Border conflicts between Poland and Czechoslovakia

Border conflicts between Poland and Czechoslovakia began in 1918 between the Second Polish Republic and First Czechoslovak Republic, both freshly created states. The conflicts centered on the disputed areas of Cieszyn Silesia, Orava Territory and Spiš. After World War II they broadened to include areas around the cities of Klodzko and Racibórz, which until 1945 had belonged to Germany. The conflicts became critical in 1919 and were finally settled in 1958 in a treaty between the People's Republic of Poland and Czechoslovakia.

Before the First World War both Spiš and Orava were multi-ethnic areas. The inhabitants of the northernmost parts of both lands were predominantly Gorals, whose dialect and customs were in many ways similar to those of the Podhale Gorals. Another Goral enclave was situated in Čadca area. At the end of 19th century tourism in and around the Tatra Mountains became very popular among the Polish educated public and the folklore of the Podhale Gorals was heavily romanticized by writers and artists. Because of their archaic Polish basis, the Goral dialects became a popular object of study among linguists dealing with the history of the Polish language.

As a result, by the end of the 19th century Polish intellectuals commonly saw the Goral speaking areas in Spiš, Orava and around Čadca as being ethnographically Polish just like Podhale, irrespective of their inhabitants' actual national consciousness (or lack of it). Actually, the Slovak national movement in these areas was older and stronger than Polish. The exception was northeastern Orava, with an influx of Polish or Polish-educated priests into the local Catholic parishes and some circulation of the Polish-language newspaper Gazeta Zakopiańska from nearby Podhale.

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