Polish President Andrzej Duda stated that the Red Army was the main ally of Nazi Germany in 1939. He accused Russia of trying to hush up the facts of cooperation with the Nazis and the joint division of Poland. Dmitry Lekukh - about what the Polish president forgot to mention.
When historians say that Winston Churchill, who came up with the murderous phrase "Poland is the hyena of Europe," simply did not like the Poles and Poland, they are still not telling the truth. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, there is such a suspicion, did not love anyone or anything at all, except for his country, his power and his duty. It’s just that he not only didn’t like the Poles, but also completely sincerely didn’t respect them. He, for example, also did not like Russians very much, historically. But respected. It was for what.
Actually, this famous remark of the British Prime Minister has a very real historical background. Poland, which easily forgot all its allied obligations - not before the USSR, by the way, we were not allies at that time, fortunately, but before England and France - with great pleasure "sawed" Czechoslovakia with Hitler. The Fuhrer of the German people, by the way, in general in those pre-war years was a real idol of almost the entire Polish elite. For example, the portrait of Adolf Hitler adorned the office of the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jozef Beck, even on the day of the German invasion of Poland - this is just a historical fact. And this minister is also famous for the fact that it was he, who was in charge of foreign policy in the then Polish triumvirate "after Pilsudski", and in the notorious "times of Pilsudski" was the creator of the agreement, almost similar to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, only providing for a deeper "integration" of Poland with Nazi Germany. And signed "a little earlier" - in 1934.
Moreover, this document also had its own secret protocols - in general, a normal practice for those difficult years. Only now they were realized, among other things, also by the fact that on September 30, 1938, Poland hastened to send another ultimatum to Prague and, simultaneously with the German troops, sent its army into the Teszyn region, thereby participating in the division of neighboring Czechoslovakia. And even such a hardened cynic as Sir Winston Churchill, this could not but outrage.
Until the beginning of September 1939, when Hitler did the same with Poland itself, only eleven months remained. But then, at the "peak of German-Polish friendship and triumphant joint victories," no one really knew about this yet.
And it is precisely these heirs of those Polish authorities who abandoned their people in the German occupation and begging for handouts in the form of a government in exile in the capitals of England and France, will explain to us, who sacrificed more than six hundred thousand of our lives, Soviet soldiers for the salvation of the Polish people, who and whose was an ally during World War II?! Well, yes.
Polish President Andrzej Duda officially stated that it was the Red Army that was the main ally of Nazi Germany in 1939. Moreover, he accused Russia of trying to hush up the facts of cooperation with the Nazis and the joint division of Poland. And in general, according to Duda, for whom, as I understand, there is no Nuremberg Tribunal, for his country the Second World War ended only in 1989, when the communist government collapsed. And Poland did not fight with Nazi Germany. For there was no longer any Nazi Germany. And Poland, it turns out, was at war with the USSR that defeated Hitler.
Presidents of Germany and Poland at the events on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. Photo: globallookpress
Strictly speaking, after this, only one question remains: did the ceremonial portrait of Adolf Hitler migrate to the offices of the current Polish government along with other "legacy of Jozef Beck"? What I and, I think, the great British politician Winston Churchill, who spoke so intolerantly about the Polish government, would not be at all surprised.
Poland has traditionally been unlucky precisely with the "elites". The reason for this is extremely simple: they did not differ from the time, perhaps, described in the novel of the great Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz "Crusaders" by special patriotism, which they replaced with "gentry ambition", in modern times these "elites" in general were simply stupidly Germanized or Russified, becoming part of other (Russian or German) elites. At the first opportunity, he selflessly betrayed them. Here I will not analyze the reasons for the numerous "partitions of Poland" (in which, as for me, the Polish elites are much more guilty than Russia, Germany, and even Austria-Hungary). I’ll just note in fact that already towards the end of the 19th century, these Polish elites were so incorporated into the ruling classes of the empires that “divided Poland” that one could simply not even talk about any “elite Polish consciousness”.
Let me remind you that Pilsudski and Dzerzhinsky (who later became enemies) studied, you will be surprised, in the same Vilna gymnasium. And the fact that they both went "into the revolution" simply characterizes the contingent of new revolutionaries, both "class" and "national".
Jozef Pilsudski, Joseph Goebbels and Jozef Beck (right) - meeting in Warsaw in June 1934 In fact, Pilsudski's dictatorship itself, no matter how you feel about it (I, for example, not very much), was the only possible attempt to create a new nation and a new elite in Poland. And if everything more or less worked out with the first question, then with the second one some completely outright garbage came out. Especially after the death of Pilsudski himself, when the pro-German, or rather pro-Hitler, party in official nationalist Poland became especially strong. Although they say that before his death, Pilsudski, who personally signed the non-aggression act with Hitler, cursed this action, as well as the alliance with Germany, but it was too late, the "heirs" came to power. Like the already mentioned nationalist and "Polish patriot" Jozef Beck. By the way, in 1991, his remains were transported to the "new" Poland and buried at the Military Powazki Memorial Military Cemetery, where famous Poles are buried.
It is interesting whether there was a "ceremonial portrait" along with the body of the deceased in 1944 on the territory of Romania, allied to the Fuhrer, where Beck fled from Poland, defeated by his idol. At least the joint benevolent photographs with the Fuhrer were carefully preserved by the Beck archive for us. It is precisely in this that "traditions" are observed in the "new Poland" in full and strictly.
Meeting between Hitler and Beck, 1938 As for the events themselves around the commemorative events for the 80th anniversary of the start of the war, what is especially important here is not even the fact that we Russians were not invited. As a result, neither Macron, nor Boris Johnson, nor even Donald Trump, who was frightened by the hurricane, arrived. Poland was simply pointed to its modest place in the "concert of the Western powers." Which, however, the Polish "elites" did not understand. Or diligently did not want to understand. However, it doesn't matter.
What is important now is that in Polish politics, it seems, it is not some, at least relatively healthy, pragmatism, and even not quite Polish cunning, that is starting to play the first violin. And the banal and senseless famous "gentry arrogance", because it is simply impossible to explain these body movements, which are unpleasant not only for Russians, but also for their allies in World War II, who also have their own understanding of history, for no other reasons. In this case, Poland does not acquire any additional points anywhere, but it can get problems. In a word, in this vulgar and offensive anti-Russian rhetoric there is no desire to extract pragmatic benefits - political or economic. Here the ambition manifests itself, so to speak, out of pure love for art.
Simultaneous (this is also a characteristic pinnacle of Polish arrogance, which is also taking place at the present time) "assaults" on the authorities of Russia and Germany - all this not only happened in Polish history, but always ended in approximately the same way. Guess how.
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The Soviet Union, together with Germany, "significantly contributed" to the outbreak of World War II. This was stated by Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski. “It must be remembered that the Soviet Union significantly contributed to the outbreak of World War II and invaded Poland along with Germany. Thus, he is also responsible for the start of World War II,” Waszczykowski said. According to him, the USSR participated in the Second World War "in its own interests", since it was itself a victim of German aggression.
Who would have thought - the Soviet Union fought in its own interests. And in whose interests did he have to fight? It just so happened that at the same time the Red Army deprived the Poles of the German governor general and the "high" rank of subhumans. Moreover, Stalin cut a fair piece of Germany to Poland. Now the “grateful” Poles are fighting with gusto with our monuments.
