Poland on the eve of October 1917. Maps and documents

History of Poland.

World War I

The First World War divided the powers that liquidated Poland: Russia was at war with Germany and Austria-Hungary. This situation opened up fateful opportunities for the Poles, but also created new difficulties. First, the Poles had to fight in opposing armies; secondly, Poland became the scene of battles between the warring powers; thirdly, disagreements between Polish political groups escalated. The conservative national democrats, led by Roman Dmovsky (1864–1939), considered Germany the main enemy and desired the victory of the Entente. Their goal was to unite all Polish lands under Russian control and obtain the status of autonomy. The radical elements, led by the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), on the contrary, considered the defeat of Russia as the most important condition for achieving Poland's independence. They believed that the Poles should create their own armed forces. A few years before the outbreak of World War I, Jozef Piłsudski (1867–193 5) , the radical leader of this group, began military training for Polish youth in Galicia. During the war, he formed the Polish legions and fought on the side of Austria-Hungary.

August 14, 1914 Nicholas I in an official declaration he promised to unite the three parts of Poland into an autonomous state within the Russian Empire after the war. However, in the autumn of 1915 O Most of Russian Poland was occupied by Germany and Austria-Hungary, and on November 5, 1916, the monarchs of the two powers announced a manifesto on the creation of an independent Polish Kingdom in the Russian part of Poland. On March 30, 1917, after the February Revolution in Russia, the Provisional Government of Prince Lvov recognized Poland's right to self-determination. July 22, 1917 Pilsudski, who fought on the side of the Central Powers, was interned, and his legions were disbanded for refusing to take an oath of allegiance to the emperors of Austria-Hungary and Germany. In France, with the support of the powers of the Entente, in August 1917 the Polish National Committee (PNC) was created, headed by Roman Dmowski and Ignacy Paderewski; the Polish army was also formed with the commander-in-chief Józef Haller. On January 8, 1918, US President Wilson demanded the creation of an independent Polish state with access to the Baltic Sea. In June 1918 Poland was officially recognized as a country fighting on the side of the Entente. On October 6, during the period of the collapse and collapse of the Central Powers, the Regency Council of Poland announced the creation of an independent Polish state, and on November 14, Piłsudski transferred full power in the country. By this time, Germany had already capitulated, Austria-Hungary had collapsed, and a civil war was going on in Russia.

The new country faced great difficulties. Cities and villages lay in ruins; there were no connections in the economy, which for a long time developed within the framework of three different states; Poland had neither its own currency nor government institutions; finally, its borders were not defined and agreed with the neighbors. Nevertheless, state building and economic recovery proceeded at a rapid pace. After a transitional period, when the socialist cabinet was in power, on January 17, 1919, Paderewski was appointed prime minister, and Dmowski was appointed head of the Polish delegation at the Versailles Peace Conference. On January 26, 1919, elections were held to the Sejm, the new composition of which approved Piłsudski as head of state.The Question of Borders.

The western and northern borders of the country were determined at the Versailles Conference, according to which part of the Pomerania and access to the Baltic Sea were transferred to Poland; Danzig (Gdansk) received the status of a "free city". At a conference of ambassadors on July 28, 1920, the southern border was agreed upon. The city of Cieszyn and its suburb Cesky Teszyn were divided between Poland and Czechoslovakia. Violent disputes between Poland and Lithuania over Vilna (Vilnius), an ethnically Polish but historically Lithuanian city, ended with its occupation by the Poles on October 9, 1920; accession to Poland was approved on February 10, 1922 by a democratically elected regional assembly.

April 21, 1920 Pilsudski made an alliance with the Ukrainian leader Petliura and launched an offensive to liberate Ukraine from the Bolsheviks. On May 7, the Poles took Kyiv, but on June 8, pressed by the Red Army, they began to retreat. At the end of July, the Bolsheviks were on the outskirts of Warsaw. However, the Poles managed to defend the capital and repel the enemy; this ended the war. The ensuing Treaty of Riga (March 18, 1921) was a territorial compromise for both sides and was officially recognized by the ambassadors' conference on March 15

One of the first post-war events in the country was the adoption of a new constitution on March 17, 1921. It established a republican system in Poland, established a bicameral (Sejm and Senate) parliament, proclaimed freedom of speech and organizations, equality of citizens before the law. However, the internal situation of the new state was difficult. Poland was in a state of political, social and economic instability. The Sejm was politically fragmented due to the multitude of parties and political groups represented in it. Constantly changing government coalitions were characterized by instability, and the executive branch as a whole was weak. There were tensions with national minorities, which made up a third of the population. The Locarno Treaties of 1925 did not guarantee the security of Poland's western borders, and the Dawes Plan contributed to the restoration of the German military-industrial potential. Under these conditions, on May 12, 1926, Pilsudski carried out a military coup and established a "sanation" regime in the country; Until his death on May 12, 1935, he directly or indirectly controlled all power in the country. The Communist Party was banned, and political trials with long prison sentences became commonplace. As German Nazism intensified, restrictions were introduced on the basis of anti-Semitism. On April 22, 1935, a new constitution was adopted, which significantly expanded the power of the president, limiting the rights of political parties and the powers of parliament. The new constitution was not approved by the opposition political parties, and the struggle between them and the Piłsudski regime continued until the outbreak of World War II.

