Polish–Czechoslovak War
| Poland–Czechoslovakia war | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Polish–Czechoslovak border conflicts | |||||||
 The historic map of the borders of Cieszyn Silesia from 1920 |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Czechoslovakia
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 Second Polish Republic
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Josef Šnejdárek | Franciszek Latinik | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 44–53 killed 124 injured 7 missing |
92 killed 855 injured 576 POWs 813 missing |
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The Poland–Czechoslovakia war, also known mostly in Czech sources as the Seven-day war (Czech: Sedmidenní válka) was a military confrontation between Czechoslovakia and Poland over the territory of Cieszyn Silesia in 1919.
The Czechoslovak government in Prague requested that the Poles cease their preparations for elections to the Polish Sejm in the area that had been designated Polish in the interim agreement as no sovereign rule was to be executed in the disputed areas. The Polish government declined and Czechoslovak units attacked the Polish part of Cieszyn Silesia to prevent the elections in the contested territory. The attack was halted under pressure from the Entente. The result of the war was the new demarcation line, which expanded the territory controlled by Czechoslovakia. It led to the division of the region of Cieszyn Silesia in July 1920, and left a substantial Polish minority in Czechoslovakia in the region later called Zaolzie. The division of Cieszyn Silesia did not satisfy Poland and led to the Polish annexation of Zaolzie in 1938.
During the final months of World War I, Polish and Czechoslovak diplomats met to hammer out a common border between the two new countries. By the time the armistice was declared, most of the border was worked out except for three small politically sensitive areas in Upper Silesia and Upper Hungary which were claimed by both countries.
Cieszyn Silesia or the Duchy of Teschen (Polish: Cieszyn and Czech: Těšín) was a small area in south-eastern Silesia. The last Austrian census of 1910 (determining nationality according to the main communication language (German: Umgangssprache) of the respondents) showed that it was predominantly Polish-speaking in three districts (Cieszyn, Bielsko, and Fryštát) and mainly Czech-speaking in the fourth district of Frýdek. The city of Cieszyn itself was mainly German-speaking. Part of the population (the Ślązakowcy) claimed a distinct, Silesian identity.
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