Attitude of Polish Society and National Minorities towards Military Conscription During the War with Bolshevik Russia (February 1919–November 1920) Cover Image

Stosunek społeczeństwa polskiego i mniejszości narodowych do obowiązku służby wojskowej w czasie wojny z Rosją bolszewicką (luty 1919 – listopad 1920)
Attitude of Polish Society and National Minorities towards Military Conscription During the War with Bolshevik Russia (February 1919–November 1920)

Author(s): Leszek Kania
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, History, Military history, Recent History (1900 till today), Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919), Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), History of Communism, Between Berlin Congress and WW I
Published by: Wojskowe Biuro Historyczne im. gen. broni Kazimierza Sosnkowskiego
Keywords: military discipline;morale;crime;counterintelligence;front line

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to the protection of the combat capability of the Polish Army front troops from negative phenomena lowering their morale and discipline during the war with Bolshevik Russia in 1919–1921, and the attitudes of the Polish society and national minorities towards fulfilling their military service. After regaining independence, the war for independence and eastern borders had to be fought with a traditionally aggressive neighbor, Bolshevik Russia, which wanted to take advantage of the limited capabilities of a country ruined by wars, the enormous internal difficulties of a state united from three partitioned districts, the apparent attractiveness of the Bolshevik ideology and the multi-ethnicity of the society, which to some extent became susceptible to the populist slogans of the invader. During this war, the Polish Army was troubled by desertion of soldiers from the battle line and by mass evasion of military duty by men with a national minority background. Units fighting at the front were agitated by the propaganda apparatus of the Red Army, whose intention was a moral decay of the Polish Army.

  • Issue Year: XXI/2020
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 47-79
  • Page Count: 33
  • Language: Polish