Meltyukhov Mikhail Ivanovich
Soviet-Polish wars
Mikhail Ivanovich Meltyukhov
Soviet-Polish wars
Military-political confrontation 1918-1939
Introduction
For a long time with each other
These tribes are at enmity;
More than once bowed under a thunderstorm
Either their side or ours.
Who will stand in an unequal dispute:
Puffy Lyakh or faithful Ross?
A.S. Pushkin
"Slanderers of Russia", 1831
Eastern Europe is divided by an invisible border, corresponding to the January isotherm, which runs through the Baltics, Western Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. To the east of this line, frosty, dry winters prevail, to the west - wet and warm. Accordingly, and climatic conditions these regions are completely different. It is no coincidence that this air line became the border between two civilizations - the "West" and "Russia", which entered the historical arena, respectively, in VIII and XIV centuries 1. In cultural terms, a clear indicator of different civilizations has become the Catholic and Orthodox faiths of Christianity. Like any other biosphere formation, each civilization strives to expand its habitat. Of course, this unconscious desire is refracted in the minds of people and receives one or another rational (or irrational) explanation. At that distant time, as a rule, it was about various religious justifications for this external expansion.
Expanding its habitat, "Western" civilization to the XIII century. covered the entire Central and Northern Europe, in the East there was a conquest of Finland and the Baltic states, in the South-East the crusades continued, which were supposed to lead to the subjugation of Byzantium and the possession of the Eastern Mediterranean. On the Iberian Peninsula there was a Reconquista - its conquest from the Arabs. In the Northwest, there was a long struggle for the subjugation of Ireland.
The formation of the "Russian" civilization in the XIII-XIV centuries took place in a difficult political situation. The split of the former Kievan Rus into specific principalities and their further fragmentation, along with a decrease in the activity of the huge masses of the local population, threatened Eastern Europe with the conquest of the western neighbor. But at that moment the Mongols came and the political map changed dramatically: in the Eastern European steppe, Golden Horde- the great power of its time. And the Russians had a choice. As you know, North-Eastern Rus' agreed to an alliance with the Horde, which, according to the tradition of that time, was framed as a vassalage, and South-Western Rus' was torn to Europe.
At the same time, history began to take off. Principality of Lithuania, which managed not only to repel the onslaught of the crusaders, but also to subjugate the central and southern lands of the former Kievan Rus - the Dnieper and the interfluve of the Pripyat and the Western Dvina (future Belarus). A new state arose, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which became not only a kind of buffer between the emerging Russia and the West, but also the arena of a fierce struggle between the two Christian churches - Catholic and Orthodox. As a result, in 1386, the Kreva Union of Lithuania and Poland led to the fact that the overwhelming majority of the Lithuanian nobility made a choice in favor of Catholicism, and the bulk of the population retained traditional Orthodoxy and gradually took shape in two new ethnic groups - Belarusians and Little Russians, who lived in the Polish-Lithuanian state. Thus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania turned out to be a part of the "Western" civilization - its eastern outpost.
Meanwhile, in the North-East of Rus', on the basis of a mixture of Slavs, Finno-Ugric peoples and Tatars, a new people was formed - the Great Russians (Russians), who created their own socio-political system, built on the basis of the denial of the principle of specific power - a centralized state with a center in Moscow. The formal acquisition of independence in 1480 allowed Russia to raise the issue of returning the lands that belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and were inhabited by Orthodox Christians. This, in turn, determined the general vector of relations between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian state for centuries to come. In 1492-1494, 1500-1503, 1507-1509, 1512-1522 wars were fought, as a result of which Russia regained Smolensk, Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversk lands. In the future, until 1562, the armistice agreement was repeatedly extended.
In the XVI century. Russia began to subjugate its eastern neighbors, recreating in a new way in the center of Eurasia the unity lost by the collapse of the Mongol Empire. On the western borders, an attempt was made to achieve access to the Baltic Sea and solve the Crimean issue. All this led to a conflict with the Polish-Lithuanian state, which itself had certain views of both the Baltic states and the Crimea. As a result, in the Livonian War, Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian state (since 1569 the Commonwealth) became rivals. At this time, the Commonwealth was on the rise and Russia had to give in. As a result, on January 15, 1582, peace was concluded in the Pit of Zapolsky, according to which Livonia and Courland went to the Commonwealth, and Russia transferred to it small territories north of Polotsk.
The crisis that began in Russia at the end of the 16th century was used by the Commonwealth to strengthen its influence in the East. From supporting False Dmitry in 1609, the Commonwealth switched to an open war with Russia, covered by the fact that Prince Vladislav was invited to the Russian throne by the Council of Seven Boyars in Moscow. Only the consolidation of Russian society, which finally found a basis for compromise, allowed in the 10s. 17th century complete the Troubles and fight off the western neighbors. However, under the terms of the Deulino truce, concluded on December 1, 1618 for 14.5 years, the Commonwealth received Smolensk and Chernihiv lands. Having recovered from the Troubles, Russia in 1632-1634. tried to return Smolensk, but was defeated. True, according to the Treaty of Polyanovsky of June 4, 1634, the Polish side renounced its claims to the Moscow throne.
However, the Commonwealth itself experienced in the 17th century. hard time. It, as well as the entire Western civilization, was affected by the Reformation, which gave rise to an unprecedented religious intolerance, which later acquired a social coloring. In the Commonwealth, where many Orthodox lived, it was they who became the object of this intolerance. It is clear that ethnic, religious and social differences had to manifest themselves brightly sooner or later, which happened. Already at the end of the XVI century. uprisings repeatedly broke out on the Russian outskirts of the Commonwealth, but in 1647 the national liberation struggle of Russian Ukrainians began under the leadership of B. Khmelnitsky. The general situation in which Ukraine found itself, sandwiched between the Commonwealth and Crimea, predetermined the appeal to Moscow for help. On January 8, 1654, the Pereyaslav Rada decided on the confederation of Ukraine with Russia - a new Russian-Polish war of 1654-1667 began. As a result, the parties agreed to a compromise, and according to the Andrusovo truce on January 30, 1667, Russia returned Smolensk, Seversk land, Left-bank Ukraine and Kyiv. On May 6, 1686, the "Eternal Peace" was concluded, which confirmed the new border and the transfer of Zaporozhye to Russia.
