History
The List of Polish wars chronicles Polish military involvement since 972, but the present armed forces trace their roots to the early twentieth century. Yet the history of Polish armed forces in their broadest sense stretches back much further. After the partitions of Poland, during the period from 1795 until 1918, Polish military was recreated several times in Poland during uprisings like the November Uprising of 1830 and the January Uprising in 1863, and outside Poland like during Napoleon Bonaparte wars (Polish Legions in Italy). The Kingdom of Poland, ruled by the Russian Tsar with a certain degree of autonomy, had a separate Polish army in the years 1815-1830 which was disbanded after the unsuccessful insurrection. Large numbers of Poles also served in the armies of the partitioning powers, Russia, Austria-Hungary (before 1867 Austria) and Germany (before 1871 Prussia). However, these powers took care to spread Polish soldiers all over their armies and as a rule did not form predominantly Polish units.
During World War I, the Polish Legions were set up in Galicia, the southern part of Poland under Austrian occupation. They were both disbanded after the Central Powers failed to provide guarantees of Polish independence after the war. General Józef Haller, the commander of the Second Brigade of the Polish Legion, switched sides in late 1917, and via Murmansk took part of his troops to France, where he created the Blue Army. It was joined by several thousand Polish volunteers from the United States. It fought valiantly on the French front in 1917 and 1918.
The Polish Army was recreated in 1918 from elements of the three separate Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Prussian armies, and armed with equipment left following World War I. The force expanded during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–1922 to nearly 800,000 men, but then was reduced when peace was reestablished.
Read more about this topic: Polish Armed Forces
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