Where Is Poland? | The First World War

Chapter 9

The First World War

With the outbreak of the ‘great war’ in the summer of 1914, the partitioning powers ended up on opposite sides of the conflict . This situation gave the Poles new hope for regaining independence, but also forced them to stand on both sides of a fratricidalstruggle.

A war-time caricature portraying Wilhelm II as a spider. Photo: Polona.pl

On opposite sides

In August 1914, after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo and a series of subsequent war declarations, the world became caught up in a great war that would alter the map of this part of Europe fundamentally.

Paradoxically, this global tragedy was at the same time a materialisation of the dreams and prayers of several generations of Poles, who hoped that a general war of this sort would create an opportunity to regain Poland's independence.

Indeed, when Germany declared war on Russia at the beginning of August 1914, and Austria-Hungary joined the war on Germany’s side a few days later, the Poles got their historical chance. The war upended the balance of power established at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, which had guaranteed order in Europe over the last hundred years.

Other countries quickly joined the fray: Turkey sided with Austria-Hungary and Germany, creating the coalition of Central Powers. Great Britain and France took Russia’s side, forming the Triple Entente. Ultimately, the war spread over a large part of the world – 9 million soldiers were killed and 20 million injured. The Polish lands became one of the main theatres of war.

The city of Kalisz after bombardment, 1915. Photo: Polona.pl

Fratricidal Struggle

From the first days of the war, the partitioning powers tried to outdo one another in attempting to win the support of the Poles. In August 1914, the governments of Austria-Hungary and Germany issued appeals to Polish society, whereas Grand Prince Nicholas promised to revive the Polish state under the rule of the Tsar.

Willingly or not, many Poles were drafted into the armies of the partitioning powers. Even before the outbreak of World War I there were about 250,000-300,000 Poles serving in these armies. During the war, approximately 2.9 million Poles were recruited into the armed forces of the partitioning powers.

The most popular poem of the wartime, ‘Ta, co jeszcze nie zginęła’ (‘The One Not Yet Lost’) by Edward Słoński, referred to this situation. Two Poles, serving in different armies, stand against each other in the trenches: ‘Brother (...) I am your enemy, you are my enemy!’. There are also testimonies of Christmas Eve of 1914, when – during the battle of Łowczówek – the Polish carol ‘God Is Born’ was sung by entrenched soldiers on both sides of the battlefield.

The Polish lands became one of the theatres of war. At the very outset of the conflict, approximately 40,000 soldiers of the Russian and German armies died at the battle of Tannenberg (Stębark), and a further 95,000 Russians were taken prisoner. In the autumn of the same year, one of the largest manoeuvring battles on the Eastern Front took place near Łódź. During this battle between the armies of the three occupying powers, one in every three of the 600,000 soldiers perished. On the Southern Front, the city of Przemyśl was the site of one of the largest sieges in the history of warfare – the Russian troops finally took the city after 173 days of siege.

The Eastern Front also saw executions of civilians, pointless bombings and the use of terrifying new military technologies. Hundreds of people were killed during the bombing of Kalisz, and thousands fled from the city – 75% of its buildings were reduced to rubble, including churches, the theatre and the town hall. In May 1915, one month after chlorine gas was used at Ypres, the poisonous substance was used on a large scale during the battle of Bolimów (near Skierniewice).

According to various estimates, some 385,000-450,000 Polish soldiers died during World War I and 780,000-900,000 were wounded or disabled.

Warfare also resulted in many civilian casualties. Many people lost their homes or were evacuated (for example, during the mass evacuations ordered by the Russians ahead of the German encroachment). In the last phase of the war, an epidemic of so-called Spanish flu took a great toll.

During the Great War, a total of over 200,000 civilians died in the Kingdom of Poland, and a further 50,000 in the Prussian Partition. It is unknown how many died in Galicia.

As a result, in 1919, only 26 million people lived in Poland – 4 million less than before the war.