Immortal lines immediately come to mind: “... The Germans were not the only predators that tormented the corpse of Czechoslovakia. Immediately after the conclusion of the Munich Agreement on September 30, the Polish government sent an ultimatum to the Czech government, which was to be answered in 24 hours. The Polish government demanded the immediate transfer of the Teszyn border region to it. There was no way to resist this rude demand.
The heroic traits of the character of the Polish people should not force us to turn a blind eye to their recklessness and ingratitude, which for a number of centuries caused them immeasurable suffering. In 1919, it was a country that the Allied victory, after many generations of partition and slavery, had turned into an independent republic and one of the major European powers.
Now, in 1938, because of such an insignificant issue as Teszyn, the Poles broke with all their friends in France, in England and in the USA, who returned them to a single national life and whose help they should soon need so much. We saw how now, while the glimpse of German power fell on them, they hastened to seize their share in the plunder and ruin of Czechoslovakia. At the time of the crisis, all doors were closed to the British and French ambassadors. They were not even allowed to see the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs. It must be regarded as a mystery and a tragedy of European history that a people capable of any heroism, individual members of which are talented, valiant, charming, constantly show such enormous shortcomings in almost all aspects of their public life. Glory in times of rebellion and grief; infamy and shame in periods of triumph. The bravest of the brave have too often been led by the most vile of the vile! And yet there have always been two Polands: one of them fought for the truth, and the other groveled in meanness ... "
You can, of course, as is now customary among supporters of total repentance on behalf of the USSR and the Red Army, call the author of these lines a “communist falsifier”, “Stalinist”, “convict” that he is a “scoop” with imperial thinking, etc. If it were…not Winston Churchill. That's really someone, but this politician is difficult to suspect of sympathy for the USSR.
The question may arise: why did Hitler need to give Poland the Teszyn region? The fact is that when Germany presented Czechoslovakia with a demand to transfer the German-populated Sudetenland to it, Poland played along. In the midst of the Sudeten crisis, on September 21, 1938, Poland presented an ultimatum to Czechoslovakia about the "return" of the Teszyn region to it. On September 27, another demand followed. A committee was set up to recruit volunteers for the invasion corps. Armed provocations were organized: a Polish detachment crossed the border and fought a two-hour battle on Czechoslovak territory. On the night of September 26, the Poles raided the Frishtat station. Polish planes violated the Czechoslovak border daily.
That's what the Germans had to reward Poland for. Allies in the division of Czechoslovakia, after all. A few months later, the turn came: “of that same Poland, which only six months ago, with the greed of a hyena, took part in the robbery and destruction of the Czechoslovak state.”
After that, the Poles, with inimitable sincerity, are outraged that the USSR dared to encroach on the territory that Poland seized in 1919-1920 in 1939. At the same time, the “greedy hyena”, she is one of the “predators that tormented the corpse of Czechoslovakia” (all claims for the rough accuracy of this definition should be addressed to the terribly intolerant and politically incorrect Winston Churchill) thought of the role of her benefactor of the USSR in World War II to resent.
You can send them the memoirs of the British Prime Minister in response, let the Polish diplomats read and prepare an indignant statement for the British.
Polonophobia, or antipolonism, is a manifestation of a hostile attitude towards the Polish people and Polish history. Judging by the fact that books of Polonophobes are readily published in Russia, and on the Internet there are a lot of Russian-language articles and statements saturated with hatred for the Poles, anti-Polonism in Russia has become the norm for many people...
Can this be considered "normal"?
Every nation, like every person, has its own negative traits. In the history of most countries there are shameful facts and crimes. And there are people who pay attention mainly to flaws and vices and do not notice the good either in the historical past or in the present. I am not one of those people, but in the end, everyone has their own shortcomings ...
But Russian literary Polonophobes, for the most part, are not seriously interested in history. They call themselves "Russian patriots", and draw their knowledge mainly from books translated from English. For example, they annoyingly repeat the words of Sir Winston Churchill about how Poland in 1938 "with the greed of a hyena took part in the robbery and destruction of the Czechoslovak state", but they will not say a word about how the future law-abiding citizens of democratic Czechoslovakia in 1918-1920 years they looted on a grand scale in Russia.
Lieutenant General of the White Army Grigory Semenov recalled this as follows:
“According to the recognition of the commander of the Czech troops, General Syrovy, the discipline in the Czech regiments was so shaky that the command had difficulty holding back the units. The robbery of the civilian population and government institutions along the route of the Czechs reached levels of absolutely incredible. The looted property in military trains was delivered to Harbin, where it was sold quite openly by the Czechs, who rented the building of the local circus for this purpose, set up a store from it, which sold household items taken out of Siberia, such as: samovars, sewing machines, icons, silver utensils , crews, agricultural tools, even copper ingots and cars taken out from the factories of the Urals.
In addition to open robbery, organized, as can be seen from the previous presentation, on a broad, purely commercial basis, the Czechs, taking advantage of impunity, released counterfeit Siberian money on the market in huge quantities, printing them in their echelons. The Czech command could not or did not want to fight this evil, and such connivance had the most corrupting effect on the discipline in the regiments of the Czech troops.
Semyonov also claimed that for the extradition of Kolchak to the Bolsheviks "in Chita, Russian officers handed over to General Syrovy on receipt 30 silver two-kopeck pieces - a symbolic payment for betrayal." Most likely, this is a bike, but the bike is very eloquent.
But the fact that this very General Yan Syrovoy during the occupation of the Teszyn region by Poland served as prime minister and minister of national defense in Czechoslovakia and did nothing to protect Czechoslovakia is pure truth ...
Sir Winston Churchill writes about this with sorrow: “Immediately after the conclusion of the Munich Agreement on September 30, the Polish government sent an ultimatum to the Czech government, which was to be answered in 24 hours. The Polish government demanded the immediate transfer of the Teszyn border region to it. There was no way to resist this rude demand.
With all due respect to the opinion of Sir Winston, I will allow myself to doubt that Czechoslovakia did not have the opportunity for military resistance. At the end of 1939, Finland - with a population four times smaller than in Czechoslovakia - answered “No” to territorial claims from the USSR, fought for three months and defended its independence.
What prevented Czechoslovakia from saying “No” to the Poles?
Before answering this question, we need to understand why the so-called Munich Agreement of 1938 took place. In modern Russia, there are two main versions: "Soviet" and "Hitler".
According to the "Soviet" version, Great Britain and France betrayed Czechoslovakia in order to set Germany against the USSR. The main drawback of this version is that it is completely incomprehensible why the British and French, less than a year later, provided guarantees to Poland and got involved in a war with Germany.
The "Hitlerian" version of 1938 - promoted by modern Russian neo-Nazis without any objection from the public - states that the Western countries simply "mistaken" in 1919, including the German Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, and in 1938 "corrected the mistake and returned » Germany German lands. Russian General Anton Denikin commented on this “deep thought” back in 1939:
“If we take into account the public mood of 1919, then only a madman could then make a gift from the Sudetenland to the defeated Reich, recognized by the whole world as the culprit of the World War, from areas that, moreover, never belonged to the Reich ...”
All this is so. The Sudetenland was never part of Germany, and before it became "Czechoslovak", it was part of Austria-Hungary. Sudeten Germans lived in general, not so bad. The famous American historian William Shearer, who worked as a journalist in Germany in the 1930s and repeatedly visited neighboring countries, writes:
“Undoubtedly, compared with the situation of national minorities in Western countries, even in America, their situation in Czechoslovakia was not so bad. They had full democratic and civil rights, including the right to vote, they had their own schools, their own cultural institutions. The leaders of their political parties often held ministerial posts in the central government.
