The West Slavs suffered different fates; the Lusatians and Veleti were absorbed by German expansion, the Czechs and Moravians merged to form the nucleus of the Czech Kingdom, whilst the Slovaks became part of the kingdom of Hungary. The remaining tribes, including the Polanie, Wislanie, Pomorzanie and the Mazovians, joined together (in time) to form the Polish State.
The Coronation of Boleslaw Chrobry (the Brave) As the first king of Poland, in 1024, established Poland's right as an independent kingdom.
In 1226, Duke Konrad of Mazovia invited the Teutonic Order to combat pagan Prussian tribes from the base a Chelmno, thereby introducing a much more formidable enemy on the crucial Baltic coast. In time the Order turned on the Poles and began to grab large chunks of Polish territory, finally invading Gdansk in 1308 and massacring its Polish inhabitants. At the same time, a steady influx of German colonists helped to consolidate the Order's wealth and power.
1241, 1259 and 1287 saw devastating Tartar invasions. During the consequent reconstruction many new urban centres developed whilst older ones expanded. As part of the process of repopulation large numbers of foreign settlers arrived and rural colonisation took place. Many of these new settlers were Germans and, whilst some were gradually "Polonised" others merely helped strengthen German political influence (especially in Silesia).
It is during this period that the first Jewish settlers came to Poland where they were treated with more tolerance than in the rest of Europe, so-much-so that the Polish Synod was berated by the Papal Legate, in 1266, for allowing Jews to dress like anyone else and being able to live without restrictions in Poland, and for a royal charter having been granted them by Boleslaw the Pious in 1264.
A brief period of Czech rule from 1300 - 1305, under Vaclav II, reunited a main part of Poland, stimulating a national reconstruction led by Wladyslaw Lokietek. Then, in 1320, Wladyslaw I (Lokietek) was coronated; the first ruler of the reunited kingdom.
In 1333-1370 Casimir the Great (Kazimierz Wielki) built Poland into a major Central-European power, increasing her territory 2.5 times, bringing it's size up to 270,000 sq.kms. There is a saying that "he found Poland built of wood, and left her in stone," so great was his activity as founder and planner of towns.
Under Casimir, in 1346, the first Polish Legal Code was made, and in 1364 the foundations of Krakow University (the second oldest in central Europe) were formed. Trade also became important due to Poland's position on the commercial routes leading from East to West and from South to North.
In 1386 the marriage of Jadwiga, King (sic) of Poland, to Jogaila, pagan Grand-Duke of Lithuania, baptised as Wladyslaw Jagiello, initiated the Lithuanian union, inspired by the common purpose of resisting the Teutonic Order. Then, in 1410 at the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenburg), Wladyslaw Jagiello crushed the Teutonic Order. The Catholic Polish knights were a minority in an army made up of Lithuanian pagans, Orthodox Christians, Lithuanian Muslim Tartars and "heretical" Bohemian Hussites. This victory helped strengthen the bond between the Poles and the Lithuanians and, in 1413, led to the Treaty of Union at Horodlo.
In 1440 the Magyars offered Wladyslaw III (Wladyslaw Jagiello's son) the crown of Hungary; Poland's attention shifted to the plains of Hungary and the growing Turkish threat. In 1444, the combined Polish Hungarian forces were defeated by the Turks at Varna on the Black Sea and Wladyslaw was killed. For a brief period the Hungarian throne passed out of Polish hands. Wladyslaw III's brother, Casimir IV, started a prolonged war against the Teutonic Order in order to recover Pomerania and Gdansk. The subsequent victory in 1466, led to the Peace of Torun by which the Order was humiliated and Prussia was partitioned: Royal (West) Prussia came under direct Polish rule, the Grand-Master of the Order keeping Ducal (east) Prussia as a vassal to the Polish Crown. During the Reformation The Grand Master split with Rome, and by becoming a vassal of the Polish King was able to turn East Prussia into a Duchy.
In 1471 Casimir was elected King of the Czechs. His son, Wladyslaw became King of Bohemia and Hungary in 1490.
