claims to war compensation.
+The Treaty consisted of 26 articles.<ref name=palij>{{cite book |title=The Ukrainian-Polish defensive alliance, 1919–1921: an aspect of the Ukrainian revolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2T9zYXqL56AC&q=treaty+of+riga+26+shall+be+ratified&pg=PA169 |author=Michael Palij |publisher=CIUS Press |year=1995 |pages=165–168 |isbn=978-1-895571-05-9}}</ref> Poland was to receive monetary compensation (30 million [[Russian ruble|rubles]] in gold) for its economic input into the [[Russian Empire]] during the [[Partitions of Poland]]. Under Article 14 Poland was also to receive railway materials (locomotives, rolling stock, etc.) with a value of 29 million gold roubles.<ref>{{cite book |author=J.C. Johari|title=Soviet Diplomacy 1925–41|year=2000|page=42|publisher=Anmol Publications PVT. LTD|isbn=978-81-7488-491-6}}</ref> Russia was to surrender works of art and other Polish national treasures acquired from Polish territories after 1772 (such as the [[Jagiellonian tapestries]] and the [[Załuski Library]]). Both sides renounced claims to war compensation. Article 3 stipulated that border issues between Poland and [[Lithuania]] would be settled by those states.<ref name=palij/>
+{{Quote frame|
+TREATY OF PEACE BETWEEN POLAND, RUSSIA AND THE UKRAINE {{pb}} Riga, March 18, 1921 {{pb}}
+'''''Article 3'''''. Russia and the Ukraine abandon all rights and claims to the territories situated to the west of the frontier laid down by Article 2 of the present Treaty. Poland, on the other hand, abandons in favour of the Ukraine and of White Ruthenia all rights and claims to the territory situated to the east of this frontier. {{pb}}
+'''''Article 4'''''. Each of the Contracting Parties mutually undertakes to respect in every way the political sovereignty of the other Party, to abstain from interference in its internal affairs, and particularly to refrain from all agitation, propaganda or interference of any kind, and not to encourage any such movement.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Treaty of Peace Between Poland, Russia and the Ukraine |publisher=Riga, March 18, 1921 |url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bbm%3A978-94-009-9272-6%2F1.pdf |id=Resource: Appendix C |author=Partial English text of the Treaty of Riga as Appendix C in G.V. Kacewicz (2012), ''Great Britain, The Soviet Union and the Polish Government in Exile (1939–1945)'', p. 229–230. The full text has 26 articles.}}</ref> }}
-Article 3 stipulated that border issues between Poland and [[Lithuania]] would be settled by those states.<ref name=palij/> Article 6 created citizenship options for persons on either side of the new border.<ref name=palij/> Article 7 consisted of a mutual guarantee that all nationalities would be permitted "free intellectual development, the use of their national language, and the exercise of their religion."<ref name=palij/>
+Article 6 created citizenship options for persons on either side of the new border.<ref name=palij/> Article 7 consisted of a mutual guarantee that all nationalities would be permitted "free intellectual development, the use of their national language, and the exercise of their religion."<ref name=palij/> In the treaty, it was agreed that Poland would refuse to form federations with Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Butkus |first=Zenonas |last2=Aleknavičė |first2=Karolina |title=Stebuklas prie Vyslos: kaip 1920 metais lenkai sutriuškino bolševikus |url=https://www.15min.lt/naujiena/aktualu/istorija/stebuklas-prie-vyslos-kaip-1920-metais-lenkai-sutriuskino-bolsevikus-582-1253860 |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=15min.lt |language=lt}}</ref>
+==Aftermath==
-==Treaty aftermath==
+The Allied Powers were initially reluctant to recognise the treaty, which had been concluded without their participation.<ref name=palij/> Their postwar conferences had supported the [[Curzon Line]] as the Polish-Russian border, and Poland's territorial gains in the treaty lay about 250&nbsp;km east of that line.<ref name=hup>{{cite book|title=Conflict and chaos in Eastern Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ycNApODqgRUC&q=treaty+riga+borders&pg=PA210|author=Dennis P. Hupchick|year=1995|page=210|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] | isbn=978-0-312-12116-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Guide to International Relations and Diplomacy|author1=Michael Graham Fry |author2=Erik Goldstein |author3=Richard Langhorne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5ndamBABdIC&q=treaty+riga+curzon+line&pg=PA203|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|page=203|year=2004 | isbn=978-0-8264-7301-1}}</ref> French support led to its recognition in March 1923 by France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan, followed by the United States in April.<ref name=palij/>
