The national anthem is a symbol of a country's patriotic spirit, so the national anthem of all countries in the world reflects the national spirit of their own country or the image of national heroes, and few countries will "generously" write "foreigners" in their national anthem, and Poland is a "non-mainstream" special case.
Chinese translation of the lyrics of the Polish national anthem
At the end of the 18th century, Poland, which was originally a great power in Eastern Europe, was divided and destroyed by the three strong neighbors of Russia, Prussia and Austria, and the national anthem of Poland was born in 1797 when Poland fell, which is a war song full of restorative feelings, and was therefore named "Poland Will Never Perish" by later generations.
But it is this patriotic song that promotes the Polish national spirit that not only mentions a foreigner who seems to have nothing to do with Poland, Napoleon, but also writes in a praiseworthy tone: "Napoleon has told us how to win."
After the French Revolution, Napoleon was the first ruler of the French Republic and later crowned emperor
If you don't read the full text of the national anthem, just look at these two sentences, say that it is the French national anthem, I am afraid that some people will believe it. The Poles seemed to regard the French emperor as the "guide" of the Polish national restoration struggle. So what kind of historical opportunity linked the fate of the Poles to Napoleon?
I. Napoleon and the Polish Dream of Restoration
Poland was a historical power in Central and Eastern Europe, not only taking over its powerful neighbor Prussia as a vassal state, but also taking advantage of the Russian civil unrest in 1610 to march to Moscow.
However, in Poland in the 18th century, with the increasing political separation of power between small and medium-sized nobles, the central power weakened; economic serfdom prevailed, social development stagnated, and national strength declined; at the same time, russia, Prussia, And Austria three neighboring countries successively established an absolute monarchy, condensing the comprehensive national strength with a strong royal power as the core.
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of the 16th century, when Poland was a great power in Eastern Europe
Finally, in the 24 years from 1772 to 1795, Poland was completely destroyed by three partitions of the three neighboring countries of Russia, Prussia and Austria. The hegemons of Eastern Europe, once vast masses, have thus disappeared from the map of Europe.
This led to great panic among the Polish social elite, who deeply doubted whether the Polish nation and Polish culture could survive without an independent form of state.
From 1772 to 1795, Poland was divided three times
In search of hope for regaining independence, Poland's social elite and patriots organized various restoration organizations in an attempt to restore Poland. In 1796 Varian Jeduscocki, a high aristocrat, secretly organized the "Central Council" in Lviv, contacted the secret organizations of the remaining occupied areas of the two countries, and planned a simultaneous uprising, but was arrested in June 1797 for leaking secrets from traitors.
At the end of 1796, The patriotic officer Johem Denisco, who had fled to the Balkans, gathered hundreds of patriotic soldiers in Moldova and marched to Bukovina, a major town in southeastern Poland, announcing along the way the abolition of the feudal obligations of the peasantry and calling on the Poles to revolt and restore the motherland. Unfortunately, the rebels were suppressed by the Austrians when they reached Dobronovtsi.
After a series of defeats, the Poles realized that they could not win independence on their own, and they must rely on powerful external forces to unite with themselves in order to compete with Russia, Prussia and Austria. Coincidentally, the French Republic established by the French Revolution became a thorn in the side of the European monarchies, and it shared the same disease as the fallen Poland.
In 19th-century Europe, the country of Poland no longer existed on the map
Coupled with the fact that polish people of insight before the third partition had already been influenced by the ideas of the French Revolution, coupled with the revolutionary government's guarantee of freedom of speech, assembly, and association, it also facilitated the Polish people to carry out the restoration movement.
The Poles then turned their attention to the nascent French Republic (1792-1804) in Europe, hoping that France, which had abandoned the monarchy and preached "freedom, equality, and fraternity," would help Poland achieve freedom and independence. A large number of Polish political and cultural elites turned to France, established large and small restoration organizations, and carried out various social activities, hoping to win the support of the French government for the restoration of Poland.
The king of France was severed and executed, dealing a heavy blow to the European monarchies
In 1796, the long-awaited opportunity for the Poles came. With the development of the Revolutionary Situation, the French Directoire drove the Intervention Army out of the mainland and began to fight the first anti-French alliance armies outside the country, such as Prussia and Austria, the first to bear the brunt of the occupation of the northern Italian city-state.
At the age of 26, Napoleon Bonaparte was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Front by the Directoire. He defeated austrian troops in a series of campaigns into northern Italy, capturing nearly 30,000 soldiers, nearly 10,000 of whom were Polish peasants from the Divided Galicia region of Orlyte.