Mikhail Ivanovich Meltyukhov
Soviet-Polish wars
Military-political confrontation 1918-1939
Introduction
For a long time with each other
These tribes are at enmity;
More than once bowed under a thunderstorm
Either their side or ours.
Who will stand in an unequal dispute:
Puffy Lyakh or faithful Ross?
A.S. Pushkin
"Slanderers of Russia", 1831
Eastern Europe is divided by an invisible border, corresponding to the January isotherm, which runs through the Baltics, Western Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. To the east of this line, frosty, dry winters prevail, to the west - wet and warm. Accordingly, the climatic conditions in these regions are completely different. It is no coincidence that this air line became the border between two civilizations - the "West" and "Russia", which entered the historical arena, respectively, in the 8th and 14th centuries1. In cultural terms, the Catholic and Orthodox faiths of Christianity became a clear indicator of different civilizations. Like any other biosphere formation, each civilization strives to expand its habitat. Of course, this unconscious desire is refracted in the minds of people and receives one or another rational (or irrational) explanation. At that distant time, as a rule, it was about various religious justifications for this external expansion.
Expanding its habitat, "Western" civilization to the XIII century. covered the whole of Central and Northern Europe, in the East there was a conquest of Finland and the Baltic states, in the South-East the crusades continued, which were supposed to lead to the subjugation of Byzantium and the possession of the Eastern Mediterranean. On the Iberian Peninsula there was a Reconquista - its conquest from the Arabs. In the Northwest, there was a long struggle for the subjugation of Ireland.
The formation of the "Russian" civilization in the XIII-XIV centuries took place in a difficult political situation. The split of the former Kievan Rus into specific principalities and their further fragmentation, along with a decrease in the activity of the huge masses of the local population, threatened Eastern Europe with subjugation by the western neighbor. But at that moment the Mongols came and the political map changed dramatically: the Golden Horde, the great power of its time, arose in the Eastern European steppe. And the Russians had a choice. As you know, North-Eastern Rus' agreed to an alliance with the Horde, which, according to the tradition of that time, was framed as a vassalage, and South-Western Rus' was torn to Europe.
At the same time, the rise of the history of the Principality of Lithuania began, which managed not only to repel the onslaught of the Crusaders, but also to subjugate the central and southern lands of the former Kievan Rus - the Dnieper and the interfluve of the Pripyat and the Western Dvina (future Belarus). A new state arose, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which became not only a kind of buffer between the emerging Russia and the West, but also the arena of a fierce struggle between the two Christian churches - Catholic and Orthodox. As a result, in 1386, the Kreva Union of Lithuania and Poland led to the fact that the overwhelming majority of the Lithuanian nobility made a choice in favor of Catholicism, and the bulk of the population retained traditional Orthodoxy and gradually took shape in two new ethnic groups - Belarusians and Little Russians, who lived in the Polish-Lithuanian state. Thus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania turned out to be a part of the "Western" civilization - its eastern outpost.
Meanwhile, in the North-East of Rus', on the basis of a mixture of Slavs, Finno-Ugric peoples and Tatars, a new people was formed - the Great Russians (Russians), who created their own socio-political system, built on the basis of the denial of the principle of specific power - a centralized state with a center in Moscow. The formal acquisition of independence in 1480 allowed Russia to raise the issue of returning the lands that belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and were inhabited by Orthodox Christians. This, in turn, determined the general vector of relations between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian state for centuries to come. In 1492-1494, 1500-1503, 1507-1509, 1512-1522 wars were fought, as a result of which Russia regained Smolensk, Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversk lands. In the future, until 1562, the armistice agreement was repeatedly extended.
In the XVI century. Russia began to subjugate its eastern neighbors, recreating in a new way in the center of Eurasia the unity lost by the collapse of the Mongol Empire. On the western borders, an attempt was made to achieve access to the Baltic Sea and solve the Crimean issue. All this led to a conflict with the Polish-Lithuanian state, which itself had certain views of both the Baltic states and the Crimea. As a result, in the Livonian War, Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian state (since 1569 the Commonwealth) became rivals. At this time, the Commonwealth was on the rise and Russia had to give in. As a result, on January 15, 1582, peace was concluded in the Pit of Zapolsky, according to which Livonia and Courland went to the Commonwealth, and Russia transferred to it small territories north of Polotsk.
The crisis that began in Russia at the end of the 16th century was used by the Commonwealth to strengthen its influence in the East. From supporting False Dmitry in 1609, the Commonwealth switched to an open war with Russia, covered by the fact that Prince Vladislav was invited to the Russian throne by the Council of Seven Boyars in Moscow. Only the consolidation of Russian society, which finally found a basis for compromise, allowed in the 10s. 17th century complete the Troubles and fight off the western neighbors. However, under the terms of the Deulino truce, concluded on December 1, 1618 for 14.5 years, the Commonwealth received Smolensk and Chernihiv lands. Having recovered from the Troubles, Russia in 1632-1634. tried to return Smolensk, but was defeated. True, according to the Treaty of Polyanovsky of June 4, 1634, the Polish side renounced its claims to the Moscow throne.
