The emblem of the Poles became the White Eagle when, in early days, Lech, their prince, found a nest of white eagles on a rock on which he pitched his camp on the site of what is now the town of Gniezno ("Nest"). Twice in history has Poland saved European civilization—the first time when she broke the Mongol hordes of Genghis Khan at the battle of Lignica in 1241, again in 1683 when, answering the appeal of Christendom, she smashed Turkey under the walls of Vienna.
When Aethelwulf, father of Alfred the Great, was King of the West Saxons in Britain and struggling against the Danes, Polish history. was beginning with the election in 842 of Piast, neither conqueror nor warrior but peaceful artisan, by the Slav tribes of Polaniens as their ruler. A century later Piast's grandson brought Christianity to his kingdom.
At the beginning of the twelfth century Poland divided into principal ities. Weakened though she was by these divisions, it was she who dammed the Tartar invasion which had swept across Russia, In 1333 Poland' was again united under Casimir the Great, who "found Poland, of wood and left her of stone," and of" the end of the sixteenth century was the largest state in Europe, and' the only country where religious ireedem prevailed. She shone in the arts and sciences—in 1543 Nicholas Copernicus, founder of modern astronomy, working with no instruments but his eyes, his brain and his courage, published his treatise proving that the earth moves round the sun, In 1572 Poland became a republic with kings elected for life. But this political liberty was her downfall for, subject to all the inherent weaknesses of the parliamentary system vis-a-vis despotism, she was continuously exposed to the onslaughts of the European autocrats and was all through the seventeenth century forced to waste her strength and resources battling against invasion by Turks, Swedes and Russians. It was Poland under King John Sobieski who saved Christendom by smashing the Turks under the walls of Vienna in 1683—
Turkey being at that time the great est military power in the woud, The elective system for Poland's kings was an opportunity for intrigue and interference from without, Catherine of Russia in 1764 imposed her candidate, Stanislas Poniatowski, on the country, and eight years afterwards, in 1772, the first partition of Poland took place, Deeply impressed by this disaster, Poland began stupendous internal reforms. Russia and Prussia considered this to be "anarchy," and annexed further provinces in 1793. General Thaddeus Kosciuszko called Poland to arms. But after a few initial successes he was defeated and Poland lost her freedom in 1795. To quote Thomas Campbell's well known lines, Hope for a season bade the world farewell, And Freedom shrieked when Kosciuszko fell!
"The partition of Poland," says Lord Eversley, the English historian, although remote and indirect, was the essential cause of the World War." The partition overthrow European equilibrium, introduced the victory of violence and the principle: "Might is Right."
During the Napoleonic era, General Dabrowski formed Polish Legions to fight on the side of France in Italy. Napoleon intended to re-establish the Polish State and created its nucleus, the Duchy of Warsaw. After Napoleon's fall the Congress of Vienna assigned in 1815 the major part of Poland to Russia, with the stipulation that Poland should have self-government, But the Czar exercised such tyranny that the. Polish nation rose in 1830 to free itself from Russian rule. The insurrection was suppressed after a year's war and the last shadow of freedom was taken away from Poland, In 1863 the Poles rose once more against Russia. Tens of thousands of Poles were executed, or deported to Siberia and henceforth Poland was treated with the utmost ruthlessness.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.