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Post by pieter on May 7, 2019 8:45:05 GMT -7
Jaga, Kaima, Karl and others,
I want to moderate and change my previous "Gaza–Israel conflict" thread to make it more inclusive and show the real intent I have in this Forum. And that is why I have created this Central-European and Poland thread, and deleted the "Gaza–Israel conflict" content in it. I created another thread with the original "Gaza–Israel conflict" thread for people who are interested in the subject. It stands in the same "International Geographic" section of this Forum. Yes, I am interested in the Middle east, the Israeli's and the Palestinians, and the Druze, Bedouins, Lebanese, Jordanians, Egyptians, North-Africans, Kurds, Iraqi's, Syrians, Saoudi's, Qatari's, Emirate People, Omani's, Yemenites, Iranians, Turks, Armenians, and the Assyrian, Maronite, Coptic and other christians in that region, next to the Jews, Muslims, Yezidi's, Druze and Zoroastrists of that region of the world.
It would be great if this Forum could be dedicated to Poland in continental Europe and the cultures and communities of the Polish Diaspora around the world. I would prefer a Forum which focus is on Central-Europe in the sense of Poland and it's neighbour countries. Eastern-Germany, because it borders to Poland and lies in Central-Europe and has the slavic minority of the West Slavic ethnic group, the Sorbs (also called Lusatians and Wends), predominantly inhabiting Lusatia, a region divided between Germany (the states of Saxony and Brandenburg) and Poland (the provinces of Lower Silesia and Lubusz), and Austria with it's ethnic Slav minorities.
There are three "traditional" ethnic minorities within Austria that have found themselves within Austria as a result of European boundary changes over the years. They are Carthinian Slovenes, Croats and Hungarians.
The Serbs in Austria are the second largest ethnic minority group in Austria, after Germans. The first wave of Serbs to Austria began in the early 19th century, while the largest wave was during the migrant worker program of the 1960s and 1970s. Serb immigration to Austria is still active today due to economic and familial factors. Like in most Western European countries, the Serb community in Austria consists mainly of Serbs from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are about 300,000 Serbs in Austria on a total population of 8,857,960 Austrians.
Traditional ethnic minorities in Austria
Only three numerically significant traditional minority groups exist – 14,000 Carinthian Slovenes (according to the 2001 census – unofficial estimates of Slovene organisations put the number at 50,000) in Austrian Carinthia (south central Austria) and about 25,000 Croats and 20,000 Hungarians in Burgenland (on the Hungarian border). The Slovenes (also called 'Windische') form a closely knit community. Their rights as well as those of the Croats are protected by law and generally respected in practice. The present boundaries of Austria, once the center of the Habsburg Empire that constituted the second-largest state in Europe, were established in accordance with the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1919. Some Austrians, particularly near Vienna, still have relatives in countries that made up the Monarchy, namely Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary.
Austria for me is interesting due to the influence the country had in the past on Poland, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic and Slovakia), Hungary via the Habsburg Monarchy (1526–1804), the Austrian Empire (1804–1867) and Austria-Hungary (the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the Dual Monarchy; 1867–1918) which had a singificant influence in for instance the cities of Prague, Kraków, Budapest and the Magyarization of Slovakia during the 19th century.
I spoke German with my Polish grandmother, because she was born and raised in Southern-Poland which was occupied by the Austrians until 1918, the end of the First World War, when Poland became independent after having being occupied by three foreign empires for more than 100 years. I spoke German because my grandmother was raised in a Roman-Catholic girls boarding school at a monestry, where they were only allowed to speak German and French (not Polish). I spoke German with my babcia and wrote letters and post cards to her in German.
The other occupiers the German Prussians and Czarist Russia also left their marks and tried to Germanise and Russificate Western Poland and Eastern Poland during their rule in Polanand.
Fact is that this is a Polish Forum about Polish culture, Polish people, Polish history, Polish society and the Polish diaspora communities. Poland also had and has a lot of interesting minorities. For instance the Greek Catholic and Orthodox christian Ukrainians, the Russian Orthodox Belarussians and Russians, the Muslim Tartar minority, Polish jews, the German minority in Poland and the tiny minorities of Khazars, Georgians, Armenians, Greeks, Arabs and others. No doubt there will be also significant Czech, Slovak and Hungarian minorities in Poland.
It is hard for outsiders to find good Polish news, good images and good subjects about Poland. That is why I am fond of Bonobo's Polish culture Forum, because it has a lot of Polish content.
Over here it is more difficult, because Kai, John, Jeanne, Karl, Pieter and Eric are not Poles. But there is a lot to find, a lot to post and a lot to write about in the Central Europe where Poland is party of.
Cheers, Pieter
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Post by Jaga on May 7, 2019 22:41:10 GMT -7
Pieter,
your information is very good and has good pictures and documentary. But I tend to believe that we shoudl learn more about other parts of the world rather than Israel induced conflict in Gaza and West Bank. I am glad that Israel at least did not start another wat killing hundreds or thousands of people like in the past.
