Chapter 23 One's own land, another's corridor

There are two great misfortunes for Poland: one is that it occupies the wrong geographical location, and the other is that it chooses the wrong nationality.For two brothers, there is often a deep brotherhood between the two; for two countries, it is by no means a lucky thing to share the same family, but the Poles happen to belong to the same Slavic nation as the neighbors, the Russians. As for the origin of the Poles, there is no way to verify it now.The Poles, like the Irish (the two peoples have many similarities), are staunch patriots, unwilling to work and live well, but always ready to die for their country.Regarding the ancestors of the Poles, according to the research of Polish historians, the earliest heroic deeds can be traced back to the time of Noah. It is said that the Polish hero at that time was a stowaway on Noah's Ark.However, the first occurrence of Poles' names in more authentic historical documents is 200 years after the death of Charlemagne and his warriors.Poland did not come to be known until 50 years after the Battle of Hastings It is also believed to be in some remote corner of the Far East.

As far as we know now, the Poles first lived at the mouth of the Danube, and because of the constant raids of invaders from the East, they had to go far away, all the way west, to the foot of the Carpathians, and they crossed the deserted Russian Finally, on the great plain between the Oder and Vistula rivers in Europe, they found a "promised land" and lived there ever since between swamps and forests. However, this is their most unfortunate choice.A farmer who lives on this land has no more peace and quiet than a man who sits in the middle of the exits of Grand Central Station.In fact, this land is the front gate of Europe and a corridor for people to walk.If you want to attack Europe in the west and occupy the North Sea, you have to start from Poland; if you want to plunder Russia in the east, you have to borrow the way from Poland.Poland is the only passage between East and West.Poland was beset by enemies, and had to train every farmer into a professional soldier and every manor into a strong fortress.Poland paid a heavy price for its militarized life.A country has to prepare for and fight wars all the year round, so how can it start its business activities?

Several of Poland's largest cities are situated on the banks of the Vistula River, the heartland of the country.Krakow in the south is just in the Carpathian Mountains and Galicia (now the upper valley of the Vistula River in southeastern Poland, rich in agricultural, forestry and oil resources. Historically, it has been the goal of long-term competition between Russia and Austria——translation Warsaw is located in the center of the Polish plain; Danzig is located at the mouth of the Vistula River, and trade is maintained by foreign merchants.The inland of Poland is sparsely populated, desolate and desolate, which is in stark contrast to the prosperity of these riverside cities.On the Polish plains there are no other rivers but the Dnieper, but the Dnieper is a Russian river.

The Jews manipulated some necessities in the country, and these Jews fled from the Rhine into this remote land in order to take refuge. Army knights bloodbathed these Jewish settlements.The hard-working Scandinavians established Russia, and maybe they could bring some hope to Poland, but they never set foot on the land of Poland.Why did they come to Poland? There were no well-connected trade routes here, and no city like Constantinople could console them for the hardships and pains of their long journey. The Poles were in a dilemma like this, caught in dire straits.Germans hate Poles because Poles belong to Slavic nation, without considering that they are also their own Roman Catholic brothers.The Russians looked down on the Poles because they were not Greek Catholics, and did not consider the Poles as their Slavic brothers.Poles are both Catholics and Slavs, so Turks hate Poles.

In the Middle Ages, the Lithuanian royal family made many contributions to the Poles, which can be described as outstanding.If the Lithuanian royal family had survived, Poland might have changed dramatically.However, many big landowners and nobles under the rule of the Yagailwo family (a family that ruled Eastern Europe from the 14th to the 16th centuries AD, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Yagiwo was the founder of the family——Translator’s Note) not only lived in their remote and vast Dictatorship and tyranny were implemented in his manor, and he also went to war in the South and North, making a lot of war fortune.When the last Jagiewo king died in 1572, these great nobles and landowners finally transformed Poland into an elective monarchy.This regime lasted for more than two hundred years, from 1572 to 1791.

Before it was overthrown, this regime had become nondescript and ridiculous.Selling the crown to the highest bidder, the Poles did so easily and unchallenged.The French, the Hungarians, and the Swedes successively became the masters of the Poles, but the land was no more than a piece of fat to extract ill-gotten gains, and it was worthless to them.And those foreign masters forgot to show favor to the lackeys of Poland. These Polish nobles felt aggrieved at this moment, just like the Irish 1000 years ago, they invited their neighbors and begged them to help them get "the rights they deserve". .The neighbors, the Prussians, Russians, and Austrians, were overjoyed at the sight of such good deeds, and before they could act, there was nothing left of independent Poland.

After the last three partitions in 1795, the Russians took 180,000 square miles of Poland and 6 million Poles, Prussia took 57,000 square miles and 2.5 million people, and Austria took 45,000 square miles of Poland. and a population of 3.7 million.It took 125 years for this terrible nightmare to come to an end.Fearing that Russia was too powerful, the Allied Powers went to the other extreme, leading to overcorrection.They not only expanded the territory of the new Polish Republic to an unprecedented scale, but also allocated to Poland some lands that had never belonged to the Poles.In order to give Poland an outlet to the sea, they drew a "Polish Corridor", which is a long and narrow strip from the original Pods province to the Baltic Sea. Not connected.

This is an unfortunate corridor, and its future destiny can be foreseen without profound knowledge of geography and history.This corridor will become an excuse to make Germany and Poland hate each other and mistrust each other forever. No matter which country becomes stronger, it will destroy the other country at all costs.The beautiful but poor Poland will once again fall into the prey of Europe and Russia. Poland made a great victory, and it seems that it has achieved brilliant results.But modern economic and social problems cannot be ultimately resolved by building up fortresses of hatred between nations.