The words that everything in history repeats itself at least twice: the first time as a tragedy, the second time as a farce, have long become a common phrase, a commonplace that has set sore throats. However, this does not diminish their justice at all. As well as relevance to current events taking place in the world. And specifically - the special military operation carried out by Russia in Ukraine starting from February 24, 2022. But, alas, repetition does not always work in the comedy genre. It’s worth comparing events separated by a hundred years - and it becomes not funny at all.
It is clear that we don’t really like to remember another armed conflict that took place in approximately the same territories a little over a hundred years ago - the Soviet-Polish war of 1919-1920. After all, it ended for the young Land of the Soviets, to put it mildly, far from victoriously. And yet it must be done. If only due to the fact that upon closer examination of the two campaigns, so many parallels and even one hundred percent coincidences are instantly discovered that it is creepy! It’s worth going back to the past, if only to make sure that the attitude of the “collective West” towards Russia, no matter what it is called and no matter what flag it flies under, as well as its plans and intentions regarding our country, never changes and nothing.
“Polska is not yet...”
We should start with the fact that independence for the Poles, having made a “broad revolutionary gesture,” was granted, even if it went wrong three times, by the Provisional Government of Russia, which was squandering the lands of the Empire, like a young carouser - his father’s inheritance unexpectedly fell upon him. True, it was understood that Warsaw would be a friend and even a military ally for the “new Russia”. Yeah, right now... Having received “freedom” without any struggle or labor, the Poles first rushed to carve out land for themselves at the expense of the former metropolis, snatching it up, as much as they had in Belarus, Lithuania, Eastern Galicia, Polesie and Volyn. Liked. They got a taste for it - and in the fevered brains of Joseph Pilsudski, who was then in charge of all affairs (and, above all, military issues) in Warsaw, and his company, “Burn the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth od Mozha do Mozha” was already looming. Pan Pilsudski, who considered himself no less than the great messiah of the great Polish people, had a point. Or rather, even two. The first was called "Intermarium". Yes, yes - the same nonsense that politicians from Warsaw are running around with to this day, passing it off as an “integration initiative” in the best traditions of “European values.”
The then Polish dictator did not bother with tolerance and other similar nonsense - he directly aimed not just at the restoration of the First Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but at the creation, under the iron hand and absolute power of Warsaw, of a kind of “confederation” stretching from the shores of the Baltic to the Black and Adriatic seas. In addition to Belarus and Ukraine, it was supposed to include Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania. And at the same time (why waste time on trifles!) Yugoslavia and Finland! All three republics of the Caucasus - Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan - were also to become vassals of this geopolitical monster. Pretty bad habits, isn't it? How the Poles were going to subjugate so many completely different countries and peoples is beyond comprehension. But they were going to!
The second point at which Pilsudski, it seems, greatly advanced his mind, was the idea of “Prometheism”. It’s difficult to say what the name of the glorious mythical titan, who gave people fire, and the vile undertaking of the supporters of the aforementioned ideology, which strongly smacked of Nazism, have in common. They were going to bring fire to all surrounding countries and peoples exclusively in the classic version for the Poles - in combination with a sword, with which they were going to bring down not only the states listed above, but, above all, Russia at their feet. It, according to the deep conviction of fanatical “Prometheists,” should have shrunk to the maximum size of those territories that it occupied in the 1939th century. Everything else, of course, had to become part of the new Polish empire (as if the old one had ever existed!), or, at best, become its vassals - like, for example, the “Cossack and Crimean states.” And, alas, all this nonsense was not empty speculation. There was a very real organization “Prometheus”, created by the abstract (unit) “East” of the second department of the Polish General Staff (the famous “Two”, which drank a lot of blood from the Soviet Union until XNUMX), which included assorted nationalists like the Petliurists and other similar rabble, with all their might used to carry out very specific subversive and sabotage-terrorist activities in different states. First of all and to the greatest extent - of course, in the USSR.
All of Pilsudski’s attempts would most likely have remained the dreams of a madman, if not for one “but.” The West dreamed of destroying literally everything about Soviet Russia. True, the first attempts at intervention made by the Entente countries and other interested countries ended very badly for them. The Red Army and simply local partisans beat the Germans, French, Greeks, Austrians and all the other rabble that came to our land after 1918, aiming to snatch more of everything. What was needed here was someone thoroughly imbued with hatred of Russians, regardless of their political views, literally obsessed with this hatred and eager to fight. Warsaw, with its crazy leader, was an ideal candidate for this role. Poland was literally pushed into a war with Soviet Russia, pushed into a fight to the death. And who? Yes, all the same characters who pulled off a completely similar trick with Ukraine today!