1490-1526 saw the Jagiellonian rule in Hungary, and the peak of Central European dominance. The dual realm now stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and from the borders of Silesia to within 300 miles of Moscow. It contained a rich mixture of nationalities and beliefs; Poles in the west and centre, Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians in the north, Lutheran Germans in Prussian and the western frontier, Orthodox Ukrainians and Byelorussians in the east, Moslem Tartars in the east also (these are the oldest Moslem communities in the Christian world) alongside the Karaites (a mixture of Khazar and Kiptchatska-Polovetska peoples, and practising a unique mixture of Judaism and Islam), and Jews scattered throughout.
This period saw some important developments in the government of Poland; in 1430 the law "Nieminem Captivabimus" (the Polish "Habeas Corpus"), in 1493 the establishment of a Parliament with two houses, the Senate (dignitaries, archbishops, and officers of the realm) and the Sejm (elected representatives). In 1505 the Statute of "Nihil Novi" enacted that nothing new could be decided without Parliament's consent.
This "Golden Age" saw many foreign scholars, writers, artists and architects attracted to Poland, especially from Renaissance Italy. It was also the age of Copernicus and of the first great figures in Polish literature; Mikolaj Rey (the first to write exclusively in Polish) and Jan Kochanowski (the "father" of Polish poetry).
This was also, in Europe, a time of religious diversion and persecution. When pressed to take sides in the dispute between Catholics and Protestants, the king, Zygmunt August, said: "I am the King of the people-not the judge of their consciences." This spirit of tolerance attracted many refugees from religious persecution throughout the history of Poland before the partitions; Jews in the 13th century, Hussites in the 15th, and Catholics from England and Scotland in the 16th and 17th centuries.
The Union of Lublin was a formal union of Poland and Lithuania; the "Rzeczpospolita Polska" (the Polish Commonwealth). This was formed in 1569.
The first elected monarch was Henri d'Anjou, but he resigned half-way through the year in the hope of succeeding to the French throne instead. The second election winner was the Transylvanian Voivod (Prince), Stefan Batory, who became one of Poland's most celebrated rulers, great in both war and peace.
Batory carried out important reforms, encouraged further overseas trade and created the first regular Polish infantry by conscripting peasants from the Royal estates. In 1579 he created the University at Wilno (the eastern most outpost of Western European culture).
Between 1579 and 1582 Batory came to the aid of Inflanty (Livonia: modern day Estonia and Latvia) which has been attacked by the Muscovite Tsar, Ivan the Terrible. After a successful campaign and a brilliant victory at Pskov Batory accepted the Muscovite plea for peace; Livonia joined the Commonwealth and Poland was now recognised as the greatest power in Central Europe and only the Turkish Sultan ruled over more extensive territories.
After the unexpected death of Batory in 1586, the third election brought the Swedish crown prince, Zygmunt Vasa, to the throne. There would eventually be three Vasa Kings and the period would see long rivalry and wars between Poland and Sweden for the control of the Baltic. Under his reign the Polish magnates (great lords) rose to a position of power and would eventually destroy Poland through their greed.
In 1595 and 1596 the Synods of Brzesc (Brest) Litewski saw the Ruthenian (now Byelorussian and Ukrainian) Orthodox clergy recognise the supremacy of the Pope whilst retaining their distinctive religious rites and liturgy.
King Zygmunt III Vasa decided to move the capital from Krakow to Warsaw, the junction of all major routes crisscrossing the Commonwealth. This was done in 1596.
From 1609 Poland became involved in a series of wars and was invaded by Swedes, Turks and Muscovites in such numbers that the country was almost submerged by enemy forces; this period became known as the "Deluge". The devastation and loss of life were tremendous and Poland was only saved by a number of outstanding military commanders (Jan Zamoyski, Stanislaw Zolkiewski, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz and Stanislaw Koniecpolski) who archived some great victories (Kluszyn, 1610; Kircholm, 1605; Chocim, 1612).
One historic episode during the "Deluge" was the defence of Czestochowa, Poland's most sacred shrine containing the picture of the Virgin Mary (the "Black Madonna"), by a small force led by the Prior and his monks against a besieging army of 9,000 Swedes. This defence actually changed the course of the war.
A particular danger came from within as the Cossacks (a Turkish word meaning
"freebooter"), a people of mixed origin but mainly Ruthenian and Pole,
constantly changed sides, breaking their oath of allegiance to the Polish King.