The Germans in Czechoslovakia had their own Sudeten German Party, which defended the rights of the German population. And those Germans who did not like the order in Czechoslovakia at all could freely leave the country and go to Germany for permanent residence ...
The political leaders of Czechoslovakia had enough arguments to defend in the eyes of international public opinion the right to the territorial integrity of their country. Only one thing was missing: the determination of the majority of the population to defend the borders with weapons in their hands.
William Shearer naively believed in the presence in 1938 of "35 Czechoslovak well trained and armed divisions stationed behind impregnable mountain fortifications".
... Armament, most likely, was good. As for education, it's a tricky one. It is not a fact that General Syrovoy and his associates with their "Siberian military experience" could teach their subordinates a lot. And the fortifications are made “impregnable” by persistent and courageous people who are ready to fight the enemy. There were too few such people in what was then Czechoslovakia. This was the fundamental difference between Czechoslovakia and Finland.
The “appeasers” Chamberlain and Daladier were quite typical mediocrities and did not hatch any insidious plans in relation to Russia. They simply had nothing to answer to the words spoken by Hitler on September 27, 1938 to Chamberlain's representative Horace Wilson: “If France and England want to attack us, let them attack! I don't care at all! Today is Tuesday, next Monday we will already be at war!” Great Britain and France did not want to fight, and Great Britain and a decent land army did not have to fight on the continent. But the main thing is that Czechoslovakia itself was by no means going to fight. Pan President Edvard Beneš would not turn his tongue to say: “Let them attack…”
As a result, Hitler obtained the consent of England and France to revise the borders of Czechoslovakia in favor of Germany. The "pacifiers", according to Churchill, achieved the following: "The year of respite, which was allegedly won in Munich, put England and France in a much worse position compared to Hitler's Germany than they were at the time of the Munich crisis."
And Poland took advantage of the Munich Agreement for its own benefit. Of course, it was very ugly, one might even say "disgusting" ...
The only question is, who can say this with a clear conscience?
To be honest, Churchill did not have the moral right to compare Poland with a “greedy hyena” ... Now, if Sir Winston had also compared Great Britain and France with “stupid donkeys”, and Czechoslovakia with a “cowardly polecat”, then it would be another matter ...
But the "zoological epithet" from the great Briton "deserved" only Poland.
Why?
Speaking on October 5, 1938 in the British House of Commons, Churchill was indignant:
“What happened in Warsaw? The British and French ambassadors visited the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Colonel Beck, in any case they tried to meet with him in order to ask for some mitigation of the cruel measures that are being applied against Czechoslovakia in connection with the problem of the Teschen region. The door was slammed in front of them. The French ambassador never received an audience, while the English ambassador received a very sharp answer from one of the officials of the ministry. The whole affair is portrayed by the Polish press as a political faux pas on the part of both powers…”
Churchill's indignation is not difficult to understand. The door that slammed shut in the nose of the British ambassador hurt the national vanity of all respectable Britons. Here, you will start calling names not only “hyena” ... Of course, if you are a British patriot.
But the patriots of most other countries, including Russia, will never take offense at the Poles for this diplomatic incident. Because Britain fully deserved such an insult both for the “Munich policy” and for many other not-too-beautiful deeds ... And those who clumsily imitate Churchill thoughtlessly repeat the words about Poland “The hyena of Europe! Hyena of Europe! they do not look like Russian patriots, but like Russian-speaking parrots.
NOTES:
Churchill, W., World War II. (In 3 books). - M.: Alpina non-fiction, 2013. - Book. 1. S. 159e
Semenov G.M., About myself: Memoirs, thoughts and conclusions - M .: AST, 2002. - S. 234-235.
There. S. 233.
Churchill W., Decree. op. - Prince. 1. S. 149.
Denikin A.I., World events and the Russian question // Denikin A.I., The path of the Russian officer. Articles and essays on historical and geopolitical topics - M .: Airis-press, 2006. - P. 470.
Shearer. U., Rise and fall of the Third Reich - M: Astrel, 2012. - S. 404.
There. S. 509.
There. S. 441.
Churchill W., Decree. op. - Prince. 1. S. 155.
Churchill, W., Muscles of the World. - M.: Eksmo, 2009. - S. 81.
Now is the time to remember what the then Poland was like, for the sake of saving which from Hitler we had to line up with England and France.
As soon as it was born, the revived Polish state unleashed armed conflicts with all its neighbors, trying to expand its borders as much as possible.
Czechoslovakia was no exception, a territorial dispute with which flared up around the former Teshinsky principality.
At that time, the Poles did not succeed. On July 28, 1920, during the offensive of the Red Army on Warsaw, an agreement was signed in Paris according to which Poland ceded the Teszyn region to Czechoslovakia in exchange for the latter's neutrality in the Polish-Soviet war.
Nevertheless, the Poles, in the words of the famous satirist Mikhail Zoshchenko, “hid their rudeness” and, when the Germans demanded the Sudetenland from Prague, they decided that the right opportunity had come to get their way. On January 14, 1938, Hitler received Polish Foreign Minister Jozef Beck.
“The Czech state in its current form cannot be preserved, because as a result of the disastrous policy of the Czechs in Central Europe, it is an unsafe place - a communist hearth”, - said the leader of the Third Reich. Of course, as stated in the official Polish meeting report, "Pan Beck warmly supported the Fuhrer". This audience marked the beginning of Polish-German consultations on Czechoslovakia.
In the midst of the Sudeten crisis, on September 21, 1938, Poland presented an ultimatum to Czechoslovakia about the "return" of the Teszyn region to it. On September 27, another demand followed. Anti-Czech hysteria was being whipped up in the country. On behalf of the so-called "Union of Silesian Insurgents" in Warsaw, recruitment to the "Cieszyn Volunteer Corps" was launched quite openly. The formed detachments of "volunteers" were sent to the Czechoslovak border, where they staged armed provocations and sabotage.
So, on the night of September 25, in the town of Konskie near Trshinets, the Poles threw hand grenades and fired at the houses in which the Czechoslovak border guards were located, as a result of which two buildings burned down. After a two-hour battle, the attackers retreated to Polish territory. Similar clashes took place that night in a number of other places in the Teszyn region. The next night, the Poles raided the Frishtat railway station, fired at it and threw grenades at it.
On September 27, throughout the night, rifle and machine-gun fire, grenade explosions, etc. were heard in almost all areas of the Teszyn region. and Skshechen. Armed groups of "rebels" repeatedly attacked the Czechoslovak arms depots, Polish planes daily violated the Czechoslovak border.
The Poles closely coordinated their actions with the Germans. Polish diplomats in London and Paris insisted on an equal approach to solving the Sudetenland and Cieszyn problems, while the Polish and German military agreed on the line of demarcation of troops in the event of an invasion of Czechoslovakia.
At the same time, one could observe touching scenes of "combat brotherhood" between the German fascists and Polish nationalists. Thus, according to a report from Prague dated September 29, a gang of 20 people armed with automatic weapons attacked a Czechoslovak border post near Grgava. The attack was repulsed, the attackers fled to Poland, and one of them, being wounded, was taken prisoner. During interrogation, the captured bandit said that there were many Germans living in Poland in their detachment.
