114
Poland wasn't actually "spared", it was merely less affected than the rest of Europe. That graphic is incorrect (or rather, incomplete), since a substantial number of both Poland and Milan's population did in fact die of the plague. Their death rates were only "low" in comparison to the rest of Europe - if it happened today, it would be horrifying to us.
...
32
That Poland avoided internal wars of religion can indeed be attributed to the religious tolerance of the state at this time, a tolerance that stretches back a long time.
And this has to do with it's position, where many of its neighbouring countries were not Catholic. To the east the Kievan Rus adopted Orthodoxy, and further north the areas now known as ...
32
As of 24 October 1938 the demands were annexation of Free City of Danzig by Germany and extraterritorial roadway+railway from East Prussia to mainland Germany through the Polish Corridor (so a "corridor across a corridor") [Eagle Unbowed p. 42].
Danzig was a strategic port, well connected to Poland's industrialized regions (central and western Poland). In ...
32
Bunzlau is now in Poland and called Bolesławiec. Back then it was in Silesia, thus Prussia and therefore in Germany.
The photographer is given as "Otto Scholz", a German, not a Polish name, just as the address given is decidedly not Polish.
His studio is given as:
Fotografische Anstalt, vormals Ed. Scholz & Söhne in Bunzlau und Görlitz
...
29
This would appear to be the badge of the No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron which
fought alongside the Royal Air Force and operated from airfields in
the United Kingdom.
Above: Badge with colour. Source: Wikipedia. Below, badge (no colouring) on memorial plaque. Source: Aircrew Remembered
The CCC is 300 in Roman numerals and the badge
combines the ...
27
Did Hitler really intend a limited war against Poland?
The invasion of Poland was likely not intended to start a major war. Of course we can never be sure of what anybody thinks, but not only did Hitler claim not to want a major war, wanting a major war is in itself a quite strange thing to do.
Most likely Hitler wanted to just annex half of Poland ...
26
These are Polish Army Uniforms, starting around 1919.
Unfortunately the main wiki pages show no Uniforms of the times.
To my knowledge, these types of zig-zag collars (Polish only, but translates well to English) were in use sometime after 1918 until 1939 and are also unique to the Polish Army.
Other photo collections, without dates show the simularity of ...
25
There are three types of plague, Pneumonic, Bubonic, and Septicemic all of which are caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. People infected by fleas get the bubonic form of the plague. However, if the bacteria reaches the lungs, it becomes pneumonic plague which is more virulent spreading via person to person by coughing then no rats are needed since the ...
25
This story almost certainly relates to the invasion of Poland (1655-60) by the Swedes and their allies during the reign of the Swedish king Charles X, but it has been considerably embellished in that the Swedes took artifacts and decorative parts of castles rather than a whole castle.
The known sinkings from which artefacts have been recovered occurred in ...
24
The symbol, though defaced, is probably the symbol of the Hitlerjugend. Click the link to see the actual image, I don't want to post it here, since it would be a legal grey area for me to do so for reasons also explained in the wikipedia page.
The L.D. and H.J. probably stand for "Landdienst" and "Hitlerjugend". Landdienst was a branch or ...
19
The earliest air drops of aid to Poland were made in February 1941 using Whitley bombers. To the best of my knowledge, none of these drops involved parachuting agents into Poland.
By 1943, Halifax bombers attached to 138 Squadron were being used by the Special Operations Executive to drop agents and supplies into Poland.
There is an excellent PhD ...
19
No. there is no evidence to backup this claim.
Like it says on Wikipedia:
The Countess frequently appeared in men's clothing and even in military uniform. Some sources alleged that August the Strong made his own daughter his favorite; however, this cannot be proved.
It was a rumor going around at the time.
She was apparently of exceptional beauty and had ...
17
Before asking this question, you could consult Wikipedia, which says:
From the start, the Luftwaffe attacked civilian targets and columns of refugees along the roads to wreak havoc, disrupt communications, and target Polish morale. Apart from the victims of battles, the German forces (both SS and the regular Wehrmacht) murdered several thousand Polish ...
17
While the integration of these territories into the Russian Empire took place at the same time, they were subject to wholly different methods of integration, one a conquest but a conquest which wasn't resisted by the local people, and the other a conquest which was actively resisted by the local population for decades.
Finland
The Russo-Swedish War of 1808–...
17
Interpretations are called for here — and these are necessarily opinionated to a degree.
From a recent Polish perspective, it might seem rather simple – and one-sided:
There are strong indications that Beijing's position, which opposed armed intervention, had a significant influence on the Kremlin. This was by no means out of warm attitudes towards Gomułka ...