-[[Image:Caricature for Riga Peace 1921.png|thumb|left|250px|Belarusian caricature decrying Peace Treaty of Riga as a [[Partition (politics)|partition]] of [[Belarus]] by Poland and Soviet Russia]]
-The Soviet-Polish peace treaty was registered in ''League of Nations Treaty Series'' on August 12, 1921.<ref>''League of Nations Treaty Series'', vol. 6, pp. 52-169.</ref>
+In Poland, the Treaty of Riga was met with criticism from the very beginning. Some characterised the treaty as short-sighted and argued that much of what Poland had gained during the Polish-Soviet war was lost during the peace negotiations. [[Józef Piłsudski]] had participated in the Riga negotiations only as an observer and called the resulting treaty "an act of cowardice".<ref name="Davies">{{cite book | author =Norman Davies| title =White Eagle, Red Star: the Polish-Soviet War, 1919–20 | year =2003 | pages =399 | publisher =Pimlico | isbn =978-0-7126-0694-3| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=DMoPXktGwiUC&q=Riga+an+act+of+cowardice&pg=PA399 | author-link =Norman Davies }} (First edition: New York, St. Martin's Press, inc., 1972.)</ref> Piłsudski felt the agreement was a shameless and short-sighted political calculation, with Poland abandoning its Ukrainian allies.<ref name="Wandycz1962"/> On 15 May 1921, he apologised to Ukrainian soldiers during his visit to the internment camp at [[Kalisz]].<ref name="Bruski">{{cite journal | author =Jan Jacek Bruski |date=August 2002 | title =Sojusznik Petlura | journal =[[Wprost]] | volume = 1029| issue =2002–08–18 | issn =0209-1747|url =http://www.wprost.pl/ar/?O=13734&C=57|access-date =28 September 2006 |language=pl}}</ref><ref name="Borzęcki2008">{{cite book|author=Jerzy Borzęcki|title=The Soviet-Polish Peace of 1921 and the Creation of Interwar Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KwBpAAAAMAAJ|year=2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-12121-6|page=232}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Polityka|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4c8AQAAIAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Wydawn. Wspólczesne RSW "Prasa-Książka-Ruch"|page=74|quote=Ja was przepraszam, panowie, ja was przepraszam – to miało być zupełnie inaczej}}</ref> The treaty substantially contributed to the failure of his plan to create a Polish-led [[Międzymorze|Intermarium]] federation of [[Eastern Europe]], as portions of the territory that had been proposed for the federation were ceded to the Soviets.<ref name="Snyderriga"/>
-The Allied Powers were reluctant to recognize the treaty, which had been concluded without their participation.<ref name=palij/> Their postwar conferences supported the [[Curzon Line]] as the Polish-Russian border, and Poland's territorial gains in the treaty lay about 250&nbsp;km east of that line.<ref name=hup>{{cite book|title=Conflict and chaos in Eastern Europe|url=http://books.google.com/?id=ycNApODqgRUC&pg=PA210&dq=treaty+riga+borders&cd=109#v=onepage&q=|author=Dennis P. Hupchick|year=1995|page=210|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] | isbn=978-0-312-12116-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Guide to International Relations and Diplomacy|author=Michael Graham Fry, Erik Goldstein, Richard Langhorne|url=http://books.google.com/?id=Z5ndamBABdIC&pg=PA203&dq=treaty+riga+curzon+line&cd=1#v=onepage&q=treaty%20riga%20curzon%20line|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|page=203|year=2004 | isbn=978-0-8264-7301-1}}</ref> French support led to its recognition in March 1923 by France, Great Britain, Italy, and Japan, followed by the US in April.<ref name=palij/>
