History.-- The early history. of the Polish people is shrouded in darkness, there being, as in the case of all other Slavic races, no reliable records extant. Certain slight indications point to a residence of shorter or longer duration of the Polish tribes (being grouped then under the names of Polani, Masovii, etc., by Roman chroniclers) somewhere along the banks of the Danube. Mythical chiefs, however, in the new homes of the Poles on the Vistula were Lekh and Popiel, and after the death of the last Popiel, a prehistoric hero named Piast seized the crown, and with the fourth of his suc cessors, Miecislav I (962-992) begins the ac credited history of Poland. He succeeded in unifying the scattered or isolated tribes be tween the Vistula and Oder rivers into one state, and in 966 he was converted to Chris tianity and founded the first bishopric at Posen. His son Boleslav I conquered Pomerania and Danzig, and for a time also Bohemia. By founding the archbishopric of Gnesen he estab lished the independence of the Polish Church from Germany. But during the reign of his son, Miecislav II, the young state fell to pieces by internal discord. Under Casimir I (d. 1058) the nobility rebelled, and a bitter and costly war was waged on Bretislav of Bohemia.
However, the German emperor, Conrad II, ad justed matters peaceably. Boleslav II was driven out of the country, because of his in tolerable cruelty, and his son and successor was poisoned. The latter was succeeded by Ladis. las I (d. 1102), a brother-in-law of Emperor Henry IV of Germany, whose reign was pros perous. But after the death of Boleslav III (1139), his son, Poland was divided up among his four sons. In 1177 Miecislav III once more consolidated Poland, but he was deprived of the throne by an internal rising, and Casimir II reigned in his stead. His son, Leszek (1194 1227) and the succeeding Boleslav V were weak rulers, and whole provinces were estranged by greedy neighbors. Thus, Silesia and Pomerania were lost. There were also constant bloody (risings and tribal wars among the pagan Borussians and Lithuanians in the northeast. Dire necessity compelled Conrad of Masovia, a Polish ruler, to beg the aid of the Order of the Teutonic Knights, his neighbors, and enforced by the latter the Poles, in thereat and de cisive battle on the Sirgune (1233) signally de feated the savage Borussians. There followed the awful period of Mongolian invasion. In the great fight at Wahlstatt, near Liegnitz, Silesia, the Tartars were victorious. A lengthy sort of interregnum followed, during which Silesia was taken from Poland and vast ter ritories were wholly devastated by Mongolian hordes and other enemies. Finally, Venceslas III of Bohemia obtained the Polish crown. But with the latter's demise, Ladislas II (1306-33), scion of the Polish royal race, initi ated the long era of Poland's power and wealth, lasting till 1572. He nationalized Cra cow completely and was solemnly crowned there, Cracow remaining from 1320 on the real capital of Poland. He also waged incessant and, on the whole, successful war against the Teutonic Order, thus strengthening the Polish national spirit. The son of Ladislas, Casimir the Great (1333-70) was forced to yield up some Polish soil to the Teutonic Order, but in 1366 he wrested Halicz and Vladimir from Russia, and also united Cuyavia with Poland proper. Louis of Hungary, as the near est heir, reigned 1370-82, and the latter's daughter, Hedviga, was compelled to marry, (1386), the Grandduke Yagello of Lithuania. Thus, the Yagello dynasty, the greatest in Polish history, attained to power, and automatically the union of Poland and Lithuania was effected. Poland thus became by far the most powerful state in eastern Europe. During this time it comprised the kingdom of Poland proper, made up of Cracovia and Silesia, Cuyavia and Masovia, and Lithuania. On 15 July 1410, the great battle of Tannenberg was fought, in which the Teutonic Knights were worsted with great slaughter, and in the Peace of Thorn, 18 Feb. 1411, the Order had to cede Samogitia to Poland. In 1413 the complete incorporation of Lithuania was decreed, and this led to the recognition of the equality of the nobility of both countries, and in 1433 gRedD Russia and Podolia were added to Poland. Yagello died in 1434 and was followed by his son Ladislas III who, in 1440, acquired by inheritance the crown of Hungary as well, but who lost his life in fighting the Turks at Varna, in November, 1444. An interregnum of three years ended with the ascension of Casimir IV to the throne. An almost unintermittent war of 13 years' du ration with the Teutonic Knights was success fully ended for Poland in 1466 by a second Peace of Thorn, the order being compelled to yield up West Prussia and Ermland, retaining East Prussia as a Polish fief. Casimir IV (d. 1492) was succeeded in rapid rotation by his three sons, John I Albert, (1492-1501), Alex ander (1501-06) and Sigismond I (1506-48), the latter's reign being a glorious and en lightened one. Albert of Brandenburg, the Grandmaster of the Teutonic Knights, in 1525, was allowed sovereign rights over the territory of the Bonissians, but only as a Polish vassal.
