THE BATTLE OF POLTAVA IN THE POLISH HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE XX CENTURY

Abstract

In the present article on the basis of comparative chronological method and methods of quantitative analysis and content analysis a number of monographic studies carried out in the twentieth century, the most famous Polish historians of early modern times, which studied various aspects of the battle of Poltava. It is established that the Polish historiography of the twentieth century little studied this battle, because the Polish contingents participated in it in a very small number. They fought on the side of the Swedish king Charles XII. In a short period of real independence of Poland in 1918–1939, polish historical science studied the events in the Polish theater of operations of the Great Northern war, and the events of 1709 in the Cossack Ukraine was given little attention. The only author, who mentioned the battle of Poltava in his monographs, was Y. Feldman.
In the second half of the XX century, the number of studies has increased significantly, but their quality, due to the political dependence of the Polish state from the USSR, has changed little. The author analyzed the works of P. Yasenitsa, Yu. Gerovsky, Vl. Sercik and V. Wimmer. The main trends in coverage of the events around the battle of Poltava by polish historians are revealed. Polish historians made little use of both Russian and Swedish sources regarding the battle of Poltava. Their assessments remained traditional and repeated the official conclusions of Soviet historiography.
The conclusion is made about the great dependence of polish historians on Russian and soviet historiographies, mainly due to political circumstances.
Positive trends in the study of this battle in Polish historiography emerged only in the early years of the XXI century in generalization works of Z. Anusik, P. Krokosh and A. Andrusevich. However, a special study of the battle of Poltava we identified yet one article by P. Kroll. It has already submitted quite realistic figures and estimates of the events near Poltava in the summer of 1709, although some facts about the Russian army left in the previous interpretation.