-In Poland, the Treaty of Riga was met with criticism from the very beginning. Some characterized the treaty as short-sighted and argued that much of what Poland had gained during the Polish-Soviet war was lost during the peace negotiations. By 1921, General [[Jozef Piłsudski]] was no longer the head of state and had participated in the Riga negotiations only as an observer, which he called ''an act of cowardice''.<ref name="Davies">{{cite book | author =[[Norman Davies]]| title =White Eagle, Red Star: the Polish-Soviet War, 1919–20 | year =2003 | editor = | pages =399 | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Pimlico | location = | isbn =0-7126-0694-7| url =http://books.google.com/?id=DMoPXktGwiUC&pg=PA399&lpg=PA399&dq=Riga+an+act+of+cowardice |format =|accessdate = }} (First edition: New York, St. Martin's Press, inc., 1972.)</ref> Piłsudski felt the agreement was a shameless and short-sighted political calculation. Allegedly, having walked out of the room, he told the Ukrainians waiting there for the results of the Riga Conference: "Gentlemen, I deeply apologize to you".<ref name="Surdykowski">{{pl icon}} {{cite book | author =Jerzy Surdykowski | coauthors = | title =Duch Rzeczypospolitej | year =2001 | editor = | pages =335 | chapter =Ja was przepraszam panowie, czyli Polska a Ukraina i inni wpóltowarzysze niedoli | publisher =[[Wydawictwo Naukowe PWN]] | location =Warsaw | isbn =83-01-13403-8 | url = }}</ref><ref name="Bruski">{{pl icon}} {{cite journal | author =Jan Jacek Bruski |date=August 2002 | title =Sojusznik Petlura | journal =[[Wprost]] | volume = 1029| issue =2002–08–18 | pages = | issn =0209-1747|url =http://www.wprost.pl/ar/?O=13734&C=57|accessdate =2006-09-28 }}</ref> In fact, Piłsudski apologized to the Ukrainian officers on a completely different occasion. His words, commonly associated with the Riga conference, were said on May 15, 1921, during Piłsudski's visit to the internment camp at [[Szczypiorno]]. The context however was clearly the same.{{Citation needed|date=March 2007}}
+Lenin also considered the treaty unsatisfactory, as it forced him to put aside his plans for exporting the Soviet revolution to the West.<ref name="Cienciala"/>
-Belarussian and Ukrainian independence movements saw the treaty as a setback.<ref name=zap>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=qtnTh3-2Ki8C&pg=PA75&dq=treaty+of+riga+belarussian+independence&cd=3#v=onepage&q=|title=Belarus: at a crossroads in history|author=Jan Zaprudnik|year=1993|publisher=[[Westview Press]]|page=75 | isbn=978-0-8133-1794-6}}</ref> Four million Ukrainians and over one million Belarussians lived within areas ceded to Poland; in one estimate, only 15% of the population was ethnically Polish.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=Dy_z9bjDqUsC&pg=PA73&dq=treaty+riga+four+million+ukrainians+1921&cd=16#v=onepage&q=treaty%20riga%20four%20million%20ukrainians%201921|page=73|title=A history of the protection of regional cultural minorities in Europe: from the Edict of Nantes to the present day|author=Antony Evelyn Alcock|year=2000|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] | isbn=978-0-312-23556-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Poland - Key to Europe|author=Raymond Leslie Buell|url=http://books.google.com/?id=-KcfGbrKptoC&pg=PA79&dq=riga+treaty+recognized&cd=3#v=onepage&q=riga%20treaty%20recognized|year=2007|publisher=READ BOOKS|page=79 | isbn=978-1-4067-4564-1}}</ref> The [[Ukrainian People's Republic]] led by [[Symon Petliura]] had been allied with Poland by [[Treaty of Warsaw (1920)|Treaty of Warsaw]], but the Treaty of Riga abrogated it.<ref name="Cienciala"/> The new treaty violated Poland's military alliance with the UPR, which had explicitly prohibited a separate peace. In doing so, it worsened relations between Poland and those Ukrainians who had supported Petliura. These supporters felt Ukraine had been betrayed by its Polish ally, a feeling that would be exploited by [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists|Ukrainian nationalists]] and contribute to the growing tensions and  [[Massacres of Poles in Volhynia|eventual violence]] in the 1930s and 1940s. By the end of 1921, the majority of Poland-allied Ukrainian, Belarusian and [[White movement|White Russian]] forces had either crossed the Polish border and laid down their arms or had been annihilated by Soviet forces.
