Fighting for Polish Independence

One of the substantial international outcomes of World War I was the emergence or reemergence of nation states in Eastern and East Central Europe based on ethnic aspirations. For the first time in English, this book chronicles the activities by which the Polish diaspora supported the restoration of an independent Poland including the recruiting of an army of over 100,000 men to fight on the Western Front with the French. It also covers the creation of the Polish White Cross to offer medical and other assistance to the troops, and the Gray Samaritans who functioned as social workers to bring relief to the newly independent nation. The book also follows the Polish army in France as it moves to postwar Poland to battle a Bolshevik invasion and the relief organizations as they followed the army to provide support to the civilian population suffering from the wartime destruction, population dislocations, and widespread hunger and diseases. No other ethnic diaspora came close to the political pressure, military contribution, and humanitarian relief efforts undertaken by the international Polish communities living abroad.

James S. Pula is a professor emeritus of history at Purdue University Northwest. The author of numerous books, his work has been honored with the Mieczyslaw Haiman Award for sustained scholarly contributions to Polish American history and culture, the Distinguished Service Award from the American Council for Polish Culture, three Oskar Halecki Prizes for various books, the U. S. Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award, and the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, among others.