The leaders of the new Polish Republic tried to secure their state by pursuing a policy of non-alignment. Poland did not join the Little Entente, which included Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania. On January 25, 1932, a non-aggression pact was signed with the USSR.

After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933, Poland failed to establish allied relations with France, while Great Britain and France concluded a "pact of consent and cooperation" with Germany and Italy. After that, on January 26, 1934, Poland and Germany signed a non-aggression pact for a period of 10 years, and soon the duration of a similar agreement with the USSR was extended. In March 1936, after the military occupation of the Rhineland by Germany, Poland again unsuccessfully tried to conclude an agreement with France and Belgium on Poland's support for them in the event of a war with Germany. In October 1938, simultaneously with the annexation of the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany, Poland occupied the Czechoslovak part of the Teszyn region. In March 1939, Hitler occupied Czechoslovakia and put forward territorial claims to Poland. On March 31, Great Britain, and on April 13, France guaranteed the territorial integrity of Poland; in the summer of 1939, Franco-Anglo-Soviet negotiations began in Moscow aimed at curbing German expansion. The Soviet Union in these negotiations demanded the right to occupy the eastern part of Poland and at the same time entered into secret negotiations with the Nazis. On August 23, 1939, a German-Soviet non-aggression pact was concluded, the secret protocols of which provided for the division of Poland between Germany and the USSR. Having ensured Soviet neutrality, Hitler untied his hands. On September 1, 1939, World War II began with an attack on Poland.

The Poles, despite the promises of military assistance from France and Great Britain (both of them declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939), could not hold back the unexpected invasion of powerful motorized German armies. The situation became hopeless after the Soviet troops attacked Poland from the east on 17 September. The Polish government and the remnants of the armed forces crossed the border into Romania, where they were interned. The Polish government in exile was headed by General Władysław Sikorski. In France, new Polish army, naval and air forces were formed with a total strength of 80 thousand people. The Poles fought on the side of France until its defeat in June 1940; then the Polish government moved to the UK, where it reorganized the army, which later fought in Norway, North Africa and Western Europe. In the Battle of England in 1940, Polish pilots destroyed more than 15% of all downed German aircraft. In total, more than 300 thousand Poles served abroad, in the armed forces of the allies.

", collected from publicly available sources and with links to original maps and documents.
Only generally accepted facts are used (which are not questioned by historians, regardless of their political bias). And the interpretation of these facts is entirely at the discretion of the reader. This is an attempt to paint an objective picture.

Probably, acquaintance with the history of Belarus should be started with old maps (their authors tried to be accurate - they fixed objective reality) and the "Terms" section. The meaning of words sometimes changes over time - and, accordingly, the perception of what is read changes (different associations stand behind different terms).

Brief review of relations between the Belarusian state and its neighbors in the XIV-XX centuries.
14th century - Belarusian lands were collected into a single state under c. Prince Olgerd. Formation of the Belarusian ethnos.
20th century - the collapse and disintegration of the Russian Empire in 1917

Northeast. Latvia
In a single state (protectorate ON) 1565-1793 (228 years). As part of the Republic of Ingushetia 1793-1917 (124 years old)

General border XIV-XX centuries.

Since the founding of Dinaburg (Daugavpils) by the Knights of the Sword (Fratres militiae Christi de Livonia) in 1275, it has remained virtually unchanged to this day. Courland and Zadvinsk duchies - Herzogtum Kurland und Semgallen & Ducatus Ultradunensis - from 1565 to 1795 - protectorate of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Commonwealth. Since 1796 - Courland province of the Russian Empire.

Northwest. Lietuva
In a single state (after Grunwald) 1411-1917 (506 years). From Gediminas to Grunwald 1341-1411 (aged 70)

General border XIV-XX centuries.

Historical border between Samogitia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Almost coincides with the northern border of the settlement of the Belarusian ethnic group and with the border of Lietuvos Respublika in 1935. This border, marked on all maps, is mentioned in the "Chronicon terrae Prussiae" of 1326. The border received its modern look in 1940.

Wars of the XIV-XX centuries.
0 (zero) years

The formation of ethnic groups and statehood of modern Belarusians and Lithuanians took place within the borders of one state. There were no state wars on the border of modern Belarus and Lietuva. In the XIV-XV centuries, there were poorly documented uprisings against the GDL in Zhmudi-Samogitia. The Vilna region (province) was divided in half according to the native language until the 1980s mova/kalba and there were no wars on the language border during the period under review.