+The Belarusian and Ukrainian independence movements saw the treaty as a setback.<ref name=zap>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qtnTh3-2Ki8C&q=treaty+of+riga+belarussian+independence&pg=PA75|title=Belarus: at a crossroads in history|author=Jan Zaprudnik|year=1993|publisher=[[Westview Press]]|page=75 | isbn=978-0-8133-1794-6}}</ref> Four million Ukrainians and over a million Belarusians lived within areas ceded to Poland. In one estimate, only 15% of the population was ethnically Polish.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dy_z9bjDqUsC&q=treaty+riga+four+million+ukrainians+1921&pg=PA73|page=73|title=A history of the protection of regional cultural minorities in Europe: from the Edict of Nantes to the present day|author=Antony Evelyn Alcock|year=2000|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] | isbn=978-0-312-23556-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Poland – Key to Europe|author=Raymond Leslie Buell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KcfGbrKptoC&q=riga+treaty+recognized&pg=PA79|year=2007|publisher=Read Books|page=79 | isbn=978-1-4067-4564-1}}</ref> The [[Ukrainian People's Republic]], led by [[Symon Petliura]], had been allied with Poland under the [[Treaty of Warsaw (1920)|Treaty of Warsaw]], which was abrogated by the Treaty of Riga.<ref name="Cienciala"/> The new treaty violated Poland's military alliance with the UPR, which had explicitly prohibited a separate peace. Doing so worsened relations between Poland and the Ukrainians who had supported Petliura. The supporters felt that Ukraine had been betrayed by its Polish ally, which would be exploited by the [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists]] and contribute to the growing tensions and [[Massacres of Poles in Volhynia|eventual anti-Polish massacres]] in the 1930s and the 1940s. By the end of 1921, most Poland-allied Ukrainian, Belarusian and [[White movement|White Russian]] forces had been annihilated by Soviet forces or had crossed the border into Poland and laid down their arms.
-==Consequences==
-The treaty contributed to the failure of [[Józef Piłsudski]]'s plans to create a Polish-led [[Międzymorze|Intermarium]] federation of [[Eastern Europe]]an countries, as portions of the territory proposed for the federation were ceded to the Soviets.<ref name="Snyderriga"/> Lenin also considered the treaty unsatisfactory; he had to postpone his plans for exporting revolution to the West.<ref name="Cienciala"/>
-[[Image:Rzeczpospolita 1789-1920.png|thumb|left|250px|Poland after the Treaty of Riga with the pre-[[Partitions of Poland|partitions]] border of the [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]] marked]]
+According to the Belarusian historian Andrew Savchenko, Poland's new eastern border was "military indefensible and economically unviable" and a source of growing ethnic tensions, as the resulting minorities in Poland were too large to be ignored or assimilated and too small to win their desired autonomy.<ref name="Savchenko2009"/>
-[[Image:Treaty of Riga.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Second page of the treaty, Polish version]]
-While the Treaty of Riga led to a two-decade stabilization of the Soviet-Polish conflict, the conflict was renewed during World War II and the treaty's borders were overridden by decision of that war's Allied powers. In the view of some observers, the treaty's incorporation of significant minority populations into Poland did not serve Poland's best interests, since these minorities persistently pursued independence and borders passing through ethnically mixed areas would prove difficult to defend.<ref name=palij/><ref name=hup/>
+==Further consequences==
-{{see also|Polish minority in the Soviet Union|Belorussian minority in Poland|Ukrainian minority in Poland|Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic}}
+[[Image:Rzeczpospolita 1789-1920.png|thumb|left|250px|Poland after the Treaty of Riga with the pre-[[Partitions of Poland|partition]] borders of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] also indicated]]
+While the Treaty of Riga led to a two-decade stabilisation of Soviet-Polish relations, conflict was renewed with the [[Soviet invasion of Poland]] during [[World War II]]. The treaty was subsequently overridden after a decision by war's Allied powers to change Poland's borders once again and [[Polish population transfers (1944–46)|transfer the populations]].
