| Revision as of 09:04, 29 November 2004 editLogologist (talk | contribs)12,692 editsNo edit summary← Previous edit | Revision as of 20:54, 3 December 2004 edit undoPiotrus (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Event coordinators, Extended confirmed users, File movers, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers286,432 edits rewritten second paragraph - don't confuse personal union with the CommonwealthNext edit → | ||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| '''Międzymorze''' (Myen-dzih-MOH-zheh): name for ]'s proposed ] of ], ], ] and ]. The name may be rendered in English as "Tween-Seas": the federation was meant to emulate the ], stretching from the ] to the ], that--from the late ] to the late ]--had united Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the latter also incorporating Belarus and Ukraine). | '''Międzymorze''' (Myen-dzih-MOH-zheh): name for ]'s proposed ] of ], ], ] and ]. The name may be rendered in English as "Tween-Seas": the federation was meant to emulate the ], stretching from the ] to the ], that--from the late ] to the late ]--had united Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the latter also incorporating Belarus and Ukraine). | ||
| The Polish-Lithuanian |
The Polish-Lithuanian ] had come about as a mutual response to a common threat from the ]. It had been cemented by the ] in ] of Poland's Queen ] and Lithuanian Grand Duke ], who became King ] of Poland. It was further extended in ] at the ] when both states were merged into a federation of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth which was the largest state in ] until late ]. Its combined resources enabled it to withstand the aggressions of the Teutonic Order, the ], the ], the ] and the ], for four centuries, until the ] of the weakened Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by its neighbors in the late ]. | ||
| It was Piłsudski's strategic goal to resurrect a modern form of the old Commonwealth, while working for the disintegration of the ] into its ethnic constituents (the latter was his ] project). The accomplishment of these ends--somewhat approximated, decades later, with the creation of the ], and with the abolition of the ] in ]--might have made ] into a "]" invulnerable to Poland's historic antagonists, ] and ]. | It was Piłsudski's strategic goal to resurrect a modern form of the old Commonwealth, while working for the disintegration of the ] into its ethnic constituents (the latter was his ] project). The accomplishment of these ends--somewhat approximated, decades later, with the creation of the ], and with the abolition of the ] in ]--might have made ] into a "]" invulnerable to Poland's historic antagonists, ] and ]. | ||
Revision as of 20:54, 3 December 2004
Międzymorze (Myen-dzih-MOH-zheh): name for Józef Piłsudski's proposed federation of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. The name may be rendered in English as "Tween-Seas": the federation was meant to emulate the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, that--from the late 14th to the late 18th century--had united Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the latter also incorporating Belarus and Ukraine).
The Polish-Lithuanian alliance had come about as a mutual response to a common threat from the Teutonic Order. It had been cemented by the personal union in 1386 of Poland's Queen Jadwiga and Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila, who became King Władysław Jagiełło of Poland. It was further extended in 1569 at the Union of Lublin when both states were merged into a federation of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth which was the largest state in Europe until late 17th century. Its combined resources enabled it to withstand the aggressions of the Teutonic Order, the Mongols, the Russians, the Turks and the Swedes, for four centuries, until the partitions of the weakened Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by its neighbors in the late 18th century.
It was Piłsudski's strategic goal to resurrect a modern form of the old Commonwealth, while working for the disintegration of the Russian Empire into its ethnic constituents (the latter was his Promethean project). The accomplishment of these ends--somewhat approximated, decades later, with the creation of the European Union, and with the abolition of the Soviet Union in 1991--might have made central Europe into a "Third Europe" invulnerable to Poland's historic antagonists, Germany and Russia.
A somewhat later version of the concept was attempted by interwar Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Józef Beck, a Piłsudski protege. It envisioned this central European union as also including Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Scandinavia, the Baltic states, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Greece: thus stretching not only west-east from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, but north-south from the Arctic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Such a polity, comprising some 150 million central Europeans, with a common foreign policy, would have been a force to be reckoned with by Nazi Germany in the west and the Soviet Union in the east.