As you know, the Soviet Union expressed its readiness to come to the aid of Czechoslovakia, both against Germany and against Poland. In response, on September 8-11, the largest military maneuvers in the history of the revived Polish state were organized on the Polish-Soviet border, in which 5 infantry and 1 cavalry divisions, 1 motorized brigade, and aviation took part. As expected, the Reds advancing from the east were completely defeated by the Blues. The maneuvers ended with a grandiose 7-hour parade in Lutsk, which was personally received by the "supreme leader" Marshal Rydz-Smigly.
In turn, on September 23, the Soviet side announced that if Polish troops entered Czechoslovakia, the USSR would denounce the non-aggression pact they had concluded with Poland in 1932.
As mentioned above, on the night of September 29-30, 1938, the infamous Munich Agreement was concluded. In an effort to "appease" Hitler at any cost, England and France cynically handed over their ally Czechoslovakia to him. On the same day, September 30, Warsaw presented a new ultimatum to Prague, demanding immediate satisfaction of its claims. As a result, on October 1, Czechoslovakia ceded to Poland an area inhabited by 80,000 Poles and 120,000 Czechs. However, the main acquisition was the industrial potential of the occupied territory. The enterprises located there produced at the end of 1938 almost 41% of the pig iron smelted in Poland and almost 47% of the steel.
As Churchill wrote about this in his memoirs, Poland "with the greed of a hyena, she took part in the robbery and destruction of the Czechoslovak state". An equally flattering zoological comparison is given in his book by the previously cited American researcher Baldwin: "Poland and Hungary, like vultures, tore off pieces of a dying divided state".
Today in Poland they are trying to forget this page of their history. Thus, the authors of the book “History of Poland from ancient times to the present day” published in Warsaw in 1995, Alicja Dybkowska, Małgorzata Zharyn and Jan Zharyn, managed not to mention the participation of their country in the division of Czechoslovakia at all:
“The interests of Poland were indirectly jeopardized by the policy of concessions by the Western states to Hitler. So, in 1935, he introduced universal military service in Germany, thus violating the Versailles agreements; in 1936 Hitler's troops occupied the Rhine demilitarized zone, and in 1938 his army entered Austria. The next target of German expansion was Czechoslovakia.
Despite the protests of her government, in September 1938 in Munich, France, Great Britain and Italy signed an agreement with Germany, giving the Third Reich the right to occupy the Czech Sudetenland, inhabited by a German minority. In the face of what was happening, it became clear to Polish diplomats that now the turn had come to violate the Versailles decrees on the Polish question..
Of course, is it possible to resent the participation of the USSR in the "fourth partition of Poland" if it becomes known that they themselves have a snout in fluff? And Molotov's phrase, so shocking to the progressive public, about Poland as an ugly offspring of the Treaty of Versailles, turns out to be just a copy of Pilsudski's earlier statement about "artificially and ugly created Czechoslovak Republic".
Well, then, in 1938, no one was going to be ashamed. On the contrary, the capture of the Teshino region was seen as a national triumph. Jozef Beck was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, although for such a "feat" would be more suitable, say, the Order of the "Spotted Hyena". In addition, the grateful Polish intelligentsia presented him with the title of honorary doctor of Warsaw and Lviv universities. Polish propaganda choked with delight. Thus, on October 9, 1938, Gazeta Polska wrote: "... the road open before us to a sovereign, leading role in our part of Europe requires in the near future huge efforts and the resolution of incredibly difficult tasks".
The triumph was somewhat overshadowed only by the fact that Poland was not invited to join the four great powers that signed the Munich Agreement, although she very much counted on it.
Such was the then Poland, which, according to the homegrown liberals, we were obliged to save at any cost.
Give us room to fight!
As you know, the main stumbling block, because of which the negotiations in Moscow finally reached a dead end, was the issue of the passage of Soviet troops through the territory of Poland and Romania. The fact is that at that time the USSR did not have a common border with Germany. Therefore, it was not clear how, in the event of a war, we would be able to enter into combat contact with the German army.
At a meeting of military delegations on August 14, 1939, Voroshilov asked a specific question about this: “In general, the entire outline is clear, but the position of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union is not entirely clear. It is not clear where they are located territorially and how they physically take part in the common struggle..
To which General Dumenk, unfolding a map of the USSR and showing the region of the western border, said: “This is a front that the Germans must not cross under any circumstances. And this is the front on which the Soviet Armed Forces should be based..
Such an answer did not suit the Soviet side at all. As Voroshilov rightly noted, we were going to defend our borders in any case, regardless of any agreements.
In order for the Red Army to take part in the fighting from the very first days of the war, and not passively wait for Germany to crush Poland and reach the borders of the Soviet Union, our troops had to pass through Polish territory. At the same time, the zones of their passage were strictly limited: the Vilna region (the so-called Vilna corridor) and Galicia.
As the head of the French delegation, General Doumenc, emphasized in a telegram to the French Ministry of War dated August 15, 1939: “I note the great importance that, from the point of view of eliminating the fears of the Poles, is the fact that the Russians very strictly limit the entry zones[Soviet troops], taking a purely strategic point of view".
However, the arrogant Poles did not want to hear about it. As Chargé d'Affaires a.i. of Germany in Great Britain Theodor Kordt reported in a telegram to the German Foreign Office dated April 18, 1939:
“The Polish embassy adviser, whom I met today at one of the public events, said that both Poland and Romania constantly refuse to accept any offer of assistance from Soviet Russia. Germany, the adviser said, could be sure that Poland would never allow a single soldier of Soviet Russia to enter its territory, whether they be soldiers of the ground forces or the air force.
This puts an end to all the speculations that claimed the provision of airfields as a base for Soviet Russia's air operations against Germany. The same applies to Romania. According to Mr. Yazhzhevsky, it is well known that the aviation of Soviet Russia does not have a sufficient radius of action to attack Germany from bases located on the territory of Soviet Russia. Poland thereby proves once again that it is a European barrier against Bolshevism.
The attempts of England and France to achieve a change in the position of Poland did not lead to anything. As Marshal Edward Rydz-Smigly stated on the evening of August 19: "Regardless of the consequences, not a single inch of Polish territory will ever be allowed to be occupied by Russian troops".
That same evening, Polish Foreign Minister Jozef Beck told the French ambassador in Warsaw, Léon Noël:
“For us, this is a matter of principle: we do not have a military treaty with the USSR; we don't want to have it; I, however, said this to Potemkin. We will not allow that in any form it is possible to discuss the use of part of our territory by foreign troops..
But, perhaps, by setting the passage of our troops through Polish territory as a mandatory condition, we simply wanted to disrupt the agreement? And in fact, this requirement was insignificant?
Let us imagine that the Moscow talks ended in success and that an agreement on mutual assistance between England, France and the USSR was nevertheless concluded. In this case, after the start of World War II, three scenarios were possible:
1. Germany strikes the main blow on the Western Front against England and France.
2. The main blow is directed against Poland and possibly Romania.
3. The main blow is delivered directly to the territory of the USSR through Finland, Estonia and Latvia.
These three options were outlined in the speech of B. M. Shaposhnikov, Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, at a meeting of three delegations on August 15.
Let us assume that Germany's first blow is delivered on the Western Front. With Poland's permission to use its territory, the Soviet Union would be ready to immediately enter the war. Otherwise, we won't be able to help. All that remains is to watch Hitler smash France. Consider the events of 1914. If, immediately after the start of World War I, the Russian army had not launched an offensive in East Prussia, forcing the German command to transfer two corps and a cavalry division from the Western Front,
the Germans would have a very good chance of defeating the French army and thereby winning the war.