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Post by kaima on May 8, 2019 7:18:27 GMT -7
Pieter,
your information is very good and has good pictures and documentary. But I tend to believe that we shoudl learn more about other parts of the world rather than Israel induced conflict in Gaza and West Bank. I am glad that Israel at least did not start another wat killing hundreds or thousands of people like in the past. I have to smile at your statement, Jaga. I normally only check the Forum by clicking on "Most Recent Posts" and often find they are chock full of mid east news and videos, sometimes to the point where I miss topics related to Poland that were posted just a bit earlier.
Kai
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Post by pieter on May 8, 2019 16:09:43 GMT -7
Jaga/Kaima,
Maybe it would be easier if the Polish Forumn is centered around Central-Europe in the sense of Poland and it's neighbour countries. Starting with the Western-Slavic, nations, but not excluding Eastern-Slav and Southern-Slav peoples, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian and Baltic people. It is hard for outsiders (a lof of us over here are no ethnic Poles from the Polish Diaspora or Poles from Poland) to find good Polish news, good images (photographs) and good subjects about Poland. That is why I am fond of Bonobo's Polish culture Forum, because it has a lot of Polish content.
Over here it is more difficult, because Kai, John, Jeanne, Karl, Pieter and Eric are not Poles.
Cheers, Pieter
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Post by karl on May 8, 2019 21:33:53 GMT -7
Well, It appears we are all getting down to cases. As Pieter has rightly described, we of North Western Europe have not the matter of being central {Polish} and Eastern Europe manner of thinking, history and family ties to relate to.
Whilst though, relative to above, it is understandable to the majority of subject be of Polish and Eastern European for the forum is titled as such. So, what now, do we gather our swords around the fire and dance to the tune of the fiddler?
Kai is the only Slovak I have met knowingly, although I have met in both a social and business occasions with Czechs and made good friends with them,,and I like you too Kai.
I must though, admit this, Jaga is the only Polish person I have met to become very good friends with and with this, a trust over time that means a great deal to me.
So, what do we do now? Should we hold hands and look in to the others eyes. Or, shall we simply do what we have in the past, to present and reply to what we know in exchange.
My self? I will do what I have in past and present, present and reply to what I know best,,and,, do what one of my old professors stated: We at the University, teach all that we can, in training you to provide you the opportunity to earn the tools of your training, to garner the goals you have set for your self to the successful achievement we know you will meet once you leave our care. But, we not only teach you with learning, but to teach you to continue how to learn once you leave our care: This was not exactly what the good professor said in axact words, but the meaning is loud and clear.
My entention upon the forum is not to teach you as members of this forum, my way of life. But in the stead, my entention as has always been, to learn from you your way of life with associated exchange of my way of life as an equal exchange. In this manner, we each have the access to the other and with this, the understanding that comes with time of the other person.
For you see, the above is a direct relationship that is lacking in understanding of new people that could be new members to the forum. But they cut them selves short with misunderstanding and confusion of forum titles and manner of presented materials that are placed as presentations. In short, the process of: Expectation vesus Fulfilment has not been achieved upon them selves. Is this our fault,or is this the relationship of failure upon them selves in proper understanding. We are not their teachers, but, this is not to say they have not the manner to learn and understand from us. But, they {potentual members} do have the opportunity to if they are willing to learn and understand.
We are not the world, but we are Europeans, should I say more?
Karl
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Post by kaima on May 8, 2019 23:06:16 GMT -7
Jaga/Kaima,
Maybe it would be easier if the Polish Forumn is centered around Central-Europe in the sense of Poland and it's neighbour countries. Starting with the Western-Slavic, nations, but not excluding Eastern-Slav and Southern-Slav peoples, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian and Baltic people. It is hard for outsiders (a lof of us over here are no ethnic Poles from the Polish Diaspora or Poles from Poland) to find good Polish news, good images (photographs) and good subjects about Poland. That is why I am fond of Bonobo's Polish culture Forum, because it has a lot of Polish content.
Over here it is more difficult, because Kai, John, Jeanne, Karl, Pieter and Eric are not Poles.
Cheers, Pieter Pieter,
I did comment on the topic and voiced one perspective. However I am NOT suggesting changes at this time, simply recognition of our current status as a Forum with a Polish intent. I have nothing - no plan, no aim, no course of action to propose we take to change the current status, thus I propose we keep things as we currently are, pending the unexpected brilliant plan to illuminate and popularize this forum.
I agree that Bonobo's forum is quite active and Polish, but I rarely go there for a lack of time.onward we proceed ....
So onward we will proceed,
Kai
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Post by pieter on May 9, 2019 15:10:10 GMT -7
Jaga, Kaima, Karl and others,
I want to moderate and change my previous post to make it more inclusive and show the real intent I had.
It would be great if this Forum could be dedicated to Poland in continental Europe and the cultures and communities of the Polish Diaspora around the world. I would prefer a Forum which focus is on Central-Europe in the sense of Poland and it's neighbour countries. Eastern-Germany, because it borders to Poland and lies in Central-Europe and has the slavic minority of the West Slavic ethnic group, the Sorbs (also called Lusatians and Wends), predominantly inhabiting Lusatia, a region divided between Germany (the states of Saxony and Brandenburg) and Poland (the provinces of Lower Silesia and Lubusz), and Austria with it's ethnic Slav minorities.
There are three "traditional" ethnic minorities within Austria that have found themselves within Austria as a result of European boundary changes over the years. They are Carthinian Slovenes, Croats and Hungarians.
