Polish-Lithuanian conflict about the national affiliation of the Suvalkai region in 1919-1920

The author presents the ethnic composition of the former Suvalkai province. The northern part of it was inhabited mainly by Lithuanians, while the southern one - by people of Polish origin. There was an ethnical border between Lithuanians and Poles. Lithuanians formed the majority in the Seinai County and the town was an important centre of the Lithuanian cultural-national revival at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Most of the seminarians in the Seminary of Seinai were of Lithuanian origin. The Lithuanian publishing house was opened in 1906. At the turn of 1918 and 1919 Lithuanian schools started to operate. There were the beginnings of Lithuanian civil and military authorities. The diplomatic war between Poland and Lithuania started when both nations strove for their independence. The conflict concerned the territorial control of Vilnius and the Vilnius region as well as of the Suvalkai-Seinai region. Poland decided to solve the problem starting the Seinai Uprising on August 23, 1919. The diplomatic war turned into the armed conflict which stopped at the end of 1920. The interventions of international authorities, the attempts to solve the conflict peacefully as well as negotiations ended without success. Even though military actions were stopped, Polish-Lithuanian diplomatic relations were established only in 1938