Let us now consider the second option - a German attack on Poland. With permission, our troops enter Polish territory and, together with the Polish army, repulse the German attack. Otherwise, we will have to wait until Germany defeats Poland and comes directly to our borders. At the same time, as Voroshilov rightly noted:
“I do not dispute the very opinion that Poland and Romania, if they do not ask for help from the USSR, can very quickly become provinces of aggressive Germany, I do not dispute.
However, I must note here [that] our conference is a conference of the military missions of the three great states and the people representing the Armed Forces of these states should know the following: it is not in our interests, not in the interests of the Armed Forces of Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union that additional Armed the forces of Poland and Romania would have been destroyed.
But if they, Poland and Romania, do not ask for timely help from the Soviet Union, then, according to the concept of the admiral, the Armed Forces of Poland and Romania will be destroyed.
But besides the use of the Polish Armed Forces, there is another important argument that is not pronounced aloud. It is better to fight on foreign territory. If we are not given such an opportunity, we will have to take the fight on our lines, moreover, on the borders of 1939.
Finally, the third option, the least likely, but at the same time the most unpleasant for the USSR, is if the Germans climb to us through the Baltic states and Finland. However, it is also impossible to call such a development of events completely impossible. And in the Baltic States, and even more so in Finland, pro-German sentiments were very strong. So these countries could well not only let German troops through their territory, but also take part in the campaign against the Soviet Union themselves.
In this case, the Poles definitely will not fight, because they do not have any obligations to the USSR. It is also unlikely that you will get help from England and France. Thus, we remain face to face with Germany. If, in response to a German attack, the Red Army strikes at Germany through Polish territory, there is no way for Warsaw to get out of participating in the war.
And one can only agree with the opinion of Winston Churchill: “The demand of Marshal Voroshilov, according to which the Russian armies, if they were allies of Poland, would have to occupy Vilnius and Lviv, was a completely expedient military demand”.
It should be added to what has been said above that Poland not only did not want Soviet help, but up to the last moment continued to plot dirty tricks against our country.
So, in a report dated December 1938 of the 2nd (intelligence) department of the General Staff of the Polish Army, it was emphasized: “The dismemberment of Russia lies at the heart of Polish policy in the East... Therefore, our possible position will be reduced to the following formula: who will take part in the division. Poland must not remain passive at this remarkable historical moment. The task is to prepare well in advance physically and spiritually ... The main goal is the weakening and defeat of Russia ".
And here is an excerpt from the conversation of Rudolf von Shelia, adviser to the German embassy in Poland, on December 28, 1938, with the newly appointed Polish envoy to Iran, J. Karsho-Sedlevsky:
“The political perspective for the European East is clear. In a few years, Germany will be at war with the Soviet Union, and Poland will support, voluntarily or involuntarily, Germany in this war. It is better for Poland to definitely take the side of Germany before the conflict, since the territorial interests of Poland in the West and the political goals of Poland in the East, primarily in Ukraine, can only be ensured through a Polish-German agreement reached in advance.
He, Karsho-Sedlevsky, will subordinate his activity as the Polish envoy in Tehran to the realization of this great Eastern concept, since it is necessary in the end to convince and induce also the Persians and Afghans to play an active role in the future war against the Soviets. He will devote his activities to the fulfillment of this task during the coming years in Tehran.
From a recording of a conversation between German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Polish Foreign Minister Jozef Beck, held on January 26, 1939 in Warsaw: "Mr. Beck did not hide the fact that Poland claims Soviet Ukraine and access to the Black Sea".
From books by I. Pykhalov "The Great Slandered War". Links there.
© Piter Publishing House LLC, 2019
© Series "INTELLIGENCE", 2019
© Dmitry GOBLIN Puchkov, 2019
© Igor Pykhalov, 2019
* * *
Foreword
Russia and Poland. Two peoples, close in blood and language. Among the Poles there are many who worthily served our country, and simply good people. However, it so happened that for a long time of its existence, the Polish state was most often hostile to the Russian.
This is not very surprising. As world history testifies, conflicts between neighboring peoples can easily last for centuries. It is not so easy to figure out who is right in such a dispute, on whose side the historical truth is. The history of Russian-Polish relations is the subject of Igor Pykhalov's book.
Surprisingly different. In this confrontation, the sympathies of the Russian "educated" public invariably turn out to be on the side of the western neighbor. If Poland unleashed a war against Russia and seized territories from it, this is normal. Its right to own the captured is indisputable, and the fact of aggression is not at all condemned. If Russia suddenly rallied and brought back what was hers, whether it was during the reign of Catherine II or during the reign of Stalin, this is completely unacceptable. We must repent for this, and those "victims" of the Russian occupiers, of course, have the right to revenge.
For more than two centuries, a strange and incomprehensible inferiority complex has been intensively cultivated in our country. An offensive war, a war on foreign territory, a war as a result of which Russia receives any gains, is considered something shameful, not corresponding to some lofty ideals. Ideals may vary. In tsarist times, they appealed to mercy and "Christian love for one's neighbor." In Gorbachev's time, they referred to the "Leninist principles of foreign policy." Today, "universal values" are in fashion.
Meanwhile, every state, every nation has its own interests, and others do not always like them. This is normal and there is no need to be ashamed of it.
Starting from the time of Kievan Rus, Igor Pykhalov goes step by step through the key moments of Russian-Polish relations up to the Second World War. It suddenly turns out that we have nothing to be ashamed of.
Dmitry Goblin Puchkov
Author's Preface
What can be in common between the founders of Marxism and the Soviet dissidents of the Brezhnev era, who fled to the West in search of sausage and freedom? Think nothing? No matter how! There is such a question in which the voices of the bearded leaders of the world proletariat merge in a single chorus with the voices of their kitchen detractors from among the anti-Soviet intelligentsia. We are talking about the historical guilt of Russia before Poland.
The reasons for the negative attitude of Marx and Engels towards our country are quite understandable and understandable. The authors of The Communist Manifesto dreamed all their lives of organizing a proletarian revolution at home. The Russian Empire, on the other hand, sometimes did not allow to bring matters even to the bourgeois level. It is clear that the mere mention of Russian future classics of Marxism was simply shaking. In fact, you are going to rouse the German proletariat against the exploiters, and just then the Cossacks will jump in, bring the rebels to reason with whips, on which the revolution will end.
Thanks to the anti-national policy of Alexander I, who signed the "Act of the Holy Alliance" on September 14 (26), 1815, our country undertook to maintain the status quo in all European states, even when it was contrary to its interests. Unfortunately, Nicholas I, who ascended the throne, continued to scrupulously fulfill the obligations of his elder brother. It was through the efforts of the Russian troops that the Ottoman Empire, hostile to Russia, was saved from defeat by the rebellious Egyptians in 1833, and in 1849 only Russian bayonets helped our other enemy, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, to stay on the staggering throne. Subsequently, when in 1854 Russia, at war with England, France and Turkey, expected a blow in the back from Austria, Nikolai Pavlovich severely repented for such a short-sighted policy: “The most stupid of the Russian sovereigns ... I, because I helped the Austrians suppress the Hungarian rebellion”, - the tsar admitted to his adjutant general Rzhevussky. Alas, what was done was beyond repair.
Speaking on January 22, 1867 in London at a meeting dedicated to the 4th anniversary of the Polish uprising, Karl Marx noted the enduring merits of the Poles in saving the West from a hypothetical Russian intervention: "Again the Polish people, this immortal knight of Europe, forced the Mongol to retreat". This refers to the Polish unrest in Prussia in 1848, which allegedly forced Nicholas I to abandon plans for armed intervention.
