Konsekwencje I wojny światowej dla życia politycznego województw północno-wschodnich II RP
Journal Title: Przegląd Wschodni - Year 2016, Vol 14, Issue 54
Abstract
World War I deeply impacted the areas which became a part of the Northeastern Voivodeships of the Second Polish Republic after the Treaty of Riga in 1921, in a multitude of ways, including Wilno, Nowogródek, Polesie, and the Eastern part of Białystok Voivodeship. Many factors affected the political situation of this area, part of the newly independent Polish state. This especially pertains to the first decade of its existence, but even in the 1930s, the influence of events which took place during World War I can be identified. Among the phenomena with political consequences after the cessation of military operations, both conventional consequences of armed conflict, as well as specific consequences, can be named. The first category includes war destruction, while the second included the scale of mass evacuation – to this day known as bieżeństwo in Polish historiography – and the presence of German administrative authorities. The scale of devastation of material and infrastructure experienced by areas of the North-eastern Voivodeships was a result of military combat, as well as the “scorched earth” policy practiced by the retreating Russian forces in 1915. The post-war rebuilding process – which became the responsibility of the newly reborn Polish state – required an extensive amount of time and was not without its disruptions. In these circumstances, especially in the 1920s, the inhabitants expected support from the authorities. Not always receiving it, they often took radical and oppositional stands. As a result of the mass evacuation of people, called for or forced upon the population by the retreating Russian administrative powers, around 1–1.5 million people found themselves in the heart of Russia, most of Orthodox faith. It is estimated that after the cessation of hostilities, around half of them returned home. Most significantly, the main wave of repatriation took place in 1921–1923. This meant that the repatriates had the opportunity to observe, and often take part, in the Russian Revolution. After the war, in circumstances where social and ethnic conflicts overlapped, consciousness of the scale of the upheaval that had taken place in Russia served as the basis for a sharpening in ethnic and political relations. In the Second Polish Republic, the “evacuee group” served as a base of support for activists and sympathizers of the Communist movement – a destabilizing force in the eyes of the Polish state. The described area was partially controlled – politically and militarily – by the Germans from the summer of 1915 to the beginning of 1918, and entirely until the turn of 1918–1919. In the sphere of politics, the German decision to introduce a policy of freedom of language was most significant. With time, it was accompanied by tolerance (in varying degrees) for political initiatives, shaped within the framework of particular ethnic groups residing on the territory. It would appear that after the Germans relinquished control over the area, their earlier policies contributed to the exacerbation of Polish-Lithuanian and Polish-Belarusian conflicts.
Authors and Affiliations
Piotr Cichoracki
Keywords
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