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Introduction

Polish Romantic Philhellenism

Author(s): Maria Kalinowska
Subject(s): Cultural history, 19th Century
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Polish Philhellenism; Greek War of Independence 1821; 1821 Greek Revolution; Polish uprisings in the 19th century
Summary/Abstract: The article outlines the historical background of Polish Philhellenism. Polish Philhellenes fighting in Greece most often took part in the struggle for Poland’s independence as well. One might say that Polish Philhellenes fighting for or supporting the Greek cause belonged to the mythical country of Romantic poetry; they were the “mad people” about whom the greatest Polish poet, Adam Mickiewicz, wrote that it was they, accused of madness and belligerence but faithful to their conscience, who supported the liberation cause, rather than “reasonable people”. In Poland, Philhellenism is understood in a broad sense, not being limited to direct involvement in the fighting. While it shared its fundamental ideas and beliefs with other European Philhellenisms, the Polish variant had its own distinct facet determined by Poland’s political situation in the 19th century, when it was deprived of sovereign statehood and subjugated by three partitioning powers (Russia, Prussia and Austria). The parallel drawn between the history of Greece and the history of Poland is the Polish version of the Romantic worship of Greece as a symbol of freedom. The 1821 Greek Revolution, thus, appears in Polish Romanticism in several dimensions: (1) a broad Philhellenic and Byronian perspective; (2) a universal context – through a connection with ancient models; (3) a mask for Polish independence aspirations and as a context for reflecting on the Polish uprisings.

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