The founder of the ever-living teaching ended his speech with a pathetic phrase:
“So, for Europe there is only one alternative: either the Asian barbarism led by the Muscovites will fall like an avalanche on its head, or it must restore Poland, thus protecting itself from Asia with twenty million heroes in order to gain time to complete its social transformation.”
V. I. Lenin also distinguished himself in the glorification of Polish nationalists:
“While the masses of Russia and most of the Slavic countries were still sleeping soundly, while in these countries did not have independent, mass, democratic movements, gentry The liberation movement in Poland acquired gigantic, paramount importance from the point of view of democracy, not only all-Russian, not only all-Slavic, but also all-European.
In fairness, it should be noted that, having headed Soviet Russia, Vladimir Ilyich radically changed his Polish policy. But another half a century has passed, and now the Continent magazine, which is already being published in Munich with the money of the CIA, publishes a no less pretentious editorial:
“The first of September 1939 will forever remain in the history of mankind as the date of the beginning of the Second World War, and the 17th of the same month for the peoples of our country and Russia in particular is also the starting point of national guilt before the Polish people. On this day, two totalitarian regimes - East and West - with the cynical connivance of the free world, committed one of the gravest atrocities of the twentieth century - the Third Robbery and unjust Partition of the Polish state ...
Of course, the political mafia, which at that time carried out a bloody dictatorship over the peoples of our country, bears the main responsibility for the evil done, but it is known that crimes are committed by people, the nation answers. Therefore, today, looking back at the past, we, Russian intellectuals, with a feeling of bitterness and repentance, are obliged to take the blame for all the grave sins committed in the name of Russia in relation to Poland ...
But being fully aware of our responsibility for the past, today we still proudly recall that throughout almost two centuries of Poland's struggle for its freedom, the best people of Russia - from Herzen to Tolstoy - have always been on its side.
As we can see, the ideas expressed by a handful of representatives of the small-town "Russian intelligentsia" who signed this opus (Joseph Brodsky, Andrei Volkonsky, Alexander Galich, Naum Korzhavin, Vladimir Maksimov, Viktor Nekrasov, Andrei Sinyavsky) and the croaking conscience of the nation in the person of Academician Sakharov who joined them like two drops of water similar to the views of the leaders of the world proletariat. However, in contrast to Marx and Engels, who were not obliged to love Russia, these subjects were born and raised in a country that was then long and diligently defamed.
Spitting on one's Motherland, admiring the Poles is a long tradition of Russian education. When A. I. Herzen, who went into exile, founded the “Free Russian Printing House” in London in June 1853, the second of the brochures printed there was an extensive opus under the pathos title “Poles forgive us!”.
And this is not just working off the money of the Polish sponsors who financed the printing house. No, Alexander Ivanovich clearly puts his soul into the text. Here is what Herzen writes about the events of 1772-1795, when the Russian Empire did not receive a single piece of Polish land proper:
“Rus tore off the living meat of Poland by shreds, tore off province after province, and, like an irresistible disaster, like a gloomy cloud, moved closer and closer to her heart ... Because of Poland, Russia took the first black sin on her soul.”
But about the rebellion of 1830-1831:
“After the nineties, nothing was either more valiant or more poetic than this uprising ... The noble image of a Polish native, this cross knight of freedom, remained in the memory of the people.”
“... we are guilty, we are offenders, our conscience stung us, we were tormented by shame. Their Warsaw fell under our cores, and we did not know how to show her our sympathy, except for hidden tears, careful whispers and timid silence.
In conclusion, the London exile, awakened by the Decembrists, urged the Russian youth to contribute with all their might to the return of the selected estates to the Polish landowners:
“Unite with the Poles in a common struggle “for our freedom and theirs”, and the sin of Russia will be atoned for.”
The creators of Marxism-Leninism, the spiritual father of the Narodnaya Volya terrorists, the dissidents of the Brezhnev era… What an amazing kinship of souls! To paraphrase Mayakovsky, we can say:
No one is dearer to any Westerner
Relay races of Russophobic foolishness:
We say Marx, we mean Sakharov,
We say Engels, we mean Brodsky!
Today, this relay race continues successfully. Here is what the well-known liberal TV journalist Nikolai Svanidze writes:
“The whole history of this people over the past 200 years is the history of the struggle to live at least a little apart from Russia. “Two hundred years together,” a classic would say. Sufficient time. And we got them great. It began with the partitions of Poland under Catherine, but those were flowers. It continued under Nicholas I, when the Polish national uprising was suppressed, and our great poet, in a civic impulse, defined it as “a fraternal dispute between the Slavs”. The Poles did not fully agree with our great poet: they would like one of the brothers, the one who is healthier, not so painfully to kick the other brother in the head during a fraternal dispute. Then there was a lot more, but the final chords of our brotherhood were especially successful: the division of Poland between Hitler and Stalin, deportations, Katyn, then the refusal to help the Warsaw Uprising and, finally, for dessert - the forcible imposition of Soviet power, the inclusion of Poland as one of the provinces into the Eastern European Empire.
And here are the revelations of the director Stanislav Govorukhin on the air of the radio station "Echo of Moscow" on November 24, 2009 (the program "Clinch: Russia and Poland"):
“Russia is a vindictive state. It would seem that it would be necessary to strengthen friendship with neighbors, but we have recently introduced a new holiday - November 4th. Not a single person knew what it was, why, why. Then they explained - it turns out that 400 years ago the Poles were expelled from the Kremlin. Here is the wickedness. And after that, we want good relations between our states?”
Govorukhin's remarks turned out to be so odious that even the host of the program, the liberal and Catholic Sergey Buntman, could not stand it, who began to timidly object to the "Orthodox patriot director." However, Govorukhin, like a current black grouse, hears only himself, continuing to talk nonsense with inspiration:
« S. Govorukhin: Most - I assure you - the majority to this day know that in mid-September 1939, the Red Army came to the aid of Poland and prevented Hitler from capturing half of the country, and thus, as it were, saved them. To whom will you explain now that the Poles fought with us - because there was an invasion. And those who did not fight and succumbed to persuasion, like these several thousand officers who were promised peace and freedom, they were shot near Katyn. Nobody knows anything, that's where all the trouble comes from. Nobody knows that when the uprising began in Warsaw in 1944, our troops stood on the other side of the river and waited for it to be crushed.
S. Buntman: They say they couldn't. They went several kilometers to the west.
S. Govorukhin: But since the uprising was organized by London, therefore the troops of Marshal Rokossovsky were waiting for the uprising to be crushed, then the troops would move. Among the Poles, of all our neighbors, of course, Russia most of all over the past two centuries, Russia has mocked the Poles. Remember, there were Polish tsars, Russian autocrats, remember the Polish uprisings, brutally and bloodily suppressed, partitions of Poland. I'm not saying that even in the 20th year, when the Civil War ended, the Red Army suddenly flooded into Warsaw.
S. Buntman: But before that, the Polish army went to Kiev, before the Red Army went to Warsaw, and Kiev was taken.
K. Zanussi(Polish director): Was taken, but not annexed to Poland. Of course, Poland's interest was an independent Ukraine.
S. Govorukhin: But the most terrible evil, of course, that was inflicted is 1939, the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, and the fact that, of course, the Poles cannot be grateful to us for making them a country of people's democracy.
