History of Poland during World War I

Occupation of Poland during World War I

Part of Austro-Hungarian Empire
Outcome	1,400,000 Poles conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army 1,200,000 Poles conscripted into the Russian army 700,000 Poles conscripted into the German army Collapse of all three occupying Empires Establishment of the Second Polish Republic.
Deaths	450,000-600,000 military deaths 1,128,000 deaths overall
Property damage	Destruction of over 1,800,000 buildings and half of the bridges Production output fell to 20% of its level before the war Polish industry suffered the loss of an estimated 73 billion French francs.
Displaced	800,000 deported by Russians to the east Hundreds of thousands taken to labor camps in Germany

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While Poland did not exist as an independent state during World War I, its geographical position between the fighting powers meant that much fighting and terrific human and material losses occurred on the Polish lands between 1914 and 1918.

When World War I started, Polish territory was split during the

.

In the

.

Split of Three Empires

Governor's Palace in Kielce

, 1914

The war split the ranks of the three partitioning empires, pitting Russia as defender of Serbia and ally of Britain and France against the leading members of the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Conflicting aims of empires

This circumstance afforded the Poles political leverage as both sides offered pledges of concessions and future autonomy in exchange for Polish loyalty and army recruits.

The Austrians wanted to incorporate the Russian territory of

).

The Russians recognized the Polish right to autonomy and allowed formation of the Polish National Committee, which supported the Russian side. Russia's foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov proposed to create an autonomous Kingdom of Poland with its own internal administration, religious freedom and Polish language used in schools and administration.^[1] Poland would receive eastern area of Poznań region, southern Silesia and Western Galicia.^[2]

As the war settled into a long stalemate, the issue of Polish self-rule gained greater urgency. Roman Dmowski spent the war years in Western Europe, hoping to persuade the Allies to unify the Polish lands under Russian rule as an initial step toward liberation.

In June 1914,

^{: 400–401}

The encroaching German forces were met with hostility and distrust. Unlike the Napoleonic forces a century earlier, Poles didn't see them as liberators.

The Russians were bid farewell, often with sadness, grief and uncertainty. There was no harassment of retreating Russian soldiers, nor attacks on wounded. For many Poles, Russians at that time were seen as "ours," due to the process of liberalization that occurred in the Russian Empire after the

increased pro-Russian and anti-German feelings. This attitude distressed Austrian-orientated Piłsudski. Only in late summer of 1915 after harsh policy of Russian plunder of Polish lands did the sympathy of Poles for Russia wane.

According to Prit Buttar, following the first year of fighting in 1914, "The people who suffered the most were those who had no national army serving their cause: the Poles. Most of Poland west of Warsaw had been turned into a battlefield, and large areas were deliberately devastated by the Germans during their retreat from the Vistula. Treated with disdain by Germans, Russians, and the Austro-Hungarians alike, the Poles could only endure through a cold winter in their shattered towns and villages, and hope for a better future."^[4]

Kingdom of Poland (1916–1918)

In 1916, attempting to increase Polish support for the Central Powers and to raise a Polish army, the German and Austrian emperors declared that a new state called the Kingdom of Poland would be created. The new Kingdom in reality was to be a

. German efforts to create an army serving the Central Powers however met with failure, as it lacked expected volunteers for the German cause.

After peace in the East was assured by the

might be created.

Battlefields

Much of the heavy fighting on the war's Eastern Front took place on the territory of the former Polish state. In 1914 Russian forces advanced very close to

in Galicia exacerbated the already desperate situation of civilians in the war zone; about 1 million Polish refugees fled eastward behind Russian lines during the war. Although the Russian offensive of 1916 caught the Germans and Austrians by surprise, poor communications and logistics prevented the Russians from taking full advantage of their situation.

450,000 Poles died and around one million were wounded while fighting in the

"The country...had undergone four or five occupations by different armies, each of which had combed the land for supplies. Most of the villages had been burnt down by the Russians and their retreat (of 1915); land had been uncultivated for four years and had been cleared of cattle, grain, horses and agricultural machinery by both Germans and Bolsheviks. The population here was living upon roots, grass, acorns and heather. The only bread obtainable was composed of those ingredients, with perhaps about 5 per cent of rye flour..."

The lack of food caused widespread malnutrition, which combined with disease often brought by soldiers returning from the front, drove up the mortality rate of the local population. Famine conditions affected a significant area of eastern Poland.[12]

Military formations

Units with a high number of Polish personnel in various armies

Germany	Austria-Hungary	France ("Blue Army")	Russia
			Polish I Corps	Polish II Corps
10th Division 35th Division 119th Division 121st Division 214th Division 235th Division 5th Reserve Division 46th Reserve Division 47th Reserve Division[13]	I Brigade II Brigade III Brigade 1st Uhlan Regiment 2nd Uhlan Regiment 3rd Uhlan Regiment 4th Uhlan Regiment 6th Uhlan Regiment 7th Uhlan Regiment 8th Uhlan Regiment 13th Uhlan Regiment[14]	1st Rifle Division 2nd Rifle Divisiona 3rd Rifle Divisiona 6th Rifle Divisiona 7th Rifle Divisiona ^a Formed after the Armistice.[15]	1st Rifle Division 2nd Rifle Division 3rd Rifle Division	4th Rifle Division 5th Rifle Division

Recovery of statehood

In 1917 two separate events decisively changed the character of the war and set it on a course toward the rebirth of Poland. The

.

The defection of Russia from the Allied coalition gave free rein to the calls of Woodrow Wilson, the American president, to transform the war into a crusade to spread democracy and liberate the Poles and other peoples from the suzerainty of the Central Powers. The thirteenth of his Fourteen Points adopted the resurrection of Poland as one of the main aims of World War I. Polish opinion crystallized in support of the Allied cause.

. In November 1918, Piłsudski was released from internment in Germany by the revolutionaries and returned to Warsaw. Upon his arrival, on November 11, 1918 the Regency Council of the Kingdom of Poland ceded all responsibilities to him and Piłsudski took control over the newly created state as its provisional Chief of State. Soon all the local governments that had been created in the last months of the war pledged allegiance to the central government in Warsaw. Independent Poland, which had been absent from the map of Europe for 123 years, was reborn.

The newly created state initially consisted of former

.

See also

• History of Poland (1795–1918)
• History of Poland (1918–1939)
• Diplomatic history of World War I
• Kingdom of Poland (1917–1918)

References

Further reading

Main article: Bibliography of the history of Poland

External links

• Articles relating to Poland at the International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
• Szlanta, Piotr: Poland , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
• Posters of the German Military Government in the Generalgouvernement Warshau (German occupied Poland) from World War I, 1915-1916 From the Collections at the Library of Congress