Poland: A History

This book’s author, while born and raised in the West, is a descendent of a very prominent family of Polish nobility. His account of Poland’s history comes from an objective mind, but also from a heart filled with the love and concern for the land of his forefathers.The Western reader, even with good knowledge of Europe’s turbulent history, will be overwhelmed by that people’s suffering and misfortunes and surprised by its accomplishments. That is so, because like other eastern countries Poland has always lived in the shadow of Western Europe and few foreign people knew its language or its story.Did you know that the University of Krakow, founded in 1364, was the second one north of the Alps after that of Prague? Or that Krakow operated the first printing press in 1472, just two decades after Gutenberg’s invention? Or that the Golden Age of the Renaissance opened in Poland around 1500 and lasted a century and a half? Or that the first newspaper was printed in 1661? Or that the age of the Reformation resulted in religious freedom and tolerance certified by law?Considering geniuses such as Copernicus, Chopin and Marie Curie, you would think the Poles should have marched side-by-side with Western Europe in the upsweep of modernity, but alas, that was not in the cards. Rather you might say, the Poles’ trail of tears, their long path of anguish, began in 1648 and persisted with few interruptions for three and a half centuries, i. e. until a decade or two ago. The epitome of such suffering should have been WW I, when they were forced to fight on both sides in a war that wasn’t theirs. However, even that was outdone by the murderous hell sent down upon them by Hitler and Stalin in WW II, and the 44 years of Soviet tyranny to follow.History decreed torture and on many countries, as we all know, but Poland stands out. Why was that so? In my view, the chief reason was geography. If it had been the Poles who transferred to England instead of the Angles and Saxons 1600 years ago, they would have created a magnificent empire and the lingua franca of today’s world would now be Polish, not English. Instead, they lived in the land of the Vistula surrounded by powerful enemies, east, west, north and south. During endless ages when history was written by brutal passion and the sword, they never had a chance.Z amoyski is cautious in predicting the Poles’ ability to master their future challenges. I am more optimistic. It is a land just barely recovered from a grave illness. It is free now and protected. Given a little more time, it may at last open up like a gorgeous flower and be the pride of Europe.

Reads more like a novel than a nonfiction summary history. Highly recommend if you are looking for a surface level thousand year history of Poland. Especially for travel or simply expanding general knowledge. Gives equal overview for historical periods without focusing too much on World War II and the communist era.

This appears to be the biggest general history of Poland in print now, in English. I enjoyed it and learned a lot.Nonetheless, it's odd that a book as serious-minded as this includes no footnotes, references, or bibliography. I guess we're supposed to take Zamoyski's word for it that this is how and why it happened. Most of the time, he seems reasonable enough. On the other hand, as I come to this with little background on Poland, I really can't say if the book is mostly reliable or mostly unreliable.I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and assume he hasn't said anything that's flatly wrong. But between what's completely, utterly wrong, and what is absolutely, totally, universally true, you have a pretty broad spectrum that takes in the mostly true, the debatably true, the controversial, and the arguably false. To sort those out, it helps a lot to know an author's sources. Let's take an example. On page 305, he says,"Hostility towards the Jews was inadvertently heightened by American and British Jewish pressure groups at the Paris peace talks of 1919. It was at their insistence that states such as Poland were made to sign 'Minority Treaties', which subjected their treatment of their Jewish citizens to international scrutiny. In Poland, with its long tradition of toleration, this was seen as an insult."Well, how does he know this? What does it mean at all? That is, whose hostility -- was there a public opinion poll, perhaps an angry pamphlet by Dmowski, perhaps just something floating around Polish aristocratic circles?Claims as to the intentions of a nation or its government are even harder to assess, without some attribution. On page 294, for example, Zamoyski turns to the causes of the Polish-Soviet war of 1920, and he writes,"When the Whites had been defeated, in the winter of 1919, the Bolsheviks began to prepare for exporting the revolution through Poland to Germany."Well, did Lenin or one of his lieutenants say that? Was it a rogue operation by the internationally-oriented Trotsky? Or was it mostly a pretext Pilsudski offered up to justify his campaign in the east? (Davies Heart of Europe: The Past in Poland's Present, despite evidently strong pro-Polish sympathies, suggests the latter.) The plain military facts -- a Polish drive deep into the Ukraine followed by a counterattack of the "Red Cavalry" -- don't necessarily suggest a Soviet plan to drive "through Poland to Germany". Moreover, the early Soviet state was exhausted at that point, its domestic enemies by no means yet defeated and other fringes of the Czar's empire yet to be subdued; a military adventure into Germany seems like quite a stretch. Now, I'm no fan of the Bolsheviks, and I could be convinced Zamoyski is right on this, but I can't just take his word for it.Zamoyski put a lot of effort into this book. For not that much more effort (he must have notes...) he could have produced a much better book.

My 12 year old really enjoyed it.

Zamoyski writes a history dating back to the earliest times, and includes factual details underlying the development of this beleaguered people to modern times. I loved the analytical elements proffered by the author, which helps define the significance of the complex relationships Poland has experienced - and suffered through - in its history. Zamoyski is a readable, entertaining author with a fine eye for detail. And that's where the devils live: in the details. It's those devils that shaped Poland's exemplary and painful course through the ages.

An excellent work, written by a contemporary Polish noble who lived in England for decades as a noted historian before returning to Poland to rebuild the family castle. An insightful view of Polish history from a prospective that cannot be provided by any other author.