However, the Commonwealth itself experienced in the 17th century. hard time. It, as well as the entire Western civilization, was affected by the Reformation, which gave rise to an unprecedented religious intolerance, which later acquired a social coloring. In the Commonwealth, where many Orthodox lived, it was they who became the object of this intolerance. It is clear that ethnic, religious and social differences had to manifest themselves brightly sooner or later, which happened. Already at the end of the XVI century. uprisings repeatedly broke out on the Russian outskirts of the Commonwealth, but in 1647 the national liberation struggle of Russian Ukrainians began under the leadership of B. Khmelnitsky. The general situation in which Ukraine found itself, sandwiched between the Commonwealth and Crimea, predetermined the appeal to Moscow for help. On January 8, 1654, the Pereyaslav Rada decided on the confederation of Ukraine with Russia - a new Russian-Polish war of 1654-1667 began. As a result, the parties agreed to a compromise, and according to the Andrusovo truce on January 30, 1667, Russia returned Smolensk, Seversk land, Left-Bank Ukraine and Kyiv. On May 6, 1686, the "Eternal Peace" was concluded, which confirmed the new border and the transfer of Zaporozhye to Russia.
IN late XVII-XVIII V. The Commonwealth became a weak state and served as a buffer protecting Russia from the West. As you know, a significant part of the events of the Northern War of 1700-1721. took place precisely on the territory of the allied Russia of the Commonwealth. Although the Polish king August II was an ally of Russia in the Northern War, this did not prevent the Polish elite from laying claim to Courland and Livonia themselves, refusing to guarantee Russian conquests and from recognizing the imperial title of the Russian monarch. Naturally, it was important for Russia who would become the successor of Augustus II. The main task of Russian diplomacy was to preserve the Commonwealth and block any attempts to strengthen royal power. A weak neighbor is always preferable to a strong one.
In the struggle for the Polish throne, S. Leshchinsky, a protege of France and Sweden, and Augustus III, a protege of Russia and Austria, clashed. In 1733-1735. Russia took an active part in the War of the Polish Succession, during which she managed to protect the Commonwealth from the influence of France. As a result, with the help of the Russian army, Augustus III strengthened on the Polish throne, who was forced to abandon his claims to Livonia and preserve the traditional structure of the Commonwealth. The idea of dividing the Commonwealth, expressed at the same time by Austria, Prussia and Sweden, was not supported by Russia. In the future, the Russian Empire preferred to exert behind-the-scenes influence on its western neighbor. Only in 1770. this policy has been changed.
Meanwhile Russian Empire managed to achieve recognition of the role of a great European power. If the Northern War became a kind of Russian application for this status, then following the results of the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763. he was finally assigned to her.
After the death of August III, with Russian financial assistance, S. Poniatowski was elevated to the Polish throne - Catherine II needed a calm and obedient western neighbor for the war with Ottoman Empire for access to the Black Sea. In 1768, Russia achieved that in the Commonwealth, non-Catholics were equalized in rights with Catholics, but this did not pacify the country. The bar confederation organized a struggle against the Orthodox population, which also took up arms. In conditions Russian-Turkish war 1768-1774 the bar confederates actually acted on the side of the Turks. Only in 1772 they were defeated near Krakow. Bound by a war with Turkey, Russia was faced with a choice: either yield to blackmail by the Prussian king, who offered to divide the Commonwealth, or be attacked by France and Austria. On August 5, 1772, Prussia, Austria and Russia signed an agreement on the division of the Commonwealth. Prussia received Gdansk Pomerania and Greater Poland (36 thousand sq. km and 580 thousand people), Austria Lesser Poland (83 thousand sq. km and 2,650 thousand people), and Russia - the territory along the eastern banks of the Western Dvina and the Dnieper with cities Polotsk, Mogilev and Vitebsk (92 thousand sq. km and 1,300 thousand people). The influence of Russia in the Commonwealth was preserved.
In the conditions of the war of revolutionary France with Prussia and Austria, Russia tried to prevent the reformation of the Commonwealth, and on January 23, 1793, Russia and Prussia signed a second treaty on the division of the Commonwealth. Prussia received Gdansk, Torun and part of Greater Poland (58 thousand sq. km), and Russia - Belarus and Right-bank Ukraine (250 thousand sq. km). These events, as well as the revolution in France, stirred up part of the Polish elite, and in 1794 an uprising broke out in the Commonwealth led by T. Kosciuszko, which was crushed by Russian troops. October 24, 1795 Russia, Austria and Prussia signed an agreement on the final division of the Commonwealth. Russia received Western Belarus, Lithuania and Courland (120 thousand sq. km), Austria - Western Ukraine and Krakow (47 thousand sq. km), and Prussia - Central Poland with Warsaw (48 thousand sq. km). Thus, Russia finally returned the territories captured by Lithuania and Poland in the XIII-XIV centuries. Now the border of civilizations almost completely coincided with the political borders in Eastern Europe.
However, the solution of the Polish problem did not end there. During Napoleonic Wars in 1807 the Duchy of Warsaw was restored, becoming an ally of France. It is clear that Russia took these actions of Napoleon with distrust, but so far, being forced to conclude an alliance treaty with France, put up with the situation. As Russian-French relations deteriorated, Russia tried to create a new anti-French alliance with Prussia, Austria and Poland, but nothing came of it, and during the war of 1812 the Duchy of Warsaw, driven by revanchist intentions as well, became an enemy of Russia. As a result of the defeat of Napoleon and the new redistribution of Europe at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815. most of Central Poland was transferred under the rule of the Russian Empire as an autonomous Kingdom of Poland2. That is, for the first time Russia received a part of the territory of the "Western" civilization, and not just border areas, as was the case in the Baltic states and Finland.
Thus ended the first attempt in the struggle for dominance in Eastern Europe between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian state. However, as you know, nothing is eternal, and after the First World War, in the conditions of a new redistribution of Europe, Poland was reborn, and the general chaos in Eastern Europe again raised the question of who would dominate the region. This second attempt in the struggle for influence in Eastern Europe is the subject of this book. It examines in detail the main stages of Soviet-Polish relations in 1918-1939. from the point of view of the struggle of the parties for the status of a "great power".