The Serbs in Austria are the second largest ethnic minority group in Austria, after Germans. The first wave of Serbs to Austria began in the early 19th century, while the largest wave was during the migrant worker program of the 1960s and 1970s. Serb immigration to Austria is still active today due to economic and familial factors. Like in most Western European countries, the Serb community in Austria consists mainly of Serbs from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are about 300,000 Serbs in Austria on a total population of 8,857,960 Austrians.
Traditional ethnic minorities in Austria
Only three numerically significant traditional minority groups exist – 14,000 Carinthian Slovenes (according to the 2001 census – unofficial estimates of Slovene organisations put the number at 50,000) in Austrian Carinthia (south central Austria) and about 25,000 Croats and 20,000 Hungarians in Burgenland (on the Hungarian border). The Slovenes (also called 'Windische') form a closely knit community. Their rights as well as those of the Croats are protected by law and generally respected in practice. The present boundaries of Austria, once the center of the Habsburg Empire that constituted the second-largest state in Europe, were established in accordance with the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1919. Some Austrians, particularly near Vienna, still have relatives in countries that made up the Monarchy, namely Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary.
Austria for me is interesting due to the influence the country had in the past on Poland, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic and Slovakia), Hungary via the Habsburg Monarchy (1526–1804), the Austrian Empire (1804–1867) and Austria-Hungary (the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the Dual Monarchy; 1867–1918) which had a singificant influence in for instance the cities of Prague, Kraków, Budapest and the Magyarization of Slovakia during the 19th century.
I spoke German with my Polish grandmother, because she was born and raised in Southern-Poland which was occupied by the Austrians until 1918, the end of the First World War, when Poland became independent after having being occupied by three foreign empires for more than 100 years. I spoke German because my grandmother was raised in a Roman-Catholic girls boarding school at a monestry, where they were only allowed to speak German and French (not Polish). I spoke German with my babcia and wrote letters and post cards to her in German.
The other occupiers the German Prussians and Czarist Russia also left their marks and tried to Germanise and Russificate Western Poland and Eastern Poland during their rule in Polanand.
Fact is that this is a Polish Forum about Polish culture, Polish people, Polish history, Polish society and the Polish diaspora communities. Poland also had and has a lot of interesting minorities. For instance the Greek Catholic and Orthodox christian Ukrainians, the Russian Orthodox Belarussians and Russians, the Muslim Tartar minority, Polish jews, the German minority in Poland and the tiny minorities of Khazars, Georgians, Armenians, Greeks, Arabs and others. No doubt there will be also significant Czech, Slovak and Hungarian minorities in Poland.
It is hard for outsiders to find good Polish news, good images and good subjects about Poland. That is why I am fond of Bonobo's Polish culture Forum, because it has a lot of Polish content.
Over here it is more difficult, because Kai, John, Jeanne, Karl, Pieter and Eric are not Poles. But there is a lot to find, a lot to post and a lot to write about in the Central Europe where Poland is party of.
Cheers, Pieter
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Post by pieter on May 9, 2019 15:46:50 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on May 9, 2019 17:19:11 GMT -7
Karl,
We of North Western Europe have not the matter of being central {Polish} and Eastern Europe manner of thinking, history and family ties to relate to. For me it is different, because I have partly family ties to relate to with Polish family in Western-Poland and Polish-American family in Illinois and Wisconsin, who have more ties, more family and thus visited Poland more than I did. My Polish American cousins speak, write and read Polish, because they were raised in a Polish speaking household with 2 parents who were Polish migrants to the USA. They spoke Polish at home and American English outside the house. American English at their primary school, high school, sport clubs, with their neighbours, colleagues and etc.
It indeed is understandable that the majority of subjects could be of Polish and Central-European on this Forum, because it is a Polish culture Forum, and Poland lies in Central-Europe. Not in Eastern-Europe. But fact is that you are a German of Danish-German (Frisian) descent from North-West-Europe (Denmark/Northern Germany), Kaima is Slovak American (with German, Czech, Slovak, Alaskan and a lot of American states experience), John and Jeanne are Polish Americans, Eric is an American with German and Russian links who is also interested in Polish abd Baltic subjects. Ludwik has a Polish past like Jaga. I don't know about the backgrounds of the other Forum members?
Kai is a Slovak-American to my knowledge and that is different than being a Slovak who is born and raised in Slovakia. Correct me if I am wrong Kaima (Ron). Like my Polish American cousins who aren't Polish, but Americans who are part of the Polish Diaspora, Kaima is probably an American with Slovak ancesters who is part of the Slovak American community. It is great that Kaima extended his Central-European experience to Germany, the Czech republic and Poland next to Slovakia. It is great that Kaima started learning Slovak again and traveled to Poland and had his travel experiences there and cultural and historical knowledge and information he learned there. Karl I went to Southern Bohemia in the Czech republic once and Prague twice. I like the atmosphere, people, culture, food and landscape over there. I have met Czechs in the Czech Republic and the Netherlands and never had problems with them. Probably being half Polish helped, refering to my party central-European and slavic roots. I have no idea how the relation between Poles and Czechs is, nor have I an idea how the relationship between Poles and Slovaks is? Maybe Kai could inform us about that?
