This challenging new work uses archival research to examine Poland's government in exile during the Second World War as it sought both to fight against the advances of Germany and the Soviet Union, and to prepare for the moment when it would once more be possible to establish a national Polish government. The author suggests that the Poles were as much at war with themselves throughout the war and in the years immediately following the end of hostilities as they were with the German and Soviet forces. Civil War in Poland, 1942-1948 contributes to the debate on the fate of Poland in this complex period, the origins of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, and the process of transformation in Europe during and since the Second World War.
Civil War in Central Europe argues that Polish independence after the First World War was forged in the fires of the post-war conflicts which should be collectively referred to as the Central European Civil War (1918-1921). The ensuing violence forced those living in European border regions to decide on their national identity - German or Polish.
For four centuries, the Polish�Lithuanian state encompassed a major geographic region comparable to present-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, Estonia, and Romania. Governed by a constitutional monarchy that offered the numerous nobility extensive civil and political rights, it enjoyed unusual domestic tranquility, for its military strength kept most enemies at bay until the mid-seventeenth century and the country generally avoided civil wars. Selling grain and timber to western Europe helped make it exceptionally wealthy for much of the period. The Polish�Lithuanian State, 1386�1795 is the first account in English devoted specifically to this important era. It takes a regional rather than a national approach, considering the internal development of the Ukrainian, Jewish, Lithuanian, and Prussian German nations that coexisted with the Poles in this multinational state. Presenting Jewish history also clarifies urban history, because Jews lived in the unincorporated "private cities" and suburbs, which historians have overlooked in favor of incorporated "royal cities." In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the private cities and suburbs often thrived while the inner cities decayed. The book also traces the institutional development of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland�Lithuania, one of the few European states to escape bloody religious conflict during the Reformation and Counter Reformation. Both seasoned historians and general readers will appreciate the many excellent brief biographies that advance the narrative and illuminate the subject matter of this comprehensive and absorbing volume.
A chronicle of battle and bravery in the Civil War, as Polish officers who had lost their own country remained determined to fight for their new one, and for the ideals they had always upheld, whether freedom or independence, or whether North or South . . .
A detailed chronicle of Poland’s efforts during World War II from beginning to end, by the author of Narvik and the Allies. The invasion of Poland by German forces (quickly joined by their then-allies the Soviets) ignited the Second World War. Despite determined resistance, Poland was quickly conquered but Poles continued the struggle to the very last day of the war against Germany, resisting the occupier within their homeland and fighting in exile with the Allied forces. Evan McGilvray, drawing on intensive research in Polish sources, gives a comprehensive account of Poland’s war. He reveals the complexities of Poland’s relationship with the Allies (forced to accept their Soviet enemies as allies after 1941, then betrayed to Soviet occupation in the post-war settlement), as well as the divisions between Polish factions that led to civil war even before the defeat of Germany. The author narrates all the fighting involving Polish forces, including such famous actions as the Battle of Britain, Tobruk, Normandy, Arnhem, and the Warsaw Rising, but also lesser known aspects such as Kopinski’s Carpathian Brigade in Italy, Polish troops under Soviet command, and the capture of Wilhelmshaven on the last day of the war.
As Germany fought the Soviet Union during World War II, a much smaller but equally vicious struggle was unfolding in southeastern Poland, fueled by longstanding ethnic and territorial conflicts between Poles and Ukrainians. Both sides organized large partisan armies and sought control over territory each deemed integral to their postwar national visions. The violence reached a fever pitch in the years immediately following the war. This comprehensive study surveys Polish-Ukrainian relations dating back to the tenth century. Rapawy follows centuries of ethnic strife, population shifts, and the formation of national states after the First World War on multi-ethnic territories, illuminating the long-term historical processes that informed later events.
This challenging new work uses archival research to examine Poland's government in exile during the Second World War as it sought both to fight against the advances of Germany and the Soviet Union, and to prepare for the moment when it would once more be possible to establish a national Polish government. The author suggests that the Poles were as much at war with themselves throughout the war and in the years immediately following the end of hostilities as they were with the German and Soviet forces. Civil War in Poland, 1942-1948 contributes to the debate on the fate of Poland in this complex period, the origins of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, and the process of transformation in Europe during and since the Second World War.
“A wealth of knowledge . . . For every incident, chasing Kornilov or dealing with Admiral Kolchak, the reader has a 360-degree view.” —Roads to the Great War The Russian Civil War was one of the most fateful of the 20th century’s military conflicts, a bloody three-year struggle whose outcome saw the establishment of a totalitarian communist regime within the former Russian Empire. As such, it commands the attention of the military specialist and layman alike as we mark the one hundredth anniversary of the war’s end. This work is the third volume of the three-volume Soviet official history of the Russian Civil War, which appeared during 1928-1930, just before the imposition of Stalinist orthodoxy. While the preceding volumes focused on the minutiae of the Red Army’s organizational development and military art, this volume provides an in-depth description and analysis of the civil war’s major operations along the numerous fronts, from the North Caucasus, the Don and Volga rivers, the White Sea area, the Baltic States and Ukraine, as well as Siberia and Poland. It also offers a well-argued case for the political reasons behind the Bolsheviks’ military strategy and eventual success against their White opponents. And while it is a certainly a partisan document with a definite political bias, it is at the same time a straightforward military history that manages to avoid many of the hoary myths that later came to dominate the subject. As such, it is easily the most objective account of the struggle to emerge from the Soviet Union before the collapse of the communist system in 1991.
Poland and NATO is the third book by Jeffrey Simon on emerging post-communist countries to recently join NATO. As with the previous two volumes, this book contains a treasure of firsthand research grounded in primary source material and personal interviews with key civil and military leaders.
