A: You know the Tenth Commandment: "Thou shall not covet your neighbor's home...?" Well, evidently, Poland’s neighbors weren’t the God-fearing types. Internal divisions accelerated by an incompetent parliamentary system led to Poland’s decline in the 18th century, and that’s when the sharks smelled blood. Prussia to the west, Austria to the south, and Russia to the east decided to move in and take a few big bites out of the struggling nation. The result was the “First Partition” of 1772. All told, the neighbors usurped about half of Poland’s territory and a third of its population.
In an attempt to save itself, the Polish government tried to institute internal reforms, but it was a case of too little too late. So lo and behold, here come Prussia and Russia again for the “Second Partition” in 1793, quickly crushing the Polish rebellions that rose up against them. And as if things couldn’t get any worse, the “Third Partition” in 1797 had Austria swiping Poland’s statehood.
Poor Poland wouldn’t be independent again until 1918, but at least things were looking up. Until guess what? That’s right, there was a new neighbor in town - the Nazis. But instead of bringing a friendly fruitcake, they too presented a claim to Poland’s land, and the country got partitioned one last time in 1939. Of course, the Russians helped themselves to another piece of the pie, too.
Article comments
1 - RJ Elliott
Still, they revolutionized the submarine industry with the screen-door option...
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
And are almost done with the helicopter ejection seat.
3 - RJ Elliott
Rim shot!
4 - lane
OH those poor poles.... give me a break! They are one of several small countries to be just that small! Throughout history big countries have always fought wars with smaller ones there. Whats a shame is that although Poland got some its land back in the west, lands and cities that were German for longer and in some cases ealier than Polish were stripped, and forced to Poland. At the same time, historic Polish land was stripped from the east for the USSR. All countries suffer... look at the end result! Germany has lost great centers such as Stettin, Breslau, Konigsberg, Danzig, Kolberg and much more... WW2 was started over the invasion of Poland by Germany AND Russia.... it ended with Russia annexing that same territory!
5 - PJ
#1,Elliott and #2 Sussman - You two must be American-raised because you don't know much about the Poles other than the brainwashing and conditioning you received from Jewish-American comics and comedians in Hollywood concerning negative Polish stereotypes. You need to get with the times. That era is over. It's passe. Your jokes are not funny.
6 - PJ
#4, Lane - Poland is NOT a small country. It is certainly one of the larger ones in Europe with 40 million inhabitants. Also, Poland is coming back. The people are vibrant,facinating, sharp, industrious and very well educated. It will take some time to throw off the damage done by WWII and communism. As for the Germans, they need to learn to control themselves. I think they have some hormonal problems. The lands that they "lost" will never return to them.
7 - RJ Elliott
Seriously, I like Poles. But we have a strong tradition in this country of telling Polish jokes, and we aren't about to stop now.
So how's about you tell me what that scratch-and-sniff sticker at the bottom of my swimming pool smells like?
8 - Polish guy
Actually, the present borders of Poland are very similiar to those we had when the country was created (966 A.D.).
Germans are insane. The world forgave you two wars like few months after them and now you're acting like this?
I thought you were normal people.
And polish jokes. Just because you sold us to commies. Haha freaking americans.