Given the isolated position of republican France in the encirclement of the Monarchies of Europe, it shared the same disease as the Poles in a state of subjugation; this made Napoleon realize that poles with a strong sense of restoration could become staunch allies in France's foreign wars.
▲ Polish national hero Dombrowski entered his homeland - Poznan
In 1797, Jan Donbrowski, a patriotic general who had participated in several domestic uprisings and served as a Polish cavalry general, was summoned first to Paris by the Governorate and then directly to Milan, where he and Napoleon reached a secret agreement with Napoleon to gather Polish exiles to form an Italian Polish legion in exchange for French support for the restoration of Poland.
So a Polish army dressed in traditional Polish uniforms and wearing a four-pointed military hat with the national emblem on its head, with more than 6,000 troops, was rebuilt in foreign lands. Although it was small in number, it greatly encouraged the Poles, who regained their international reach after 2 years of disappearance.
The establishment of the Polish Legion was regarded by Polish nationalists as the first step in the restoration of the country
For this reason, Dombrovski's close friend, Joseph Wibitzki, composed a legion battle song using the traditional Polish folk tune "Mazouga", which was named "Ode to the Polish Legion in Italy".
This song is full of the high morale of the Polish nation to revive the motherland, and once it is finalized, it quickly spread widely among the legionnaires and the whole territory of the former Poland, becoming a symbol of Polish restoration. It was established as the national anthem by the Second Polish Republic, which was restored in 1918, and renamed "Poland Will Never Perish", which continues to this day.
The lyrics are not only engraved with the immortal historical exploits of Dombrovsky, but also mention Napoleon's leadership and support, which was the idea of most Poles at that time, and after Napoleon established the Polish Legion, the Poles believed that he would lead this force to liberate Poland.
But the reality is not so rosy. From 1796 to 1798, the Polish Legion and the French army liberated almost all of Italy, but they were slow to liberate their homeland.
Donbrowski led a Polish legion into the city of Rome
On the one hand, Napoleon was hindered by the strength of Prussia and Austria, and did not want to overly antagonize them so as not to affect his policy toward Russia; on the other hand, he only used the Poles for a while, and was not willing to sincerely help them recover, but used the Poles as a supplementary force and mercenaries to the French army.
So much so that after Napoleon defeated the Second Coalition in 1802, he did not fulfill his promise to help the Poles recover, and even a year later, more than 6,000 Polish legionnaires were sent to Haiti to suppress the uprising, and only 300 people returned to Europe.
The disappointment of the Poles spread again and again, and Napoleon, fearing rebellion, disbanded his legions for a time. It was not until 1805 that the situation reversed.
2. The Grand Duchy of Warsaw strapped to Napoleon's chariot
In 1803, war between Britain and France led to the full implementation of the Treaty of Amiens with France, and the subsequent French expansion in Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the Near East caused dissatisfaction in Russia, leading to Russia's declaration of war on France.
Napoleon's claim to the throne in 1805 greatly stimulated Franz I, Duke of Austria, who was also The Holy Roman Emperor, and eventually led Tony Austria to join the war and the Formation of the Third Anti-French Alliance. The alliance of Russia and Austria, the two culprits in the partition of Poland, signified that France's interests in foreign conquest began to converge with Poland's desire for restoration.
But it was also in this year that Napoleon, who had already claimed the title of emperor, defeated the Russian-Austrian army at the Battle of Austerlitz, and the third anti-French alliance that had just been formed quickly collapsed.
The following year, prussia, which had remained neutral, joined the Fourth Coalition formed by the British, and in October was defeated by the French at the Battles of Jena and Auerstadt, and Napoleon entered Berlin.
In 1805, Napoleon defeated Prussia and entered Berlin
In 1807 Prussia signed the humiliating Treaty of Tilsite with France, leaving Prussia with only four provinces, "Old Prussia", Pomerania, Brandenburg and Silesia, with all the remaining territories lost.
In the three partitions of Poland, Prussia divided the western part of Poland in West Prussia, Greater Poland, Mazovsche and other regions
These victories in the surrounding areas aroused great enthusiasm from all walks of life in Poland to resist the occupying forces, and the French army had taken over the former Prussian Areas of West Prussia, Greater Poland, Mazovsche and other areas, as if the restoration of Poland was imminent. Napoleon also decided to use the Poles again in order to recruit more soldiers.