In 1648 the Cossack Hetman, Chmielnicki, led a great uprising which was put
down. Chmielnicki now used the Ukraine as a pawn between the powers of Poland,
Muscovy and Turkey which resulted in further wars. In 1658, at Hadziacz, an
agreement between the King and the new Cossack Hetman, Wyhowski, was to enable
Ruthenia to join the Commonwealth on equal terms with Poland and Lithuania but a
further Cossack rebellion, in 1659, instigated by Muscovy (herself attempting to
annex the Ukraine) and Polish involvement in war with Sweden, meant that the
agreement bore no fruit and in 1667, by the treaty of Andruszowo, the Ukraine
was divided evenly along the Dnieper between the Commonwealth and Muscovy. For
the Polish Commonwealth this was a disaster since it weakened an important
frontier area and left a discontented people open to manipulation by Poland's
enemies.
Following a stormy election, Michal Korybut Wisniowiecki, called
"Piast" (referring to Poland's earliest dynasty) was elected in 1669. He proved
to be largely ineffective and became a tool of the magnates.
Later, in 1672. the Turks invaded the Commonwealth and imposed the treaty of Buczacz on the Poles by which Turkey occupied Podolia and the southern part of the Kiev region. In 1673, Hetman Jan Sobieski scored a splendid victory over the Turks at Chocim which, though not changing the provisions of the treaty, enabled Sobieski's election to the throne.
1674-1696 heralded the of Jan III Sobieski, a great military leader who had virtually annihilated the Turkish forces at Chocim and had been given by them the nickname of the "Fearful Lion of the North." Unable to break into Europe through Poland, the Turks invaded Hungary and Austria in 1683 and swept all before them. 130,000 Turks besieged Vienna and threatened to overpower Europe. Sobieski, at the request of the Pope, marched on Vienna, sent the "Hussaria" into their last great charge and took the Turks unawares. It was a turning point in history.
The idea of consensus rule was, in principle, a good one but the "liberum Veto" was first used in 1652 by a deputy in the pay or power of a magnate. It soon became obvious to Poland's neighbours that the veto could be used to their own political ends and they soon clubbed together to "defend Polish freedoms". The "szlachta" themselves, becoming less influential as they lost their military valour and, in many cases, impoverished, saw the veto as the last symbol of their ability to play a role in the running of the Commonwealth.
Conflict between Augustus and the Sejm almost ended in civil war in 1717, only prevented by a Russian offer of mediation; 18,000 Russian troops surrounded the chamber where the deputies met, they were denied the right to speak whilst the Russian "mediator" dictated the Russian " solution". This Sejm became known as the "Dumb Sejm" and the Republic became little more than a Russian client state; this was the start of the Russian "Protectorate" in which Poland was forced to reduce her standing army. On Augustus' death, in 1733, Leszczynski was again elected King but the Russians interfered by sending in an army and rerunning the election; Augustus' son, Frederick Augustus, was elected.
The sixty-six years of Saxon rule, from 1697 - 1763, were a national disaster and drove the country to the brink of anarchy. Most ominous was the fact that in 1732 Russia, Prussia and Austria had entered into a secret alliance to maintain the paralysis of law and order within Poland. This pact became known as the "Alliance of the Three Black Eagles" (since all three powers had a black eagle in their coat-of-arms).
The reign of the magnate, Stanislaw August Poniatowski, 1764 - 1795, a favourite of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, was totally controlled by Russia. Poniatowski was to become the last King of Poland.
From 1768 - 1772, an anti-Russian rising known as the "Confederation of Bar" was crushed by the Russians. Over 5000 captured "szlachta" were sent to Siberia. Among the few who escaped was Kazimierz Pulaski who was to play an important role in the United States' struggle for independence.
Despite the disaster of this first partition, Poland underwent a national revival in 1773, thanks to the efforts of Poniatowski. The first step was the creation of the "Komisija Edukacji Narodowej" ("Committee of National Education"), the first Ministry of Education in Europe. Hundreds of schools were founded and the standard of education was raised. Writers, poets, artists and scholars were encouraged by the King and the ideas of the Enlightenment were taking hold. This was the period of Adam Naruszewicz, the historian, Ignacy Krasicki, satirist and poet, Wojciech Boguslawski, "father" of the Polish theatre, and Franciszek Karpinski, whose hymns are still sung in Poland to this day.