The longest and most uncompromising war of more than 20 years is being waged (today online) between svyadodomy zmagars And lietuviski nationalistai for the right to call the cultural and historical heritage of a common country "one's own". It will soon become a national sport.

General heroes of the XIV-XX centuries.

Complex issue. It's probably easier to list NOT general - such as Simon Budny (1530-93) and Martynas Mažvydas (1510-63), who promoted printing in their native languages. The vast majority of significant historical figures, starting from Gedimina -Gediminas, cause sharp holivars "geta nashee VS jis musu". The situation with common heroes is best illustrated by the cousins ​​of the Radziwills - Nikolai "Cherny" ("honorary Belarusian") and Nikolai "Red" ("honorary Lithuanian").

West. Poland
In a single state 1569-1917 (348 years). In personal union 1385-1569 (aged 184)

General border XIV-XX centuries.

The border along the Podlasie-Brest line was formed by the end of the wars of the GDL-Poland for the Galicia-Volyn inheritance (1340-1385), terminated by the conclusion of the Krevo Union of 1385. Were fixed after the end of the Civil War in the GDL Vytautas VS Jagiello(1381-92) Ostrovets agreement.

Common Heroes

South. Ukraine
In a single state 1362-1569 (207 years). As part of the Commonwealth 1569-1795 (226 years). As part of the Republic of Ingushetia 1795-1917 (122 years old)

General border XIV-XX centuries.

In a single state were united c. Prince Olgerd after the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362 between the troops of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Golden Horde.

The natural border between Belarus and Ukraine is Polesie. Even on the maps of the 16th century, it was depicted as the Sarmatian Sea - the Sea of ​​Herodotus, which separated the Sarmatians and Scythians.
[According to Herodotus "The parents of Targitai (the first man), as the Scythians say, were Zeus and the daughter of the Borisfen (Dnieper) river goddess Api" ]

The border line was finally formed in 1569, when, according to the Union of Lublin, the Russians moved away from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to Poland.

Wars of the XIV-XX centuries.
4 years

After the transition of the Russian Lands (Ukraine) to Poland under the Union of Lublin, the complex relationship between the Cossacks and the crown gave rise to Cossack uprisings. In 1594-96, Nalivaiko, the hetman of the Zaporizhian Army, reached Mogilev with his army. During the Khmelnytsky uprising, the Zaporizhian Army twice entered the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania-Belarus - the battles of Loev in 1649 and 1651.

The uprising of Khmelnytsky, which ended with the Pereyaslav Rada, buried the idea of ​​the Commonwealth of the Three Nations before the uprising of 1863 (in Belarus - the uprising of Kalinovsky).

[ In this brief overview, "wars" refers to major battles with the organized Zaporozhian Host near the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. If you start counting smaller armed conflicts, then on the eastern border of the GDL, mutual border raids lasted for decades. ]

Common Heroes

A long common history gives rise to common heroes. Vseslav Charodey, elected by the people of Kiev to the throne, c. Prince Shvarn of Lithuania - son-in-law of Mindovg and son of Daniil of Galicia, King of Rus'. Princes Konstantin and Konstantin-Vasily Ostrozhsky are the defenders of the state and the support of Orthodoxy. Meletiy Smotrytsky, author of the "Grammar" and archbishop of Polotsk. Kazimir Malevich, founder of the Vitebsk "Affirmative New Art" and author of "Black Square", born in Kyiv.

Belarusian-Ukrainian Polissya still considers itself "Poleshuks" - not Volyn and not Belarus.
Incidentally, the first "bulbashi"- these are the fighters of the Polessky Sich (UPA - UNRA) ataman Borovets-"Bulba" of 1940-1943.

East. Russia
In a single state - as part of the Republic of Ingushetia - 1795-1917 (122 years old)

General border XIV-XX centuries.

They were united into a single state after the divisions of the Commonwealth in 1795.

The common border, which has hardly changed to this day, was formed after the wars of 1487-1537.

Wars of the XIV-XX centuries.
75 years of wars and 23 years of creeping annexation (sections of the Commonwealth)

1368-1372 "Copy of Olgerd at the Moscow Gate" 1406-1408 Vitovt standing on the river. acne
1487-1494 1500-1503 1507-1508 1512-1522 1534-1537 Wars that defined today's frontier
1558-1583 and Domeiko, revered in Belarus - insurgents of anti-Moscow uprisings. The Russian General Wrangel, who fought against the Bolsheviks, is erected monuments in Russia. The Belarusian general Bulak-Balakhovich, who fought against the Bolsheviks and the Moscow authorities, is forbidden to be mentioned in Belarus.

Apotheosis of ambiguity. Vatslav Lastovsky - Belarusian writer, public and political figure, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, historian, philologist, Prime Minister of the BNR, director of the National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus - was arrested and shot in the case of the Union for the Liberation of Belarus.