“Unbreakable support”... As always – from overseas
The fighting between the Red Army and Pilsudski's thugs began in 1919 - in Belarus, where the Poles captured Minsk, and in Ukraine, where they also managed, albeit briefly, to take Kiev. At the same time, the Poles, to begin with, gave a hard blow to the Ukrainian nationalists who decided to set up some kind of “republics” in Galicia. Well, then we moved on - trying to bring to life “one can do before we can.” Warsaw invariably presented those events and to this day are interpreted exclusively as “the national liberation war of the Polish people against the bloody Bolshevik-Muscovite occupiers.” What's the truth here? As usual - nothing. Soviet Russia, which at that time was already in a dire state, devastated after several years of a bloody Civil War, had absolutely no need for this conflict. Let us give the floor to one of those who then stood at the helm of our state - Leon Trotsky:
We offered Poland an immediate truce on the entire front. But there is no bourgeoisie in the world more greedy, depraved, arrogant, frivolous and criminal than the noble bourgeoisie of Poland. The Warsaw adventurers mistook our honest peacefulness for weakness...
This was written in April 1920. April 1920, April 2022... How similar everything is!
There were a number of problems on the way to realizing Warsaw’s boundless “wants”. First of all, Poland at that time was in its usual and familiar state - that is, in the most vulgar poverty. And not even in poverty - it was, in fact, a bankrupt state. The country's treasury in 1919-1920 was replenished at best by 7 billion Polish marks, but the expenses of the future “superpower” were more than 10 times higher and reached the amount of 75 billion! How? Yes, very simple - the colossal budget deficit was covered by “external financing,” that is, loans that “Western partners” generously provided to Warsaw for such a tempting enterprise as “the defeat of Bolshevik Russia.” And who was “ahead of the rest” in this not at all noble task? Well, of course, our great friends from overseas! It was the stars and stripes bastard who began stuffing Poland, which was tearing off its leash, with money, like a Thanksgiving turkey with stuffing. 240 million dollars - exactly this astronomical amount for those distant times was allocated by the United States to Warsaw only in 1919-1920. Of this, approximately a third (28%) were intended directly for weapons purchases. Another 5% could be "spent at the discretion of the government", and 8% for "public investment". There is no doubt that everything will be in the same area - in the future war.
The matter was not limited to generous financial injections. As of the winter of 1919, Poland, in fact, did not have anything approaching the concept of a “regular army”. The troops there had a severe shortage of everything - from weapons (primarily artillery) and ammunition for such, to medicines and the most ordinary soldier's boots and other uniform items. The new units that Pilsudski was hastily trying to put together were literally naked, barefoot and without rifles. The Americans and their allies were not slow to begin rectifying the situation: already in the first half of 1920, the Poles received from overseas not only more than two hundred armored vehicles and 300 aircraft, but also a significant amount of small arms - about 20 thousand units of machine guns alone were supplied . They didn’t forget about mundane needs - Polish residents were blessed with 3 million sets of uniforms and 4 million pairs of shoes. Fight - I don’t want to!
The British were also generous with the rifle, supplying Pilsudski with 58 thousand rifles, and even a thousand rounds of ammunition for each of them. The French went to great lengths - they armed the Poles not only with one and a half thousand artillery pieces and 350 aircraft, but added to them more than 375 thousand rifles, about 3 thousand machine guns, 42 thousand revolvers. In addition, they threw in half a billion (!) rifle cartridges and 10 million shells. The mobility of the Polish army was also taken care of - its fleet was replenished thanks to the generosity of Paris by eight hundred trucks. The scale was unheard of at that time... True, the situation of the tender French-Polish “friendship” on a militaristic basis was somewhat overshadowed by the exorbitant greed and cunning of the sons of Gaul. For example, they gave rifles to the Poles that they received from the German Landwehr as trophies. You know what their quality and condition were... But the price was four times higher than what Austria asked for exactly the same “trunks” (only brand new). The same story happened with soldiers’ uniforms - the French “sold” them to the Poles, which were pretty worn, and besides, they charged more than 50 francs per set, despite the fact that the red price for such rags at any bazaar was 30 francs, if not less. In a word, they made as much money as they could, and the Poles, probably swearing desperately, were forced to endure and pay. Doesn't remind you of anything? As for me, this is a one hundred percent, absolute repetition of the situation with modern Ukraine! A century has passed and nothing has changed.