Even if Jaga is the only Polish person you have met to become very good friends with means that you have a positive like with Poland, Poles and Polish culture via her.
I say we schould simply do what we have done in the past, to present and reply to what we know in exchange. But maybe we could put a little bit more effort in topics that are related to Poland in particular and central-Europe in general. There must be enough interesting information about Poland, Germany, the Czech republic, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary, the Weimar Triangle, the Visegrad group (Visgrad 4), the position of the Central-European states within the EU, the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe), the Council of Europe, the United Nations, international cultural exchanges, international meetings in these countries, and subjects about science, culture, financial economical subjects, the central European peoples, Eurregions in Central-Europe, Central-European history (the Polish Lithunian Common Wealth, Prussia, the Habsburg empire, the Czarist empire and Poland in the Interbellum -Interwar period- 1919-1939), touristic subjects, movies, documentaries, photo exhibitions and other means to show Central-Europe and Poland.
Please continue to present and reply to what you know best Karl, and use your own experience, knowledge, information and memories and stories of your life.
My intention to learn from our your way of life with associated exchange of my way of life as an equal exchange is excellent Karl. In this exchange of knowledge, stories, information and life experience I hope we can learn something from each other on this Forum. I hope that fellow Forum members on this Forum know a tiny little bit more about the Netherlands due to my posting than they knew before they read my posts and saw my video's about the Netherlands.
Karl, our failure in proper understanding the other on this Forum or some subjects is a universal human problem. Because in the hetrogenic, pluriform and multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-national nature of this Forum and the world we live in we are all different, with different backgrounds, different lives, different walks of life, different families and different peoples. The potential members do have the opportunity to learn something from us if they are willing to learn and understand.
We are not the world, but we are Europeans, was a good conclusion of your story. We are a very diverse, interesting and strange bunch of people as Europeans. But our past, present and future is interesting enough to be the subject of many more posts in this Forum.
Cheers, Pieter
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Post by karl on May 9, 2019 19:14:15 GMT -7
Pieter
I must say,you have missed your calling, for the Deplomatic Service is your specialty. How on this very known earth could I ever find displeasure in what you have said. To be plain, in the first I was beginning to feel out side of the circle and beginning to look for a way out of the forum. But other circumstances made this feeling other wise.
For the manner of time and place, I do not belong to any other forum nor wish to do so. Some times though, I wonder, but then my self then remember my friends here and with the passage of time, there becomes, at least upon my part, a bond of trust and fellowship. For as often as naught, it is a relief to log in to the forum to get away from work more as of a process of {avoidance avoidance} which in self is a process of escaping from reality which is only temporary, but it serves a purpose of relief for moments of rest for the senses and body.
I do agree with all, this is a forum with design for subjects that are Polish and of course, as with Central to Eastern Europe. This is of course as it should be, I know this and realize the obvious. Perhaps, and my self am only guessing, but my personal stubborn nature is derived by nature and the North Sea, a survival trait many of us are stuck with.
But then, as above, I speak to much of my self and not enough for others. I must think about this for modification as time allows.
Thank you Pieter for your thoughtfulness and consideration.
Karl
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Post by pieter on May 10, 2019 8:06:17 GMT -7
Karl,
Maybe an interesting subject for this Forum would be Germans of Polish descent and more recently arrived Poles who live, study and work in Germany and have relations with Germans.
Poles in Germany are the second largest Polish diaspora (Polonia) in the world and the biggest in Europe. Estimates of the number of Poles living in Germany vary from 2 million to about 3 million people living that might be of Polish descent. According to the latest census, there are approximately 2,006,410 Poles in Germany. The main Polonia organisations in Germany are the Union of Poles in Germany and Congress of Polonia in Germany. Polish surnames are relatively common in Germany, especially in the Ruhr area (Ruhr Poles).
Cheers, Pieter
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Post by pieter on May 10, 2019 11:04:03 GMT -7
Folks,
The Pantoflinsky family of my Polish grandmother (her maiden surname) was Southern Polish and they lived in the Southern part of Poland that was occupied by Austria, and German was a dominant language there, similar to the German language and German culture in the Prussian area. So they learned German well as their second language. I spoke German with my Polish grandmother (babcia) and her brother and sisters, my uncle Janek Pantoflinksy and aunts Irena and Alina in Poznań. Their family moved to Poznań long before the Second World War, somewhere shortly after the First World War. They were merchants and trade people, so Poznań was a good commercial (corporate, trade and business city for them). My grandfathers family, the Kotowicz family was -partly from Tworki near Augustow in Eastern Poland and partly from Talinn, Estonia, where they belonged to the Polish minority tyheir during the Czarist Russian empire. Both my grandfather and his father were born in Talinn, Estonia, in Czarist Russia. Maybe his brother Jan Kotowicz was born there too, but I don't know. I know that their family estate was near Augustow). So the Kotowicz famil came from Eastern-Poland and the Baltic states. My mother said it could be possible that we have some Lithuanian roots, because there were a lot of intermarriages between Poles and Lithuanians and many Lithuanians were Polonized (good examples of that are Czesław Miłosz, Józef Piłsudski and Adam Mickiewicz, who was from a Polonized.n Lithuanian family. But it could also be possible that that the Kotowicz were ethnic Polish nobels who lived in the Baltic region next to the German Baltic nobility there and the Russian Czarist administrative elite. The Kotowicz family therefor was from Eastern-Poland and Warsaw and rather intellectual (belonging to the Polish intelligentsia) and with Schlachta roots. My grandfather studied as young man in Kiev and Warsaw (the school of economics in Warsaw) and his brother Jan Kotowicz studied at the university of Prague. Jan later managed the family estate in Tworki near Augustow in the Mazury lake district in North-Eastern Poland not far from the Lithuanian border. After the war their family estate was confiscated by the Communist authorities of the Polish Peoples republic and nationalized and probably used for collective farming in the Sovjet Sovchoz and Kolchoz style? The Kotowicz family is from the Korczak coat of arms, which was used by several noble families of Clan Korczak in the times of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korczak_coat_of_arms )
I often heard that the Habsburg or Austrian-Hungarian regime was less worse than the Czarist Russian regime and the Prussians who tried to Russificate and Germanise their Eastern and Western parts of occupied Poland. The Austrians were more tolerant towards their ethnic minorities and the peoples they occupied. But fact was that the Austrians were conservative and traditional Roman-Catholic. Maybe that matched better with the Poles than the Lutheran Protestant Prussians and the Russian Orthodox Czarist Russians? In Poland you had many uprisings and the Polish socialist Party was rather patriotic or nationalistic with it's Polish Legions (militia).Austria and PolandLocation Austria and Poland in Central-EuropeAustria, largely mountainous landlocked country of south-central Europe. Together with Switzerland, it forms what has been characterized as the neutral core of Europe, notwithstanding Austria’s full membership since 1995 in the supranational European Union (EU). A great part of Austria’s prominence can be attributed to its geographic position. It is at the centre of European traffic between east and west along the great Danubian trade route and between north and south through the magnificent Alpine passes, thus embedding the country within a variety of political and economic systems. In the decades following the collapse in 1918 of Austria-Hungary, the multinational empire of which it had been the heart, this small country experienced more than a quarter century of social and economic turbulence and a Nazi dictatorship. Yet the establishment of permanent neutrality in 1955, associated with the withdrawal of the Allied troops that had occupied the country since the end of World War II, enabled Austria to develop into a stable and socially progressive nation with a flourishing cultural life reminiscent of its earlier days of international musical glory. Its social and economic institutions too have been characterized by new forms and a spirit of cooperation, and, although political and social problems remain, they have not erupted with the intensity evidenced in other countries of the Continent. The capital of Austria is historic Vienna (Wien), the former seat of the Holy Roman Empire and a city renowned for its architecture.LandAustria is bordered to the north by the Czech Republic, to the northeast by Slovakia, to the east by Hungary, to the south by Slovenia, to the southwest by Italy, to the west by Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and to the northwest by Germany. It extends roughly 360 miles (580 km) from east to west.Early Middle AgesGermanic and Slavic settlementFollowing the departure of the Langobardi to Italy (568), further development was determined by the Bavarians in a struggle with the Slavs, who were invading from the east, and by the Alemanni, who settled in what is now Vorarlberg. The Bavarians were under the political influence of the Franks, whereas the Slavs had Avar rulers. At the time of their greatest expansion, the Slavs had penetrated as far as Niederösterreich (Lower Austria), Steiermark (Styria), Kärnten (Carinthia), and eastern Tirol. After 624 the western Slavs rose against the Avars under the leadership of the Frankish merchant Samo, whose short-lived rule may also have extended over the territories of the eastern Alps. About 700 the Bavarian lands again bordered on Avar territory, with the lower course of the Enns forming the approximate frontier. On the death of the Frankish king Dagobert I (639), the Bavarian dukes from the house of Agilolfing became virtually independent.
Christianity had survived only here and there among the remnants of the Roman population when, about 600 and again about 700, Christian missionaries from the west became active, with the support of the Bavarian dukes. At the end of the 7th century, St. Rupert, who came from the Rhine, founded the church of Salzburg. When they were threatened once more by the Avars, the Alpine Slavs (Karantani) placed themselves (before 750) under the protection of the Bavarians, whose mission was extended to them. At the same time, Bavarian settlers penetrated into the valleys of Kärnten and Steiermark. Charlemagne, emperor of the neighbouring Franks, however, deposed the Bavarian duke Tassilo III, wiping out the Bavarian dukedom for a century. During the following years (791–796), Charlemagne led a number of attacks against the Avars and destroyed their dominion. Surviving Avars were made to settle in the eastern part of Lower Austria between the rivers of Fischa and Leitha, where they soon disappeared from history, most probably mixing with the native population.
As was the usual Frankish practice, border provinces (Marken, or marches) were instituted in the newly won southeastern territories. The Avar March on the Danube and Lower and Upper Pannonia and Karantania were to form a border fortification, but this arrangement soon became less effective because of frequent disagreements among the nobility. To that unrest was added a threat from the Bulgarians and from the rulers of Great Moravia (see Moravia). Nevertheless, the process of Germanization and Christianization continued, during the course of which the churches of Salzburg and Passau came into conflict with the eastern mission, which was led by the Slav apostles Cyril and Methodius. The Frankish kingdom richly endowed the church and nobility with new lands, which came to be settled by Bavarian and Frankish farmers.
In 881 the beginning of incursions by the Magyars led to a first clash near Vienna. By 906 they had destroyed Great Moravia, and in 907 near Pressburg (Bratislava, Slvk.) the Magyars defeated a large Bavarian army that had tried to win back lost territory. Liutpold of Bavaria as well as Theotmar, the archbishop of Salzburg, were killed in battle. The Lower Austrian territories as far as the Enns River, and Steiermark as far as the Koralpe massif, fell under Magyar domination. Nevertheless, a certain continuity of German-Slav settlement was maintained so that, after the victory of the German king Otto I (later Holy Roman emperor) in 955 and the further repulse of the Magyars in the 960s, a fresh start could be made. (See also Germany: History; Holy Roman Empire.)War of the Polish SuccessionThe War of the Polish Succession, (1733–38), was ageneral European conflict waged ostensibly to determine the successor of the king of Poland, Augustus II the Strong. The rivalry between two candidates for the kingdom of Poland was taken as the pretext for hostilities by governments whose real quarrels with each other had in fact very little connection with Polish affairs. The war resulted mainly in a redistribution of Italian territory and an increase in Russian influence over Polish affairs.
After Augustus died (Feb. 1, 1733), Austria and Russia supported the election of his son Frederick Augustus II of Saxony as king of Poland. Most Poles, however, preferred Stanisław I Leszczyński, who had been their king (1704–09) when the Swedes had temporarily forced Augustus II to be deposed and who also had become connected to France via the marriage of his daughter Marie to King Louis XV. France and Spain both opposed the Austro-Russian position and supported Leszczyński, who was elected king of Poland by a sejm (Diet) of 12,000 delegates in Warsaw on Sept. 12, 1733. But when a Russian army of 30,000 approached Warsaw, Leszczyński fled to Gdańsk, and another sejm of 3,000 delegates named Frederick Augustus as Poland’s new king, Augustus III (Oct. 5, 1733). France consequently formed anti-Habsburg alliances with Sardinia-Savoy (September 26) and Spain (November 7) and declared war on Austria (October 10).
Don Carlos, the Spanish infante, led a Spanish army of 40,000 across Tuscany and the Papal States to Naples, defeated the Austrians at Bitonto (May 25, 1734), conquered Sicily, and was crowned king of Naples and Sicily as Charles III. The French, however, after overrunning Lorraine, were effectively checked in southern Germany by Austria’s prince Eugene of Savoy. Furthermore, the French and Savoyard forces that invaded Lombardy were unable to take Mantua, and the small French contingent sent by sea to relieve the Russian siege of Gdańsk was ineffective. Gdańsk fell in June 1734.
Leszczyński escaped to Prussia, and to support him the Poles organized the Confederation of Dzików (November 1734), which, however, failed to defeat the Russians and Augustus. Furthermore, dissension between the Spaniards and the Savoyards made the Italian campaign of 1735 inconclusive; and, because the French feared that the British and the Dutch would enter the war as Austria’s allies, France signed a preliminary peace with Austria (Peace of Vienna; Oct. 3, 1735). It provided for Augustus to remain king of Poland. In addition, Don Carlos was to retain Naples-Sicily but had to give Austria both Parma and Piacenza, which he had inherited in 1731, and to renounce his claims to Tuscany. Sardinia-Savoy also acquired Novara and Tortona from Lombardy, which remained a Habsburg possession. Following the settlement, Leszczyński renounced the crown (Jan. 26, 1736), and the Dzików Confederation recognized Augustus as king (July 1736).
On Nov. 18, 1738, France and Austria signed the final Treaty of Vienna, in which the provisions of the preliminary agreement were confirmed and in which France also conditionally guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction, by which Holy Roman emperor Charles VI named his daughter, the Austrian archduchess Maria Theresa, as the heiress to his Habsburg lands. The other outstanding belligerents acceded to the peace in 1739.Partitions of PolandThe Partitions of Poland, (1772, 1793, 1795), were three territorial divisions of Poland, perpetrated by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, by which Poland’s size was progressively reduced until, after the final partition, the state of Poland ceased to exist. The First PartitionThe First Partition occurred after Russia became involved in a war against the Ottoman Turks (1768) and won such impressive victories, particularly in the Danubian principalities, that Austria became alarmed and threatened to enter the war against Russia. Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia, however, in order to avoid an escalation of the Russo-Turkish War, determined to calm Austro-Russian relations by shifting the direction of Russia’s expansion from the Turkish provinces to Poland, which not only had a structurally weak government but also, since 1768, had been devastated by a civil war and by Russian intervention and was, therefore, incapable of resisting territorial seizures.
On August 5, 1772, Russia, Prussia, and Austria signed a treaty that partitioned Poland. Ratified by the Polish Sejm (legislature) on September 30, 1773, the agreement deprived Poland of approximately half of its population and almost one-third (about 81,500 square miles [211,000 square km]) of its land area. Russia received all the Polish territory east of the line formed roughly by the Dvina and Dnieper rivers. Prussia gained the economically valuable province of Royal Prussia, excluding the cities of Gdańsk (Danzig) and Toruń, and also gained the northern portion of the region of Great Poland (Wielkopolska). Austria acquired the regions of Little Poland (Małopolska) south of the Vistula River, western Podolia, and the area that subsequently became known as Galicia.
Almost 20 years later Poland, which had made efforts to strengthen itself through internal reforms, adopted a new, liberal constitution (May 3, 1791). That action, however, resulted in the formation of the conservative Confederation of Targowica (May 14, 1792), which asked Russia to intervene to restore the former Polish constitution. Not only did Russia accept the confederates’ invitation, but Prussia also sent troops into Poland, and on January 23, 1793, the two powers agreed upon the Second Partition of Poland. Confirmed in August and September 1793 by the Polish Sejm—surrounded by Russian troops—the Second Partition transferred to Russia the major remnant of Lithuanian Belorussia and the western Ukraine, including Podolia and part of Volhynia, and allowed Prussia to absorb the cities of Gdańsk and Toruń as well as Great Poland and part of Mazovia. The Second Partition accounted for an area of about 115,000 square miles (300,000 square km).The Second PartitionThe 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition occurred in the aftermath of the Polish–Russian War of 1792 and the Targowica Confederation of 1792, and was approved by its territorial beneficiaries, the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. The division was ratified by the coerced Polish parliament (Sejm) in 1793 (see the Grodno Sejm) in a short-lived attempt to prevent the inevitable complete annexation of Poland, the Third Partition.
By 1790, on the political front, the Commonwealth had deteriorated into such a helpless condition that it was forced into an alliance with its enemy, Prussia. The Polish-Prussian Pact of 1790 was signed, giving false hope that the Commonwealth might have at last found an ally that would shield it while it reformed itself. The May Constitution of 1791 enfranchised the bourgeoisie, established the separation of the three branches of government, and eliminated the abuses of Repnin Sejm. Those reforms prompted aggressive actions on the part of its neighbours, wary of the potential renaissance of the Commonwealth. Again Poland dared to reform and improve itself without Russia's permission, and again the Empress Catherine II was angered; arguing that Poland had fallen prey to the radical Jacobinism then at high tide in France, Russian forces invaded the Commonwealth in 1792.
During the Polish–Russian War of 1792 in Defense of the Constitution, the Polish forces supporting the Constitution fought against the army of the Russian Empire, invited by the pro-Russian alliance of Polish magnates, known as the Targowica Confederation. The conservative nobility (see also, szlachta) believed that the Russians would help them restore their Golden Liberty. Abandoned by their Prussian allies, the badly outnumbered Polish pro-Constitution forces fought under Prince Józef Poniatowski a defensive war with some measure of success, but were ordered to abandon their efforts by their supreme commander, King Stanisław August Poniatowski. The King decided to join the Targowica Confederation, as demanded by the Russians.
Russia invaded Poland to ensure the defeat of the Polish reforms, with no overt goal of another partition (it viewed Poland as its protectorate, and saw little need to give up chunks of Poland to other countries). Frederick William II of Prussia, however, saw those events as an opportunity to strengthen his country. Frederick demanded from Catherine that for his country's abandoning Poland as a close ally, and for Prussian participation in the War of the First Coalition against revolutionary France. Because Russia had encouraged Prussian participation, and Prussia had recently suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Valmy), Prussia should be compensated – preferably with parts of the Polish territory. Russia soon decided to accept the Prussian offer.
In response to the Second Partition, the Polish officer Tadeusz Kościuszko led a national uprising (March–November 1794). Russia and Prussia intervened to suppress the insurgents, and on October 24, 1795, they concluded an agreement with Austria that divided the remnants of Poland (about 83,000 square miles [215,000 square km]) between themselves. By the Third Partition of Poland, which was not finally settled until January 26, 1797, Russia incorporated Courland, all Lithuanian territory east of the Neman (Nieman) River, and the rest of the Volhynian Ukraine; Prussia acquired the remainder of Mazovia, including Warsaw, and a section of Lithuania west of the Neman; and Austria took the remaining section of Little Poland, from Kraków northeastward to the arc of the Northern Bug River.
Those territorial divisions were altered in 1807, when the emperor Napoleon of France created the duchy of Warsaw out of the central provinces of Prussian Poland, and in 1815, when the Congress of Vienna created the Congress Kingdom of Poland. However, the main result of the partitions—i.e., the elimination of the sovereign state of Poland—was in effect until after World War I, when the Polish republic was finally restored (November 11, 1918).The Third Partition of PolandThe Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Austrian Empire, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polish–Lithuanian national sovereignty until 1918. The partition was followed by a number Polish uprisings during the period.
The third partition, and the partitions of Poland in general, remains a controversial topic in modern Poland.
Following the First Partition of Poland in 1772, in an attempt to strengthen the greatly weakened Commonwealth, King Stanislaus Augustus put into effect a series of reforms to strengthen Poland's military, political system, economy, and society. These reforms reached their climax with the enactment of the May Constitution in 1791, which established a constitutional monarchy with separation into three branches of government, strengthened the bourgeoisie and abolished many of the privileges of the nobility as well as many of the old laws of serfdom. In addition, to strengthen Poland's international standings, King Stanislaus signed the Polish-Prussian Pact of 1790, ceding further territories to Prussia in exchange for a military alliance. Angered by what was seen as dangerous, Jacobin-style reforms, Russia invaded Poland in 1792, beginning the War in Defense of the Constitution. Abandoned by her Prussian allies and betrayed by Polish nobles who desired to restore the privileges they had lost under the May Constitution, Poland was forced to sign the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, which ceded Dobrzyn, Kujavia, and a large portion of Greater Poland to Prussia and all of Poland’s eastern provinces from Moldavia to Livonia to Russia, reducing Poland to one third of her original size prior to the First Partition.
