31 August is considered the holiday of Solidarity (NSZZ Solidarność) and the Gdańsk Accord signed on that day its founding act. However, the shape of the union was being ‘forged’ throughout the following several days. In August, there was no talk of a Polish nationwide organisation and a path towards it turned out a winding…
The end of World War I was greeted with relief throughout Europe, but in most countries this was accompanied by profound disillusionment with the political and social establishment which had brought it about. Such feelings led to revolution in Russia, Germany and Austria, and violent unrest in France, Great Britain, Italy and elsewhere as many…
The communist modernization that began in Poland after 1945 was focused mainly on three issues: the reconstruction of the social structure, urbanization (both the expansion of old cities and the establishment of new ones), and strenuous, accelerated industrialization. This modernization would bring profound transformations in both the social and cultural spheres. Among the intended goals…
The nature of the August 1980 strikes was not unlike that of a social contract. Tens of thousands of individuals who took industrial action had agreed between themselves that society must be restored after years of enduring erosion and decay at the hands of the Communist regime. by Krzysztof Mazur A political community could…
Piłsudski was of the opinion that the Republic of Poland could not survive between “two millstones” – the Russian Empire and Germany. Germany was ethnically homogeneous; it was impossible to break them down. The shifting of the border in Silesia, Pomerania or Prussia would not change the essence of the potential disproportion between them and…
The Battle on the Vistula was the biggest in the Polish-Bolshevik war of 1919–1920. The battle between the Vistula, Niemen and Bug Rivers still surprises with its dramatic action and unexpected reversals. by Janusz Odziemkowski After a series of Polish strategic failures in the war in 1919, in March 1920 the Bolsheviks developed a…