-The populations separated by the division suffered varying degrees of repressions under their respective governments, particularly in the 1930s. Ethnic Poles left within Soviet borders were subjected to persecution and repressions, their property confiscated.<ref name="Władze">J. M. Kupczak "Stosunek władz bolszewickich do polskiej ludności na Ukrainie (1921–1939)Wrocławskie Studia Wschodnie 1 (1997) Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego , 1997 page 47–62" IPN Bulletin 11(34) 2003</ref> Most Poles left in the Soviet Union by the Treaty of Riga would be deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan in the 1930s.<ref name="Snyderriga"/> Belarussians and Ukrainians, having failed to create their own states, faced difficult situation or outright persecution on both sides of the border. Several hundred thousand Belorussians, Poles, Ukrainians and members of other minorities were executed or deported by the Soviet government during the 1930s.<ref name="Władze"/><ref name=pol>{{cite book|title=Political parties of Eastern Europe: a guide to politics in the post-Communist era|author=Janusz Bugajski|year=2002|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|url=http://books.google.com/?id=9gGKtLTQlUcC&pg=PA4&dq=treaty+riga+Polonization&cd=21#v=onepage&q=treaty%20riga%20Polonization|page=4 | isbn=978-1-56324-676-0}}</ref><ref name="WeinerRussell2001">{{cite book|author1=[[Myron Weiner]]|author2=Sharon Stanton Russell|title=Demography and national security|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=J9nuv7MGQ5MC&pg=PA321|accessdate=16 February 2011|date=June 2001|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-57181-339-8|pages=321–}}</ref> The Polish portion of Belarus and Ukraine were in turn subjected to [[Polonization]]; the minorities, particularly Ukrainians, resisted, leading to the adoption of [[terrorism|terrorist]] tactics by the Ukrainian extremists ([[OUN]]).<ref name="Prybyla2010">{{cite book|author=Jan S. Prybyla|title=When Angels Wept: The Rebirth and Dismemberment of Poland and Her People in the Early Decades of the Twentieth Century|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=SYDpK1cH76oC&pg=PA46|accessdate=16 February 2011|year=2010|publisher=Wheatmark, Inc.|isbn=978-1-60494-325-2|pages=46–}}</ref><ref name="Roshwald2001">{{cite book|author=Aviel Roshwald|title=Ethnic nationalism and the fall of empires: central Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, 1914-1923|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Ba97xyhIZDcC&pg=PA168|accessdate=16 February 2011|year=2001|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-17893-8|pages=168–}}</ref> During government anti-guerrilla operations minority members were arrested or even executed, and cultural institutions lost much support.<ref name=pol/><ref>Ivan S. Lubachko. ''Belorussia under Soviet Rule, 1917-1957'' (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1972), 137</ref>
+In the view of some foreign observers, the treaty's incorporation of significant minority populations into Poland led to seemingly insurmountable challenges, because the newly formed organizations such as [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists|OUN]] engaged in terror and sabotage actions across ethnically mixed areas to inflame conflict in the region.<ref name=palij/><ref name=hup/><ref name="RJC">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QGcjAQAAIAAJ&q=OUN+%22sabotage+action%22+1930 |title=Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century |author=Richard J. Crampton, University of Oxford |page=148 |via=Google Books |publisher=Routledge |year=1994 |isbn=978-0415106917}}</ref> Nevertheless, many groups representing national minorities welcomed Piłsudski's return to power in 1926 providing opportunities to play a role in the Polish government.<ref name="PDS">{{cite book |title=Poland, 1918–1945: An Interpretive and Documentary History of the Second Republic |author=Peter D. Stachura |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0415343589 |page=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BkKuir9oQYMC&q=groups+representing+ethnic+minorities+welcomed+beginning}}</ref>
-The Soviet Union, thwarted in 1921, would see its sphere of influence expand after [[World War II]], with its control over the [[People's Republic of Poland]] and [[Territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II|border changes]] that unified Belorussian and Ukrainian territory within the USSR. In 1989, however, Poland would regain its full sovereignty, and soon afterward, with the [[fall of the Soviet Union]], [[Belarus]] and [[Ukraine]] would go on to become independent nations.
