ABSTRACT
In terms of modern history, Poland and Russia make their entry on the European stage in the second half of the tenth century A.D. With Napoleon's initial successes against the Russians and his establishment of the Duchy of Warsaw, the Poles placed new hope in the lavish promises of their "enemies' enemy." At the time of the Polish insurrection of 1830, anti-Polish feeling in Russia was almost universal. On January 25, 1831, at the height of the so-called "November rising," the Polish Diet had renounced allegiance to the Russian Tsar and appointed a national government headed by a man universally respected in Poland and abroad, Prince Adam Czartoryski. Compared with previous Russo-Polish settlements throughout history, that of 1945 was branded with one vital new factor: the birth and survival in Russia of Soviet Communism. This factor removes, on the face of things, the traditional Orthodox-Catholic bone of contention.