Exactly what I mentioned above is happening. Any real or imaginary offense ever inflicted on Poland by Russia is carefully blamed on us, while the hostile actions of the Poles against our country are pointedly ignored. To repent for the divisions of Poland is the duty of the “Russian intellectual”, to remember the Time of Troubles and the Polish occupiers in the Kremlin is a manifestation of vindictiveness.
If you believe all these intellectual howls, it turns out that for hundreds of years our compatriots only thought about how to offend poor and unfortunate Poland as much as possible. From century to century, in any Russian-Polish conflict, Russia is obviously not right ( "we are guilty, we are offenders"), while Poland, by definition, is "right, long-suffering" .
Well, let's see how it really happened.
Chapter 1
The dispute of the Slavs among themselves
Leave: this is a dispute between the Slavs,
Domestic, old dispute, already weighed by fate,
A question that you can't answer.
For a long time with each other
These tribes are at enmity;
More than once bowed under a thunderstorm
Either their side or ours.A. S. Pushkin. To the slanderers of Russia
Starting conditions for both Slavic powers were approximately equal. Polish and Russian centralized states appeared on the historical stage almost simultaneously. They also adopted Christianity almost simultaneously: the Poles converted to Catholicism in 966, the Russians converted to Orthodoxy in 988.
Contrary to Pushkin's lines, relations between Poland and Kievan Rus did not differ in pronounced hostility. However, one should not go to the other extreme, as Soviet historians did, faithful to the principles of communist political correctness:
“A comprehensive and unbiased analysis of the surviving sources leaves no stone unturned from the legend created by bourgeois-nationalist historiography about the eternal Polish-Russian antagonism.
At the time in question, there was not even a hint of this. This is best evidenced by the attitude of Russian chroniclers towards Boleslav the Brave, who found in themselves enough objectivity and nobility to emphasize his mind and courage.
It is interesting that the opposite opinion is expressed about the attitude of Russian chroniclers towards the Polish ruler:
“The Polish king Boleslav I the Brave, who captured Kiev in 1018, is described with hostility. He allegedly even “could not ride a horse”, because he has a “thick belly”. In this womb, like an evil spirit, Russian warriors threatened to stick a “cane” .
“In the year 6526 (1018). Boleslav came to Yaroslav with Svyatopolk and the Poles. Yaroslav, having gathered Russia, and the Varangians, and Slovenes, went against Boleslav and Svyatopolk and came to Volhynia, and they stood on both sides of the Bug River. And Yaroslav had a breadwinner and governor, named Buda, and he began to reproach Boleslav, saying: "Let's pierce your thick belly with a stake." For Boleslav was great and heavy, so that he could not even sit on a horse, but he was smart. And Boleslav said to his squad: “If this reproach does not offend you, then I will die alone.” Sitting on a horse, he rode into the river, and behind him his soldiers, Yaroslav did not have time to go to waste, and Boleslav defeated Yaroslav. And Yaroslav fled with four men to Novgorod. Boleslav entered Kiev with Svyatopolk.
Personally, I do not see in this passage either praise or denigration of Boleslav. The chronicler recounts the events quite neutrally, noting both the mind of the Polish prince and his thick belly.
As for relations between Poland and Russia, "comprehensive and unbiased analysis of surviving sources" shows that they were moderately hostile, as it should be between strong neighbors of the era of early feudalism. When, after the death in 1015 of the Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, civil strife began among his sons, the defeated Svyatopolk (went down in history as Svyatopolk the Accursed) fled to his father-in-law, the ruler of Poland. Boleslav I the Brave came to the aid of his son-in-law. Together with the Polish army there were 300 Germans, 500 Hungarians and 1000 Pechenegs. Having defeated the army of Yaroslav the Wise on August 22, 1018 in a battle on the banks of the Western Bug, on September 14 Boleslav and Svyatopolk occupied Kiev.
Entering Kiev, Boleslav struck the Golden Gate with his sword. The result of this "feat" turned out to be quite predictable - the gate was not damaged, but a notch appeared on the sword. The sword received the proud name "Szczerbiec" and has since been used at the coronation of Polish kings.
Sword of the Polish kings "Szczerbiec"
In gratitude for the assistance provided, Svyatopolk gave his father-in-law the "Cherven castles" - Przemysl, Cherven and other cities on the left bank of the Western Bug, annexed to Russia in 981. In addition, Boleslav took out the Kiev treasury and stole a large crowd (about a thousand people), including Yaroslav's sister Predslava, whom he made his concubine.
From the point of view of Polish interests, Bolesław acted quite logically. The daughter's husband was elevated to the Kiev throne, but the strong eastern neighbor remains split: Svyatopolk rules in Kiev, Yaroslav holds Novgorod. But there is also their brother Mstislav, who reigns in Tmutarakan, but may well intervene in the struggle for power over Russia (which he did a few years later), and nephew Bryachislav Izyaslavich, who rules the Polotsk principality. It seemed that Poland's eastern neighbors were in for a long and bloody civil strife.
Unfortunately for Boleslav, these calculations did not materialize. Without Polish support, Svyatopolk could not resist.
The very next year, Yaroslav the Wise, with the help of the Novgorodians, managed to return to Kiev. In 1019, in the battle on the Alta River, Svyatopolk was finally defeated. In 1021, Yaroslav made peace with Bryachislav, having previously defeated the latter in a battle on the Sudoma River. Mstislav turned out to be a much more dangerous opponent, to whom Yaroslav in 1023 lost the battle of Listwitz. However, Mstislav did not claim the reign of Kiev. As a result, the brothers made peace, dividing the Russian lands among themselves: the regions on the eastern side of the Dnieper went to Mstislav, and on the western side to Yaroslav.
Meanwhile, Boleslav I unsuccessfully sought the royal title from the pope and the German emperor for many years, but, without waiting for official recognition, in 1025 he arbitrarily proclaimed himself king. However, the Polish monarch did not have to enjoy the high status for a long time - in the same year Boleslav died. The crown was inherited by his middle son Mieszko II. Exiled by the new Polish king, the elder brother Besprim and the younger Otto found refuge in Russia.
During his long reign, the warlike Boleslav managed to ruin relations with all his neighbors. Continuing this policy, his son in 1028 started a war against the German Empire, devastating the Saxon lands and taking away a large number of prisoners. In 1030, Mieszko again invaded the border regions of the empire.
However, Yaroslav intervened. In 1030, the prince of Kiev recaptured the city of Belz in Volhynia from the Poles. And the following year, a joint Russian-German strike took place. The German emperor Conrad II moved to Poland from the west, Yaroslav the Wise, together with his brother Mstislav, from the east. The brothers Meshko II, Besprim and Otton were also under the Russian princes.
As a result, Yaroslav returned the Cherven land under the rule of Kiev, Russian troops stole a large crowd. The captured Poles were resettled by Yaroslav on the Ros River. Mieszko II hurried to make peace with Germany, ceding part of the Lusatia to her, and then fled to the Czech Republic, which, taking advantage of the favorable situation, also took part in the division of Poland, annexing Moravia, and later Silesia.
“So, the early feudal monarchy of Bolesław the Brave, having stepped far beyond the ethnographically Polish lands, turned out to be a rather ephemeral and short-lived formation. Taking advantage of the internal weakening of the Old Polish state, the Czech Republic and Russia easily regained the lands seized by the Polish feudal lords - Moravia and Cherven cities. In this case (1031) they acted against Poland as allies, coordinating their actions with the Empire.