To this end, he first summoned the Polish national hero Kościuszko, who lived in Paris, in Berlin, and invited the latter to cooperate with him. The politically experienced Kościuszko did not believe in Napoleon, and he demanded a complete restoration of the Polish borders before the first partition, the abolition of serfdom, and the establishment of a parliamentary monarchy in Poland.
▲ Polish national hero Kościuszko led the Polish Uprising of 1794
But Napoleon did not want to provoke Russia, Prussia and Austria too much, nor did he dare to offend the Polish nobles who had a large number of serfs. Kościuszko's offer was therefore rejected and instead extended an invitation to his "old partner", Dombrowski, who asked him to form a Polish army and called on the people of Greater Poland (mainly Psopoland) to revolt.
Despite not receiving any promises from Napoleon of the restoration, the people of Greater Poland, who regarded them as liberators, rejoiced, and they spontaneously armed themselves, drove out Prussian officials, and fed pot pulp to welcome the arrival of the French army.
On the basis of good public opinion, Napoleon successfully recruited an army of 30,000 men in Greater Poland, led by three Polish generals, East Browski, Joseph Zaronczyk and Joseph Poniatowski.
▲ The leader of the army of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw - Poniatowski
In 1807, the newly recruited Polish Legion had liberated most of Persembles, and the Remaining Polish Legions in Italy had also moved north into Upper Silesia, and the conditions for Polish restoration were basically ripe.
In the ensuing Battle of Friedland, the Polish Legion, in conjunction with the main French army, defeated the Russian army, and the remaining Russian army fled westward towards the Neman River, facing the rising nationalist sentiment of the Poles, Napoleon could no longer be indifferent, but he did not want to provoke Russia prematurely, so in the Treaty of Tilsit signed with Tsar Alexander I, he gave Poland a limited restoration.
Poland, which was reborn in 1807, was designated as a "duchy" with a lower status than that of the neighboring kingdoms, and named the "Grand Duchy of Warsaw" after the former capital of Warsaw. At the time of its founding, the land area was only 104,000 square kilometers, and the population was only 2.6 million; even after the victory in the War against Austria in 1809, parts of Austrian Poland were merged, and it was only increased to 150,000 square kilometers, with a population of 4.3 million, less than 30% of the area before the partition, and less than 50% of the population.
The Grand Duchy of Warsaw, although less than 30% of the territory of the former Poland, encompassed the core of Poland
What is even more excessive is that in order to stabilize relations with Russia, Napoleon privately assigned the Białystok and Tarnopol regions in eastern Greater Poland to Tsarist Russia, and recognized the legitimacy of the Tsarist occupation of the partitioned Polish territory.
The "castrated" version of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw became Napoleon's insult to Poland's ideals of restoration. But the Polish nation-state, which had been re-established after nearly 12 years of partition three times, was still seen by the Polish nation as the hope of a full restoration, and Napoleon also took advantage of the Polish revival mentality to tie the Grand Duchy of Warsaw firmly to his chariot and use the principality as an outpost to attack Russia.
In a meeting with Polish administrators in December 1806 alone, Napoleon demanded blatantly:
"Gentlemen, I need 200,000 bottles of wine today, as well as the same amount of rice, meat and vegetables. You must not shirk it; otherwise I will leave you to the Russians to floggle... I need to prove your loyalty; I need your blood. ”
Due to Napoleon's excessive demands and the sharp increase in military spending caused by the war environment, the economic situation of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw was not optimistic. The continental blockade further exacerbated the structural weakness of the Principality's agriculture, so much so that its food exports plummeted from 54,000 watts in 1805 to 8,000 watts in 1809 (1 watt = 2.5 tons).
Grain prices also plummeted, and between 1806 and 1811 the price of wheat fell by 40 per cent and the price of rye in Warsaw by 48 per cent, and the fall in grain prices led to the bankruptcy of aristocratic landlords, while heavy taxes led to the exodus of large numbers of peasants, further aggravating agricultural difficulties.
Napoleon's Empire (1812, light green for vassal states)
Napoleon supported his subordinate Saxon king Friedrich August I as Grand Duke of Warsaw, a German-born Grand Duke of Warsaw who opened the door to his hometown capitalists, so much so that a large number of Saxon industrial products poured into the markets of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and the already fragile Polish industry was even worse.
According to statistics, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw had 48 large iron-making furnaces, 120 small iron-making furnaces, 6 steel-making furnaces and 12 rolling mills, which could produce 9,000 quintals of pig iron per year and manufacture a large number of guns to supply the needs of the war.
