Topic: The Polish Society Under the Partitions – Attempts at Striking Balance (revision class)

Target group

7th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

7th‑grade students of elementary school

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

1) explains the objectives and describes the methods of the partitioners' actions towards the inhabitants of the lands of the former Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth – Russification, Germanization (Kulturkampf), Galician autonomy;

3) describes the formation of a modern national consciousness of Poles;

General aim of education

The student learns and describes the life of Poles in the partitions from the second half of the 19th century until the end of the First World War.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• what were the facts pertaining to the Partitioners’ policies on Poland;

• what were the directions and reasons of the Poles’ emigration in the nineteenth century;

• what were the manifestations of the social, economic, and political changes in the Polish territories.

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. Before the lesson, the teacher informs the students about the need to review the material concerning the history of Poland from the completed e‑txtbook section: Fundamenty współczesności, Europa przełomu XIX i XX wieku oraz I wojna światowa.

Introduction

1. The teacher explains the students the topic and goals of the lesson and develops success criteria together with them.

2. He explains that the main purpose of the repetitive lesson will be to conduct an open discussion on selected topic drawn by students.

Realization

1. The teacher asks students to perform the following tasks in pairs: Task 1, Exercise 1‑2, Task 2. While the students are working, the teacher provides feedback. The teacher makes sure that the tasks have been correctly completed and gives feedback.

2. Students write their suggestions for a discussion theme on notes. For example: *The effects of national captivity - evaluation of the phenomenon; Rusification and germanization. Similarities and differences; Pilsudski's legionary idea - chances and threats.* The draw is taking place.

3. The purpose of the students' further work is to prepare arguments for a 7‑minute discussion on the subject proposed and drawn by the students.

4. The teacher chooses two students who will conduct a debate on the topic chosen by the students. The third student performs the function of a secretary: he or she measures the time of the participants' speeches, they monitor the order of the discussion, allow the willing to speak.

Summary

1. The teacher sums up the debate, adds (if necessary) further conclusions. He settles them in the context of the most important phenomena of the first half of the 19th century.

Homework

1. Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

2. Make at home a note from the lesson, for example using the sketchnoting method.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

The Polish Society Under the Partitions – Attempts at Striking Balance (revision class)

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Polish territories (especially the Russian Partition, not counting the Stolen Lands) entered the Industrial Revolution era. The territories of the Kingdom of Poland were among the most industrialized in the economically‑backward Russia. In economic terms, the Prussian Partition was becoming a highly‑developed agricultural region, as well as a raw material supply base for the German Reich. The other highly‑industrialized places in the Polish territories were: Cieszyn Silesia, which remained under the authority of the Habsburgs (the Austro‑Hungarian monarchs), and Upper Silesia in the Prussian Partition. The social structure of the Austrian Partition consisted prevalently of peasants. The landowners and the nobility kept their dominant position there, and the conflict between the peasants and landed gentry remained a problem until Poland regained her independence. In 1914, approximately one‑sixth of the overall number of Poles lived outside of the old Polish borders. The emigrants were prevalently peasants. The reasons for emigration were varied in nature – both economic and political.

Until the sixties of the nineteenth century, the Polish cause was a constant point of the European states’ policies. This situation changed with the fall of the January Uprising, the Second French Empire, and the Paris Commune. Since then, the official policies of the European states remained silent on the matter. After the fall of the January Uprising, the Tsarist authorities took away the autonomy of the Kingdom of Poland, renaming it Vistula Land. Russification intensified, especially in administration and in the schools. The Prussian authorities made a similar move, intensifying germanization in Greater Poland. The fight against the Church, known as the Kulturkampf, took place at the same time both in Prussia and in the rest of Germany. The process of germanization was present in settlement as well. Starting in 1885, forcible expulsions of workers from other partitions began (called the “Prussian deportations” by the Poles). In 1901, the people of Września protested against religious education classes in the local school being conducted in German. The situation in Galicia was different. There, owing to the inner reforms of the Habsburg monarchy, Galicia obtained broad autonomy of schooling and administration. The Poles could organize their national events with no trouble. The Poles’ political activity accelerated in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. In 1882, the socialist political party, “Great Proletariat”, was founded. At the beginning of the nineties of the nineteenth century, the Polish socialists split into two currents – pro‑independence (Polish Socialist Party, with Józef Piłsudski) and revolutionary (Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania). The Polish national movement was represented by the National Democrats, headed by Roman Dmowski. It promoted national solidarism. The People’s Party, founded in 1895 in Rzeszów, worked for the benefit of the countryside.

In 1907, the Poles started developing concepts of how to act in case war erupted. Roman Dmowski’s party and collaborators placed their hopes in Russia. Piłsudski’s party, as well as the people’s and socialist parties of Galicia supported the idea of cooperation with Austria. After the war erupted, the Austrian authorities granted Józef Piłsudski the permission to mobilize riflemen units in Galicia. He sought to initiate a national uprising in the Kingdom of Poland. The Polish riflemen units became the basis of the Polish Legions created in 1914. During the war, the Partitioning states did not discuss the question of Polish independence. It was only the stance of the United States’ President that marked a breakthrough (W. Wilson’s address to the Senate of 1917). In the Act of the 5th November of 1916, the German and Austria‑Hungary Emperors promised the creation of a Polish state, albeit to be dependent on Germany in the future (the Mitteleuropa concept). The leading Polish politicians were against the implications of the Act. The Central Powers agreed to the functioning of the Polish Legions as well – however, as a condition to become part them, one had to swear and oath of faithfulness to the German Emperor. In 1917, Józef Piłsudski refused to swear it (the “Oath Crisis”), and was subsequently jailed in Magdeburg. In the same year in Paris, the Polish National Commitee with Dmowski as its president and Ignacy Paderewski as his close collaborator was created as the official representation of Poland.