In itself, a new struggle for influence in the region was quite natural. Like any other state, Poland and Soviet Union tried to expand their area of influence. Unfortunately, this aspiration of the Soviet Union has never been recognized in Russian historiography, and as a result, a rather original picture has developed. If all other states in their international policy were guided by their own interests, then the Soviet Union was engaged only in demonstrating its peacefulness and fighting for peace. In principle, of course, it was admitted that the USSR also had its own interests, but usually they were spoken about so vaguely that one could understand the motives of the Soviet foreign policy was practically impossible.
However, the rejection of such an ideological approach makes Soviet foreign policy as understandable as the policy of any other country. Consideration of the international situation in the framework of the historical and political analysis of the development of systems international relations shows that the Soviet leadership in the early 1920s. faced with a difficult but rather traditional problem. During the years of revolution and civil war The Soviet Union lost the positions won by the Russian Empire in the international arena and territories in Eastern Europe. In terms of its influence in Europe, the country was thrown back 200 years into the past. Under these conditions, the Soviet leadership could either agree to the regional status of the USSR, or re-start the struggle for a return to the club of great powers. Having made a choice in favor of the second alternative, the Soviet leadership adopted the concept of "world revolution", which combined the new ideology and the traditional tasks of foreign policy to strengthen the country's influence in the world. The strategic goal of the country's foreign policy was the global reorganization of the system of international relations, which made England, France and their allies the main opponents.
The complex Soviet-Polish relations of 1918-1939, which began and ended with undeclared wars, the initiative of which came first from Warsaw and then from Moscow, were studied in the second half of the 20th century in Soviet historiography, taking into account the political situation. At the same time, all the most difficult topics, as a rule, were mentioned in passing, or even simply hushed up. Political changes 1980-1990s both in Poland and in the USSR they gave these poorly studied topics a purely political sound, which made them more an element of political struggle than an object scientific research. However, over the years in scientific circulation many previously inaccessible documents were introduced, and the disappearance of rigid mono-ideological pressure made it possible to study them more comprehensively. In Russian historiography, Soviet-Polish relations in the 1920s - the first half of the 1930s. studied much better than the relations between the two countries in the late 1930s. First of all, this applies to the study of the events of September 1939 - the first works on this topic have appeared only recently3. Therefore, one of the goals of this study is a more detailed and systematic description of the Polish campaign of the Red Army in 1939 on the basis of available archival documents.
IN last years in Russian literature, many events of the interwar history of the 20th century are being reassessed. This process also affected the study of Soviet-Polish relations. However, unfortunately, often the main motive here is not the desire to deepen our knowledge of that period, but only the desire to indiscriminately denigrate Soviet foreign policy. For this, as a rule, abstract moral assessments are used, without taking into account the specific historical realities and the mentality of the era. Therefore, in our opinion, one should try to take an unbiased look at Soviet-Polish relations in their dynamics through the prism of the development of the Versailles system of international relations and the genesis of the Second World War. The author believes that every state has the right to pursue any foreign policy, but this does not mean at all that the assessment of this policy should be based only on the political situation. Moreover, it is the distant prospect that allows a more objective assessment of past events. In addition, one should not break the chain of events, which also distorts their perception. That is why, in our opinion, it is important to consider Soviet-Polish relations during the 21 interwar years.
Thus, before modern Russian historiography the task is to comprehensively study the path along which the Soviet Union managed to go from a pariah of the international community to the second superpower of the world. This will allow, on the one hand, to pay tribute to our ancestors, whose sweat and blood this path was watered, and on the other hand, will give modern Russian society certain guidelines for the future. Of course, the solution of this problem will require long-term efforts and study of the development of international relations in different levels. An integral part of this problem is the bilateral relations of the Soviet Union with other countries. Importance for the Soviet leadership had relations with their Western neighbors, the largest of which was Poland. Moreover, the importance of Soviet-Polish relations was determined by the fact that it was Poland that also sought to achieve the status of a "great power." That is, in this case we are talking about the consideration of the relationship between two neighboring countries striving for the same goal.
It should immediately be noted that this study is not about blaming or justifying Soviet or Polish foreign policy. The author believes that both Poland and the Soviet Union defended each their own truth, no matter how far-fetched it may seem to us today. Therefore, the main task of the work was to identify the reasons that predetermined the development of Soviet-Polish relations in 1918-1939, which separated our countries on opposite sides of the political barricades, doomed them to a collision.
Part one
Chaos
(1917 - March 1921)
In 1815 Poland again disappeared from the political map of Europe. Borders established in Eastern Europe Congress of Vienna, lasted until 1914, when the First World War raised the question of a new territorial redistribution. Already on August 14, 1914, the Russian government announced its desire to unite all Poles within the borders of the Kingdom of Poland under the scepter Russian emperor. For their part, Germany and Austria-Hungary limited themselves to rather general declarations about the future freedom of the Poles without any specific promises. During the war, national Polish military units were created as part of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and French armies. After the occupation of the Kingdom of Poland by German and Austro-Hungarian troops in 1915, the vast majority of the Polish population came under the control of Germany and Austria-Hungary, which on November 5, 1916, proclaimed the "independence" of the Kingdom of Poland without specifying its borders. In December 1916, the Provisional State Council was established as a governing body. Russia's retaliatory countermeasure was the statement on December 12, 1916, about the desire to create a "free Poland" from all its three parts. In January 1917 this statement was generally supported by Britain, France and the USA.
