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| The mounted band of the Polish Lancers, a magnificent set of nine mounted musicians |
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| Kettle drummer and Trumpeters |
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| Drummers and Cymbalist |
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| Jingle Johnny and Winds! |
While Poland did not exist as an independent state during World War I, its geographical position between the fighting powers meant that a great deal of fighting and terrific human and material losses took place on Polish soil between 1914 and 1918
When World War I started Polish territory was split between the Austro-Hungarian, German and Russian Empires and was the scene of many operations on the Eastern Front. After World War I Poland became an independent republic
On the outbreak of war, Poles found themselves conscripted into the armies of Germany, Austria and Russia, and forced to fight each other in a war that was not theirs. Although many Poles sympathized with France and Britain, they found it hard to fight for their ally, Russia and they also had little sympathy for the Germans
Some two million Poles marched off to the Great War and 450,000 died, often times the victim of another Pole in the opposite trench
Polish nationalists were divided. The Right led by Roman Dmowski's National Democrats urged Poles to fight for the Allies in the hope that a victorious Russia would grant Poland autonomy and eventual independence. On the Left, Josef Pilsudski, leader of the Polish Socialists, predicted the ruin of all the partitioning powers but argued that Poland's best hope for autonomy lay in an Austrian victory
Under the partition, the only portion of old Poland to enjoy any degree of autonomy was the Austrian province of Galicia. Pilsudski's assement of Germanic attitudes grew less favorable, however, when his Polish Legions were placed under German command. The Marshal refused an oath of allegiance to the Kaiser and was imprisoned for the duration of the war
After more than a century of rule by its neighbors, Poland regained its independence in 1918, internationally recognized in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles. The Paris Peace Conference, and the Versailles treaty that followed, resolved the issue of Poland's western border with Germany, including the Polish Corridor, which gave Poland access to the Baltic Sea, and the separate status of the Free City of Danzig
This wonderful mounted band provide the perfect accompaniment to the sets of Polish Lancers already produced by the company, and pictured below. The same four figures are also available without pelisse
Happy hunting!