+[[Image:Treaty of Riga.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Second page of the treaty, Polish version]]
-== See also ==
-* [[Aftermath of the Polish-Soviet War]]
-* [[West Belarus]]
-**[[Belarusian minority in Poland#1918-1939]]
-* [[Right-bank Ukraine]]
-**[[History of the Ukrainian minority in Poland]]
+The populations separated from Poland by the new Polish-Soviet border experienced a different fate from their fellow citizens. Ethnic Poles left within Soviet borders were subjected to discrimination and property confiscation.<ref name="Władze">J. M. Kupczak "Stosunek władz bolszewickich do polskiej ludności na Ukrainie (1921–1939)Wrocławskie Studia Wschodnie 1 (1997) Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego , 1997 page 47–62" IPN Bulletin 11(34) 2003</ref> At least 111,000 were summarily executed in [[Polish Operation of the NKVD (1937–38)|the NKVD operation in 1937/38]], preceding other ethnic repression campaigns perpetrated during World War II, while others were exiled to different regions of the Soviet Union.<ref>[[Marek Jan Chodakiewicz]] (15 January 2011). "Nieopłakane ludobójstwo (Genocide Not Mourned)". Rzeczpospolita. Retrieved 28 April 2011.</ref><ref>Goldman, Wendy Z. (2011). Inventing the Enemy: Denunciation and Terror in Stalin's Russia. New York: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-19196-8}}. p. 217.</ref><ref>Snyder, Timothy (27 January 2011). "Hitler vs. Stalin: Who Was Worse?". The New York Review of Books. p. 1, paragraph #7. Retrieved 12 June 2012.</ref>
-==References==
-<!--This article uses the Cite.php citation mechanism. If you would like more information on how to add references to this article, please see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cite/Cite.php -->
-<div class="references-small">
+Belarusians and Ukrainians, having failed to create their own states, were subjects of repression in the Soviet Union, and even liquidation e.g. [[Executed Renaissance]] or [[persecuted kobzars and bandurists]].<ref>Jones, Adam (2010). Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction. Taylor & Francis. p. 194. {{ISBN|9780415486187}}.</ref> Belarusians and Ukrainians living on the Polish side of the border were subjected to [[Polonization]]; which contributed to the rise of [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists|Ukrainian nationalist organisations]] and the adoption of [[terrorism|terrorist]] tactics by Ukrainian extremists.<ref name="Prybyla2010">{{cite book|author=Jan S. Prybyla|title=When Angels Wept: The Rebirth and Dismemberment of Poland and Her People in the Early Decades of the Twentieth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SYDpK1cH76oC&pg=PA46|access-date=16 February 2011|year=2010|publisher=Wheatmark, Inc.|isbn=978-1-60494-325-2|pages=46–}}</ref><ref name="Roshwald2001">{{cite book|author=Aviel Roshwald|title=Ethnic nationalism and the fall of empires: central Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, 1914-1923|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ba97xyhIZDcC&pg=PA168|access-date=16 February 2011|year=2001|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-17893-8|pages=168–}}</ref>
-===Footnotes===
-<references/>
+The Soviet Union, although thwarted in 1921, would see its sphere of influence expand as a result of [[World War II]]. After the Soviet Union established its control over the [[People's Republic of Poland]], the [[Territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II|Polish-Soviet border]] was moved westwards in 1945 to roughly coincide with the [[Curzon Line]]. This shift was accompanied by large [[Polish population transfers (1944–46)|population transfers]] which led to the expulsion of the Poles living east of the new border, and also [[Operation Vistula|moved most of the Ukrainian minority]] remaining in Poland to the [[Former eastern territories of Germany|former German territories]] that were ceded to Poland in compensation. The unified Belarusian and Ukrainian territories were fully incorporated into the USSR.
-===Notations===
+However, in 1989, Poland would regain its full sovereignty, and soon afterwards, with the [[fall of the Soviet Union]], [[Belarus]] and [[Ukraine]] would go on to become independent nations.
-* [[Norman Davies|Davies, Norman]], ''White Eagle, Red Star: the Polish-Soviet War, 1919-20'', Pimlico, 2003, ISBN 0-7126-0694-7. (First edition: New York, St. Martin's Press, inc., 1972.)
