Prussian Partition
The Prussian Partition | |
---|---|
The Commonwealth | |
Elimination | |
The Prussian Partition (Polish: Zabór pruski), or Prussian Poland, is the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth acquired during the Partitions of Poland, in the late 18th century by the Kingdom of Prussia.[1] The Prussian acquisition amounted to 141,400 km2 (54,600 sq mi) of land constituting formerly western territory of the Commonwealth. The first partitioning led by imperial Russia with Prussian participation took place in 1772; the second in 1793, and the third in 1795, resulting in Poland's elimination as a state for the next 123 years.[2]
History
The Kingdom of Prussia acquired Polish territories in all three military partitions.[2]
The First Partition
The
Frederick did not justify his conquests on an ethnic basis; he pursued an imperialist policy focused on the security interests of his state.
- It is a very good and advantageous acquisition, both from a financial and a political point of view. In order to excite less jealousy I tell everyone that on my travels I have seen just sand, pine trees, heath land and Jews. Despite that there is a lot of work to be done; there is no order, and no planning and the towns are in a lamentable condition.[13]
Frederick's long-term goal was to displace the Poles from the conquered region [14] and colonize it with Germans, whom he considered better workers.[15] To accomplish this goal, Frederick invited thousands of German colonists into the conquered territories by promises of free land.[16] He also engaged in the plunder of Polish property, gradually appropriating starostwie (Polish Crown estates) and monasteries[17] and redistributed them to German landowners.[8] He also aimed to expel the Polish nobles—who were viewed as wasteful, lazy, and negligent[18]—from their land by taxing them at a rate higher than other regions of Prussia,[8] which increased their financial burden and reduced their power.[19] In 1783, Frederick also passed legislation allowed buyouts of noble land.[20] This legislation allowed the free alienation of Polish nobles' estates so that this property could be purchased by German colonists.[21] This resulted in a greater percentage of noble land being transferred to bourgeoise owners than in any other part of Hohenzollern land.[22] Ultimately, Frederick settled 300,000 colonists in territories he had conquered.[8]
Frederick undertook the exploitation of Polish territory under the pretext of an enlightened civilizing mission that emphasized the supposed cultural superiority of Prussian ways.[23] He saw the outlying regions of Prussia as barbaric and uncivilized,[24] He expressed anti-Polish sentiments when describing the inhabitants, such as calling them "slovenly Polish trash".[25] He also compared the Polish peasants unfavorably with the Iroquois,[11] and named three of his new Prussian settlements after colonial areas of North America: Florida, Philadelphia and Saratoga.[16] The Poles remaining in the territories were to be Germanized.[8]
The Polish language was marginalized.[26] Teachers and administrators were encouraged to be able to speak both German and Polish,[27] and recognizing that his kingdom now had Polish inhabitants, Frederick also advised his successors to learn Polish. [27] However, German was to be the language of education.[28] The introduction of compulsory Prussian military service would also Germanize the Poles.[29] And, the rural Poles were to be mixed with German neighbors so these Poles could learn "industriousness", "cleanliness, and orderliness" and acquire a "Prussian character". By such means, Frederick boasted he would "gradually...get rid of all Poles".[30]
The Second Partition
In the
by the Russians.The Third Partition
The subsequent
The second
The third
Society
Poles in the Prussian partition were subject to extensive
That policy, however, had an opposite effect to that which the German leadership had expected: instead of becoming assimilated, the Polish minority in the German Empire became more organized, and its national consciousness grew.[33] Of the Three Partitions, the education system in Prussia was on a higher level than in Austria and Russia, irrespective of its virulent attack on the Polish language specifically, resulting in the Września children strike in 1901–04, leading to persecution and imprisonment for refusing to accept the German textbooks and the German religion lessons.[2][33]
Economy
From the economic perspective, the territories of the Prussian Partition were the most developed, thanks to the overall policies of the government.[33] The German government supported efficient farming, industry, financial institutions and transport.[33]
Administrative division
In the First Partition, Prussia received 38,000 km² and about 600,000 people.[35] In the second partition, Prussia received 58,000 km² and about 1 million people. In the third, similar to the second, Prussia gained 55,000 km² and 1 million people. Overall, Prussia gained about 20 percent of the former Commonwealth territory (149;000 km²) and about 23 percent of the population (2.6 million people).[36] From the geographical perspective, most of the territories annexed by Prussia formed the province of Greater Poland (Wielkopolska).