Decay
Meanwhile, in February - March 1917, the political struggle between the liberal parties and the government in Petrograd ended with the abdication of Nicholas II and the creation of the Provisional Government and the system of Soviets. Already on March 14 (27), 1917, the Petrograd Soviet declared the right of nations to self-determination, which Poland could also use4. Naturally, on March 17 (30) the Provisional Government also announced the need to create an independent Polish state, which is in a military alliance with Russia. True, the implementation of this statement was postponed until the end of the war and the decisions of the Constituent Assembly5. Like many other abstract principles, the idea of the right of nations to self-determination did not take into account the real difficulties associated with the mixed settlement of various ethnic groups in Eastern Europe. However, it was a very popular idea at the time. True, in Poland the idea of ethnoterritorial demarcation with Russia was much less popular than the idea of restoring historical justice by recreating the Commonwealth within the borders of 1772. Therefore, already on April 6, 1917, the Provisional State Council announced that it approved the declaration of the Russian Provisional Government, but the land between Poland and Russia should be the subject of a clarification of interests between Warsaw and Petrograd, and not a unilateral decision of the Constituent Assembly6. Created on September 12, 1917 in Warsaw, instead of the Provisional State Council, the Regency Council confirmed this position, although at that time these statements were a mere declaration, since the territory of Poland was occupied by Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Meanwhile, the widespread popularization of the idea of national self-determination led to the strengthening of centrifugal tendencies in Russia. On March 4, 1917, the Central Rada was created in Kyiv, which included M. Grushevsky, S. Petlyura and V. Vinnichenko, which demanded from the Provisional Government the widest autonomy of Ukraine and a clear definition of its borders. For its part, the Provisional Government tried to delay complete solution these issues before the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. Such a position of Petrograd only radicalized the demands of Kyiv, which in the summer of 1917 began to create its own national army. The growth of chaos and the intensification of the political struggle in Russia led to the fact that on October 25 (November 7), 1917, the Provisional Government was overthrown. The Bolsheviks and the Left SRs came to power, creating a new government - the Council of People's Commissars (SNK). The Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia, adopted on November 2 (15), 1917, recognizing their right "to free self-determination up to secession and the formation of an independent state," apparently prompted the Central Rada to declare on November 7 (20) the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) in within the framework of the all-Russian federation. In the meantime, on November 8 (21), the Council of People's Commissars turned to the belligerent countries with a proposal to conclude peace without annexations and indemnities. On December 15, a truce was signed between Russia and the countries of the Quadruple Union9. On December 4 (17), the Council of People's Commissars recognized the UNR, at the same time pointing out the inadmissibility of the disorganization of the front, the disarmament of Russian troops and the support of A.M. Kaledin and demanding to stop such actions within 48 hours. Otherwise, the Council of People's Commissars would consider the Central Rada to be in a state of "war with Soviet power in Russia and Ukraine" 10 . The First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets, which met in Kharkov on December 12 (25), proclaimed the creation of the Ukrainian Soviet republic within the All-Russian Federation. The peace talks in Brest-Litovsk that began on December 9 (22) showed that no one was interested in general declarations on the rejection of annexations and indemnities. The delegation of the Quadruple Union insisted on the transfer of 150 thousand square meters. km of Russian western lands. Such an openly annexationist program forced the Soviet government to play for time.
At the request of the delegation of the Quadruple Union, on December 13 (26), 1917, representatives of the UPR were admitted to negotiations in Brest-Litovsk. On December 20, 1917 (January 2, 1918), the Council of People's Commissars suggested that the Central Rada start negotiations on the settlement of relations, which never took place, since Germany decided to play on the contradictions between Petrograd and Kyiv. On January 11 (24), 1918, the UNR declared its independence, which was immediately recognized by Germany. As a result, on February 9, 1918, a UNR peace treaty was signed with the countries of the Quadruple Union, according to which Kiev received the Kholm region, and Austria-Hungary undertook to prepare by July 31, 1918 a project for separating its eastern part inhabited by Ukrainians from Galicia, and annex it as crown land to Bukovina. For its part, the UNR was supposed to supply Germany and Austria-Hungary in the first half of 1918 with 60 million poods of grain, 2,750,000 poods of meat, 400 million eggs, and other agricultural goods and industrial raw materials. In the meantime, a protest movement against the territorial terms of the treaty with the UNR was expanding in Poland. As a result, on March 4, 1918, the Central Rada announced to the Regency Council about the possibility of revising the borders in the future.
Having concluded an agreement with the UNR, on February 10, Germany put forward an ultimatum on the signing of the proposed peace treaty by the Soviet delegation. In response, the head of the delegation, L. D. Trotsky, said that Russia would not sign peace, but would demobilize the army. The Soviet delegation left Brest-Litovsk. On February 18, German troops resumed their offensive and occupied the Baltic. As a result, on March 3, 1918, the Soviet government had to sign in Brest-Litovsk a peace treaty proposed by the countries of the Quadruple Union. According to the agreement, the RSFSR recognized the independence of Finland and the UPR and had to withdraw its troops from their territory, as well as from Estonia and Livonia. Western border Soviet Russia was installed along the line Riga - Dvinsk Druya - Drysvyaty - Mikhalishki - Dzevilishki - Dokudova - r. Neman - r. Zelvyanka - Pruzhany - Vidoml12. Thus, the RSFSR renounced its rights to Poland, which was favorably received in Warsaw. The Regency Council, through the mediation of Germany, offered Moscow to establish diplomatic relations, but the Soviet leadership refused on June 16, 1918, because they did not recognize the Regency Council as a representative of the will of the Polish people, considering it only as an administrative body created by the occupiers13. Entente did not recognize Brest Treaty, and on March 6, 1918, British troops landed in Murmansk, marking the beginning of foreign intervention in Russia.
Meltyukhov Mikhail Ivanovich Soviet-Polish wars
Mikhail Ivanovich Meltyukhov
Mikhail Ivanovich Meltyukhov
Soviet-Polish wars
Military-political confrontation 1918-1939
Introduction
For a long time with each other
These tribes are at enmity;
More than once bowed under a thunderstorm
Either their side or ours.
