The success of Roman expansion in the Republican period and the durability of the Empire, which survived the fall of the Republic and continued to function for the next few hundred years under the rule of emperors, drew the attention of scholars in subsequent eras. In the famous Vergil’s phrase – Imperium sine fine dedi – Jupiter bestowed a dominion without limits on the Romans as the defenders of their friends, clients, allies and generally the weak. The majority of available accounts present the Romans as protectors. This is a result of a strong rhetoric of propaganda used by the Romans in order to justify themselves in the eyes of the contemporary and posterity alike. The conception of imperialism without limits was probably born in the middle of the 2nd century or more probably in the 1st century B.C. but both earlier and later Rome outlined the borders of the expansion (e.g. lands, rivers or seas).
 

In 1378 Metropolitan Alexis, who was residing in Moscow, died. Even though nominated in 1354 head of the entire Russian Orthodox world, during the years of his ministry he had to challenge plans of creating separate metropolises in Lithuanian Russia and Galitian Rus’. In the course of indefatigable plans of Algirdas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, in 1375 Philotheos Patriarch, for the Lithuanian part of the Rus’ metropolis, appointed Cyprian as a close collaborator to Alexis. According to Philotheos’s idea, after Alexis’s death, Cyprian was to extend his jurisdiction over Moscow. Such a decision provoked indignation there and brought the idea of nominating another candidate for the metropolitan throne. Prince Dmitry Ivanovich forced the candidacy of Mitya. The rejection of the Patriarch’s favorite in Moscow started a period of “church’s confusion” in the Russian Orthodoxy. In this article the author analyses Alexis’s attitude towards his own succession. It is widely known that he pictured Sergius of Radonezh in this role. This alone testifies that the Metropolitan did not intend to respect the Patriarch’s decision, and further, despite the lack of clarity of the sources, it cannot be ruled out that he also more or less supported Mitya for some time.

Qualifying Corsica as “mysterious” or the Hutsul land as “Slavonic Atlantis” allows to give an emotional color to the region and thus place the discourse in the “History – Memory” paradigm. The question that we shall raise in the given study is how these two peoples with mainly oral culture recognize themselves in the descriptions that the other cultures make. Are the portraits drawn in literature positive or negative? Do these peoples recognize themselves as Noble Savages? Does the image created by the Other contribute to the shape of their national consciousness?
 

The article treats about the life of the Polish nation under the Russian, Prussian and Austrian rule in the years 1857–1861 presented by “Wiadomości Polskie” – a weekly magazine, which unofficially belonged to Hotel Lambert (Polish emigrant conservative organisation). The publicists of the periodical – prominent Polish political and cultural activists and scholars – Julian Klaczko and Walerian Kalinka – drafted the image of the Polish people of that time, who led a demoralised and meaningless life and who were not willing to struggle for the sake of their enslaved motherland. According to “Wiadomości”, especially outrageous was the fact that some Poles could not resist the temptation of national betrayal, which they did by abandoning the dreams of restituted Poland. Nevertheless, stating that ‘Today the spirit of the nation is not yet poisoned’, the editors of “Wiadomości” believed that there were Poles who would do their best in order to gradually eliminate all national vices. Indeed, in the last editions of “Wiadomości” the publicists of the periodical firmly stressed that the Polish people finally understood what their national responsibilities were. Thus, they hoped the Polish nation would continue to grow and would not prematurely begin a national uprising, which would inevitably lead to another national disaster.
 

In 1866 the Austrian Kraków fortress was under construction. In preparation for the war with Prussia, it was provisionally completed and equipped in the event of a siege. The crew of the fortress (over 14 thousand soldiers) had the task not only to defend it but also to guard the western Galicia railway. To this end, part of the soldiers were sent to fight in the field. The command of the fortress failed to manage these operations properly and, as a result, despite the victory in the battle of Auschwitz (June 27, 1866), the Austrian troops abandoned the defense of their own railway and concentrated near the Krakow fortress. This situation was used by the weaker Prussian troops (about 6.5 thousand soldiers), who occupied without a fight the border region of Galicia, which enabled the Prussian command to transfer the Hungarian volunteer György Klapka legion to this area; the legion was to begin the anti-Austrian diversion in Hungary. As a result of the rapid end of the Austro-Prussian War, the role of the Kraków fortress and its crew in this conflict was of minor importance. It turned out that the fortress provided sufficient protection for the greater part of Galicia against the Prussian threat, but its field divisions were inefficiently used and had no influence on the course of the war.
 

