Synopses & Reviews
EVENTS AND PERSONALITIES IN POLISH HISTORYBY PAUL SUPERCONTENTS On the pronunciation of Polish names Chapter 1 During the Rise of Poland The conversion of Poland to Christianity Boleslaw the Brave, first crowned King of Poland The thread of the story The Teutonic Knights The Tartar Invasions Kazimierz, well called the Great Queen Jadwiga, who sacrificed self and founded an Empire The battle of Grunwald, the defeat of the Teutonic Knights The Act of Horod, a unique treaty Wit Stwosz, mediaeval sculptor Chapter 2 During Polands Golden Age King Zygmunt I, peace and enlightenment Queen Bona Zygmunt II August The Reformation in Poland The Union of Lublin Four stars in the sixteenth century firmament Jan Zamoyski, greatest Pole of Polands greatest age The election of Henry of Valois Stefan Batory, king indeed The long reign of Zygmunt III Warsaw becomes the capital A Polish prince is Czar of Russia Poland reaches its greatest extent Chapter 3. During the Decline and Fall The Cossack and Tartar wars First use of the liberum veto The Swedish invasion Jan Sobieski saves Vienna August II, Polands worst king Stanislaw Poniatowski, Polands last king The Bar Confederation and General Pulaski The first partition of Poland The Educational Commission The Constitution of the Third of May, 75 The second and third partitions Kosciusz ko Chapter 4. During the Period of the Partitions Prince Jozef Poniatowski and Napoleon The Uprising of 1830 The movement for Independence The Uprising of 1863 The preservation of the Polish spirit Adam Mickiewicz, poet Jan Matejko, painter, Henryk Sienkiewicz, novelist Interpreters of Polish spirit through music Fryderyk Chopin Stanislaw Moniuszko Ignacy Jan Paderewski The spirit of Polish youth Chapter 5 The World War and the Great Deliverance Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, creator of modern Poland Conclusion References for further reading
Synopsis
The Polish people enter into recorded history with the conversion of their ruler Mieszko to Christianity in the year 966 A. D., this enlightened leader bringing his people with him into the family of Christian nations. With this event Poland emerges from among the Slavic tribes occupying the areas east of the Elbe and becomes enrolled among the historic and civilized countries of Europe. Both the causes and the consequences of that act are of more than purely Polish interest. As far back as Charlemagne there had begun an expansion of the Teutonic nations toward the east. This is that vast movement called the Drang nach Osten, 'the pressure toward the east'. The Slavs between the Elbe and the Oder, less warlike, smaller in stature than the Teutons, not well organized, relatively ill armed, were slowly subjugated. When Otto I of Saxony was crowned Emperor in 962 his already great power so enhanced that he became a menace to all the Slavs east of him. Mieszko soon saw that the only means of preventing the enslavement or extermination of his people lay in the same alliance that had so strengthened Otto, that with the Church. For as long as the Poles were heathen they were the legitimate prey of any Christian king, but as Christians they would at once be on a par with other western nations. Their entering the fold of the Catholic Church would deprive Otto of a valid excuse for incursions into their territory, win the sympathy of the other nations of Christendom, and gain the favour and advocacy of the Pope. By calling in monks from France and Italy they would forge valuable ties with those lands. These were the motives prompting Polish adhesion to the Christian Church. The results were not only good but momentous. The nation became really and increasingly Christian. In the first centuries of Christianity the people received the light of Latin learning and the advantages of western civilization, largely from the hands of Benedictine, Eremite, and Cistercian monks from the monasteries of Liege, Cluny, and Monte Casino. The Pope became their advocate. But two results even more far-reaching than these were determined by. this step. First, in deciding' to be Catholic, Poland decided to face west. The Czechs had already taken the same step. But when Poland also became Roman Catholic, a second, less desirable effect was permanently to divide Slavdom, for most of the other Slav nations, the Russians, the Bulgarians, and the Serbs, are of the Eastern Orthodox faith.