Such a scenario could have happened. It was really close:it would have been enough for Poland not to regain independence. Al-Qaeda could not even compare with the Vistula terrorist organizations. And there is hard historical evidence for that.
In 1906, the Polish worker Henryk Baron gave testimony about how he spent several hot August days:
On August 15 (...) at 12 noon 30 minutes I went to the VII police district and threw two bombs that caused a terrible explosion after which I immediately sat down in the cab and drove to the city, where after an hour the police arrested me, but released after a short examination. ...
Yes, I killed one of the warders on Pawia Street, near the detention prison. I killed the second ward at the corner of Piwna and Świętojańska Streets. I killed the third one on Ogrodowa Street near Żelazna Street. I killed the fourth vice-ward in Solna Street on August 15, 1906. That day in the street I killed two wild boars.
The baron was no madman. He took part in an organized action aimed at taking revenge on the tsarist regime occupying Polish territory. As a result of this so-called "Bloody Wednesday" , 72 to 78 enemy officers died in one day :policemen, soldiers, officials. And that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Polish streets turned into a war zone. Bomb attacks have become commonplace.
The Forgotten Rise
History textbooks teach that the last Polish uprising broke out in January 1863. Apparently, since then, the positivism known from "The Doll" by Bolesław Prus and peaceful coexistence with the invader prevailed. It is hard to find more nonsense. From at least 1905, an uprising took place in Poland on an unprecedented scale. And it didn't end until the outbreak of World War I.
What is usually underestimated as the Russian Revolution of 1905, which only accidentally hit Polish soil, was in fact a real earthquake. Warsaw, Łódź and other large cities of the Russian partition turned into a war zone.
The regime stood on one side, and the socialist and anarchist militias on the other, often lacking a long-term goal and driven above all by vengeance. It was no longer a classic armed struggle. Poles, deprived of open combat opportunities, resorted to terrorist methods. Stealth attacks using bombs and revolvers.
Blow three times a day
Wojciech Lada, author of the book "Polish terrorists" lists that only in 1906 Poles committed 1245 terrorist attacks . It means that statistically every day of this year there were at least three attacks - he adds.
The scale of terror decreased in the following years, but it did not disappear at all. Simply random and spontaneous actions gave way to actions of perfectly organized militias. In 1907, more than two attacks took place every day. In 1911 - one bombing every two days.
National terrorist army?
The strongest underground organization, the Polish Socialist Party, began to form squads of professional commandos, trained in combat, espionage, terrorist actions and the construction of explosives.
The regime, bursting from within, was increasingly powerless against people operating in the shadows and able to strike at any moment. Wojciech Lada lists:
Trains and stagecoaches were successfully raided and bombs were thrown at representatives of the tsarist generals. The stand-ups and Ochrana's spikes were fired . Prisoners from strictly guarded prisons were released and plans were made to kill the tsar.
Members of the PPS planned an assassination attempt even on Tsar Nicholas II.
No enemy official could feel safe. The generals, high-ranking officials and governors were attacked several times. Until effect. In their spare time, Polish terrorists practiced on simpler cells - rank and file policemen, and even ordinary guards.
Training Murders
The pre-war historian, Eugeniusz Ajnenkiel, summed up the activity of only one terrorist cell of several people from Bałuty in Łódź:
They made: an attack on a guard in the Old Town Square, an attack on a gendarme crossing Andrzeja Street, between Spacerowa and Wólczańska Street, an attack on a police agent in the "Rogów" dairy (at ul. Narutowicza), an attack on a provocateur walking down Dowborczyki street, at ul. A ride, an attack on a coachman of a coach from the city of Łódź in front of the Staszica park, an attack on a liquor store with money taken at ul. Pomorska, an attack on members of the land guard in Radogoszcz.
There were hundreds of similar cells. Polish terrorists - according to Wojciech Lady, even eight thousand. They gave up their activities only when the chance for Polish independence appeared on the horizon.
Only regaining independence stopped Polish terrorists. But what if the Second Republic of Poland had never been established?
It seems almost certain, however, that if their homeland had not become free, they would have returned to their profession with redoubled determination. They would reach for any weapon and even the most ruthless method.
Who knows, maybe Józef Piłsudski himself would sit at the controls of a plane crashing into one of Moscow's skyscrapers. An old, bitter freedom fighter who personally organized training for Polish terrorists.
Source:
Trivia is the essence of our website. Short materials devoted to interesting anecdotes, surprising details from the past, strange news from the old press. Reading that will take you no more than 3 minutes, based on single sources. This particular material is based on the book:
- Wojciech Lada, Polish terrorists , Horizon Mark, 2014.