-* ''Traktat ryski 1921 roku po 75 latach'', Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, Toruń 1998, ISBN 83-231-0974-5 (Chapter summaries in English)</div>
-== External links ==
+== See also ==
+* [[Polish minority in the Soviet Union]]
-===Polish===
+* [[Belarusian minority in Poland]]
-* [http://dziedzictwo.polska.pl/katalog/skarb,Traktat_pokojowy_polsko-sowiecki_w_Rydze_z_dnia_18_III_1921_roku,gid,116264,cid,1128.htm?sh=1 Photocopies of the Polish version of the treaty]
+* [[Ukrainian minority in Poland]]
+* [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic]]
+* [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]]
+* [[Aftermath of the Polish-Soviet War]]
+* [[Polish Operation of the NKVD (1937–38)]]
+* [[Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty]]
+* [[Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty]]
+* [[Treaty of Tartu (Estonia–Russia)]]
+* [[Treaty of Tartu (Finland–Russia)]]
+==Notes==
+{{Reflist}}
+==Further reading==
+{{Commons category|Treaty of Riga}}
+{{Wikisource|Treaty of Peace between Poland, Russia and the Ukraine}}
+* Dąbrowski, Stanisław. "The Peace Treaty of Riga." ''The Polish Review'' (1960) 5#1: 3–34. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25776284 Online]
+* [[Norman Davies|Davies, Norman]], ''White Eagle, Red Star: the Polish-Soviet War, 1919–20'', Pimlico, 2003, {{ISBN|0712606947}}. (First edition: New York, St. Martin's Press, inc., 1972.)
+* Materski, Wojciech. "The Second Polish Republic in Soviet Foreign Policy (1918–1939)." ''Polish Review'' 45.3 (2000): 331–345. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25779203 online]
+* ''Traktat ryski 1921 roku po 75 latach'', Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, Toruń 1998, {{ISBN|8323109745}} (Chapter summaries in English)
+* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110928215919/http://dziedzictwo.polska.pl/katalog/skarb,Traktat_pokojowy_polsko-sowiecki_w_Rydze_z_dnia_18_III_1921_roku,gid,116264,cid,1128.htm?sh=1 Photocopies of the Polish version of the Treaty.] Dziedzictwo.polska.pl
 {{Polish peace treaties}}
+{{Authority control}}
 [[Category:Peace treaties of Poland|Riga, Peace of]]
 [[Category:Polish–Soviet War]]
-[[Category:20th century in Ukraine]]
+[[Category:1921 in Ukraine]]
-[[Category:History of Belarus (1918–1939)]]
+[[Category:1921 in Belarus]]
+[[Category:1921 in Latvia]]
 [[Category:Treaties concluded in 1921]]
 [[Category:Treaties entered into force in 1921]]
 [[Category:Treaties of the Second Polish Republic]]
-[[Category:Peace treaties of the Soviet Union]]
 [[Category:Treaties of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]]
 [[Category:Treaties of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]]
-[[Category:Poland–Soviet Union relations]]
+[[Category:Poland–Russia military relations]]
-[[Category:History of Riga]]
+[[Category:Poland–Ukraine military relations]]
+[[Category:20th century in Riga]]
+[[Category:Peace treaties of the Soviet Union]]
+[[Category:March 1921 events]]
+[[Category:Lithuania–Second Polish Republic relations]]
+[[Category:Latvia in the Russian Civil War]]
+[[Category:Latvia–Russia relations]]
+[[Category:Latvia–Lithuania relations]]
+[[Category:Latvia–Poland relations]]
+[[Category:Latvia–Ukraine relations]]
+[[Category:Poland–Ukraine relations (1918–1939)]]

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Territorial evolution of Poland in the 20th century
Pre-World War II Revolution in Congress Poland (1905–1907) Ostrowiec Republic Zagłębie Republic Separation of Kholm Governorate from Congress Poland and annexation into Russian Kiev General Governorate (1913) Act of 5th November by the Central Powers proclaiming Kingdom of Poland (1916) Central Powers-Ukrainian People's Republic/Ukrainian State Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918) Central Powers-Soviet Russia Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918) Short-lived Byelorussian, Ukrainian and Rusyn republics (1917-1920): West Ukrainian People's (later absorbed into Poland-allied Ukrainian People 's), Belarusian Democratic, Lemko, Komancza Local revolts and transient polities in postwar power vacuum (1918) Tarnobrzeg Republic Republic of Zakopane First Republic of Pińczów Witkowo Revolt Republic of Ostrów