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-Territorial evolution of Poland

-Polish irredentism

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Polish Irredentism[edit]

This page is about a Polish nationalist ideology. For the Polish historical homeland, see Greater Poland.
Map of Greater Poland as advocated by Polish irredentists.

Polish irredentism, or Greater Poland, is a term applied to certain radical currents within Polish nationalism. In a general sense, it refers to the territorial scope of the Poles, emphasising the ethnicity of those Poles living outside Poland. In the political sense the term refers to an irredentist belief in the equivalence between the territorial scope of the Polish people and that of the Polish state.

Historical background[edit]

  • Map of Poland from the early 11th century shows Polish lands separated by Old Prussian and Kiev Russian territories
    Map of Poland from the early 11th century shows Polish lands separated by Old Prussian and Kiev Russian territories
  • Map of Poland in the first half of the 13th century
    Map of Poland in the first half of the 13th century
  • Map of Poland with visible Polish-Lithuanian border
    Map of Poland with visible Polish-Lithuanian border
  • Map of Poland around 1333 - 1370, in pink
    Map of Poland around 1333 - 1370, in pink
  • Map of Poland around 1370 - 1382, in pink
    Map of Poland around 1370 - 1382, in pink
  • Map of Poland around 1386 - 1434, in pink
    Map of Poland around 1386 - 1434, in pink
  • Map of Poland around 1466
    Map of Poland around 1466
  • Map of Poland around 1526
    Map of Poland around 1526
  • Map of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after its formation in 1569, with visible Polish-Lithuanian border. Ukrainian territories were transferred under the administrative control of the Crown of Poland.
    Map of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after its formation in 1569, with visible Polish-Lithuanian border. Ukrainian territories were transferred under the administrative control of the Crown of Poland.

20th century irredentism[edit]

Intermarium concept proposed by Józef Piłsudski.

Intermarium[edit]

Main articles: Kresy Zachodnie and Kresy

Some of the first Polish irredentists in this era included Józef Piłsudski, who initiated the Intermarium concept, which sought to create a united independent front in Central and Eastern Europe that could deter German and Russian imperialism and revive the fallen Commonwealth. He had worked with various Polish, Ruthenian (Belarusian, Ukrainian), Czech, Slovak, Baltic (Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian), and Romanian groups in order to capitalize and to make it happen. Thus, he unofficially became one of the first modern Polish irredentists.[1]

Unfortunately, his proposed plan faced unprecedented hostilities. The Ukrainians, Czechs and Lithuanians, in particular, did not support the project and saw it as being imperialistic.[2] The Entente was very critical and distrustful of Piłsudski, as well as underestimating Bolsheviks' threats.[3] Meanwhile, the Soviet Russians viewed it as a threat for its agenda and vowed to thwart it. Even among major Polish irredentists like Roman Dmowski who also sought to expand Polish territory, such idea gained very little support since it required Polonization to do so.[4] Eruptions of Polish–Ukrainian War, Polish–Czechoslovak War, Polish–Lithuanian War and Polish–Soviet War, which Poland reclaimed (and also annexed) territories, including Lithuania's capital Vilnius, dented any hope for a possible Intermarium federation, even after Piłsudski overthrew the civilian government in 1926.

Zaolzie and World War II[edit]

Polish Army entering Český Těšín (Czeski Cieszyn) in 1938

In 1938, Poland reannexed Zaolzie, a small region straddling between Poland and Czechoslovakia, back into it's borders after the latter previously annexed the region from Poland during the Polish-Soviet War. The reclamation of Zaolzie was justified by Poland but was criticized by Czechoslovakia as a sign of ongoing Polish irredentism.[5] With tensions on the rise, Polish irredentist movement grew stronger. Yet, it was halted in 1939 following a joint invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and Soviet Union. Minorities like Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Germans had utilized the opportunity to demand secession from Poland, which let to frequent ethnic conflicts between Poles and minorities.[6] These conflicts further intensified the growth of Polish irredentism and resulted in numerous massacres throughout the World War II in order to restore Polish border territory, the most infamous of all was the Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia which had severely damaged Polish irredentist movement.[7][8] Both the Germans and Soviets tried to weaken irredentism among Poles and to ensure Poland could not resurge, committing massacres such as Katyń massacre.[8] Eventually, with Poland completely destroyed following the end of World War II, the Soviet Union annexed the entirety of the Kresy macro-region and drew Polish border to Kresy Zachodnie as part of Recovered Territories.[9]

Soviet control[edit]

During the People's Republic of Poland's era, due to communist censorship and repression, irredentism lost its official place, a legacy of Joseph Stalin's policy toward Poland.[10] To Polish population, such repressive methods used by the Soviets made Polish irredentism back to Polish life, with many Polish livelihood in the Kresy region being stolen by the Russians and its allies (Ukrainians, Lithuanians and Belarusians). Many Poles in these recovered territories often mentioned to their dream of returning to the east, and one quote was widely mentioned that "Just one atom bomb, and we will be back in Lwów" (Jedna bomba atomowa i wrócimy znów do Lwowa).[11] Polish irredentism was further enhanced by the painful losses Poland suffered during the World War II and how the Soviets stole it from Poland. The communist authorities did little to improve it, as the accusation of collaboration was strong among Polish public toward the communist regime, and was fearful of Polish irredentism could bring a dangerous prospect on its relations with the more powerful Soviet Union.[12] Irredentism continued to be repressed in Communist Poland until its collapse at 1989.