Sigismond's son, Sigismond II Augusta, (1548- 72) after great pains finally achieved the con solidation of Poland by an instrument termed the Union of Lublin, in 1569. During his reign Poland reached its greatest territorial expan sion of about 380,000 square miles, with a popu lation of some 15,000,000. All the gradually acquired lands, namely, Lithuania, Borussia (or Prussia), Volhynia, Podolia and Ukrainia, were welded with the older dominion into one polit ical and economic entity. From 1572 until the partition, in 1795, Poland was an electoral com monwealth, and this method of choosing rulers, with its inevitable drawbacks, coupled with the lack of a middle class and the serfdom of the peasantry, gradually reduced the efficiency and the power of the whole state, finally ending in complete anarchy. With Sigismond II Augustus the male line of the Yagello dynasty became extinct, and thus the way was opened for in ternal and foreign intrigue. The first king under the new dispensation was Henry of Valois, brother of Charles IX of France, but Henry fled the country, after a three months' reign, to succeed his brother in France. Two years later, in 1575, the Polish parliament chose Stephen Bathory, the Hungarian. In 1586 the Swedish prince Sigismond was elected king, and he endeavored to unite Sweden with Poland. But Sweden soon tore loose from Poland. This led to a train of hostilities which were only permanently adjusted in the Peace of Oliva, 1660. Prior to this Poland lost Livonia, in 1657, and also the suzerainty over Prussia. John Sobiesky (1674-96), who rescued Vienna from the grip of an enormous Turkish army, was the last Polish ruler of ability, and after his demise the throne practically fell in every instance to the highest bidder, every one of the big Powers purchasing constantly a fraction of the Polish nobility to do yeoman service in Polish state affairs. When the Elector of Saxony, Augus tus II, (surnamed The Strong) maintained his candidacy to the Polish throne against that of the Frenchman, Prince Conti, and when he be came the ally of Peter the Great of Russia, Poland was hurled into the so-called Northern War. When Charles XII of Sweden was vic torious for a time, in 1704, the Diet of Poland declared that Augustus had forfeited the crown and elected Stanislas Leszczynski in his stead. But in 1709 the latter had to renounce his rights, and after the death of Augustus II, in 1733, Stanislas attempted anew, with French aid, to recover the crown. However, Russia and Austria intervened, and Augustus III (son of the second) became king, 1733-63. Later at the instance of Catherine II of Russia, Count Stanislas Poniatovski was chosen king. When Russia, in 1765, championed the cause of the Dissidents, the Confederation of Bar was or ganized by a faction of nobles in Poland, and this led to internal war and great disorder. This had to serve as pretext for the joint inter vention of Russia, Austria and Prussia, culmi nating in the first partition of Poland, 5 Aug. 1772. By this act of violence, sanctioned though it was in a measure a month later by the im potent members of the Polish Diet, Poland lost all told a full one-third of its remaining territory, the major portion going to Rus sia, Prussia obtaining the province of West Prussia, and Austria most of Galicia. After this first partition a party of patriots was organized in Poland having the redemp tion of their country in view. But Rus sia, by a cunning system of bribery used among the nobility, neutralized these efforts, securing a body of partisans strong enough to issue, at Targovicza a decree declaring the new reform measures passed by the Diet, and more particularly the more liberal Constitution, an infringement of their rights and privileges, on 3 May 1791, and thus being null and void. This was the signal for new civil strife, and that fact again induced the ruler of Prussia, against previous promises, to side with Russia and to consent to a second partition of Poland, 4 Jan. 1793. By its terms Russia obtained the full half of the remaining territory of Poland, with 3,000,0(X) inhabitants, while Prussia claimed for herself Posen and other parts, with more than a million of population. Polish patriots rose under Kosciusko, but Russian and Prussian armies entered Poland from the north and south, and the Polish forces, after bravely re sisting and with initial successes, were over whelmed.- Kosciusko, dictator at Warsaw, was rendered impotent by dissensions among his adherents, and on 10 Oct. 1794 he sustained a decisive defeat at Maciejovicz, and was taken prisoner. Soon after the Russian general, Suvaroff, entered Warsaw and all resistance ceased. The third and last partition was then in order, and by its terms of 24 Oct. 1795, Russia, Austria and Prussia divided the last of the spoils amongst them and Poland as an independent political configuration ceased to exist. Its last sovereign, Stanislas, died a few years later (1798) as a pensioner of Russia.