Poland

Called by the natives Polska , “a plain,” a former kingdom of Europe,—renowned, in med iæval history, as the sole champion of Christen dom against the Turks, and more recently, and at present, an object of general and profound sympathy throughout Western Europe, from its unprecedented misfortunes. The natives belong to the great Slavonic family. The word Pole is not older than the 10th century. Poland first took rank as one of the political powers of Europe, when Micislas I. (962-992) occupied the throne and became a convert to Christianity. Boleslas I. (992-1025) surnamed “the Great,” reunited the separate portions of the kingdom (which had been divided by Micislas among his sons) and extended it beyond the Oder, the Car path i ans, and the Dniester, and sustained a succe ful war with the emperor Henry II. of Germany, conquering Cracovia, Moravia, Lusatia, and Misnia. He also took part in the di ensions among the petty Ru ian princes. Boleslas was recognized as “king” by the German emperors. After a period of anarchy he was succeeded by his son, Casimir (1040-1058), whose reign, and that of his warlike son, Boleslas II. (1058-1081), though brilliant, were of little real profit to the country. Boleslas III. (1102-1139), an energetic monarch, annexed Pomerania, defeated the pagan Pru ians, and defended Silesia against the German emperors. A division of the kingdom among his sons was productive of much internal di ensions, under cover of which Silesia was severed from Poland; ultimately, Casimir II. (1177-1194) reunited the severed portions, with the exception of Silesia. His death was the signal for a contest among the various claimants for the throne, which was speedily followed, as usual, by a division of the country, and during this disturbance Pomerania emancipated itself from Polish rule. About the same time the Teutonic Knights were summoned by the Duke of Masovia to aid him against the pagan Pru ians, but they soon became as formidable enemies to Poland as the Pru ians; and conquered a great part of Podlachia and Lithuania. The Mongols swept over the country in 1241, reducing it to the verge of ruin, and defeating the Poles in a great battle near Wahlstatt. From this time Poland began to decline; various districts were ceded to the markgrafs of Brandenburg, while many districts began to be colonized by Germans. Ladislaus (1305-1333), surnamed Lokietek , “the Short,” again restored unity to the country. In conjunction with Gedymin, grand duke of Lithuania, a vigorous war was carried on against the Teutonic Knights, on returning from which the aged monarch (he was now seventy years old) experienced a triumphant reception from his subjects, who hailed him as the “father of his country.” His son, Casimir III. the Great (1333-1370), greatly increased the power and prosperity of Poland. In the latter part of his reign he was compelled to defend sundry new acquisitions against the Tartars, Lithuanians, and Wall a chi ans, which he did succe fully. With Casimir, the Piast dynasty became extinct. Jagello (Ladislaus IV.), grand duke of Lithuania, the son-in-law of Louis the Great, king of Hungary, founded the dynasty of the Jagellons (1386-1572), and for the first time united Lithuania and Poland. Casimir IV. (1444-1492) recovered West Pru ia from the Teutonic Knights. The Wall a chi an invaders carried off 100,000 Poles, and sold them to the Turks as slaves, 1498. Sigismund I. (1506-1548) surnamed “the Great,” raised the country to the utmost pitch of prosperity; he was forced into a war with Ru ia, in which he lost Smolensk. Sigismund II., August us, was a succe or worthy of him; Lithuania was finally joined indi olubly to Poland. Livonia was conquered from the Knights Sword-bearers. (See Sword-bearers, Knights .) Stephen Battory (1575-1586), voivode of Transylvania, the second elective monarch, a man of energy and talent, carried on war succe fully against the Ru ians, pursued them into the very heart of their own country, and compelled the czar to sue for peace; he also subdued the semi-independent Co acks of the Ukraine. His succe or, Sigismund III. (1586-1632), who was succeeded by his sons, Ladislaus VI. (1632-1648) and John Casimir (1648-1672), was of the Vasa family, and was the crown prince of Sweden. These three monarchs were most unworthy succe ors of Poland’s ablest king. They were always quarreling with their neighbors, declaring war with Ru ia, Sweden, or Turkey, in the most imprudent and reckle manner, and often without valid pretext. But the Polish armies, though as little fostered and cared for as the other portion of the nation, were everywhere victorious; the Swedish and Muscovite armies were succe ively annihilated; Moscow was taken, and the Ru ians reduced to such an abject condition that they offered to make Sigismund’s son, Ladislaus, their czar. Sweden made a similar offer to another son of the Polish monarch; but the latter’s absurd behavior lost for Poland this rich result of her great victories; and the foolish policy of the whole three not only rendered fruitle all the lavish expenditure of Polish blood and treasure, but lost the country many of her richest provinces, and left her without a single ally. During the reign of this dynasty Wall a chia and Moldavia were snatched by the Turks from under the Polish protectorate; Livonia with Riga was conquered (1605-1621), along with a part of Pru ia (1629) by Sweden; and Brandenburg established itself in complete independence. The Co acks rose