1939-1941 With the outbreak of the Second World War, clarity does not come. It seems that the Soviet Union helped Belarus to unite. But then who was killed for the sake of Zaslavya?

Clarity comes in 1941. All WWII heroes are common heroes.
Priest. Uniting Catholics and Orthodox of Belarus. He translated the Bible into modern Belarusian. He died in the Trostinets concentration camp in 1942. A common hero. Although... Vincent Godlevsky wrote something about the independence of Belarus. No longer a hero?

Somehow everything is confusing. As a choice of cultural paradigm.

PS.

This page is written about Belarus and for Belarus. There is no objectivity in historical assessments and tactics.
For the Lithuanians, this period is the expansion of the Aukstaits from the coronation of Mindaugas in Kernavė.
For Russians - the gathering of ancestral lands.
For the Poles, this is Poland to Smolensk.
For Ukrainians, it is determined by the inscription on the Beauplan map "Ukraine is the land of the Cossacks."

And even if the events of a hundred years ago over the past 20 years have undergone a radical reassessment, what is there about the Middle Ages. National self-identification is more important than some "historical truth".

The borders of modern Belarus more accurately coincide with the borders of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania than Russia - with the borders of the Russian Empire. The Belarusian ethnos was formed in the 15th century, and statehood - even earlier, the state language is the same as 500 years ago. Where do the people leading the history of our country since 1917 come from?

Poland was part of the Russian Empire from 1815 to 1917. It was a turbulent and difficult period for the Polish people - a time of new opportunities and great disappointments.

Relations between Russia and Poland have always been difficult. First of all, this is a consequence of the neighborhood of the two states, which for many centuries gave rise to territorial disputes. It is quite natural that during major wars, Russia has always been drawn into the revision of the Polish-Russian borders. This radically influenced the social, cultural and economic conditions in the surrounding areas, as well as the way of life of the Poles.

"Prison of Nations"

The "national question" of the Russian Empire caused different, sometimes polar opinions. Thus, Soviet historical science called the empire nothing more than a “prison of peoples,” while Western historians considered it a colonial power.

But in the Russian publicist Ivan Solonevich, we find the opposite statement: “Not a single people in Russia was subjected to such treatment as Ireland was subjected to in the times of Cromwell and the times of Gladstone. With very few exceptions, all the nationalities of the country were perfectly equal before the law.”

Russia has always been a multi-ethnic state: its expansion gradually led to the fact that the already heterogeneous composition of Russian society began to be diluted with representatives of different peoples. This also applied to the imperial elite, which was noticeably replenished with immigrants from European countries who came to Russia "to catch happiness and rank."

For example, an analysis of the lists of the "Razryad" of the late 17th century shows that in the boyar corps there were 24.3% of persons of Polish and Lithuanian origin. However, the vast majority of "Russian foreigners" lost their national identity, dissolving in Russian society.

"Kingdom of Poland"

Having joined Russia following the results of the Patriotic War of 1812, the “Kingdom of Poland” (since 1887 - the “Privislinsky Territory”) had a twofold position. On the one hand, after the division of the Commonwealth, although it was a completely new geopolitical entity, it still retained ethno-cultural and religious links with its predecessor.

And on the other hand, national self-consciousness grew here and the sprouts of statehood made their way, which could not but affect the relationship between the Poles and the central government.
After joining the Russian Empire, the "Kingdom of Poland" undoubtedly expected changes. There were changes, but they were not always perceived unambiguously. During the entry of Poland into Russia, five emperors were replaced, and each had his own view of the westernmost Russian province.

If Alexander I was known as a "polonophile", then Nicholas I built a much more sober and tough policy towards Poland. However, you will not refuse him the desire, in the words of the emperor himself, "to be as good a Pole as a good Russian."

On the whole, Russian historiography positively assesses the results of Poland's centenary entry into the empire. Perhaps it was precisely Russia's balanced policy towards its western neighbor that helped create a unique situation in which Poland, not being an independent territory, maintained its state and national identity for a hundred years.

Hopes and disappointments

One of the first measures introduced by the Russian government was the abolition of the "Napoleon Code" and its replacement by the Polish Code, which, among other measures, provided peasants with land and improved the financial situation of the poor. The Polish Sejm passed the new bill, but refused to ban civil marriage, which grants freedom.

This clearly marked the orientation of the Poles to Western values. There was someone to take an example from. So in the Grand Duchy of Finland, serfdom was already abolished by the time the Kingdom of Poland became part of Russia. Enlightened and liberal Europe was closer to Poland than "peasant" Russia.

After the “Alexandrov freedoms”, the time of the “Nikolaev reaction” came. In the Polish province, almost all office work is translated into Russian, or into French for those who did not speak Russian. The confiscated estates are complained to by persons of Russian origin, and all the highest positions are replaced by Russians.