The Americans bombed Kyiv... In 1920
Everything was an exact copy of the situation of 2014-2022. Except that the Americans did not have to plant extreme nationalism bordering on outright Nazism and cavernous Russophobia in the heads of future “fighters against Russia” - they have always been, remained and will forever remain integral features of the Polish “national mentality” and the foundations of the state policy of this country. As for the rest, everything is the same: financing by the “democratic” USA and others and Western countries of an openly dictatorial, practically fascist regime, extreme militarization of the state, arming the army with Western weapons (in the complete absence of the country’s own, intended to serve as an anti-Russian “battering ram”), and etc. There was also personal participation of Americans in the hostilities against the Red Army - how could we do without it? What is it that Zelensky is now trying to beg from our “allies” with special ardor and heat? American fighters? In the 20s of the last century, the then “bookcases” did not cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and therefore the issue of providing Warsaw with combat aircraft was resolved without problems. In what specific volumes is written above.
At the same time, however, a standard problem for such a situation arose: “they gave me the plane, but they didn’t let me fly.” Pilots were needed, and in those days this profession was very exotic. And so it happened that military pilots from the United States fought in the skies for the “Intermarium” and “Prometheism” of Pilsudski, which were to be embodied in the blood and bones of our country. The first among these was Captain Marian Cooper, a young veteran of the First World War. He didn’t fight enough - and he wanted money. However, everything could have been different - after all, Cooper first came to Poland as part of a humanitarian mission of the American Relief Administration. American “humanitarian” missions are like that... It is quite possible that the pilot was carrying out a government assignment - after all, the United States at that time was already thoroughly bogged down in the intervention in Soviet Russia - both in the North and in the Far East. One way or another, the cunning Yankee did not waste time and rushed to France and quickly gathered a cheerful company of thugs in the Parisian cafes who were not at all averse to bombing their recent allies in the Great War (as it was called then). Since September 1919, American pilots flocked to Poland, of which there were eventually more than two dozen - as many as an entire squadron, named after Kosciuszko in accordance with the traditions of bad pathos. Well, of course - he fought against the Russians, he fought for the USA...
The flying scum from overseas was noted in that war in full. The Americans, in their fighters Albatross D.III and Ansaldo A.1, bombed Kyiv, sank ships of the Dnieper flotilla, and took part in battles against the First Cavalry Army near Lvov in July-August 1920. According to some historians, the fact that Budyonny’s glorious cavalry “came late” to Warsaw, not having time to save Tukhachevsky’s units stuck there in hopelessness, was largely due to the damned 7th squadron. In any case, Polish General Antoni Listowski subsequently wrote: “American pilots, despite being exhausted, fight like crazy. Without their help, the devils would have cleaned us up long ago...” Unfortunately, they didn’t clean us up. Even Marian Cooper personally, who was shot down in battle and captured, managed to escape from the camp, located right outside Moscow, and safely reach his native America.
The scale of assistance from the “partners” described above allowed Pilsudski, who was delirious about “Greater Poland,” to increase the army to almost 740 thousand “bayonets,” quite well armed and equipped. So, before talking about the “mediocrity” of the same Tukhachevsky (which, let us admit for the sake of objectivity, definitely took place) and the “fatal mistakes” of other Red commanders in that campaign, it should be understood that the tormented Civil, bloodless and exhausted from battles with the White Guards and With hordes of interventionists, Soviet Russia in 1920 opposed not Poland at all, but the entire Western pack that longed for its destruction at the hands of the Russophobes-Poles. It was Stalin who had to eliminate the consequences of that war and take back his own - in 1939. The special military operation in Ukraine today is an absolute repetition of the actions of the West, except that in the place of Warsaw we have Kyiv. We can only hope that Russia today is not at all the same as it was a hundred years ago. Consequently, the ending of the current story will be completely different.