Restoration of Polish independence (1918) and ensuing wars to preserve it (1918-1922): Greater Poland uprising Silesian Uprisings Polish–Czechoslovak War Polish-West Ukrainian War War of Polish-Ukrainian alliance against Soviet Russia (1920-1921) and its satellites: Ukrainian SSR short-lived Galician SSR later merged into the former short-lived SSR of Lithuania and Belorussia attempted Polish SSR later dissolved and replaced with token Polish National Districts Polish-Lithuanian War Treaty of Versailles (1919) Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919) Suwałki Agreement (1920) Treaty of Warsaw (1920) with Ukrainian People's Republic 1920 East Prussian plebiscite (1920) Polish satellite states Republic of Central Lithuania (1920-1922) Free City of Danzig under League of Nations protection (1921-1939) Peace of Riga (1921): eastern border of Poland accepted by Russian SFSR and its satellites (Byelorussian SSR which replaced SSR of Lithuania and Belorussia, and Ukrainian SSR which replaced Ukrainian People's Republic) Incorporation of Central Lithuania (1922) German–Polish Convention regarding Upper Silesia (1922) Polish National Districts of the Soviet Union (1925-1937) Marchlewszczyzna (1925-1931) Dzierżyńszczyzna (1932-1937) Munich Agreement and Polish annexation of Trans-Olza (1938) First Vienna Award and Polish annexation of parts of Spiš and Orava (1938) Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (1939) Secret German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty
World War II Wartime administrative division Territories of Poland and Danzig annexed by Nazi Germany General Government Polish areas annexed by USSR Polish government-in-exile and Polish Underground State German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement (1941) Bialystok District Sikorski–Mayski agreement (1941) Transient Polish-controlled areas (1944) Turgiele Republic Iwonicz Republic Second Pińczów Republic Warsaw Uprising Allied conferences Tehran Conference (1943) Moscow Conference (1943) Yalta Conference (1945) Potsdam Conference (1945)
Post World War II Potsdam Agreement (1945) Polish–Soviet border agreement (1945) Treaty of Zgorzelec (1950) Polish-Soviet Border Adjustment Treaty (1951) Polish-Czechoslovak Border Treaty (1958) Polish-East German Baltic Continental Shelf Delimitation Treaty (1968) Treaty of Warsaw (1970) Polish-Czechoslovak Border Adjustment (1976) Polish-East German Maritime Boundary in Pomeranian Bay Delimitation Treaty (1989) German-Polish Border Treaty (1990) Two Plus Four Treaty (1991) Treaty of Good Neighbourship (1991) Poland–Slovakia Border Adjustment (2005) Polish-Danish Maritime Boundary Delimitation Agreement (2018)
Areas Remnants of Polish statehood during partitions: Congress Poland/Vistula Land Galician autonomy Kresy Wschodnie ("Eastern Borderlands") Taken Lands (remainder of Russian partition of Poland) Wileńszczyzna Grodzieńszczyzna Lwów Land Areas of Galicia and Lodomeria east of river San Kresy Zachodnie ("Western Borderlands") 1815-1918 used as synonymous with entire Prussian partition of Poland 1918-1945 used in altered meaning regions unsuccessfully claimed from Germany by interwar Poland, in particular Upper Silesia, Warmia, Masuria, Powiśle, Posen-West Prussia, sometimes also Starostwo of Draheim, Lauenburg and Bütow Land and easternmost Hither Pomerania (Lands of Schlawe and Stolp) Zaolzie After 1945, the former eastern territories of Germany were called Recovered Territories, while the term Kresy Zachodnie fell into disuse, though it was sometimes invoked to denote Polish claims to some East German territories such as Wolgast Pomerania, Milsko, Miśnia or Lausitz, raised typically only until early 1970s as counterclaims to retaliate for West German calls for revision of Oder–Neisse line.
Demarcation lines Greater Poland military demarcation line (1919-1920) Cieszyn Silesia demarcation line (1918-1920) Polish–Lithuanian demarcation line (1919-1920) Curzon Line (1920) Upper Silesia demarcation line (1921-1922) Polish–Lithuanian demarcation line (1923-1938) Oder–Neisse line (1945–1951)
Adjacent countries Territorial evolution of Germany Territorial changes of the Baltic states Territorial evolution of Russia
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