Kyselá těšínská jablíčka - Československo-polské konflikty o Těšínsko 1919, 1938, 1945 – Bílek Jiří (2025)

Těšín apples. And still sour... It might seem inappropriate to associate something like this with wars, even if they are half-forgotten. Yet they perhaps best capture the essence of this book. After World War I, Czechoslovakia and Poland both laid claim to the territory of the Duchy of Těšín. In January 1919, the dispute culminated in a seven-day war, during which Czechoslovak legions initially occupied most of Těšín, only to later withdraw to the border along the Olše River by political decision. The part of Těšín that was ceded to Czechoslovakia became one of the lasting issues in Czechoslovak-Polish relations. At the end of September 1938, the Polish government forced the beleaguered and stripped Czechoslovakia, through the Munich Agreement, to cede Zaolží under the threat of military attack. With the end of World War II, the dispute over Těšín flared up again, and once again it was Czechoslovak soldiers who occupied part of Ratibořsko in June 1945. They had to withdraw again, and troops stood ready to attack at the borders. If it hadn't been for the Soviet forces that separated them... Ultimately, at Stalin's intervention, both countries had to sign an allied treaty in 1947. Těšín, with its diverse ethnic composition, experienced many difficult moments between 1918 and 1947,…