Who will stand in an unequal dispute:
Puffy Lyakh or faithful Ross?
A.S. Pushkin
"Slanderers of Russia", 1831
Eastern Europe is divided by an invisible border, corresponding to the January isotherm, which runs through the Baltics, Western Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. To the east of this line, frosty, dry winters prevail, to the west - wet and warm. Accordingly, the climatic conditions in these regions are completely different. It is no coincidence that this air line became the border between two civilizations - the "West" and "Russia", which entered the historical arena, respectively, in the 8th and 14th centuries1. In cultural terms, the Catholic and Orthodox faiths of Christianity became a clear indicator of different civilizations. Like any other biosphere formation, each civilization strives to expand its habitat. Of course, this unconscious desire is refracted in the minds of people and receives one or another rational (or irrational) explanation. At that distant time, as a rule, it was about various religious justifications for this external expansion.
Expanding its habitat, "Western" civilization to the XIII century. covered the whole of Central and Northern Europe, in the East there was a conquest of Finland and the Baltic states, in the South-East the crusades continued, which were supposed to lead to the subjugation of Byzantium and the possession of the Eastern Mediterranean. On the Iberian Peninsula there was a Reconquista - its conquest from the Arabs. In the Northwest, there was a long struggle for the subjugation of Ireland.
The formation of the "Russian" civilization in the XIII-XIV centuries took place in a difficult political situation. The split of the former Kievan Rus into specific principalities and their further fragmentation, along with a decrease in the activity of the huge masses of the local population, threatened Eastern Europe with subjugation by the western neighbor. But at that moment the Mongols came and the political map changed dramatically: the Golden Horde, the great power of its time, arose in the Eastern European steppe. And the Russians had a choice. As you know, North-Eastern Rus' agreed to an alliance with the Horde, which, according to the tradition of that time, was framed as a vassalage, and South-Western Rus' was torn to Europe.
At the same time, the rise of the history of the Principality of Lithuania began, which managed not only to repel the onslaught of the Crusaders, but also to subjugate the central and southern lands of the former Kievan Rus - the Dnieper and the interfluve of the Pripyat and the Western Dvina (future Belarus). A new state arose, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which became not only a kind of buffer between the emerging Russia and the West, but also the arena of a fierce struggle between the two Christian churches - Catholic and Orthodox. As a result, in 1386, the Kreva Union of Lithuania and Poland led to the fact that the overwhelming majority of the Lithuanian nobility made a choice in favor of Catholicism, and the bulk of the population retained traditional Orthodoxy and gradually took shape in two new ethnic groups - Belarusians and Little Russians, who lived in the Polish-Lithuanian state. Thus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania turned out to be a part of the "Western" civilization - its eastern outpost.
Meanwhile, in the North-East of Rus', on the basis of a mixture of Slavs, Finno-Ugric peoples and Tatars, a new people was formed - the Great Russians (Russians), who created their own socio-political system, built on the basis of the denial of the principle of specific power - a centralized state with a center in Moscow. The formal acquisition of independence in 1480 allowed Russia to raise the issue of returning the lands that belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and were inhabited by Orthodox Christians. This, in turn, determined the general vector of relations between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian state for centuries to come. In 1492-1494, 1500-1503, 1507-1509, 1512-1522 wars were fought, as a result of which Russia regained Smolensk, Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversk lands. In the future, until 1562, the armistice agreement was repeatedly extended.
In the XVI century. Russia began to subjugate its eastern neighbors, recreating in a new way in the center of Eurasia the unity lost by the collapse of the Mongol Empire. On the western borders, an attempt was made to achieve access to the Baltic Sea and solve the Crimean issue. All this led to a conflict with the Polish-Lithuanian state, which itself had certain views of both the Baltic states and the Crimea. As a result, in the Livonian War, Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian state (since 1569 the Commonwealth) became rivals. At this time, the Commonwealth was on the rise and Russia had to give in. As a result, on January 15, 1582, peace was concluded in the Pit of Zapolsky, according to which Livonia and Courland went to the Commonwealth, and Russia transferred to it small territories north of Polotsk.
The crisis that began in Russia at the end of the 16th century was used by the Commonwealth to strengthen its influence in the East. From supporting False Dmitry in 1609, the Commonwealth switched to an open war with Russia, covered by the fact that Prince Vladislav was invited to the Russian throne by the Council of Seven Boyars in Moscow. Only the consolidation of Russian society, which finally found a basis for compromise, allowed in the 10s. 17th century complete the Troubles and fight off the western neighbors. However, under the terms of the Deulino truce, concluded on December 1, 1618 for 14.5 years, the Commonwealth received Smolensk and Chernihiv lands. Having recovered from the Troubles, Russia in 1632-1634. tried to return Smolensk, but was defeated. True, according to the Treaty of Polyanovsky of June 4, 1634, the Polish side renounced its claims to the Moscow throne.
However, the Commonwealth itself experienced in the 17th century. hard time. It, as well as the entire Western civilization, was affected by the Reformation, which gave rise to an unprecedented religious intolerance, which later acquired a social coloring. In the Commonwealth, where many Orthodox lived, it was they who became the object of this intolerance. It is clear that ethnic, religious and social differences had to manifest themselves brightly sooner or later, which happened. Already at the end of the XVI century. uprisings repeatedly broke out on the Russian outskirts of the Commonwealth, but in 1647 the national liberation struggle of Russian Ukrainians began under the leadership of B. Khmelnitsky. The general situation in which Ukraine found itself, sandwiched between the Commonwealth and Crimea, predetermined the appeal to Moscow for help. On January 8, 1654, the Pereyaslav Rada decided on the confederation of Ukraine with Russia - a new Russian-Polish war of 1654-1667 began. As a result, the parties agreed to a compromise, and according to the Andrusovo truce on January 30, 1667, Russia returned Smolensk, Seversk land, Left-Bank Ukraine and Kyiv. On May 6, 1686, the "Eternal Peace" was concluded, which confirmed the new border and the transfer of Zaporozhye to Russia.