A very important role in the political education of the “bold generation”, who entered the public scene at the turn of the 1880s and 1890s, was played by Zygmunt Miłkowski’s brochure On the Active Defense and National Treasure published in Paris in 1887. This article presents the content of this brochure as well as the impressions and emotions that accompanied reading this publication by its contemporaries (e.g. the young Stefan Żeromski).
 

The paper examines the development of transport infrastructure in the Stanisławów Voivodeship between 1921–1939. The number of vehicles and their classification by brand was established. The functioning of the rail transport, train and bus ticket fees, as well as discount scheme and the impact of these factors on the daily life of the local population were presented. As pointed out, the most extensive transport type was the rail – available to all parts of society. However, the disadvantage of this type of transport was connected with too long and numerous stops on the local line stations. The road transport developed quite slowly because of high prices and tax rates on cars, as well as the poor condition of local roads.


 

After the Second World War there was a great urgency among the Polish Communists to get rid of Germans from Polish society (to marginalize them totally and not to erase as the Nazis had done). They were charged with war crimes against Poles and, generally, with participation in the genocide committed by the German Nazis. Besides, as some Poles had signed the Volksliste, it was thought they should be punished as well. The problem took on considerable significance in Bielsko and its neighbourhood, inhabited by a lot of Germans. The mass operation commenced in the summer of 1945; during the operation, performed with varying intensity until 1950, about 7000 people were – voluntarily or forcibly – displaced from the area. At the same time, the operation to extirpate all displays of Germanness took place. Speaking the German language was prohibited and German notices, inscriptions and slogans had to disappear from houses, advertisements, buildings, municipality and government offices, tombstones and prints; even the German names were removed from the calendar. The operation assumed the most substantial proportions in the years 1947 to 1948.
 

The University Children’s Hospital in Cracow, better known as the Prokocim Hospital, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The clinics and wards have always been supported by a medical diagnostic laboratory. The Department of Clinical Biochemistry has been providing services to the young patient from the opening day of the hospital, thus it is also its jubilee. The foundation of the laboratory, its equipment and development was made possible thanks to a considerable US support, as well as the organizational skills of the laboratory of Prof. Zdzisław Szafran – the first head of the Department. From the very beginning, the diagnostic laboratories were equipped with various types of analyzers and smaller hardware of US origin. This kind of assistance was not delivered to other places behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. Up to this day, the hospital laboratory in the University Children’s Hospital in Cracow offers a wide range of measurement tests from very basic to highly specialized ones. From the very beginning, the Department of Clinical Biochemistry also fulfils its educational function, educating students of medicine, pharmacy and clinical chemistry.
 

In the years 1990–1991 Poland adopted a two-track policy in relations with the Soviet Union, which were based on treating the USSR and its republics as separate entities. Under this policy, MPs of the Citizens’ Parliamentary Party (OKP) played an active role in maintaining contacts with Lithuanian MPs from Sajudis, whom they treated as natural partners because the political views were similar on both sides. Members of OKP consistently and unconditionally supported Lithuania’s aspirations to independence and did not condition their support on guarantees of rights for the Polish minority. They took numerous trips to Lithuania, and in January 1991 they created a metaphorical bridge between Warsaw and Vilnius, signing petitions demonstrating solidarity with the Lithuanian struggle for independence. At the same time, however, they treated Lithuanian authorities with increasing reserve due to the dispute over the rights of the Polish minority and the rise of anti-Polish sentiment in Lithuania, which was in line with the policy pursued by Skubiszewski.
 

Book review
Jessica M. Chapman, Cauldron of Resistance. Ngo Dinh Diem, The United States, and 1950s Southern Resistance, Cornell University Press, Ithaca – London 2013, pp. XIII + 276

Nowości wydawnicze

Piotr Kropka, Rudzica. Dzieje wioski i parafii od założenia do czasów współczesnych, Towarzystwo Miłośników Rudzicy, Rudzica 2013, ss. 378

Międzynarodowa konferencja naukowa „Morze wokół nas… «bo takie jest rozległe i straszne»” (Gdańsk, 22–23 maja 2014)