Taking advantage of Russia's involvement in a war against Turkey, the King launched a reform programme (1788-1792) and the task was carried out by the "Four-Year" or "Great Sejm" which established a new Constitution; the Constitution of the Third of May. Established in 1791, under this Constitution the "liberum Veto" was abolished and a majority rule introduced, and personal freedoms guaranteed to all the people. The Constitution was hailed in the United States, England and France, but was seen as a threat to the absolute rulers of Prussia, Austria and, especially, Russia. So, in 1792, at Russia's instigation a handful of magnates led by Ksawery Branicki, Szczesny Potocki and Seweryn Rzewuski betrayed the Commonwealth and formed the Confederation of Targowica against the new Constitution and then "asked" for help. Russian troops crossed the borders and war broke out. The King's nephew, Joseph Poniatowski and Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a veteran of the American War of Independence, put up heroic resistance but all hope faded away when the Prussians joined in, attacking the Polish armies in the rear. Many patriots were forced to flee.
In 1793 Russia and Prussia signed the Second Partition Treaty, seizing more than half the country and about four million more of the population. The last Sejm of the Commonwealth, which met at Grodno, was forced to legalise the partition and abolish most of the reforms of the "Great Sejm".
Popular discontent led to Insurrection, proclaimed by Kosciuszko (as Supreme Commander) in Krakow's Market Place on March 24th, 1794. Thousands of Poles rallied to the standard followed by a victory at Raclawice in which peasant scythbearers played an important role. The people of Warsaw, led by the cobbler Jan Kilinski, rose against and defeated the strongest Russian regiment in Poland. Berek Joselewicz commanded the first Jewish military formation since Biblical times. In May 7th, Kosciuszko issued the Polaniec Manifesto which abolished serfdom.
Eventually, in October, the combined strength of Russia and Prussia defeated Kosciuszko's forces at Maciejowice (where he was captured) and, in November, Warsaw was taken by the Russians who slaughtered the population of the suburb, Praga, including women and children.
Then, in 1795, the third partition wiped what was left of Poland off the map. The King was forced to abdicate and taken to St. Petersburg (where he died in 1798). Many captured Poles were sent to Siberia but thousands more escaped to Italy where, in 1797, they formed a Polish Legion, led by General Henryk Dabrowski, fighting for Napoleon Bonaparte against Austria. The Poles hoped that by fighting on the French side against the Powers that had partitioned Poland they could free their country. Dabrowski's Legion wore traditional uniforms which bore the motto: "All free men are Brothers!" They marched to a song written by Jozef Wybicki:
"Jeszcze Polska nie zginiela bugy my zyjemy,
Co nam obca przemoc wziela,
szabla odbierzemy.
Marsz marsz, Dabrowski, z ziemi Wloskiej do Polski!
Za
twoim przewodem zlaczym sie z narodem."
"Poland is not dead whilst we live,
What others took by force, with the
sword will be taken back.
March march, Dabrowski, from Italy's soil to
Poland!
Through your leadership we will reunite the nation."
When, in the twentieth century, Poland became and independent nation once more this marching song became the National Anthem.
The old Hussite idea of forming a gigantic square, a mobile fortress quickly formed if caught out in the open, became standard practice in all operations against Tartars and Turks. The Poles also devised the idea of operating in divisions since this gave them all-important mobility and ability to live off the land (this was at a time when most European armies marched in a great mass). Another tradition was that of the deep cavalry raid sweeping ahead of the main army, sometimes covering a thousand miles in a great arc behind enemy lines. The crux of any battle was the cavalry charge, not a massed attack by heavy armour, but light cavalry supported by artillery, probing for weak points to be exploited by the heavy cavalry deployed in a chequerboard pattern so that the bringing down of one rank or section did not affect the others.
The Poles set great store by artillery and were years in advance of their enemies until the eighteenth century, using light cannon with accurate bombardment and mobility being the crucial factors. They also used rocketry to great effect (Siemienowicz published a treatise on multi-stage rocketry in 1650!).
The infantry was lightly dressed without helmets or armour and armed with musket, short sword and hatchet. Only one man in eight carried a pike. In the 1550's a Polish regiment of 200 men could fire 150 shots in five minutes (contemporary Spanish brigades of 10,000 men could only deliver 750 in the same time)! Polish infantry possessed ten times greater firepower on a man-to-man basis than standard European infantries.