The Kingdom of Prussia divided the former territories of the Commonwealth it obtained into the following:
- Netze District - from 1772 to 1793
- New Silesia - from 1795 to 1807
- New East Prussia - from 1795 to 1807
- South Prussia - from 1793 to 1806
- East Prussia - from 1773 to 1829
- West Prussia - from 1773 to 1829
Over time the administrative divisions changed. Important Prussian administrative areas set up from Polish lands included:
- Grand Duchy of Posen from 1815–1848
- Province of Posen from 1848–1919
See also
References
Citations
- ^ Davies 1981, p. 112.
- ^ a b c d Davies 1981.
- ^ Ritter 1936, pp. 179-180..
- ^ Scott 2001, p. 176.
- ^ Clark 2006, p. 231.
- ^ MacDonogh 2000, p. 78.
- ^ Friedrich 2000, p. 189.
- ^ JSTOR 4545765.
- ^ Clark 2006, pp. 232–233.
- ^ Friedrich 2000, p. 12.
- ^ a b Ritter 1936, p. 192.
- ^ Mitford 1984, p. 277.
- ^ MacDonogh 2000, p. 363.
- ISBN 978-0-521-59158-4.
- ^ Ritter 1936, pp. 178-180.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-137-39169-8.
- ^ Konopczyński 1919, pp. 46.
- ^ Clark 2006, p. 227.
- ISBN 978-0-313-26007-0.
- ISBN 978-83-01-09347-1. p. 26:[and] the estates of jesuit institutions and of monasteries, but in 1783 Frederick ordered forced sales of Polish private assets.]
...ki bylych starostw polskich, dobra pojezuickie i klasztorne, ale już w 1783 r. Fryderyk nakazuje wykupywanie prywatnych majątków polskich.
[[Frederick had previously appropriated] "...former Polish starosties - ^ Philippson, Martin (1905). "The First Partition of Poland and the War of the Bavarian Succession". In Wright, John Henry (tr.) (ed.). The Age of Frederick the Great. A History of All Nations from the Earliest Times: Being a Universal Historical Library. Vol. XV. Philadelphia: Lea Brothers & Co. pp. 227-228.
- ^ Clark 2006, p. 237.
- ^ Clark 2006, p. 239.
- ISBN 978-0-374-53356-4.
- ^ Blackbourn 2006, p. 303.
- ^ ISBN 830804140X.
- ^ a b Koch 1978, p. 136.
- ^ United States Office of Education (1896). Higher Education in Russian, Austrian, and Prussian Poland. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. pp. 788.
- ^ Salmonowicz, Stanisław (1993). Polacy i Niemcy wobec siebie: postawy, opinie, stereotypy (1697-1815) : próba zarysu [Poles and Germans in Relation to Each Other: Attitudes, Opinions, Stereotypes (1697-1815): An Attempt at an Outline] (in Polish). Ośrodek Badań Naukowych im. W. Kętrzyńskiego. p. 88:
Służba wojskowa z całą pewnością największym ciężarem dla polskiej ludności, nieckiedy w toku dlugoletniej służby jednostki ulegaly germanizacji
[Military service was by far the greatest burden for the Polish population, and in the course of their long service the units were Germanized]. - ISBN 978-0-19-923934-4.
- ISBN 978-0-19-820171-7. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
- ^ Marian Zagórniak, Józef Buszko, Wielka historia Polski vol. 4 Polska w czasach walk o niepodległość (1815 - 1864). "Od niewoli do niepodległości (1864 - 1918)", 2003, page 186.
- ^ a b c d e Andrzej Garlicki, Polsko-Gruziński sojusz wojskowy, Polityka: Wydanie Specjalne 2/2008, ISSN 1730-0525, pp. 11–12
- ^ Jerzy Surdykowski, Duch Rzeczypospolitej, 2001 Wydawn. Nauk. PWN, 2001, page 153.
- ^ Kaplan, Herbert H. (1962). The first partition of Poland. --. New York : Columbia University Press. p. 188. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-393-06212-0.
- ISBN 978-0-674-02385-7.
- Davies, Norman (1981). "PREUSSEN: The Prussian Partition (1772-1918)". God's Playground: A History of Poland. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 112–138.
- Friedrich, Karin (2000). The Other Prussia: Royal Prussia, Poland and Liberty, 1569–1772. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-58335-0.
- Koch, H. W. (1978). A History of Prussia. New York: Barnes & Noble Books. ISBN 978-0-88029-158-3.
- Konopczyński, Władysław (1919). A Brief Outline of Polish History. Translated by Benett, Francis. Geneva: Imprimierie Atar.
- MacDonogh, Giles (2000). Frederick the Great: A Life in Deed and Letters. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-25318-4.
- ISBN 0-525-48147-8.
- Ritter, Gerhard (1974) [1936]. Frederick the Great: A Historical Profile. Translated by Peter Peret. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Scott, Hamish (2001). The Emergence of the Eastern Powers 1756–1775. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-79269-1.