PREFACE TO ORIGINAL EDITION OF VOLUME I xiKieniewicz and others in 1968,^2 are not readily digestible; whilst tracts inspired
by the two World Wars such as those of Allison Philips, Lord Eversley, or
W. J. Rose, have not outlived the political necessities which gave them birth.^3
Yet very few comprehensive surveys of Polish History, written by British or
American scholars with the British and American readership in mind, have ever
been attempted. When the present volume finds its way into print, it will be one
of the very few products of its kind since Professor W. F. Morfill's pioneering
effort in 1893.^4
Furthermore, Polish History displays many qualities of intrinsic interest. The
decline and fall of the old Republic, from grandeur to annihilation, is both ter-
rible and pathetic. As Ferdinand Lot remarked in relation to a more familiar
stricken civilization: 'the tragedy of a world which did not wish to die presents
a spectacle as entrancing as anything which the historian or sociologist is ever
likely to see'. In more recent times, Polish experiences have stood in marked
contrast to the events which moulded the British and American traditions. The
Poles have been politically defeated, and economically deprived for longer than
anyone can remember. For the British and Americans who until recently tended
to assume that victory and prosperity were their birthright, the Polish example
offers ample food for thought. On the European scale, Poland is the underdog
of them all. In Michelet's words, 'it is the most human of nations'.^5
A sceptical stance towards methodology has necessarily conditioned the con-
tents and structure of the following study. It has meant, for instance, that no
claim can be made for it to be a 'synthesis', but only a 'survey' or 'outline'. It has
given the comments a heterodox character, redolent of the hopeless habits of
English empiricism, mixed with a dash of Angst and perhaps with a grain of
Charity. The doubts are fully justified. It is all very unsatisfactory. It would be
nice to have a theory; but I do not have one. It would be nice to give simple
answers to simple questions such as 'Where was Poland?', or 'Who is a Pole, and
who is not?'. But I cannot. All I have to offer are a few facts, and a few obser-
vations.
By way of consolation, close attention has been paid to the practical aspects
of structure and arrangement. Equal space has been given to thematic and
chronological chapters. After a series of introductory essays discussing
Historiography, Historical Geography, and the early Polish dynasties up to
1572, the body of the book is divided into two main blocks, separated at the cru-
cial breaking-point of 1795. The first block, entitled The Life and Death of the
Polish-Lithuanian Republic traces the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Union
from its initiation in 1569 to its collapse at the Third Partition. The second block
entitled The Growth of the Modern Nation traces the attempts to build a nation
from the fragments of the old Republic and to restore a measure of national sov-
ereignty. It runs from the Third Partition to the end of the Second World War
in 1945, when the existence of a Polish national state was finally confirmed. Each
block contains a group of chapters discussing the principal religious, social, eco-
nomic, constitutional, and diplomatic themes of longer duration, followed by a