The cavalry was the backbone of the Commonwealth's military power, outnumbering the infantry by three to one. The crossed Turkish and European breeds to produce horses with speed and endurance, and rode on eastern saddles in order to place less strain on the horse. Because of these factors they could cover tremendous distances (upto 120 kilometres a day) without killing their mounts. Their curved sabres were the finest cutting weapon ever in use in a European army and accounted for their endurance in battle.
The pride and glory of the cavalry, its mailed first, was the Husaria, the winged cavalry. Operating in regiments of about 300, the front rank carried an astonishing lance of up to twenty feet in length (thus outreaching infantry pikes and allowing the Husaria to cut straight through an enemy square). They also carried a sabre or rapier with a six - foot blade (another weapon which was unique to the Poles!), as well as a pair of pistols, a short carbine, a bow and arrows and a variety of other weapons, the most lethal of which was the "czekan", a long steel hammer which could go through heads and helmets like butter!
The ultimate weapon of the Husaria was psychological. As well as wearing helmets, thick steel breastplates and shoulder and arm guards the Husaria also wore wings; great wooden arcs bristling with eagle feathers attached to the back of the saddle or the shoulders. Over their shoulders they wore the skin of a tiger or leopard as a cloak. Their harnesses, saddles and horse-cloths were embroidered and embellished with gold and gems and their long lances were painted with stripes like a stick of rock and decorated with a five-foot-long silk pennant which, along with the wings and jingling jewellery, made a frightful sound (described as "an evil hiss" by some) and sight during the charge. They even sometimes painted their horses red and white!
For over a century, the Husaria were the lords of the battlefield, delivering the decisive blow in many an important engagement; at Kircholm (1605) 4,000 Poles accounted for 14,000 Swedes, at Klushino (1610) 6,000 Poles (of only 200 were infantry) defeated 30,000 Muscovite and 5,000 German and Scottish mercenaries, at Gniew (1656) 5,500 Polish cavalry defeated 13,000 Swedes and outside Vienna (1683) the Husaria saved Europe from the, until then, unstoppable might of the Ottoman Empire.
After Vienna every lancer must be a Pole or dress like one, and since there were not enough Poles to go round armies were compelled to raise their own lancers dressed and equipped on the Polish model. Napoleon had his Polish lancers who rendered him good service, especially at Somo Sierra in Spain (when a squadron of 125 men cleared 9,000 entrenched infantry and four batteries in the space of seven minutes) and once again the Poles were able to inspire the rest of Europe. There have been few more gorgeously dressed soldiers in all the history of armies than the lancers of the nineteenth century. The lance cap was modelled on the Polish style and even called the "chapka" (hat). The short, double-breasted jacket of scarlet or blue was similarly known as a "ulanka" and German and Austrian lancers were called "uhlans". To the glittering uniforms, waving plumes, and splendidly caparisoned saddle-cloths there was also added the colour and flutter of the waving lance pennant.
Kniaziewicz organised the Polish Danube Legion to fight against the Germans in 1799.
Napoleon used the Polish Legions in all his campaigns; against Russia, Austria and Prussia, in Egypt, in the West Indies (Santo Domingo), and in Spain (where they fought the British and inspired the formation of the English lancers equipped with Polish-style uniforms and weapons). Some of the Poles became very disillusioned with Bonaparte, realising that they were being manipulated.
Later, in 1806, the French armies defeated the Prussians at Jena and entered Posen (Poznan) led by the Poles under Dabrowski. A year later Napoleon and the Tzar, Alexander, met at Tilsit and agreed to set up a Polish State made up of the lands the Prussians had taken in the second partition. This was the Duchy of Warsaw. Napoleon used the Duchy as a pawn in his political game and in 1812 called upon the Lithuanians to rebel as an excuse to attack Russia. The Poles, flocking to his standard in the hope of resurrecting the Commonwealth, formed the largest non-French contingent, 98,000 men. Polish Lancers were the first to cross the Niemen into Russia, the first to enter Moscow, played a crucial part in the battle of Borodino and, under Poniatowski, covered the disastrous French retreat, being the last out of Russia; 72,000 never returned.
