Topic: Poles on the brink of war. Political orientations

Target group

7th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

XXIV. Polish lands under the partitions in the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Pupil:

6. is characterized by an orientation dispute in 1908‑1914.

General aim of education

Students get acquainted with the programs and activities of anti‑Russian and anti‑German political orientations in the years 1908‑1914.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• to indicate the sources of the dispute about political orientation in the years 1908‑1914;

• to list the military and political initiatives of Poles in 1908‑1914;

• to characterize the Europe's position regarding the Polish cause on the brink of war.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. The teacher asks to recall the lesson „Praca zamiast walki”? Main currents of political life under the partitions and information about the Russian‑Japanese war and the 1905‑1907 revolution.

Introduction

1. The teacher explains the students the purpose of the lesson and the criteria for success.

2. The teacher tells students about the intensification of the Germanization policy at the beginning of the First World War, under the rule of William II. The teacher asks to do Exercise 1 on adjusting dates to individual events.

Realization

1. Students do Task 1. They listen to the broadcast about the stay of Józef Piłsudski and Roman Dmowski in Japan. They look for answers to the following questions: For what purpose did they go to Tokyo? Did they achieve their goals? Next, the students discuss with the teacher the Pilsudski‑Dmowski relations during the Russian‑Japanese war.

2. The teacher explains the views of Józef Piłsudski and Roman Dmowski to the Polish cause on the eve of the war. He gives examples of the organizational activity of each orientation - paramilitary organizations, participation in the political life of Russia. Students, on the basis of a teaching conversation, or asking for details, do Exercise 2. They fill in a table composed of two parts (left column: pro‑Austrian orientation, right column: pro‑Russian orientation). The teacher makes sure that the task has been correctly completed and gives feedback.

3. After organizing information, students in pairs record arguments for and against each orientation. They are looking for other solutions - the teacher gives them information about the idea of a trialism. They try to assess its usefulness for the Polish cause. They are looking for an answer to the question why Galicia from the beginning of the 20th century was called „Polish Piedmont”. Students do Exercise 3 by selecting the ZWC goals in the text.

Summary

1. The teacher talks briefly about Polish initiatives aimed at publicizing the Polish cause on the eve of World War I. Students do Exercise 4. They read an open letter by H. Sienkiewicz. The teacher asks additional questions: What events about Polish lands aroused the greatest interest of European and American public opinion? Why? Whose merit was it? Asking questions, the lecturer remembers that they are to be formulated as the key questions.

2. If necessary, the teacher gives students information about the involvement of Maria Skłodowska‑Curie, Helena Modrzejewska, Ignacy Paderewski.

3. The teacher gives students evaluation surveys in which they evaluate their own work during the lesson, the work of the teacher and colleagues.

Homework

1. The teacher sets the homework (it is not an obligatory part of the scenario): Ask the parents, in the history of your family / relatives, you can find examples of involvement in the events of the early twentieth century, manifestations of sympathy for the then political orientations? Try to record information on this topic. If you could write a family story anew, would you like to put your ancestors at the side of one of the politicians or people of science and culture listed in the lesson? Who would you choose on their behalf? Justify your choice.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Poles on the brink of war. Political orientations

After the creation of the German Empire, the Prussian authorities intensified the anti‑Polish policy. Germanization covered all areas of social life. The symbol of the fight for the Polish language was the world‑famous Września strike. In 1901, the people protested against teaching religion in German at a local school. The Colonization Commission, operating since the 1880s, bought land from Polish landowners and distributed it among German colonists. Despite all of this, Poles retained their national consciousness, and the persecutions only strengthened their national and social solidarity. Since 1907, while the political crisis in Europe was intensifying, plans for acting in the event of war have started to form among Poles. They were created by two conflicting political environments: the National Democrats and the Socialists, and their main spokespersons were Roman Dmowski and Józef Piłsudski. Dmowski's hopes were connected with Russia, weakened after the war with Japan and the 1905 revolution. Piłsudski's party, as well as the people’s and socialist Galician parties, favored the concept of cooperating with Austria‑Hungary. Galicia – the Polish „Piedmont” – after 1908 became a place of refuge for many political activists from the Kingdom of Poland, who had been involved in revolutionary struggles in Russia.