[Poland’s] final royal election took place on 7 September 1764 in the village of Wola near Warsaw. In the presence of the Russian military, noblemen convened in the village elected Stanisław Poniatowski to be Poland’s new monarch. Prof. Richard Butterwick-Pawlikowski talks to the Polish History Museum about what happened behind the scenes of the election,…
“Fight just like a Polish soldier has always done throughout history. Fight tenaciously, and yet chivalrously!” Thus, General Stanisław Maczek, the model of an indomitable soldier, encouraged his soldiers to fight. Jacques Wiacek, author of “Histoire de la 1re division blindée polonaise (1939-1945): L’odyssée du phénix”, first French-language monograph on the 1st Division of General…
“Until Piłsudski’s assumption of this title, the title of marshal did not exist in the Polish military tradition”, says Professor Włodzimierz Suleja. How did it happen that Józef Piłsudski became First Marshal of the independent Poland? Józef Piłsudski is one of the most distinguished figures involved in the restoration of sovereignty after the First…
The development of a new political landscape in Central Europe after World War I was by no means something temporary. About probably the most difficult moments in the modern history of Poland and about the irrationality of a fragmented history we talk to Professor Andrzej Chwalba. polishhistory: How did Poland in 1919 differ from other countries…
The beginnings of the Polish state have received a lot of attention, and this period still raises many questions and doubts. How did people live in Poland a thousand years ago? How could Krakow become the cradle of the Piast state? What was the role of Mieszko I’s baptism? And what do we actually know…
Withal, do not forget the deade: whatever your stacyon, take this dae to remember your father’s soule, and your mother’s, and the soules of your compeers. polishhistory: Dr. Grodziska, the dead are revered across all cultures. What is the origin of the traditions and customs underlying All Saints’ Day in our culture? Dr. Karolina…