Despite the cynical way that Napoleon treated the Poles they remained loyal to him and, when he went into exile on Elba the only guards that Napoleon was allowed were Polish Lancers.
In 1830, after the revolution in France and unrest in Holland, Nicholas decided to intervene and suppress the move towards democracy in the West. He intended to use the Polish Army as an advanced force but instead propelled the Polish patriots into action. On the night of November 29th the cadets of the Warsaw Military College launched an insurrection. The Poles fought bravely against heavy odds in former Polish territories around Wilno, Volhynia and the borders of Austria and Prussia. The insurrection spread to Lithuania where it was led by a woman, Emilia Plater. For a while victory actually lay in their grasp but indecision on the part of the Polish leaders led to defeat. Warsaw was taken in September 1831, followed by terrible persecution; over 25,000 prisoners were sent to Siberia with their families and the Constitution of the "Congress Kingdom" was suspended.
The 1830 Revolution inspired the work of two great Poles living in exile; Chopin, the composer, and Mickiewicz, the poet.
In 1848 "the Springtime of Nations" (a revolutionary movement towards greater democracy in much of Europe) saw large-scale contributions by the Poles; in Italy, Mickiewicz organised a small legion to fight for Italian independence from Austria, whilst in Hungary, Generals Dembinski and Bem led 3,000 Poles in the Hungarian Revolution against Austria. There were also unsuccessful uprisings in Poznan (Posen), against the Prussians, and in Eastern Galicia, against the Austrians.
Starting in 1863, the "January Uprising" against the Russians lasted for more than a year and a half. A Provisional government was established and more than 1,200 skirmishes were fought, mostly in the deep forests under the command of Romuald Traugutt. Italian help came from the "Garibaldi Legion" led by Colonel Francesco Nullo. In 1864 Traugutt and four other members of the Provisional government were captured in Warsaw and publicly executed.
The Uprising was finally put down in 1865, and the Kingdom of Poland was abolished and a severe policy of persecution and "Russification" established. The University of Warsaw and all schools were closed down, use of the Polish language was forbidden in most public places and the Catholic Church was persecuted. The Kingdom of Poland became known as the "Vistula Province".
In the Prussian occupied zone the aim was to totally destroy the Polish language and culture; from 1872 German became compulsory in all schools and it was a crime to be caught speaking in Polish. There was a systematic attempt to uproot Polish Peasants from their land. A special permit was needed to rebuild any farm buildings damaged or destroyed by fire or flood, but none were ever granted to Poles. One peasant, Wojciech Drzumala, challenged this law by living in a converted wagon.
In Austrian Poland, Galicia, conditions were different. After 1868 the Poles had a degree of self-government, the Polish language was kept as the official language and the Universities of Krakow and Lwow were allowed to function. As a result this area witnessed a splendid revival of Polish culture, including the works of the painter Jan Matejko, and the writers Kraszewski, Prus and Sienkiewicz.
All three powers kept Poland economically weak in this period of
technological progress. Despite this the Poles managed to make some progress;
the textile industry began to flourish in Lodz (the "Polish Manchester") and
coal-mining developed rapidly. In Prussian Poland, despite ruthless oppression,
the Poles concentrated on light industry and agriculture (and before long Poznan
became the chief source of food for the whole of Germany). In Silesia, under
German rule since 1742, the development of mining and heavy industry made her a
chief industrial centre and thus the Prussian attempt to exterminate all traces
of Polish language and culture was at its most ruthless, yet they
survived.
Despite its abolition by Kosciuszko in 1794 the partitioning powers
restored serfdom. It was not abolished in Prussia until 1823, in Austria until
1848 and in Russia until 1861 (but not in her "Polish" territories).
In 1905 the Russo-Japanese War saw a series of humiliating defeats for the Russians and civil unrest in Russia. In Poland there was a wave of strikes and demonstrations demanding civil rights. Polish pupils went on strike, walking out of Russian schools and a private organisation, the "Polska Macierz Szkolna" ("Polish Education Society"), was set up under the patronage of the great novelist, Henryk Sienkiewicz.
