Vozzvanie velikogo kniazia Nikolaia Nikolaevicha k poliakam 1 (14) avgusta 1914 g.: znachenie i politicheskie posledstviia | The Proclamation to the Polish Nation on 14 (1) August 1914 of Nikolai Nikolaevich: Significance and Political Consequences
Volume 31 (2015): Empires and Nationalisms in the Great War: Interactions in East-Central Europe = Imperijos ir nacionalizmai Didžiajame kare: sąveikos Vidurio Rytų Europoje, pp. 46–72
Pub. online: 15 December 2015
Type: Article
Open Access
Open Access
Published
15 December 2015
15 December 2015
Abstract
The proclamation to the Polish nation on 14 (1) August 1914 signed by Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich has interested more than one researcher. Researchers from Russia and other countries routinely refer to the document in their analysis of the Polish question. However, the proclamation itself has not been an object of research for a long time, although the circumstances of its appearance, its content, and its multiple political consequences might contribute not only to an analysis of the Polish question, but also, in a more general sense, to studies of the national question in the Russian Empire. The paper deals with the history of the proclamation to the Polish nation, the reasons for its appearance, and the characteristics of the text. It analyses the issue of its authorship, and the impact of the proclamation on general public feeling, and also discusses the consideration of the Polish question in the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire during the First World War.