18. FENIKS: The Rebirth of the Polish State (1914-1918)
In its origins the First World War had nothing to do with Polish problems. It was
born of German rivalry with France, Britain, and Russia, and from Austria's
troubles with Serbia. But the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914 automati-
cally breathed fresh life into the Polish Question. For the first time since 1762,
Berlin was at war with St. Petersburg. The solidarity of the partitioning powers,
scarcely ruffled during the nineteenth century, was broken at last. For the first
time since the Napoleonic period, the Polish lands were to be turned into an
international battleground. In Silesia and Galicia, and later on in Byelorussia
and Polesie, the Eastern Front was to bring the Polish people into direct contact
with the conflict, and with all the ideas and horrors of the day. For the first time
in history, mass conscript armies were to be raised by each of the three Empires.
Unprecedented demands were to be made on the civilian population, straining
their loyalties to the utmost. The Polish lands were not merely the theatre of
operations. They were the area where Russia and the Central Powers were
forced to compete for the minds and bodies of their Polish subjects.^1 (See Map
11.)
As the prospect of an early verdict receded, each of the contestants felt obliged
to outdo its rivals in the lavishness of the promises which each hoped would win
Polish support. In 1914—16, the Tsar, the Kaiser, and the Emperor-King pro-
posed mounting degrees of autonomy. By 1917, the President of the United
States, the Provisional government in Petrograd, and even the leader of the
Bolsheviks declared themselves in favour of Polish independence. In 1918, they
were copied by France, Italy, Japan, and, last of all, Great Britain. Most of these
declarations were pious invocations, with no chance of implementation by the
men who made them. The Germans alone were in a position to turn their words
into deeds but failed to do so very effectively.^2
Yet the spectre of independence, once raised, could not be laid. Over the four
years of the war, the political atmosphere was transformed. The habitual disil-
lusionment of previous decades was gradually replaced by a vague, but fervent
expectancy. Among the Poles themselves, optimists felt elation at the tempting
prospects which the fickle fortunes of battle presented. Pessimists felt appalled
at the certainty that fratricidal slaughter was unavoidable. There were tens of
thousands of young Poles in each of the armies-. In this situation, in September
1914, Edward Storiski wrote perhaps the best-known verse of the war years: