Elusive Alliance : The German Occupation of Poland in World War I

As World War I Dragged On Into 1915, German Armies Along The Western Front Settled Into Stalemate With Entrenched British And French Forces. But In The East The Picture Was Quite Different. The Kaiser's Army Routed The Russians, Took Possession Of Polish Territory, And Attempted To Create A Polish Satellite State. Elusive Alliance Delves Into Germany's Three-year Occupation Of Poland And Explains Why Its Ambitious Attempt At Nation-building Failed. Dubbed The Imperial Government-general Of Warsaw, Germany's Occupation Regime Was Headed By Veteran Prussian Commander Hans Hartwig Von Beseler. In His Vision For Central Europe, Poland Would Become Germany's Permanent Ally, Culturally And Politically Autonomous But Bound To The Fatherland In Foreign Policy Matters. To Win Polish Support, Beseler Spearheaded The Creation Of New Institutions Including A Polish-language University In Warsaw, Reformed The School System, And Established Democratically Elected Municipal Governments. For Beseler And Other German Strategists, A Secure Poland Was Essential To Ensuring Central Europe Against A Threatening Tide Of Nationalism And Revolution. But As Jesse Kauffman Shows, Beseler Underestimated The Resistance To His Policies And The Growing Hostility To Occupation As Germany Plundered Polish Resources To Fuel Its War Effort. By 1918, With The War Over, Poles Achieved Independence. Yet It Would Not Be Long Before They Faced A Second, Far More Brutal German Occupation At The Hands Of The Nazis. Introduction: The Unknown War And Its Forgotten Occupation -- Prometheus Bound: The German Conquest And Occupation Of Poland -- Merciless Murderers Of The Polish Language: State, Army, And Legitimacy In The Imperial Government-general -- Practicing Politics: Self-administration And Self-determination -- Schools Of The Nations: Education And National Conflict -- Nation Building And Bildung: Warsaw University -- Collapse Of The Government-general: The Legacy Of Failure -- Conclusion: German Occupation Regimes In Poland, 1915-1945. Jesse Kauffman. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover Title Copyright Dedication Contents Introduction: The Unknown War and Its Forgotten Occupation Special Paths, Drives to the East, and Colonial Turns Occupations and the Great War in European History Poland’s Forgotten Great War The Search for Order in Central Europe, 1905–1947 The “Polish Question” from the Congress of Vienna to the Eve of the Great War Chapter 1. Prometheus Bound: The German Conquest and Occupation of Poland The Outbreak of the War and the Mobilization of Polish Opinion The Creation of the Imperial Government-General of Warsaw The Foundations of Beseler’s Polenpolitik A Polish Question and a German Answer Repression, Resistance, and Public Opinion The Wages of Plunder Chapter 2. Merciless Murderers of the Polish Language: State, Army, and Legitimacy in the Imperial Government-General Poland’s War The Lure of Polish Manpower and the Path to 5 November The Act of 5 November The Provisional Council of State and the Polish Legions The Legions under German Command Chapter 3. Practicing Politics: Self-Administration and Self-Determination Initial Measures Germans, Poles, and Jews in the Imperial Government General The Government-General and Poland’s Jews The Warsaw Elections of 1916 Expanding the Institutions Chapter 4. Schools of the Nations: Education and National Conflict The Quest for Stability The Problem of Secondary Education Polish Nationalism and Polish Education The Problem of Language National Ambitions and National Institutions The Government-General and Minority Education The Minority Protection Law and the Transfer of Education to the Polish Authorities Chapter 5. Nation Building and Bildung: Warsaw University The First Year Escalating Ambitions, Expanding Institutions The Problem of the Theological Faculty The Student Strike of 1917 Chapter 6. Collapse of the Government-General: The Legacy of Failure Pressures Domestic and Foreign Institutions, January–August 1918 War’s End The Legacy of Failure Conclusion: German Occupation Regimes in Poland, 1915–1945 Abbreviations Notes Acknowledgments Index

Jesse Kauffman explains why Germany's ambitious attempt at nation-building in Poland during WWI failed. The educational and political institutions Germany built for its satellite state could not alleviate Poland's hostility to the plundering of its resources to fuel Germany's war effort.