Nicholas I, who visited Warsaw in 1835, feels a protest brewing in Polish society, and therefore forbids the deputation to express loyal feelings, "in order to protect them from lies."
The tone of the emperor's speech strikes with its uncompromisingness: “I need deeds, not words. If you persist in your dreams of national isolation, of the independence of Poland, and similar fantasies, you will bring upon yourself the greatest misfortune... I'll fix it."

Polish riot

Sooner or later, empires are replaced by national-type states. This problem also affected the Polish province, in which, on the wave of the growth of national consciousness, political movements gain strength, which have no equal among other provinces of Russia.

The idea of ​​national isolation, up to the restoration of the Commonwealth within its former boundaries, embraced ever wider sections of the masses. The dispersal force of the protest was the students, who were supported by workers, soldiers, as well as various strata of Polish society. Later, part of the landlords and nobles joined the liberation movement.

The main points of the demands made by the rebels are agrarian reforms, the democratization of society and, ultimately, the independence of Poland.
But for the Russian state it was a dangerous challenge. The Russian government responded sharply and harshly to the Polish uprisings of 1830-1831 and 1863-1864. The suppression of the riots turned out to be bloody, but there was no excessive harshness that Soviet historians wrote about. The rebels preferred to be sent to remote Russian provinces.

The uprisings forced the government to take a number of countermeasures. In 1832, the Polish Sejm was liquidated and the Polish army was disbanded. In 1864, restrictions were placed on the use of the Polish language and the movement of the male population. To a lesser extent, the results of the uprisings affected the local bureaucracy, although among the revolutionaries there were children of high-ranking officials. The period after 1864 was marked by an increase in "Russophobia" in Polish society.

From dissatisfaction to benefits

Poland, despite the restrictions and infringement of freedoms, received certain benefits from belonging to the empire. So, under the reign of Alexander II and Alexander III, Poles began to be more often appointed to leadership positions. In some counties their number reached 80%. The Poles had the opportunity to advance in the civil service by no means less than the Russians.

Even more privileges were given to Polish aristocrats, who automatically received high ranks. Many of them oversaw the banking sector. Profitable places in St. Petersburg and Moscow were available for the Polish nobility, and they also had the opportunity to open their own business.
It should be noted that, in general, the Polish province had more privileges than other regions of the empire. So, in 1907, at a meeting of the State Duma of the 3rd convocation, it was announced that in various Russian provinces taxation reaches 1.26%, and in the largest industrial centers of Poland - Warsaw and Lodz, it does not exceed 1.04%.

Interestingly, the Privislinsky Krai received 1 ruble 14 kopecks back in the form of subsidies for each ruble given to the state treasury. For comparison, the Middle Black Earth region received only 74 kopecks.
The government spent a lot in the Polish province on education - from 51 to 57 kopecks per person, and, for example, in Central Russia this amount did not exceed 10 kopecks. Thanks to this policy, from 1861 to 1897 the number of literate people in Poland increased 4 times, reaching 35%, although in the rest of Russia this figure fluctuated around 19%.

At the end of the 19th century, Russia embarked on the path of industrialization, backed by solid Western investment. Polish officials also received dividends from this, participating in railway transportation between Russia and Germany. As a result - the emergence of a huge number of banks in major Polish cities.

The year 1917, tragic for Russia, ended the history of “Russian Poland”, giving the Poles the opportunity to establish their own statehood. What Nicholas II promised has come true. Poland gained freedom, but the union with Russia so desired by the emperor did not work out.

POLAND. HISTORY since 1772
Partitions of Poland. First section. In the midst of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774, Prussia, Russia and Austria carried out the first partition of Poland. It was produced in 1772 and ratified by the Sejm under pressure from the occupiers in 1773. Poland ceded to Austria part of Pomerania and Kuyavia (excluding Gdansk and Torun) to Prussia; Galicia, Western Podolia and part of Lesser Poland; eastern Belarus and all lands north of the Western Dvina and east of the Dnieper went to Russia. The victors established a new constitution for Poland, which retained the "liberum veto" and elective monarchy, and created a State Council of 36 elected members of the Sejm. The division of the country awakened a social movement for reform and national revival. In 1773, the Jesuit Order was dissolved and a commission for public education was created, the purpose of which was to reorganize the system of schools and colleges. The four-year Sejm (1788-1792), headed by enlightened patriots Stanislav Malakhovsky, Ignacy Potocki and Hugo Kollontai, adopted a new constitution on May 3, 1791. Under this constitution, Poland became a hereditary monarchy with a ministerial system of executive power and a parliament elected every two years. The principle of "liberum veto" and other pernicious practices were abolished; cities received administrative and judicial autonomy, as well as representation in parliament; peasants, over whom the power of the gentry was maintained, were considered as an estate under state protection; measures were taken to prepare for the abolition of serfdom and the organization of a regular army. The normal work of the parliament and the reforms became possible only because Russia was involved in a protracted war with Sweden, and Turkey supported Poland. However, the magnates opposed the constitution and formed the Targowice Confederation, at the call of which the troops of Russia and Prussia entered Poland.

