The sting of a slap is sometimes felt for years or even decades after such an event. Perhaps a fight with a loved one, or even an altercation with a bully, and certainly things graver than that. Such it is with the history of nations and peoples. Take the nation of Poland, for example, which at its height in the early 1600s controlled over a million square kilometers. Their borders pushed up nearly against the city of Moscow itself, all of Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Livonia, Belarus, Moldova, and some of eastern Germany. Poland, which was the breadbasket of Europe, is sometimes solely praised for defeating the Ottoman and Muslim advances into central Europe with the single largest cavalry charge in human history of 18,000 cavalry in the Battle of Vienna in 1683.

Though Poland fed and protected European land and customs, the following humiliations and betrayals that they suffered did not seem to end.

In 1717, the Russian Tsar Peter the Great had his armies stationed just outside what was the Polish ‘Congress’ at the time and forced them to rewrite laws and become a Russian protectorate. This happened yet again in 1764 by Catherine the Great, with Russian troops stationed outside parliament, forcing (and reinforcing) laws which made reform impossible (Liberum Veto). The Polish King was stripped of more powers. Then, in 1772, Russia, Prussia, and Austria split up the nation of Poland. Russia forcibly took the Belarus and Livonia regions; Prussia took Northern Poland near the Black Sea, and Austria consumed southern Poland (Galicia). This too was done by gunpoint, and the other European powers at the time turned a blind eye.

In 1788, Poland tried to save itself and revolt, with what was left of its once titanic territory. In 1791, they wrote the second-ever constitution in the world after the United States, trying to increase rights for townspeople and to improve the lives of peasants. Some wealthy Polish aristocrats who saw a threat to their way of life pleaded to Catherine the Great, who then invaded and forced Poland to give up Kyiv (Ukraine), and Prussia took what was the core of the Polish territories. In 1794, Poland rebelled and tried to restore its constitution, but was swiftly crushed yet again by Russia, Austria, and Prussia. Yet again, Russia butchered 20,000 Polish civilians (Massacre of Praga). The great powers that had been sucking dry the body of Poland had decided here that Poland was no longer allowed to be a country.

It wasn't until after the collapse of Russia, Germany (Prussia), and Austria-Hungary from their colossal losses in World War I, more than a century of oppressing the Polish people, that the state was born again when maps were redrawn, even if it was drastically smaller than its sovereign claims could account for. Except, then in 1939, Germany and Russia decided to invade and divide Poland again, with the rest of Europe watching with disinterest. In 1940, Russia killed 22,000 police and military officers, shooting them in the back of the head and burying them in mass graves. Then, between 350,000 and 1,000,000 (census data back then sucked) were sent away to work in gulags. When Germany attacked the USSR, it executed around 25,000 Polish prisoners before retreating.

It wasn't until the very recent year of 1991 that Poland had its first free election since 1717. And now with Russia’s renewed aggression over the same land that it has been infatuated with since they had changed from the small nation of Muscovy to Imperialist Russia – invading Ukraine – Poland remembers all the horrors, death, and humiliations which came before.

In August of 2022, Poland purchased 48 fighter jets for $3 billion, then for 212 self-propelled howitzers it paid $2.28 billion. From South Korea, it ordered 180 main battle tanks, and then 250 Abrams Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) from the U.S., with a following 115 used Abrams tanks shortly after. (The “billions” paid for the tanks varies from source to source.) $2.6 billion for another 152 artillery systems, $1.9 billion for support vehicles. $3.8 billion for 48 F-15 fighter jets. Very recently, Poland announced an additional $2.8 billion for modern submarines to be built and acquired from Sweden. Poland also plans to buy up to 1000 Korean Black Panther MBTs and create an industry to make the modern MBTs.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the Republic of Poland has spent roughly $113 billion on upgrading, modernizing, and expanding its military.

For the last three hundred years, Poland has only been carved up, humiliated, and made to suffer extreme oppressions under the Russians. It is clear by their deep military spending, which has only grown and sometimes doubled since 2022, that they see a shadow looming on the horizon from the east.

There is an old Polish joke, where after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, someone asked a Polish general, “If the Nazi’s and the Soviets came at Poland again, who would you fight first?"

"Germany.” The Pole replied with a shrug.

“Why is that?”

“Business before pleasure, of course."

Austin Petak is an aspiring novelist and freelance journalist who loves seeking stories and the quiet passions of the soul. If you are interested in reaching out to him to cover a story, you may find him at austinpetak@gmail.com.

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