The modern world, from Charlemagne to the present time; with a preliminary survey of ancient times . Ratibo AUSTRfA ^0 S \N>:. seems, this vast kingdom with its twelve million inhabitants fellan easy prey to its greedy neighbors. This demands some ex-planation. The Poles were a warlike people. The absence of well-definednatural boundaries brought them into frequent conflict withtheir neighbors. The Teutonic Knights, to the north, sue- 506 AUSTRIA AND THE EAST [§506 cumbed after a long struggle with the Poles (§ 321), and in thesouth and east the Poles took their full share in the battles of
The modern world, from Charlemagne to the present time; with a preliminary survey of ancient times . Ratibo AUSTRfA ^0 S \N>:. seems, this vast kingdom with its twelve million inhabitants fellan easy prey to its greedy neighbors. This demands some ex-planation. The Poles were a warlike people. The absence of well-definednatural boundaries brought them into frequent conflict withtheir neighbors. The Teutonic Knights, to the north, sue- 506 AUSTRIA AND THE EAST [§506 cumbed after a long struggle with the Poles (§ 321), and in thesouth and east the Poles took their full share in the battles ofChristendom against Mohammedanism. As elsewhere, thesefrequent wars produced a numerous nobility, devoted to war andliving on war. Though mostly poor, these nobles formed aproud exclusive caste that held the rest of the nation — largelypeasants — in absolute subjection. In the eighteenth centurythe entire peasantry was still kept in serfdom and bound to thesoil as tenants of the nobles. It is, therefore, not surprisingthat, at least in the beginning of Polands downfall, the peasantsshowed little patriotism. For them,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecthistorymodern, bookye