Second and third sections. January 23, 1793 Prussia and Russia carried out the second partition of Poland. Prussia captured Gdansk, Torun, Greater Poland and Mazovia, and Russia - most of Lithuania and Belarus, almost all of Volhynia and Podolia. The Poles fought but were defeated, the reforms of the Four Years Sejm were reversed, and the rest of Poland became a puppet state. In 1794, Tadeusz Kosciuszko led a massive popular uprising, which ended in defeat. The third partition of Poland, in which Austria participated, took place on October 24, 1795; after that, Poland as an independent state disappeared from the map of Europe.
foreign rule. Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Although the Polish state ceased to exist, the Poles did not give up hope for the restoration of their independence. Each new generation fought, either by joining the opponents of the powers that divided Poland, or by raising uprisings. As soon as Napoleon I began his military campaigns against monarchical Europe, Polish legions were formed in France. Having defeated Prussia, Napoleon created in 1807 from the territories captured by Prussia during the second and third partitions, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw (1807-1815). Two years later, territories that became part of Austria after the third partition were added to it. Miniature Poland, politically dependent on France, had a territory of 160 thousand square meters. km and 4350 thousand inhabitants. The creation of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw was considered by the Poles as the beginning of their complete liberation.
Territory that was part of Russia. After the defeat of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna (1815) approved the divisions of Poland with the following changes: Krakow was declared a free city-republic under the auspices of the three powers that divided Poland (1815-1848); the western part of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw was transferred to Prussia and became known as the Grand Duchy of Poznan (1815-1846); its other part was declared a monarchy (the so-called Kingdom of Poland) and annexed to the Russian Empire. In November 1830, the Poles raised an uprising against Russia, but were defeated. Emperor Nicholas I canceled the constitution of the Kingdom of Poland and began repressions. In 1846 and 1848 the Poles tried to organize uprisings, but failed. In 1863, a second uprising broke out against Russia, and after two years of partisan warfare, the Poles were again defeated. With the development of capitalism in Russia, the Russification of Polish society also intensified. The situation improved somewhat after the 1905 revolution in Russia. Polish deputies sat in all four Russian Dumas (1905-1917), seeking the autonomy of Poland.
Territories controlled by Prussia. On the territory under the rule of Prussia, an intensive Germanization of the former Polish regions was carried out, the farms of Polish peasants were expropriated, and Polish schools were closed. Russia helped Prussia put down the Poznan uprising of 1848. In 1863 both powers concluded the Alvensleben Convention on Mutual Assistance in the Fight against the Polish National Movement. Despite all the efforts of the authorities, at the end of the 19th century. The Poles of Prussia still represented a strong, organized national community.
Polish lands within Austria. On the Austrian Polish lands, the situation was somewhat better. After the Krakow uprising of 1846, the regime was liberalized, and Galicia received local administrative control; schools, institutions and courts used Polish; Jagiellonian (in Krakow) and Lviv universities became all-Polish cultural centers; by the beginning of the 20th century. Polish political parties emerged (National Democratic, Polish Socialist and Peasant). In all three parts of divided Poland, Polish society actively opposed assimilation. The preservation of the Polish language and Polish culture became the main task of the struggle waged by the intelligentsia, primarily poets and writers, as well as the clergy of the Catholic Church.
World War I. New opportunities for achieving independence. The First World War divided the powers that liquidated Poland: Russia was at war with Germany and Austria-Hungary. This situation opened up fateful opportunities for the Poles, but also created new difficulties. First, the Poles had to fight in opposing armies; secondly, Poland became the scene of battles between the warring powers; thirdly, disagreements between Polish political groups escalated. Conservative national democrats led by Roman Dmovsky (1864-1939) considered Germany the main enemy and desired the victory of the Entente. Their goal was to unite all Polish lands under Russian control and obtain the status of autonomy. The radical elements, led by the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), on the contrary, considered the defeat of Russia as the most important condition for achieving Poland's independence. They believed that the Poles should create their own armed forces. A few years before the outbreak of World War I, Jozef Piłsudski (1867-1935), the radical leader of this group, began military training for Polish youth in Galicia. During the war, he formed the Polish legions and fought on the side of Austria-Hungary.
Polish question. August 14, 1914 Nicholas I in an official declaration promised after the war to unite the three parts of Poland into an autonomous state within the Russian Empire. However, in the fall of 1915, most of Russian Poland was occupied by Germany and Austria-Hungary, and on November 5, 1916, the monarchs of the two powers announced a manifesto on the creation of an independent Kingdom of Poland in the Russian part of Poland. On March 30, 1917, after the February Revolution in Russia, the Provisional Government of Prince Lvov recognized Poland's right to self-determination. July 22, 1917 Pilsudski, who fought on the side of the Central Powers, was interned, and his legions were disbanded for refusing to take an oath of allegiance to the emperors of Austria-Hungary and Germany. In France, with the support of the powers of the Entente, in August 1917 the Polish National Committee (PNC) was created, headed by Roman Dmowski and Ignacy Paderewski; the Polish army was also formed with the commander-in-chief Józef Haller. On January 8, 1918, US President Wilson demanded the creation of an independent Polish state with access to the Baltic Sea. In June 1918 Poland was officially recognized as a country fighting on the side of the Entente. On October 6, during the period of the collapse and collapse of the Central Powers, the Regency Council of Poland announced the creation of an independent Polish state, and on November 14, Piłsudski transferred full power in the country. By this time, Germany had already capitulated, Austria-Hungary had collapsed, and a civil war was going on in Russia.
