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The Silesian Uprisings (Polish: Powstania śląskie) was a series of three military insurections (1919-1921) of the Polish people in the Upper Silesia region against the occupying German/Prussian forces in order to liberate the region and join to Poland, that regained her independence after the World War I (1914-1918)
The Treaty of Versailles had ordered a plebiscite in Upper Silesia to determine whether the territory should be part of Germany or Poland. In the background, strongarm tactics and discrimination of Poles led to rioting and eventually to the first two Silesian Uprisings (1919 and 1920). In the plebiscite, around 59,6% (~500,000) votes were cast for joining Germany and this result led to the Third Silesian Uprising in 1921. League of Nations was asked to settle the matter. In 1922 a six-week investigation found that the land should be split. The decision was accepted by both countries, and the majority of Upper Silesians. Aprroximately 736,000 Poles and 260,000 Germans lived in Polish Silesia and 532,000 Poles and 637,000 Germans in German Silesia.
The Silesian Uprisings (1919-1921)
References:
- H.Zieliński, Rola powstania wielkopolskiego oraz powstań śląskich w walce o zjednoczenie ziem zachodnich z Polską (1918-1921), [w:] Droga przez Półwiecze.
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