I can't help but notice that Poland have been the poster child of the West, at least since 1919. It is seen as a advanced, democratic country that is constantly getting bullied by its neighbors.
However, the Second Polish Republic, even during its short existence, has done some very prick-like things, such as:
I asked this question in Reddit and out a lot, but so far I have not got a satisfactory response. The most common answer I've encountered was "they were just trying to prepare themselves for WWII." This answer then makes me wonder how annexing a few Slovak villages was going to help Poland defend itself against the German Army.
So can anyone here answer my question? Why, despite many instances of wrongdoing, is Poland still regarded as a poor, often-bullied victim of Eastern Europe?
Polish-Soviet war was going to happen anyway - there were skimrishes with Bolsheviks forces along the border for a long time before war, and they were always going on about exporting revolution westward. Piłsudski (authoritharian as he was) was a good military leader and just attacked first instead of waiting for Bolsheviks to attack when they're ready. Not really dickish move, just realpolitik.
BTW Piłsudski wanted to do the same with Hitler Germany - he asked France and Great Britain to invade Germany together in 1935 cause Germany is investing in army. Would have changed history quite a bit ;)
More dickish IMHO was the fact that Piłsudski declined to help White Russians to fight the Bolsheviks when it could still be done. In some ways Poland helped USSR to be created.
Taking the Wilno was awful too - no arguing about that.
Regarding Zaolzie - the land was contested since 1918 with both sides invading and ignoring the agreements and minority/majority will - read about the whole build up and not just the conclusion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Czechoslovak_border_conflicts
Still it wasn't worth it. Polish government weren't really bright at the time - that's what happens in authoritharian-ish country after the leader (Piłsudski) dies. People did stupid stuff.
Polish-Soviet War wasn't really something Poland wanted. It just had to happen due to 2 very important factors - Poland wanted to get back it's lands taken by Russia in the partitions and Soviet Russia wanted to spread communist revolution all over the Europe. Poland was just first step for them. Quoting Mikhail Tukhachevsky - "Over the dead body of White Poland shines the road to worldwide conflagration. To the West, the hour of attack has struck".
About the annexation what was i believe Czech-Polish lands. It was dickish move, without a doubt. But it was also some sort of revenge on Czechs, which took that lands when Poland was in very similar situation (fighting with Soviets).
As for Vilnius - remember that Poland was trying to rebuild old, big Rzeczpospolita, and Poles believed Vilnius is integral part of their country. That's it. There was majority of Poles living in the city and in the whole region, so it was pretty much Polish back then already. I don't wanna say threatening another country was a good and acceptable thing but what would you do on Poland's place?