Then, in 1906, Jozef Pilsudski, a founder-member of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), began to set up a number of paramilitary organisations which attacked Tzarist officials and carried out raids on post offices, tax-offices and mail-trains. In Galicia the Austrian authorities turned a blind eye to the setting up of a number of "sporting" clubs, followed by a Riflemen's Union. In 1912, Pilsudski reorganised these on military lines and by 1914 had nearly 12,000 men under arms.
Almost all the fighting on the Eastern Front took place on Polish soil.
On the collapse of the Tzarist regime in Russia in 1917, the main purpose for fighting alongside the Central Powers, Germany and Austria, disappeared. They had made many promises of setting up an independent Poland but had proved to be very slow in carrying these promises out. When Pilsudski's Legions were required to swear allegiance to Germany they refused and Pilsudski was imprisoned. In 1918 when, at Brest Litovsk, the Central Powers signed a peace treaty with Russia, which was detrimental to Poland, the Second Brigade under General Haller revolted and marched into the Ukraine where they joined other Polish forces already formed there and fought against the Germans, eventually being surrounded and defeated.
At the outbreak of the revolution in Russia Polish army units had joined together to form the First Polish Corps under General Jozef Dowbor Munsnicki and tried to reach Poland but were disarmed by the Germans. Escapees and volunteers reorganised themselves into a new army at Murmansk in the Arctic and fought alongside the British on the shores of the Whits Sea and beside the French at Odessa, as well as in the Far East at Siberia. Later they managed to reach Poland.
Roman Dmowski, founder of the right-wing Nationalist League, had foreseen that Germany was the real enemy and gone to France where the "Bayonne Legion" was already fighting alongside the French Army. He and Paderewski formed a Polish Army which consisted of volunteers from the United States, Canada and Brazil together with Poles who had been conscripted into the German and Austrian armies and had become POWs. This Army became known as "Haller's Army" after its commander who had escaped from Russia to France.
In 1918, on the 11th November, Pilsudski, having been released by the Germans, proclaimed Polish Independence and Became Head of State and Commander-in-Chief, with Paderewski as Prime Minister. An uprising liberated Poznan and, shortly after, Pomerania (which gave access to the Baltic).
In the chaos that followed the collapse of the Powers new states had arisen; Lithuania, Czechoslovakia and the Ukrainian Republic. All these states laid claims on territory occupied by Poles.
The Poles liberated Wilno from the Lithuanians in 1919, reoccupied the area around Cieszyn (which had been invaded by the Czechs) and annexed the Western Ukraine when the Ukrainian Republic, which had been supported by Poland, collapsed under attack from Soviet forces.
The Red Army, having crushed all counter-revolutionary forces inside Russia, now turned its attention on Poland. By August 1920 they were at the gates of Warsaw. On August 15th the Polish Army under Pilsudski, Haller and Sikorski fought the Battle of Warsaw (the "Miracle on the Vistula"), routed the Red Army and saved a weakened Europe from Soviet conquest. An Armistice was signed at Riga in October, followed by a Peace Treaty in March 1921 which determined and secured Poland's eastern frontiers.
In 1922 part of Upper Silesia was awarded to Poland by a Geneva Convention following three uprisings by the Polish population who had been handed over to Germany at the Peace Treaty of Versailles.
Marshal Pilsudski resigned from office in 1922, and the newly-elected President, Gabriel Narutowicz, took office only to be assassinated a week later.
Seeing that the government lacked power because of party strife, Pilsudski took control by a coup d'etat in 1926 and established the Sanacja regime intended to clean-up ("sanitise") political life. By 1930 this had become a virtual dictatorship.
Despite all her problems Poland was able to rebuild her economy; by 1939 she was the 8th largest steel producer in the world and had developed her mining, textiles and chemical industries. Poland had been awarded limited access to the sea by the Peace of Versailles (the "Polish Corridor") but her chief port, Gdansk (Danzig) was made a free city (put under Polish protection) and so, in 1924, a new port, Gdynia, was built which, by 1938, became the busiest port in the Baltic.
There were continual disputes with the Germans because access to the sea had split Germany into two and because they wanted Danzig under their control. There problems increased when Adolf Hitler took power in Germany.
In 1939, under constant threat from Germany, Poland entered into a full military alliance with Britain and France
In August, Germany and Russia signed a secret agreement concerning the future of Poland.
The rest is known to all