This episode of a thousand years ago could become one of the "pearls" of the collection "grave sins committed in the name of Russia in relation to Poland" for which we must continually repent. "Russian-German conspiracy", "stab in the back", "partition of Poland" - neither give nor take the "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact" in a medieval version. Alas, the dull-witted and ignorant Russian liberal intelligentsia, who do not know the history of their country, simply do not suspect this “crime”.
Elevated with Russian and German help to the Polish throne, Besprim did not rule for long, and already in the next 1032 he was killed by conspirators. Mieszko II regained power, but was forced to give up his royal title, becoming simply a prince. In 1034 he was also killed.
The time of turmoil has come in Poland. In 1037–1038 the country was shaken by a massive anti-feudal peasant uprising. Relying on the people's militia, the Pomeranian and Mazovian nobility managed to achieve the complete separation of Pomerania and Mazovia. The situation was hastened to take advantage of the Czech prince Bretislav, who in 1038 made a devastating campaign against Poland.
In this situation, the son of Mieszko II, Casimir, turned for help first to Germany, and then to Russia. The union with the prince of Kiev was sealed in 1039 by the marriage of Casimir to the sister of Yaroslav the Wise Maria Dobronega. The date of birth of Dobronega is unknown, but since she is the daughter of Prince Vladimir, this happened no later than 1015, that is, at the time of the wedding she was at least 24 years old. By the standards of that time, Yaroslav's sister was considered an overage, besides, she was older than her husband. However, the Polish prince, who was in dire need of Russian help, was hardly worried about such trifles.
In connection with the marriage, Casimir returned 800 Russian prisoners from among those driven away in 1018 by Boleslav I. According to the peace treaty with Yaroslav, the Cherven land, as well as Belz and Berestye, retreated to Russia.
Soon the Russian-Polish union was reinforced by another dynastic marriage: the second son of Yaroslav Izyaslav married Kazimir's sister Gertrude. Apparently, this happened in 1043.
Fulfilling his allied duty, Yaroslav made a series of campaigns against Mazovia. The number of these campaigns - two (1041 and 1047), three (1041, 1043 and 1047) or four (1039, 1041, 1043 and 1047) - historians did not agree, but their result is known - Mazovian prince Moisław was killed and Mazovia was returned to Polish rule.
After the death of Yaroslav the Wise in 1054, Izyaslav, the eldest of his surviving sons, began to rule in Kiev. However, in 1068 he was overthrown by the rebels of Kiev. The Prince of Polotsk, Vseslav, who was released from prison by them, became the prince of Kiev. Izyaslav fled to Poland, where by that time Boleslav II, the son of Casimir from Maria Dobronega, ruled. Boleslav did not leave his relative without help, personally setting out with an army on a campaign against Kiev. Vseslav evaded the battle and fled. May 2, 1069 Izyaslav again took the throne of Kiev. Unlike in 1018, these events did not result in territorial concessions to Poland.
In 1073, Izyaslav was again expelled from Kiev, now by his own brothers Svyatoslav and Vsevolod. Deprived of power, the prince again fled to Poland. However, this time the Polish relative, in the language of modern "effective managers", "threw" Izyaslav - taking money from the fugitive prince, refused to help and ordered him to leave his country.
As Pope Gregory VII complained about this in a letter to Boleslav II dated April 20, 1075: “By illegally appropriating the treasury of the Russian prince, you violated Christian virtue. I pray and conjure you in the name of God to give him everything taken by you or your people, for the disobedient will not enter the kingdom of heaven if they do not return the stolen. .
The papal concern is quite understandable, given that Izyaslav promised, in the event of a return to power, to make Kievan Rus a vassal of the Roman throne.
However, Boleslav did not heed the call, and there was a good reason for this. By that time, he had already managed to conclude an agreement with Svyatoslav. In 1076, Russian troops, led by Svyatoslav's son Oleg and Vsevolod's son Vladimir Monomakh, assisted the Poles in the war against the Czech prince Vratislav II.
The situation changed after the death of Svyatoslav on December 27, 1076. Immediately remembering the "Christian virtue", Boleslav went on a campaign to Russia. However, the Polish troops did not reach Kiev. Izyaslav and Vsevolod managed to agree amicably, after which, on July 15, 1077, Izyaslav occupied the throne of Kiev for the third time.
Gradually, both countries sank deeper and deeper into feudal fragmentation. In Russia, these processes began after the death of Yaroslav the Wise, in Poland - from the beginning of the 1080s, and especially after the death in 1138 of Boleslav III Wrymouth.
Russian and Polish princes willingly entered into alliances, reinforcing them with dynastic marriages. So, in 1103, the Kiev prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich married his daughter Sbyslav to the 17-year-old Polish prince Boleslav III Krivousty, who had just ascended the throne. Since the bride and groom were blood relatives of each other, Bishop Baldwin of Krakow obtained special permission in Rome from Pope Paschal II, citing the need "this marriage is for the motherland".
The need was indeed present, since Bolesław III was at that time in a stubborn struggle for power with his older brother Zbigniew and was in desperate need of allies. In 1106 he with great haste he gathered his army and sent ambassadors to the king of the Russians [Svyatopolk] and the Hungarians for help. And if he could not do anything on his own and with their help, then by his delay he would destroy both the kingdom itself and any hope of its restoration.. Despite the threat from the Polovtsy, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich sent an army to help his son-in-law, led by his son Yaroslav.
After the death of Boleslav III, his son from Sbyslava Svyatopolkovna Vladislav II entered into an alliance with the Kiev prince Vsevolod Olgovich, sealed in 1141 by the marriage of Vladislav II's son Boleslav the High to Vsevolod's daughter Zvenislav.
The allies repeatedly came to the aid of each other. So, in 1140, Vladislav II made a campaign against Volhynia against the enemies of Vsevolod. In 1142, he himself received Russian help against his brothers, Prince Bolesław IV of Mazovia and Duke Mieszko III of Greater Poland. In 1144 Vladislav's army took part in Vsevolod's campaign against Galich.
In 1145, at the congress of Russian princes in Kiev, at the suggestion of Vsevolod, it was decided to help Vladislav in the fight against his brothers. The troops of Igor Olgovich, Svyatoslav Olgovich, as well as the Volyn army went on a campaign. As a result, Vladislav's brothers were "forced into peace" and ceded four cities to him. As a payment for help, the Russians received the city of Vizna, and also stole a large crowd.
As you know, at that time there was a final break between Orthodoxy and Catholicism: in 1054, the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople anathematized each other. Naturally, all these Russian-Polish unions caused discontent among the Orthodox clergy.
“While the daughter of a noble prince is given in marriage to another country, where unleavened bread is served ‹…› unworthy and unworthy of the faithful”, - wrote the Metropolitan of Kiev John II in the 1080s. A few decades later, in the teaching “On the Christian and Latin Faith” addressed to the Kiev prince Izyaslav Mstislavich, the Kiev-Pechora hegumen Theodosius the Greek categorically demanded not to marry daughters to Catholics and not to marry Catholics.
However, despite the efforts of church hierarchs to quarrel kindred peoples, Russian and Polish princes continued to willingly become related. So, the youngest son of Boleslav III, Casimir II the Just, who became the ruler of Poland in 1177, was married (since 1163) to the daughter of the Kiev prince Rostislav Mstislavich Elena. In 1178, he himself married his daughter to Vsevolod Svyatoslavich Chermny, the son of the Kiev prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich.
Close ties were observed not only at the princely level. So, among the Russian governors in the 60-70s of the XII century, we meet the Pole Vladislav Vratislavich.
Such were Russian-Polish relations in pre-Mongolian times.