Modern Polish irredentism[edit]

Since the fall of the communist regime, Polish irredentism did not make an immediate resurgence, as Poles were concerned with trying to rebuild the country following decades suffering under communist rule. Poland's successful economic transition from a centralized economy to a market-oriented economy granted the country's accession to the European Union in 2004.

Ukraine[edit]

However, a number of unwanted political explosion in 2010s led to the rebirth of Polish irredentism, in the wake of increasing nationalist sentiment.[13][14] Following Ukraine's elevation status of heroes for OUN members Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych, in Poland, there have calls calling about reclaiming Lviv and Galicia from Ukraine, blaming Russia of robbing Ukraine from Poland, while rejecting the notion that Poland was an empire.[15] It has drawn criticism from Ukraine and sometimes led to wars of misinformation, affecting its relations.[16][17][18][19]

Vilnius[edit]

Polish irredentism also sparked controversy regarding Polish historical claims of Vilnius, the current capital of Lithuania, with the thought that since the city was part of Poland dated from the Commonwealth to even the Second Polish Republic.[20][21]

Belarus[edit]

Polish nationalists' irredentist sentiment also draws its desire to Belarus, given Belarus' close cultural bond with Poland from history. In Poland there is a belief that the current Cyrillic alphabet of Belarus was actually a Polish Cyrillic alphabet [ru] invented by the Russians to distance Belarusians from Poles.[22] Polish irredentists also staged a march in Hajnówka, a Polish town with a Belarusian minority.[23] However, the claim receives less intention than that of Ukraine and Lithuania.[24]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Avdaliani, Emil (March 31, 2019). "Poland and the Success of its "Intermarium" Project".
  2. ^ "Intermarium as a Polish Geopolitical Concept in History – Polish American Congress".
  3. ^ Between Imperial Temptation And Anti-Imperial Function In Eastern European Politics: Poland From The Eighteenth To Twenty-First Century. Andrzej Nowak. Accessed September 14, 2007.
  4. ^ (in Polish) Wojna polsko-bolszewicka Archived 2013-11-11 at the Wayback Machine. Entry at Internetowa encyklopedia PWN. Last accessed on 27 October 2006.
  5. ^ Cienciala, Anna M. (2009). "Reviewed work: Polish Foreign Policy and the Czechoslovak Crisis of 1938 as Reflected in Polish Diplomatic Documents. A Discussion of Polskie Dokumenty Dyplomatyczne 1938 [Corrected title: Polish Foreign Policy and the Czechoslovak Crisis of 1938 as Reflected in Polish Diplomatic Documents. A Discussion of "Polskie Dokumenty Dyplomatyczne 1938"], Marek Kornat, Piotr Długołęcki, Maria Konopka-Wichrowska, Marta Przyłuska". The Polish Review. 54 (2): 243–262. JSTOR 25779814.
  6. ^ https://ecpr.eu/Filestore/PaperProposal/aade8de0-538f-4654-9382-55593cd5d767.pdf
  7. ^ "Volyn massacre is true and fiction. Volyn massacre". pobeda-mf.ru.
  8. ^ a b http://pscourses.ucsd.edu/ps200b/Snyder%20The%20Causes%20of%20Ukrainian-Polish%20Ethnic%20Cleansing%201943.pdf
  9. ^ "Recovered Territory: A German-Polish Conflict Over Land and Culture 1919-1989". February 24, 2018.
  10. ^ Wolff, David (November 15, 2011). "Stalin's postwar border-making tactics. East and West". Cahiers du monde russe. Russie - Empire russe - Union soviétique et États indépendants. 52 (52/2–3): 273–291. doi:10.4000/monderusse.9334 – via journals.openedition.org.
  11. ^ "Wyborcza.pl". Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  12. ^ "Gazeta Wyborcza, Kresowe życie na walizkach. Interview with Professor Zdzisław Mach, 2010-12-29". Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  13. ^ "In Central Europe, a nationalist bullet dodged". June 9, 2020.
  14. ^ "Poland's 'Conservative Revolution'". Visegrad Insight. June 17, 2016.
  15. ^ "Slavery vs. Serfdom, or Was Poland a Colonial Empire?". Culture.pl.
  16. ^ "Poland and Ukraine's Battle Over the Past". April 9, 2018.
  17. ^ https://polandin.com/39779608/ukrainepoland-history-exhibition-receives-criticism-for-misrepresentation
  18. ^ "How Ukraine returns Poland".
  19. ^ https://ukrainianweek.com/History/214203
  20. ^ Nagle, John D.; Mahr, Alison (May 28, 1999). "Democracy and Democratization: Post-Communist Europe in Comparative Perspective". SAGE – via Google Books.
  21. ^ Porter, Brian (February 24, 2000). "When Nationalism Began to Hate: Imagining Modern Politics in Nineteenth-Century Poland". Oxford University Press – via Google Books.
  22. ^ Kamusella, Tomasz (November 27, 2019). "The New Polish Cyrillic in Independent Belarus". Colloquia Humanistica. 0 (8): 79–112. doi:10.11649/ch.2019.006 – via ispan.waw.pl.
  23. ^ "Belarus resents intention of Polish nationalists to stage far-right march in Hajnowka". eng.belta.by. February 20, 2018.
  24. ^ "Split Identity and a Tug-of-War for Belarus's Memory". Jamestown.

External links[edit]


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