Nation and Memory in Eastern Europe (19th and 20th century)

Lecture 6Polish History II

Week 7

Why was Poland partitioned and what can be done to regain independence?

God’s Punishment – Sins

Evilness of Prussia, Austria, Russia – Break of international law

Weakness of old Polish Constitution – Anarchy, not Liberty

Guilt of noble factions - treason

Oppression of peasants

Polish Backwardness

Back to Catholic values, support Catholic Church, pray and live virtuous life

Uprisings, waiting for international crisis, European war

Restitution of May Constitution 1791, liberal Constitution, stronger government

Fight against traitors, replacement of nobility in national leadership

Liberation of peasants, (National) Education of Peasants

Modernisation, Polish Middle Class, Organic Work

Bishop Adam Stanisław Naruszewicz, 1733-1796

History of the Polish Nation

Teki Naruszewicza (Collection of Documents of Polish History)

Enlightenment

Collaboration

Loyalism Surrender Treason Duty

Resistance Idealism Rebellion Duty Treason

Conciliation Realism Moderation Collaboration Moderation

Emigration

Free after Norman Davies, Heart of Europe: The Past in Poland’s Present. New Edition (Oxford, 2001), p. 157

Options/Perspectives‘Neutral’ Ideas Moderates Insurgents Partitioning

Powers

Outline

1. Poland and the Napoleonic Wars2. „For our and for your freedom...“3. Realism vs. Romanticism4. Conclusion: Problems of Polish nation building

Suchodolski: The death of Józef Poniatowskis at Leipzig

1813

Grand Duchy of Warsaw 1807 – 1815

Kingdom of Poland 1815 – 1864 (1831)

Grand Duchy of Posen 1815 – 1848

Crown Land of Galicia and 1867 – 1918Lodomeria

Autonomy or Semi-Autonomy

Outline

1. Poland and the Napoleonic Wars2. „For our and for your freedom...“3. Realism vs. Romanticism4. Conclusion: Problems of Polish nation building

November Uprising, 1830

Finis Poloniae

1831

Polish Emigration

• Conservative-aristocratic (Czartoryski in Hotel Lambert)

• Moderate democratic: Polish National Committee

• Radical: Polish Democratic Society (TDP)

Joachim Lelewel1786-1861

Poland, her History and Affairs Surveyed, in 20 vols, Posen, 1853-1876

Karol Szajnocha1818-1868

Jadwiga i Jagiello

Romanticism

Uprisings before 1900

1794 Kosciuszko-Uprising (Russia)Also in Greater Poland (Prussia)

1806 Uprising in Greater Poland (Prussia)

1830 November Uprising (Russia)

1846 Greater Poland (attempt, Prussia) and Galician Slaughter, Kraków (Austria)

1848 Greater Poland (Prussia)

1863 January Uprising (Russia)

Polish lands, 1840-1848

Polish participation in European revolutions 1848-1849

January Uprising, 1863/64

1863

Outline

1. Poland and the Napoleonic Wars2. „For our and for your freedom...“3. Realism vs. Romanticism4. Conclusion: Problems of Polish nation building

Cracow School:Michał Bobrzyński 1849-1935

A short history of Poland, 1879

The Birth of the Polish State, 2 vols., 1914-22

Realism and Positivism

Warsaw School:

Tadeusz Korzon

1839-1918

Organic Work

Starting point: failed insurrections

Poland culturally and economically too underdeveloped

to sustain an independent state

New strategy:

• Improve industry and trade in the Polish provinces

• Build towns and railways

• Organize cooperatives and organize Polish peasantry

• Raise the literacy and the national consciousness of the

population

Important advocates: Stańczyk group in Cracow and

Warsaw positivists

The Polish lands 1863 - 1914

Russian Empire Kingdom of Poland becomes Vistula land RussificationDiscrimination of Catholic Church (Uniate Church)University of Warsaw replaced by Imperial University

of Warsaw (Teaching in Russian)

German EmpireAnti-Catholic policy under BismarckGermanisation of School systemSchool strike after attempt to introduce German language

in religious instructionPolicy to promote settlement of ethnic GermansDiscrimination of ethnic Poles

Michał Drzymała, his wife and his wagon

Crownland Galicia and Lodomeria, 1910Population: 8 Million

West Galiciain %

East Galiciain %

Together

Roman-Catholic 2,381,940 88.6 1,349,630 25.3 3,731,570 46.5

Greek-Catholic 86,585 3.2 3,294,420 61.7 3,381,005 42.1

Jewish 213,173 7.9 658,722 12.4 871,895 10.9

Protestant 7,953 0.3 30,371 0.6 28,324 0.5

Orthodox 165 0.0 2,680 0.0 2,845 0.0

Austria-Hungary after 1867

Crownland Galicia and LodomeriaPolish elite profits from imperial reformsClose cooperation with Polish elitesSocial, political, economic and cultural dominance of

PolesPolonisation of administration, educationDominance of Polish language in universities in Cracow

and LwówModern political parties develop, Hundreds of Polish newspapers and journals,

thousands of books are publishedPolish politicians (Polish club in Austrian parliament)

very influentialPolish ministers and gouvernors

Galicia – the Polish Piedmont

Outline

1. Poland and the Napoleonic Wars2. „For our and for your freedom...“3. Realism vs. Romanticism4. Conclusion: Problems of Polish nation building

Putzger, Historischer Weltatlas, pp. 106 f.

The Making of the Polish Nation

PRO• Polish language and long tradition of literate culture• Influence in Galicia since 1867• German Empire: rule of law• Roman-Catholic faith• Common history of most of the territory until the end of the 18th c.• Existence of a numerous, genuinely Polish elite – the nobility• Cultural bonds: similar traditions, costumes, songs and so on• Emancipation/liberation of peasants in Prussia, Austria, RussiaParadox: creating precondition for Polish nation building

CONTRA• Partitions of Poland: no state• Living in the Russian Empire, Prussia/German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.• No common present• Opportunities for educated Poles in the service of the Empires• Small middle class• Sharp social conflict between peasants and estate owners• Unclear borders• Unclear national boundaries (for ex. Polish Jew or Jewish Pole)• National 'awakening' of Ukrainians, Lithuanias etc.• Policy of Russification and Germanization