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The Centenary of the Formation of the Polish Legions
The word legion (from Latin legio – draft) long
ago has been permanently incorporated into
the military vocabulary. Accordingly, it has also
entered the Polish language, when following
the partition of the Polish state among its
neighbours at the end of the eighteenth century,
Polish patriots repeatedly created military forces
aiming at regaining the country’s independence.
Those units attested to their readiness to fight for
the motherland by adopting the proud name of
a legion.
One of such formations were the Polish Legions,
created on 16 August 1914 in the Austro-Hungarian
monarchy. As internal relations in that state
liberalised at the beginning of the 20th century,
Polish independence activists led by Józef Piłsudski
were able to intensify their activities. They
prepared for war against Russia, which they
perceived as the main enemy in Poland’s quest
to regain independence.
When in summer 1914 a pan-European war
broke out, Piłsudski sent a small detachment of
volunteers across the Austro-Russian border.
He hoped that their presence would encourage
the populace of central Poland to start an anti-
Russian uprising but this plan did not materialize.
The pro-independence cause was saved by the
initiative of a coalition of Polish political parties
in Galicia centred around the so-called Supreme
National Committee. The committee established
an organisational frame to channel the proindependence
zeal of Polish youth and upon the
approval of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy it created a Polish formation to operate within the
Imperial army but in own uniforms and under
own leadership.
At the peak of their strength (1915) the Legions
consisted of ca. 12 thousand soldiers and officers
echeloned in three brigades. They fought in
1914–1916 on the Austro-Russian front, fighting
several battles which went down in history as
a symbol of courage and patriotic spirit that
animated them. The total casualties in that
formation amounted to ca. 15 thousand dead and
wounded.
Although disbanded in 1917, the Polish Legions have
remained present in the national memory. This
presence is due to the legend created by poets,
writers, painters and composers who fought in
large numbers in the ranks of the Legions. The
March of the First Brigade composed in 1914 has
been the official anthem of the Polish Armed
Forces since 2007.
Andrzej Chojnowski