16
Mussolini learnt about the German intentions first as did most other countries, by diplomatic reports from his ambassador in Berlin and similar sources; alarmed, in early August 1939, Mussolini sent Galeazzo Ciano for a meeting with Ribbentrop, who told him Germany intended to invade the whole of Poland, not just Danzig. Mussolini was clearly against it, ...
16
Hitler's racial policy was based not on anything to do with biology, but rather on who he wanted to be friends with in foreign policy. Semaphore♦ 9 hours ago
...he didn't actually have policies. He had things he wanted, and tried to get them using whatever arguments/rationalization he thought would help at the time. People trying to compile his words and ...
15
This does not appear to be true. There's no mention of it in Weinberg's A World at Arms, which is about the best one-volume history of WWII. The German multi-volume history Germany and the Second World War covers this period in volume 2, Germany's Initial Conquests in Europe, pages 118-126. Warlimont's memoirs, Inside Hitler's Headquarters 1939-45, have ...
14
First of all the sentence:
"Ukrainiains seemed to accept Lithuanian rule for over two centuries"
is an anachronism.
There was no "Ukrainians" in the period you are talking about. Neither any "Belorussians" existed. What later became "Ukrainians" and "Belorussians" were descendants of that part of the population which was Orthodox by religion.
After ...
13
There is an explanation for a second question: Why Poland thought it would threaten their independence?
As foreign minister Józef Beck said 5 may 1939:
„My w Polsce nie znamy pojęcia pokoju za wszelka cenę. Jest jedna
rzecz w życiu narodów i państw, która jest bezcenna: ta rzeczą jest
honor"
Roughly translated:
In Poland, we ignore the idea of "...
12
Poland was indeed involved in the 30 Years War, sending death squads to aid Habsburg allies in Bohemia and getting decked when Bohemia sicced the Ottoman Empire on them.
At this time, Poland-Lithuania was far more unified politically under the Magnates and royalty than the Holy Roman Empire... and nobody kid themselves, the 30 Years War was a political as ...
12
You are conflating a bunch of different things.
The creation of Poland and Czechoslovakia
Poland was not a result of Germany's defeat in the Great War. When Russia signed the humiliating Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, one of Germany's demands was the creation of a sovereign Polish state out of a portion of the ceded lands.
The Treaty of Versailles attributed a ...
12
The ambassador most likely left Poland for Romania by about noon on Sept. 17, 1939, within a few hours of the Soviet invasion that morning, having already left Warsaw for Kuty in preparation for just such action.
From the House of Commons Hansard records for Sept. 20, 1939 - Columns 976-7 (my emphasis):
War Situation
3.52 p.m.
....
The Prime Minister (Mr....
12
For the countries of the former Warsaw Pact borders were normally restricted to permitted traffic. Borders themselves were patrolled and places where one could cross it were limited. Mind you that permission to cross the border was not only for the "entering another country" part, one had to have permission to be able to leave one's home country, ...
11
There never were many Polish Calvinists. Poland showed some promise for the Calvinist cause at the start, but these early hopes bore few fruits. Calvinism, and Protestantism in general, failed to take root in the general Polish populace. Without strong leaders and facing competition from Lutheranism, Polish Calvinism soon lost its momentum.
The protestant ...
11
Could Polish people who didn't live in Poland get Polish citizenship after Poland's revival in 1918?
In Poland since 1918, it's been the case that the citizenship could only be earned by descendants of Polish citizens.
However, a big one-time change – which turned "almost everyone" into a citizen – came through the Polish Citizenship Act of 1920, Article 2 and 2a. On January 20th, 1920, everyone became a Polish citizen who was a resident on the new, ...
11
Cossack was not just a regiment one can get drafted into, it was something hereditary and traditional. The cossacks lived in specific areas (Don, Kuban river basins, Siberia, etc), had their own settlements, basically forming sub-ethnic groups.
Now, being a cossack is really nothing traditional in Belarus. Not now, neither in the beginning of the 20th ...
10
Mostly to supervise the enforcement of ceasefire and peace terms.
Polish involvement began in 1954 as a member of the International Commission of Control, together with Canada and India. That entity was setup at the conclusion of the First Indochina War to monitor the peace agreement. It was a general failure all around, resulting in the Second Indochina ...
10
It appears this war debt was partially voided.
The Government of The United Kingdom will make no claim for replayment
of the Ł 73 million sterling, in respect of amounts spent on war
material, equipment, supplies, etc, for the Polish Armed Forces in the
West.
The Government of the United Kingdom will leave in abeyance at present
the question ...
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