Napoleon, in need of war, forced the Grand Duchy of Warsaw to maintain a large number of troops for many years, so that military expenditures for a long time exceeded 70% of the total expenditure of the state finances. At the beginning of the founding of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, it maintained only 30,000 troops, which increased to 60,000 in 1809 and to 100,000 in 1812.
In 1807, the national revenue was only 13 million zlotys, and the expenditure reached 30 million zlotys, of which 21 million zlotys were military expenditures. In order to maintain military expenditures, the principality had to maintain a huge fiscal deficit, napoleon sold the state-owned assets of the principality to his subordinates in exchange for money, on the other hand controlled the principality government to borrow usurious loans from the Parisian capitalists, and eventually caused the principality's finances to fall into the hands of the French.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="130" >3. Foreign conquests and the fall of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw</h1>
The Poles placed their dreams of recovering lost territory entirely on Napoleon, so much so that they tyed the weak Grand Duchy of Warsaw to Napoleon's war machine, but they did not expect that the Sotofis, Napoleon, who again and again used the fighting spirit and enthusiasm of the Poles to act as cannon fodder for his ambition to "unify Europa".
Polish cavalry following Napoleon in suppressing the Spanish uprising
In 1808, there was an uprising against French aggression in various parts of Spain, stimulated by the Spanish uprising, and in 1809 Austria also launched a revolt, on July 5 of the same year, Prince Poniatowski led the Polish army to participate in the decisive battle against Austria, the Battle of Wagram, after paying the price of 37,000 people, Napoleon's allied army defeated the Austrian army, forcing Austria to make peace.
Battle of Wagram
In recognition of the bravery of the Poles, Napoleon annexed the four austrian provinces of Poland for the third partition of Poland – Krakow, Lublin, Radom, Scheedertse, and the Zamość region – into the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.
In 1812, Napoleon finally decided to wield the sword of Russia, and in order to mobilize the Poles to join the army, he even called the invasion of Russia the "Second Polish-Russian War", portraying the conquest of Russia as the selfless help of the French nation to the Polish recovery of lost land.
Napoleon's expedition to Russia was defeated at the Battle of the Beretina River
The Poles poured more than a decade of hatred into the war against Russia, so much so that the Small Grand Duchy of Warsaw organized 100,000 troops to participate in the war.
The Polish army overcame difficulties all the way and made great sacrifices. So much so that the Polish army became the first unit in Napoleon's army to invade Moscow, but this also meant that the Polish army also suffered major attrition. With the arrival of the Russian winter, the Russian army turned to the counter-offensive, and the army that successfully retreated to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw was less than 100,000 people, of which only more than 20,000 were Polish troops.
At the beginning of 1813, the remnants of the Polish army still participated in the Battle of Leipzig organized by Napoleon, Napoleon who had spent the rest of his life was finally defeated in Maicheng, and Poniatowski, newly promoted to Marshal of France, was also killed in the battle, and then the Russian army occupied Warsaw, the Duchy was destroyed, and the last hope of Polish restoration disappeared.
The Grand Duchy of Warsaw, which existed for 7 years, burned and disappeared like a candle in the history of the fall of the Poles, and Poland became the meat of the great powers, and was again divided at the Vienna Conference in 1815. But the heroic Polish dream of restoration did not sink here, but fought against fate again and again.
After the Russian army occupied the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, it was reorganized into the Polish Conference Kingdom under Tsarist Rule (the black line in the figure is the border of the original Poland in 1660)
A hundred years later, in world war I, with the collapse of the German Empire, Tsarist Russia and Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Poles finally ushered in the recovery with the help of the Allies, and at the Paris Peace Conference after the war, the Polish demand for restoration was supported by Britain, France, the United States and other powers, and finally established the Second Polish Republic in 1921.
After World War I, Poland was restored
But the good times did not last long, with the Nazis taking power in Germany, resulting in the emergence of Polish-German contradictions, coupled with the rise of the Soviet Union on the ruins of Tsarist Russia also had hidden ambitions for the territory of western Poland, the Poles fell into the geopolitical trap of being caught between the two major powers of Germany and the Soviet Union; finally with the outbreak of World War II, Poland was once again divided between Germany and the Soviet Union. It was not until the end of World War II that the country was restored again.
The song "Poland Will Never Perish", which accompanied Poland's century-long restoration, was also designated as the national anthem in 1926 after the establishment of the Second Republic. It has been in use until Poland was restored again after World War II. Although napoleon's name appears in the national anthem of the country, today's Poles do not care too much, but as a witness to a painful history, remembered in the hearts of the countrymen.
A dying freedom fighter scribbled "Poland will never perish" (oil painting) scribbled in his blood