2. ROSSIYA: The Russian Partition (1772-1918)
'Russian Poland' is a name which appears neither in Russian nor in Polish his-
tory books. As a practical description of the territories of the former
Polish—Lithuanian Republic annexed by the Russian Empire, it is apt enough,
and as such is analogous to 'British Ireland', 'the Austrian Netherlands',
'Spanish Italy', or at an earlier period to the 'Polish Ukraine'. Yet it was
unacceptable both to Russian officialdom and to the Tsar's new subjects. As far
as official fictions were concerned, the Partitions restored to Russia an integral
part of her ancient patrimony. In 1793, a medal was struck for Catherine II with
the inscription: 'I have recovered what was torn away.'* Although expressions
such as 'the Polish provinces' or 'the provinces detached from Poland and united
with Russia' can still be found in the early nineteenth century, Russian officials
were trained to think in terms of 'the Western Region' or 'the Recovered
Territories'. In their eyes, 'Poland' had ceased to exist. It was a historical
aberration which over the 800 years of its existence had somehow seduced the
population from their true loyalties, and was best forgotten. Except for the
interlude of the Congress Kingdom, in 1815-64, Russian officials were loath to
concede that any part of their Empire had anything in common with a separate
entity called Poland. Yet in the minds of the Poles, it was 'Poland' which
remained the reality, whilst 'Rossiya' (Russia) appeared as an alien imposition.
For the patriots, Poland was Polish. 'Russian Poland' was a contradiction in
terms, like 'Irish England' or 'French Germany' or 'Chinese Russia'. If they
needed a label, they talked of Zabor rosyjski (The Russian Partition).
The Russian Partition grew steadily from the base created by the lands ceded to
Muscovy at the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667 - the middle Dnieper, the city of Kiev,
and left-bank Ukraine. For practical purposes, from 1737 it included the Duchy of
Courland whose ruling dynasty was casually replaced by a Russian appointee. At
the First Partition of 1773, it was enlarged by the annexation of Semigalia, Polotsk,
* Almost all the territorial depredations of modern times are justified by spurious historical
claims of this sort. The Russians claimed that they were recovering the lands of Kievan Rus.
The Prussians claimed to be reuniting the patrimony of the Teutonic Knights. The Austrians
claimed to be restoring the Kingdom of Galicia, seized by the Poles (from Hungary) in 1390.
In the twentieth century, the Poles have invented theories of their own about their
'Recovered Territories'.