Overview

After the defeat of Napoleon, in whom the Poles had placed so much hope for the restoration of their country, a dark night of slavery descended. Poland was wiped off the map of Europe, but it lived on in the hearts and minds of the Polish people. The struggle for Poland continued in various ways and by various means, depending on which partition the former territories of the country found themselves under. In literature, drama, and later in film, the struggle of Polish patriots with weapons in their hands, e.g., in the November and January uprisings against the tsarist regime, found greater reflection and resonance. Relatively little is known and little was known to the general public about the struggle for the liberation of the people of Greater Poland, which was under Prussian rule. And yet it was the "longest war in modern Europe."