The Great War brought about the collapse of the old world order of the 19th century. The idea of the self-determination of nations, e.g. Ukrainians, Finns, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles, etc., or multi-ethnic societies, e.g. Czechs and Slovaks, Slovenes-Serbs-Croats-Bosnians, etc., guided the new political order in Europe in 1918–1919. It was only partially possible to implement it due to the powerful influence of nationalism or (neo)imperialisms, such as in Soviet Russia and the USSR, or later with the Third Reich. In 1920, the societies of Ukraine and Poland tried to find an indirect path. The Polish-Russian / Soviet-Ukrainian war, symbolized by the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, turned out to be a breakthrough in these actions. On the basis of the effects of this so-called “dwarf war”3 gave rise to a new political and ideological imperialism in the USSR, as well as an ideology (1920) as a platform for cooperation and understanding between Poles and Ukrainians.

The Great War brought about the collapse of the old world order of the 19th century. The idea of the self-determination of nations, e.g. Ukrainians, Finns, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles etc., or multi-ethnic societies, e.g. Czechs and Slovaks, Slovenes-Serbs-Croats-Bosnians, etc., guided the new political order in Europe in 1918–1919. It was only partially possible to implement it due to the powerful influence of nationalism or (neo)imperialisms, such as in Soviet Russia and the USSR, or later with the Third Reich. In 1920, the societies of Ukraine and Poland tried to find an indirect path. The Polish-Russian/Soviet-Ukrainian war, symbolized by the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, turned out to be a breakthrough in these actions. On the basis of the effects of this so-called “dwarf war” gave rise to a new political and ideological imperialism in the USSR, as well as an ideology (1920) as a platform for cooperation and understanding between Poles and Ukrainians. Contrary to all assessments or interpretations, the signalled ideology of 1920 is a constructive factor in the history of Poland and Ukraine, based on the effects and experiences of the war of 1920–1921. This text is an attempt at a synthetic look at the genesis of the Polish-Russian/Soviet-Ukrainian war, mainly at its long-distance effects felt later in the Third Polish Republic and in free Ukraine in 2020. Perhaps these impact were also felt on a wider European scale. The text does not so much judge or evaluate the results of the previous research, but is an attempt to organize and generalize them. It may be a proposal for a possibly balanced view in the elites of both societies, a past that determines the future of Poland and Ukraine. Finally, it is an attempt to establish a long-term perspective that reduces political or (neo)nationalist emotions in favor of a balanced orderliness of knowledge.