in rebellion to a man, put themselves under the protection of Ru ia, and ever afterwards proved themselves the most inveterate enemies of the Poles. In the reign of John Casimir, Poland was attacked simultaneously by Ru ia, Sweden, Brandenburg, the Transylvanians and the Co acks; the country was entirely overrun; Warsaw, Wilna, and Lemburg taken; but Czarniecki, after defeating Poland’s enemies in detail, ignominiously expelled them from the country. But in subsequent treaties Ducal or East Pru ia was given up to Brandenburg; almost all Livonia to Sweden, and Smolensk, Severia, or Tchernigov, and the Ukraine beyond the Dnieper were given to Ru ia. During the reign of Michael Wisniowiecki (1668-1674) a war with Turkey, concluded by an ignominious peace, was the chief event. But the senate rejected the shameful treaty, the Polish army was reinforced, the Polish monarch resigned the command to John Sobieski, and the Turks were routed with great slaughter at Choczim (1673). After the reign of Sobieski, August us II. of Saxony entered Poland at the head of a Saxon army, and succeeded in obtaining the throne. His war with the Turks restored to Poland part of the Ukraine and the fortre of Kaminiec; but that with Charles XII. brought nothing but misfortune. August us returned after the battle of Poltava; his rival retired without a contest; a close alliance was formed with Ru ia, and the Ru ian troops which had campaigned in Poland against the Swedes were, along with his Saxon army, retained. The Poles demanded their extradition, but in vain; and the Ru ian cabinet interfered (1717) between the king and his subjects, compelling both parties to sign a treaty of peace. This was the commencement of Poland’s dependence on Ru ia and her consequent decline. By the instigation of Peter the Great, the Polish army was reduced from 80,000 to 18,000. For the ma acre of Protestants at Thorn see Ma acre . Civil war so weakened the kingdom that it fell an easy prey to Ru ia, Austria, and Pru ia, in 1772, when the first partition was effected. Catherine II. of Ru ia, on various pretexts, advanced her army into Poland (1792), and the fruitle resistance to the united Pru ians and Ru ians, headed by Joseph Antony Poniatowski and Kosciusko, was followed by a second partition (1793) between Ru ia and Pru ia, which the diet were forced to sanction at the point of the bayonet. A general rising took place (1794); the Pru ians were compelled to retreat to their own country; the Ru ians were several times routed; but an Austrian army advanced, compelling the Poles to retreat; and fresh hordes of the Ru ians arriving, Kosciusko at the head of the last patriot army, was defeated; and the sack of Praga, followed by the capture of Warsaw, finally annihilated the Polish monarchy. The third and last partition (1795) distributed the remainder of the country between Ru ia, Pru ia, and Austria. King Stanislaus resigned the crown, and died broken-hearted at St. Petersburg in 1798. Napoleon I. established the duchy of Warsaw (1807), chiefly out of the Pru ian share of Poland, with the elector of Saxony at its head. The division of Poland was re-arranged by the Congre of Vienna in 1815. On November 30, 1830, Const an tine (brother of the czar and military governor) and his Ru ians were driven out of Warsaw, and a general insurrection of the people, headed by the aristocracy, took place; and military leaders, as Radzivil, Dembinski, Bem, etc., were soon found. From January, 1831, till September 8 of the same year, a series of bloody conflicts were fought, in which the Pru ians and Austrians, with pitiable subservience, aided the czar. At first, the Poles were succe ful; but the taking of the capital by Paskievitch soon ended the war, which was followed, as a matter of course, by imprisonment, banishment, confiscation, and enforced service in the Ru ian army. From this time, the independence of Poland was suppre ed, and in 1832 it was declared to be an integral part of the Ru ian empire, and the most severe and arbitrary measures taken to Ru ianize the people. The outbreaks of 1833 and 1846 were punished by the gallows. Simultaneous disturbances (1846) in the Pru ian and Austrian portions of Poland were summarily suppre ed; their leaders in Pru ia were imprisoned, and only saved from death by the revolution of March, 1848, at Berlin; and those in Austria were butchered by the peasantry, who preferred the Austrian to a national government. On November 6, 1846, the republic of Cracow was incorporated with Austria. In 1861 another insurrection broke out, and Poland was declared (in October) in a state of siege; the country continued in a state of commotion without any very decided outbreak; and on January 13, 1863, Lithuania and Volhynia were also put in a state of siege. In February, 1863, Mieroslavski raised the standard of insurrection in the northwest, on the Posen frontier, and many districts of Augustovo, Radom, Lublin, Volhynia, and Lithuania, were speedily in insurrection. It was a mere guerrilla war, and no great or decisive conflicts took place, but the whole populations of villages were put to the sword by the Ru ians; while murders and a a inations marked the reign of terror of the National Committee. At last, with the officious a istance of Pru ia, and the secret sympathy and support of Austria, the czar’s troops succeeded in trampling out (1864) the last embers of insurrection. In 1868 the government of Poland was absolutely incorporated with that of Ru ia.