Qui
12 Dec 2012
History / Was Prussia mostly German? [65]
There seem to be a lot of confusion here about the meaning of the term 'Prussia' and history of various lands to which this name was applied.
The history about pagan Prussians being conquered by the Teutonic knights, who then populated the land by German colonists applies only to territories east of Vistula, later known as EAST PRUSSIA. This was the land of pagan Prussians and this is the only 'Prussia' in original sense od this term
The territory west of Vistula, known in Polish as 'Eastern Pomerania' or 'Gdansk Pomerania' and in German as 'West Prussia' (or 'Pomerelia') had quite different history - it was a Slavic land, conquered and made christian by polish Piast rulers in 11-12th centuries. Then, in early 14th century, it was invaded by the teutonic Order, and only then the name 'Prussia' was extended to it. It's population was a mixture of local Pomeranian Slavs (later Poles and Kashubians) and German colonists, but there never were any pagan Prussians in there.
Kingdom of Poland never dropped claims for this land. Finally came the 13-years war in which significant part of the Order's subject fought against it's rule and applied to Poland for help. It ended with the treaty of Thorn of 1466 the land of Teutonic order was divided - western part, which included all of later 'West Prussia' and chunks of later 'East Prussia' was, as a province of 'Royal Prussia' made a part of the Kingdom of Poland and remained there until the first partition of 1772. And only after this partition the Kingdom of Prussia created the provinces of 'West Prussia' and 'East Prussia' as you know them, so 'West Prussia' is fairly recent term in historical scale, much younger than 'Gdansk Pomerania' ('Pomorze Gdańskie' in Polish), which was in use for this territory already in 12th century, before anyone heard about the Teutonic Order.
So the territory which you refer to as 'West Prussia':
- was over its history dispuded between Kingdom of Poland, the Teutonic Order and Kingdom of Prussia, and changed hands several times.
- in 1918 had a mixed Polish/Kashubian and German population (despite a century of Prussian attempts to assimilate the Poles) with Poles having majority in a kind of corridor along Vistula up to the Baltic (see the map form Robert Magocsi, 'Historical Atlas of Central Europe', www . llmap.org/images/HistoralAtlasCentralEurope/Central%20Europe%20-%20Mag ocsi001_page%2099_useforlegend.jpg )
- historically, has been a natural gate for Poland to the sea and sea trade
These seem quite reasonable reasons for Poland to claim this territory in 1918, at least not worse than Kingdom of Prussia had claiming them in 1772.
And while discussing the history of area in question one really should understand the difference between various meanings of the term 'Prussia', otherwise any discussion is likely to become a mess
There seem to be a lot of confusion here about the meaning of the term 'Prussia' and history of various lands to which this name was applied.
The history about pagan Prussians being conquered by the Teutonic knights, who then populated the land by German colonists applies only to territories east of Vistula, later known as EAST PRUSSIA. This was the land of pagan Prussians and this is the only 'Prussia' in original sense od this term
The territory west of Vistula, known in Polish as 'Eastern Pomerania' or 'Gdansk Pomerania' and in German as 'West Prussia' (or 'Pomerelia') had quite different history - it was a Slavic land, conquered and made christian by polish Piast rulers in 11-12th centuries. Then, in early 14th century, it was invaded by the teutonic Order, and only then the name 'Prussia' was extended to it. It's population was a mixture of local Pomeranian Slavs (later Poles and Kashubians) and German colonists, but there never were any pagan Prussians in there.
Kingdom of Poland never dropped claims for this land. Finally came the 13-years war in which significant part of the Order's subject fought against it's rule and applied to Poland for help. It ended with the treaty of Thorn of 1466 the land of Teutonic order was divided - western part, which included all of later 'West Prussia' and chunks of later 'East Prussia' was, as a province of 'Royal Prussia' made a part of the Kingdom of Poland and remained there until the first partition of 1772. And only after this partition the Kingdom of Prussia created the provinces of 'West Prussia' and 'East Prussia' as you know them, so 'West Prussia' is fairly recent term in historical scale, much younger than 'Gdansk Pomerania' ('Pomorze Gdańskie' in Polish), which was in use for this territory already in 12th century, before anyone heard about the Teutonic Order.
So the territory which you refer to as 'West Prussia':
- was over its history dispuded between Kingdom of Poland, the Teutonic Order and Kingdom of Prussia, and changed hands several times.
- in 1918 had a mixed Polish/Kashubian and German population (despite a century of Prussian attempts to assimilate the Poles) with Poles having majority in a kind of corridor along Vistula up to the Baltic (see the map form Robert Magocsi, 'Historical Atlas of Central Europe', www . llmap.org/images/HistoralAtlasCentralEurope/Central%20Europe%20-%20Mag ocsi001_page%2099_useforlegend.jpg )
- historically, has been a natural gate for Poland to the sea and sea trade
These seem quite reasonable reasons for Poland to claim this territory in 1918, at least not worse than Kingdom of Prussia had claiming them in 1772.
And while discussing the history of area in question one really should understand the difference between various meanings of the term 'Prussia', otherwise any discussion is likely to become a mess