At the end of the XVII-XVIII centuries. The Commonwealth became a weak state and served as a buffer protecting Russia from the West. As you know, a significant part of the events of the Northern War of 1700-1721. took place precisely on the territory of the allied Russia of the Commonwealth. Although the Polish king August II was an ally of Russia in the Northern War, this did not prevent the Polish elite from laying claim to Courland and Livonia themselves, refusing to guarantee Russian conquests and from recognizing the imperial title of the Russian monarch. Naturally, it was important for Russia who would become the successor of Augustus II. The main task of Russian diplomacy was to preserve the Commonwealth and block any attempts to strengthen royal power. A weak neighbor is always preferable to a strong one.
In the struggle for the Polish throne, S. Leshchinsky, a protege of France and Sweden, and Augustus III, a protege of Russia and Austria, clashed. In 1733-1735. Russia took an active part in the War of the Polish Succession, during which she managed to protect the Commonwealth from the influence of France. As a result, with the help of the Russian army, Augustus III strengthened on the Polish throne, who was forced to abandon his claims to Livonia and preserve the traditional structure of the Commonwealth. The idea of dividing the Commonwealth, expressed at the same time by Austria, Prussia and Sweden, was not supported by Russia. In the future, the Russian Empire preferred to exert behind-the-scenes influence on its western neighbor. Only in 1770. this policy has been changed.
Meanwhile, the Russian Empire managed to gain recognition for itself as a great European power. If the Northern War became a kind of Russian application for this status, then following the results of the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763. he was finally assigned to her.
After the death of August III, with Russian financial assistance, S. Poniatowski was elevated to the Polish throne - Catherine II needed a calm and obedient western neighbor for the war with the Ottoman Empire for access to the Black Sea. In 1768, Russia achieved that in the Commonwealth, non-Catholics were equalized in rights with Catholics, but this did not pacify the country. The bar confederation organized a struggle against the Orthodox population, which also took up arms. In the conditions of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. the bar confederates actually acted on the side of the Turks. Only in 1772 they were defeated near Krakow. Bound by a war with Turkey, Russia was faced with a choice: either yield to blackmail by the Prussian king, who offered to divide the Commonwealth, or be attacked by France and Austria. On August 5, 1772, Prussia, Austria and Russia signed an agreement on the division of the Commonwealth. Prussia received Gdansk Pomerania and Greater Poland (36 thousand square kilometers and 580 thousand people), Austria Lesser Poland (83 thousand square kilometers and 2,650 thousand people), and Russia - the territory ...
Meltyukhov Mikhail Ivanovich
Soviet-Polish wars
Mikhail Ivanovich Meltyukhov
Soviet-Polish wars
Military-political confrontation 1918-1939
Introduction
For a long time with each other
These tribes are at enmity;
More than once bowed under a thunderstorm
Either their side or ours.
Who will stand in an unequal dispute:
Puffy Lyakh or faithful Ross?
A.S. Pushkin
"Slanderers of Russia", 1831
Eastern Europe is divided by an invisible border, corresponding to the January isotherm, which runs through the Baltics, Western Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. To the east of this line, frosty, dry winters prevail, to the west - wet and warm. Accordingly, the climatic conditions in these regions are completely different. It is no coincidence that this air line became the border between two civilizations - the "West" and "Russia", which entered the historical arena, respectively, in the 8th and 14th centuries1. In cultural terms, the Catholic and Orthodox faiths of Christianity became a clear indicator of different civilizations. Like any other biosphere formation, each civilization strives to expand its habitat. Of course, this unconscious desire is refracted in the minds of people and receives one or another rational (or irrational) explanation. At that distant time, as a rule, it was about various religious justifications for this external expansion.
Expanding its habitat, "Western" civilization to the XIII century. covered the whole of Central and Northern Europe, in the East there was a conquest of Finland and the Baltic states, in the South-East the crusades continued, which were supposed to lead to the subjugation of Byzantium and the possession of the Eastern Mediterranean. On the Iberian Peninsula there was a Reconquista - its conquest from the Arabs. In the Northwest, there was a long struggle for the subjugation of Ireland.
The formation of the "Russian" civilization in the XIII-XIV centuries took place in a difficult political situation. The split of the former Kievan Rus into specific principalities and their further fragmentation, along with a decrease in the activity of the huge masses of the local population, threatened Eastern Europe with subjugation by the western neighbor. But at that moment the Mongols came and the political map changed dramatically: the Golden Horde, the great power of its time, arose in the Eastern European steppe. And the Russians had a choice. As you know, North-Eastern Rus' agreed to an alliance with the Horde, which, according to the tradition of that time, was framed as a vassalage, and South-Western Rus' was torn to Europe.
At the same time, the rise of the history of the Principality of Lithuania began, which managed not only to repel the onslaught of the Crusaders, but also to subjugate the central and southern lands of the former Kievan Rus - the Dnieper and the interfluve of the Pripyat and the Western Dvina (future Belarus). A new state arose, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which became not only a kind of buffer between the emerging Russia and the West, but also the arena of a fierce struggle between the two Christian churches - Catholic and Orthodox. As a result, in 1386, the Kreva Union of Lithuania and Poland led to the fact that the overwhelming majority of the Lithuanian nobility made a choice in favor of Catholicism, and the bulk of the population retained traditional Orthodoxy and gradually took shape in two new ethnic groups - Belarusians and Little Russians, who lived in the Polish-Lithuanian state. Thus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania turned out to be a part of the "Western" civilization - its eastern outpost.
