denizens. The results of those censuses and factors shaping national identity of the local population became a perennial subject of the political squabbles in the region. In 1911 a tramway line was built; it crossed the Olza River and connected the rail station on the left bank with the town centre on the right bank. During World War I, Austrian troops were stationed in the town, and the General Staff of the Austrian army established itself there for some time. After World War I Historian Piotr Stefan Wandycz argues that: The dispute over Teschen during the Paris Peace Conference is crucial for understanding Czechoslovak-Polish relations in 1919 and in the following years. It also brings out clearly the French attitude toward both Czechoslovakia and Poland. The region was rich in coal and rail connections and was eagerly sought by both Poland and Czechoslovakia. At the end of World War I local Poles and Czechs each established their own self-governing organs. Both groups claimed that the whole of Cieszyn Silesia rightfully belonged to their new nation. To ease the friction which developed, the local self-governments concluded an interim agreement on 5 November 1918 concerning the division of the area based on ethnic composition. However, by 1919 metropolitan governments in Prague and Warsaw superseded the local administrations, with the Czechs arguing that the division was unfair. In particular, the crucial railway going to east Slovakia (Košice-Bohumín Railway) went through the region and access to the railway was vital: newly formed Czechoslovakia was at war with the Hungarian Soviet Republic over control over Slovakia. This set the stage for conflict. Despite of the division being interim only, Poland decided to organise elections to the Polish parliament (Sejm) in the area. Czechoslovakia claimed that no sovereign rule could establish itself in the disputed area before determination of a definitive solution, and requested that the polls not take place in the area. Poland rejected the Czechoslovak request and Czechoslovakia attacked the Polish part of the region on 23 January 1919 and forced Poland, which was at that time in war also with the West Ukrainian National Republic over eastern Galicia, to withdraw from the western part of Cieszyn Silesia. After the fight near Skoczów a cease-fire was reached, signed in Paris on 3 February 1919. Poland had to recognize new borders running along the Olza River in 1920. Czechoslovakia received the western section (including the