Polish cause during the Great War, part 2: on the side of the Entente
Headquarters of the XNUMXst Polish Corps in Russia (more precisely, “in the East”). In the center sits General Jozef Dovbor-Musnitsky.
Poland's attempts to restore independence on the basis of one of the dividing powers brought very limited results. The Austrians were too weak and the Germans too possessive. Initially, great hopes were placed on the Russians, but cooperation with them was very difficult, complex and required great humility from the Poles. Cooperation with France brought much more.
Throughout the eighteenth century - and much of the nineteenth century - Russia was considered Poland's most important ally and kindest neighbor. The relationship was not spoiled by the first partition of Poland, but only by the war of 1792 and the brutal suppression of the Kosciuszko uprising in 1794. But even these events were considered more accidental than the true face of the relationship. The Poles wanted to unite with Russia in the Napoleonic era, despite the existence of the pro-French Duchy of Warsaw. One way or another, the Russian army, which occupied the duchy in 1813-1815, behaved quite correctly. This is one of the reasons why the Polish society enthusiastically welcomed the restoration of the Kingdom of Poland under the rule of Tsar Alexander. Initially, he enjoyed great respect among the Poles: it was in his honor that the song "God, something is Poland ..." was written.
They hoped to restore the Republic of Poland under his scepter. That he would return the Captured Lands (that is, the former Lithuania and Podolia) to the Kingdom, and then return Lesser Poland and Greater Poland. Quite likely, as everyone who knew Finnish history understood. In the 1809 century, Russia waged wars with Sweden, each time capturing pieces of Finland. Another war broke out in XNUMX, after which the rest of Finland fell to St. Petersburg. Tsar Alexander created the Grand Duchy of Finland here, to which he returned the lands conquered in the wars of the eighteenth century. That is why the Poles in the Kingdom of Poland hoped to join the Taken Lands - with Vilnius, Grodno and Novogrudok.
Unfortunately, King Alexander of Poland was at the same time the emperor of Russia and did not really understand the differences between the two countries. Even less so was his brother and successor Mikołaj, who ignored the constitution and tried to rule Poland as he had ruled Russia. This led to the revolution that broke out in November 1830, and then to the Polish-Russian war. Both of these events are known today by the somewhat misleading name of the November Uprising. Only then did the hostility of the Poles towards the Russians begin to appear.
The November uprising was lost, and the Russian occupation troops entered the Kingdom. However, the Kingdom of Poland did not cease to exist. The government functioned, albeit with limited powers, the Polish judiciary functioned, and the official language was Polish. The situation can be compared to the recent US occupation of Afghanistan or Iraq. However, although the Americans finally ended their occupation of both of these countries, the Russians were reluctant to do so. In the 60s, the Poles decided that change was too slow, and then the January Uprising broke out.
However, even after the January Uprising, the Kingdom of Poland did not cease to exist, although its independence was further limited. The kingdom could not be liquidated - it was created on the basis of a decision of the great powers adopted at the Congress of Vienna, therefore, by liquidating it, the king would leave other European monarchs without attention, and he could not afford it. The name "Kingdom of Poland" was gradually used less and less in Russian documents; more and more often the term "viclanian lands", or "lands on the Vistula" was used. The Poles, who refused to be enslaved by Russia, continued to call their country "Kingdom". Only those who tried to please the Russians and accepted their subordination to St. Petersburg used the name "Vislav country". You can meet him today, but he is the result of frivolity and ignorance.
And many agreed with Poland's dependence on Petersburg. They were then called "realists". Most of them adhered to very conservative views, which, on the one hand, facilitated cooperation with the very reactionary tsarist regime, and on the other, discouraged the Polish workers and peasants. Meanwhile, at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, it was the peasants and workers, and not the nobility and landowners, who constituted the most numerous and important part of society. In the end, their support was received by the National Democracy, headed by Roman Dmovsky. In its political program, consent to the temporary domination of St. Petersburg over Poland was combined with a simultaneous struggle for Polish interests.
The coming war, the approach of which was felt throughout Europe, was to bring Russia a triumph over Germany and Austria and thus the unification of the Polish lands under the rule of the tsar. According to Dmowski, the war should have been used to increase Polish influence on the Russian administration and to ensure the autonomy of the united Poles. And in the future, perhaps, there will also be a chance for complete independence.
Competitive Legion
But Russia did not care about the Poles. True, the war with Germany was given the form of a pan-Slavic struggle - shortly after it began, the capital of Russia changed the German-sounding name of Petersburg to the Slavic Petrograd - but it was an action aimed at uniting all subjects around the tsar. Politicians and generals in Petrograd believed they would quickly win the war and win it themselves. Any attempt to support the Polish cause, made by the Poles sitting in the Russian Duma and State Council, or by the landowning and industrial aristocracy, was repelled by a wall of reluctance. Only in the third week of the war - August 14, 1914 - did Grand Duke Nikolai Mikolayevich issue an appeal to the Poles, announcing the unification of Polish lands. The appeal had no political significance: it was issued not by the tsar, not by the parliament, not by the government, but only by the commander-in-chief of the Russian army. The appeal had no practical significance: no concessions or decisions followed. The appeal had some - quite insignificant - propaganda value. However, all hopes collapsed even after a cursory reading of her text. It was vague, concerned with an uncertain future, and communicated what everyone really knew: Russia intended to annex the Polish-populated lands of its western neighbors.