Meanwhile, in the North-East of Rus', on the basis of a mixture of Slavs, Finno-Ugric peoples and Tatars, a new people was formed - the Great Russians (Russians), who created their own socio-political system, built on the basis of the denial of the principle of specific power - a centralized state with a center in Moscow. The formal acquisition of independence in 1480 allowed Russia to raise the issue of returning the lands that belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and were inhabited by Orthodox Christians. This, in turn, determined the general vector of relations between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian state for centuries to come. In 1492-1494, 1500-1503, 1507-1509, 1512-1522 wars were fought, as a result of which Russia regained Smolensk, Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversk lands. In the future, until 1562, the armistice agreement was repeatedly extended.
In the XVI century. Russia began to subjugate its eastern neighbors, recreating in a new way in the center of Eurasia the unity lost by the collapse of the Mongol Empire. On the western borders, an attempt was made to achieve access to the Baltic Sea and solve the Crimean issue. All this led to a conflict with the Polish-Lithuanian state, which itself had certain views of both the Baltic states and the Crimea. As a result, in the Livonian War, Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian state (since 1569 the Commonwealth) became rivals. At this time, the Commonwealth was on the rise and Russia had to give in. As a result, on January 15, 1582, peace was concluded in the Pit of Zapolsky, according to which Livonia and Courland went to the Commonwealth, and Russia transferred to it small territories north of Polotsk.
The crisis that began in Russia at the end of the 16th century was used by the Commonwealth to strengthen its influence in the East. From supporting False Dmitry in 1609, the Commonwealth switched to an open war with Russia, covered by the fact that Prince Vladislav was invited to the Russian throne by the Council of Seven Boyars in Moscow. Only the consolidation of Russian society, which finally found a basis for compromise, allowed in the 10s. 17th century complete the Troubles and fight off the western neighbors. However, under the terms of the Deulino truce, concluded on December 1, 1618 for 14.5 years, the Commonwealth received Smolensk and Chernihiv lands. Having recovered from the Troubles, Russia in 1632-1634. tried to return Smolensk, but was defeated. True, according to the Treaty of Polyanovsky of June 4, 1634, the Polish side renounced its claims to the Moscow throne.
However, the Commonwealth itself experienced in the 17th century. hard time. It, as well as the entire Western civilization, was affected by the Reformation, which gave rise to an unprecedented religious intolerance, which later acquired a social coloring. In the Commonwealth, where many Orthodox lived, it was they who became the object of this intolerance. It is clear that ethnic, religious and social differences had to manifest themselves brightly sooner or later, which happened. Already at the end of the XVI century. uprisings repeatedly broke out on the Russian outskirts of the Commonwealth, but in 1647 the national liberation struggle of Russian Ukrainians began under the leadership of B. Khmelnitsky. The general situation in which Ukraine found itself, sandwiched between the Commonwealth and Crimea, predetermined the appeal to Moscow for help. On January 8, 1654, the Pereyaslav Rada decided on the confederation of Ukraine with Russia - a new Russian-Polish war of 1654-1667 began. As a result, the parties agreed to a compromise, and according to the Andrusovo truce on January 30, 1667, Russia returned Smolensk, Seversk land, Left-Bank Ukraine and Kyiv. On May 6, 1686, the "Eternal Peace" was concluded, which confirmed the new border and the transfer of Zaporozhye to Russia.
At the end of the XVII-XVIII centuries. The Commonwealth became a weak state and served as a buffer protecting Russia from the West. As you know, a significant part of the events of the Northern War of 1700-1721. took place precisely on the territory of the allied Russia of the Commonwealth. Although the Polish king August II was an ally of Russia in the Northern War, this did not prevent the Polish elite from laying claim to Courland and Livonia themselves, refusing to guarantee Russian conquests and from recognizing the imperial title of the Russian monarch. Naturally, it was important for Russia who would become the successor of Augustus II. The main task of Russian diplomacy was to preserve the Commonwealth and block any attempts to strengthen royal power. A weak neighbor is always preferable to a strong one.
In the struggle for the Polish throne, S. Leshchinsky, a protege of France and Sweden, and Augustus III, a protege of Russia and Austria, clashed. In 1733-1735. Russia took an active part in the War of the Polish Succession, during which she managed to protect the Commonwealth from the influence of France. As a result, with the help of the Russian army, Augustus III strengthened on the Polish throne, who was forced to abandon his claims to Livonia and preserve the traditional structure of the Commonwealth. The idea of dividing the Commonwealth, expressed at the same time by Austria, Prussia and Sweden, was not supported by Russia. In the future, the Russian Empire preferred to exert behind-the-scenes influence on its western neighbor. Only in 1770. this policy has been changed.
Meanwhile, the Russian Empire managed to gain recognition for itself as a great European power. If the Northern War became a kind of Russian application for this status, then following the results of the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763. he was finally assigned to her.
After the death of August III, with Russian financial assistance, S. Poniatowski was elevated to the Polish throne - Catherine II needed a calm and obedient western neighbor for the war with the Ottoman Empire for access to the Black Sea. In 1768, Russia achieved that in the Commonwealth, non-Catholics were equalized in rights with Catholics, but this did not pacify the country. The bar confederation organized a struggle against the Orthodox population, which also took up arms. In the conditions of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. the bar confederates actually acted on the side of the Turks. Only in 1772 they were defeated near Krakow. Bound by a war with Turkey, Russia was faced with a choice: either yield to blackmail by the Prussian king, who offered to divide the Commonwealth, or be attacked by France and Austria. On August 5, 1772, Prussia, Austria and Russia signed an agreement on the division of the Commonwealth. Prussia received Gdansk Pomerania and Greater Poland (36 thousand sq. km and 580 thousand people), Austria Lesser Poland (83 thousand sq. km and 2,650 thousand people), and Russia - the territory along the eastern banks of the Western Dvina and the Dnieper with cities Polotsk, Mogilev and Vitebsk (92 thousand sq. km and 1,300 thousand people). The influence of Russia in the Commonwealth was preserved.