Poland. Soviet Marshal Mikhail Nikolaevich Tukhachevsky, anticipating a certain victory against the Poles, issued an order on July 2, 1920, proclaiming, “…the moment of reckoning has come. The army of the Red Banner and the army of the predatory White Eagle stand face to face in mortal conflict. The road to world conflagration lies over the corpse of White Poland.” On August 7, 1920, Lenin himself stated categorically: “Yes, Soviet troops are in Warsaw. Soon we will also have Germany. We will reconquer Hungary, and the Balkans will rise up against capitalism. Italy will tremble. Bourgeois Europe is creaking on all sides in the midst of this storm.” Faced with danger, a coalition government was formed in Poland on 24 July 1920 (Prime Minister Wincenty Witos, leader of the Peasant Party) which mobilised over 700,000 people.