Outraged with the further humiliation of Poland by her neighbors and the betrayal by the Polish nobility, and emboldened by the French Revolution unfolding in France, the Polish masses quickly turned against the occupying forces of Prussia and Russia. Following a series of nationwide riots, on March 24, 1794, Polish patriot Tadeusz Kościuszko took command of the Polish armed forces and declared a nationwide uprising against Poland’s foreign occupiers, marking the beginning of the Kościuszko Uprising. Catherine II and Frederick William II were quick to respond and, despite initial successes by Kosciuszko’s forces, the uprising was crushed by November 1794. According to legend, when Kosciuszko fell off of his horse at the Battle of Maciejowice, shortly before he was captured, he said "Finis Poloniae", meaning in Latin "[This is] the end of Poland."TermsAustrian, Prussian, and Russian representatives met on October 24, 1795 to dissolve the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with the three conquering powers signing a treaty to divide the region on January 26, 1797. This gave Austria control of the Western Galicia and Southern Masovia territories, with approximately 1.2 million people; Prussia received Podlachia, the remainder of Masovia, and Warsaw, with 1 million people; and Russia received the remaining land, including Vilnius and 1.2 million people. Unlike previous partitions, no Polish representative was party to the treaty. Austria, Russia, and Prussia forced King Stanislaus to abdicate and retire to St. Petersburg, where he died as Catherine II's trophy prisoner in 1798. The victors also agreed to erase the country's name:
"In view of the necessity to abolish everything which could revive the memory of the existence of the Kingdom of Poland, now that the annulment of this body politic has been effected ... the high contracting parties are agreed and undertake never to include in their titles ... the name or designation of the Kingdom of Poland, which shall remain suppressed as from the present and forever ..."AftermathThe Third Partition of Poland ended the existence of an independent Polish state for the next 123 years.[3] Immediately following the Third Partition, the occupying powers forced many Polish politicians, intellectuals, and revolutionaries to emigrate across Europe, in what was later known as the Great Emigration. These Polish nationalists participated in uprisings against Austria, Prussia, and Russia in former Polish lands, and many would serve France as part of Napoleon's armies. In addition, Polish poets and artists would make the desire for national freedom a defining characteristic of the Polish Romanticist movement. Poland briefly regained semi-autonomy in 1807 when Napoleon created the Duchy of Warsaw, but this effectively ended with the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The Congress created a Kingdom of Poland, sometimes called Congress Poland, as a Russian puppet state. Even this, however, came to an end after a Polish insurrection in 1831, at which point Russia dissolved the Congress Kingdom and exacted multiple punitive measures on the Polish populace. In 1867, Russia made Poland an official part of the Russian Empire, as opposed to a puppet state. Poland would not regain full independence until the end of World War I, when the signing of the Treaty of Versailles and the collapse of the Russian Empire allowed for the resurrection of Polish national sovereignty.Austro-Slavism"Distribution of Races in Austria-Hungary", showing the areas inhabited by Slavic peoples (in the Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, 1911)Austro-Slavism was a political concept and program aimed to solve problems of Slavic peoples in the Austrian Empire. It was most influential among Czech liberals around the middle of the 19th century. First proposed by Karel Havlíček Borovský in 1846, as an opposition to the concept of pan-Slavism, it was further developed into a complete political program by Czech politician František Palacký.[1] Austroslavism also found some support in other Slavic nations in the Austrian Empire, especially the Poles, Slovenes, Croats and Slovaks. Vinzenz Katzler: Austria with Slav and Magyar nurse, colour lithograph, 1869ProgramAustro-Slavism envisioned peaceful cooperation between the smaller Slavic nations of Central Europe within the Habsburg Monarchy not dominated by German-speaking elites. Palacký proposed a federation of eight national regions, with significant self-governance. After the suppression of the Czech revolution in Prague in June 1848, the program became irrelevant. The Austrian Empire transformed into Austria-Hungary (1867), honouring Hungarian, but not Slavic demands as part of the Ausgleich. This further weakened the position of Austro-Slavism.
As a political concept, Austro-Slavism persisted until the fall of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in 1918. The collapse of Austria-Hungary owed a great deal to that nation's failure to recognise Slavic demands. Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, later to become the first President of Czechoslovakia, convinced US President Woodrow Wilson during the First World War that the Slavic peoples of Austria need to be liberated, leading to the promulgation of the Fourteen Points, and ultimate dissolution of the former Austrian Empire. Austroslavism appeared in its last iteration around this time, in the form of several proposals, lacking in influence, to federalise Austria-Hungary (such as the abortive United States of Greater Austria plan).
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Post by pieter on May 10, 2019 11:17:59 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on May 10, 2019 11:27:12 GMT -7
These video's are funny. For the Polish, Slovak and Slovenian speakers amongst us:
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Post by pieter on May 10, 2019 11:28:47 GMT -7
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