State formation. The new country faced great difficulties. Cities and villages lay in ruins; there were no connections in the economy, which for a long time developed within the framework of three different states; Poland had neither its own currency nor government institutions; finally, its borders were not defined and agreed with the neighbors. Nevertheless, state building and economic recovery proceeded at a rapid pace. After a transitional period, when the socialist cabinet was in power, on January 17, 1919, Paderewski was appointed prime minister, and Dmowski was appointed head of the Polish delegation at the Versailles Peace Conference. On January 26, 1919, elections were held to the Sejm, the new composition of which approved Piłsudski as head of state.
Question about borders. The western and northern borders of the country were determined at the Versailles Conference, according to which part of the Pomerania and access to the Baltic Sea were transferred to Poland; Danzig (Gdansk) received the status of a "free city". At a conference of ambassadors on July 28, 1920, the southern border was agreed upon. The city of Cieszyn and its suburb Cesky Teszyn were divided between Poland and Czechoslovakia. Violent disputes between Poland and Lithuania over Vilna (Vilnius), an ethnically Polish but historically Lithuanian city, ended with its occupation by the Poles on October 9, 1920; accession to Poland was approved on February 10, 1922 by a democratically elected regional assembly.
April 21, 1920 Pilsudski made an alliance with the Ukrainian leader Petliura and launched an offensive to liberate Ukraine from the Bolsheviks. On May 7, the Poles took Kyiv, but on June 8, pressed by the Red Army, they began to retreat. At the end of July, the Bolsheviks were on the outskirts of Warsaw. However, the Poles managed to defend the capital and repel the enemy; this ended the war. The treaty of Riga that followed (March 18, 1921) was a territorial compromise for both sides and was officially recognized by the conference of ambassadors on March 15, 1923.
Internal position. One of the first post-war events in the country was the adoption of a new constitution on March 17, 1921. It established a republican system in Poland, established a bicameral (Sejm and Senate) parliament, proclaimed freedom of speech and organizations, equality of citizens before the law. However, the internal situation of the new state was difficult. Poland was in a state of political, social and economic instability. The Sejm was politically fragmented due to the multitude of parties and political groups represented in it. The ever-changing government coalitions were characterized by instability, and the executive branch as a whole was weak. There were tensions with national minorities, which made up a third of the population. The Locarno Treaties of 1925 did not guarantee the security of Poland's western borders, and the Dawes Plan contributed to the restoration of the German military-industrial potential. Under these conditions, on May 12, 1926, Pilsudski carried out a military coup and established a "sanation" regime in the country; Until his death on May 12, 1935, he directly or indirectly controlled all power in the country. The Communist Party was banned, and political trials with long prison sentences became commonplace. As German Nazism intensified, restrictions were introduced on the basis of anti-Semitism. On April 22, 1935, a new constitution was adopted, which significantly expanded the power of the president, limiting the rights of political parties and the powers of parliament. The new constitution was not approved by the opposition political parties, and the struggle between them and the Piłsudski regime continued until the outbreak of World War II.
Foreign policy. The leaders of the new Polish Republic tried to secure their state by pursuing a policy of non-alignment. Poland did not join the Little Entente, which included Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania. On January 25, 1932, a non-aggression pact was signed with the USSR.
After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933, Poland failed to establish allied relations with France, while Great Britain and France concluded a "pact of consent and cooperation" with Germany and Italy. After that, on January 26, 1934, Poland and Germany signed a non-aggression pact for a period of 10 years, and soon the duration of a similar agreement with the USSR was extended. In March 1936, after the military occupation of the Rhineland by Germany, Poland again unsuccessfully tried to conclude an agreement with France and Belgium on Poland's support for them in the event of a war with Germany. In October 1938, simultaneously with the annexation of the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany, Poland occupied the Czechoslovak part of the Teszyn region. In March 1939, Hitler occupied Czechoslovakia and put forward territorial claims to Poland. On March 31, Great Britain, and on April 13, France guaranteed the territorial integrity of Poland; in the summer of 1939, Franco-Anglo-Soviet negotiations began in Moscow aimed at curbing German expansion. The Soviet Union in these negotiations demanded the right to occupy the eastern part of Poland and at the same time entered into secret negotiations with the Nazis. On August 23, 1939, a German-Soviet non-aggression pact was concluded, the secret protocols of which provided for the division of Poland between Germany and the USSR. Having ensured Soviet neutrality, Hitler untied his hands. On September 1, 1939, World War II began with an attack on Poland.
government in exile. The Poles, despite the promises of military assistance from France and Great Britain (both of them declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939), could not hold back the unexpected invasion of powerful motorized German armies. The situation became hopeless after the Soviet troops attacked Poland from the east on 17 September. The Polish government and the remnants of the armed forces crossed the border into Romania, where they were interned. The Polish government in exile was headed by General Władysław Sikorski. In France, new Polish army, naval and air forces were formed with a total strength of 80 thousand people. The Poles fought on the side of France until its defeat in June 1940; then the Polish government moved to the UK, where it reorganized the army, which later fought in Norway, North Africa and Western Europe. In the Battle of England in 1940, Polish pilots destroyed more than 15% of all downed German aircraft. In total, more than 300 thousand Poles served abroad, in the armed forces of the allies.
German occupation. The German occupation of Poland was particularly brutal. Hitler included part of Poland in the Third Reich, and transformed the rest of the occupied territories into a general government. All industrial and agricultural production in Poland was subordinated to the military needs of Germany. Polish higher education institutions were closed, and the intelligentsia was persecuted. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to work or imprisoned in concentration camps. Polish Jews were subjected to particular cruelty, who were first concentrated in several large ghettos. When in 1942 the leaders of the Reich took the "final solution" of the Jewish question, Polish Jews were deported to death camps. The largest and most infamous Nazi death camp in Poland was the camp near the city of Auschwitz, where more than 4 million people died.
The Polish people offered both civil disobedience and military resistance to the Nazi occupiers. The Polish Home Army became the strongest resistance movement in Nazi-occupied Europe. When the deportation of Warsaw Jews to death camps began in April 1943, the Warsaw Ghetto (350,000 Jews) revolted. After a month of hopeless struggle, without any outside help, the uprising was crushed. The Germans destroyed the ghetto, and the surviving Jewish population was deported to the Treblinka extermination camp.
Polish-Soviet agreement of July 30, 1941. After the German attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the Polish government in exile, under British pressure, concluded an agreement with the Soviet Union. Under this treaty, diplomatic relations between Poland and the USSR were restored; the Soviet-German pact regarding the partition of Poland was annulled; all prisoners of war and deported Poles were to be released; The Soviet Union provided its territory for the formation of the Polish army. However, the Soviet government did not comply with the terms of the agreement. It refused to recognize the pre-war Polish-Soviet border and released only a part of the Poles who were in Soviet camps.
On April 26, 1943, the Soviet Union severed diplomatic relations with the Polish government in exile, protesting against the latter's appeal to the International Red Cross with a request to investigate the brutal murder of 10,000 Polish officers interned in 1939 in Katyn. Subsequently, the Soviet authorities formed the core of the future Polish communist government and army in the Soviet Union. In November-December 1943, at a conference of three powers in Tehran (Iran), an agreement was reached between the Soviet leader I.V. Stalin, American President F. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister W. Churchill that the eastern border of Poland should pass along the line Curzon (it approximately corresponded to the border drawn in accordance with the 1939 treaty between the German and Soviet governments).
Lublin government. In January 1944, the Red Army crossed the border of Poland, pursuing the retreating German troops, and on July 22, the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKNO) was created in Lublin with the support of the USSR. On August 1, 1944, the underground armed forces of the Home Army in Warsaw, under the leadership of General Tadeusz Komorowski, began an uprising against the Germans. The Red Army, which was at that moment on the outskirts of Warsaw on the opposite bank of the Vistula, suspended its offensive. After 62 days of desperate fighting, the uprising was crushed, and Warsaw was almost completely destroyed. On January 5, 1945, the PKNO in Lublin was reorganized into the Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland.
At the Yalta Conference (February 4-11, 1945), Churchill and Roosevelt officially recognized the inclusion of the eastern part of Poland into the USSR, agreeing with Stalin that Poland would receive compensation from the German territories in the west. In addition, the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition agreed that non-communists would be included in the Lublin government, and then free elections would be held in Poland. Stanisław Mikołajczyk, who resigned as prime minister of the government in exile, and other members of his cabinet joined the Lublin government. On July 5, 1945, after the victory over Germany, it was recognized by Great Britain and the USA as the Provisional Government of National Unity of Poland. The government in exile, which at that time was headed by the leader of the Polish Socialist Party, Tomasz Artsyszewski, was dissolved. In August 1945, at the Potsdam Conference, an agreement was reached that the southern part of East Prussia and the territory of Germany east of the Oder and Neisse rivers were transferred under Polish control. The Soviet Union also provided Poland with 15% of the 10 billion dollars in reparations that defeated Germany had to pay.