‘The Birth of Modern Poland on a map’ - an excellent wall map of Poland and surrounding regions, published in Warsaw near the end of World War I, when Poland’s fate was unknown and its boundaries undefined - however, the present example is uniquely augmented with manuscript shading, defining the re-born independent Polish state with its full 1922 borders.

This fine wall map of Poland and surrounding regions was drafted by Stanislaw Max and published in Warsaw in 1918, near the end of World War I. The Polish language map provides excellent topographic detail of a vast region extending from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea and labeling all major towns and roads.
As the boundaries in the region were then in a state of flux, the printed map labels the approximate locations of countries and regions. Still, it is intentionally unclear as to the locations of most international boundaries, especially that of Poland (which in 1918 was under German occupation but would soon be liberated by wars of independence).

Importantly, the present example of the map is uniquely augmented in manuscript, in outlining and shading in green crayon, to showcase the territory of the Second Polish Republic, the first truly independent Polish state formed in 1795, with its borders as confirmed by treaties in 1922.

 In this sense, the map brilliantly showcases the birth of modern Poland.

The Rebirth of Poland: The end of World War I (1914-8) hailed the rebirth of Poland as an independent state, after generations of foreign subjugation. In 1795, following the last of the three Partitions of the once-mighty Kingdom of Poland, the nation ceased to exist as an independent entity, its territory being divided between Prussia, Russia, and the Austrian Hapsburg Empire. While the Prussians and Austrians more or less absorbed the parts of Poland in their possession into their empires, the Russians set up the state of Congress Poland, which was only a puppet state of Russia. While a part of Poland briefly held some autonomy as a French client state, known as the Duchy of Warsaw, from 1807 to 1815, and Polish Rebellions against Russian rule in Congress Poland occurred in 1830-1 1863-4, Polish independence remained elusive.

To make a long story short, during World War I, Germany had the upper hand over Russia on the Eastern front, overrunning the Polish lands and extending its occupation into Russian territory beyond Minsk. The new Soviet regime in Russia sued for peace and signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 3, 1918) with Germany. This placed the new border between Germany and Russia along the ‘Brest-Litovsk Line,’ which ran to the east of Lublin, Bialystok, and Vilnius. The majority of Polish lands were thus under German control, with a portion in the south remaining under Austro-Hungarian rule.

However, in the month leading up to Germany and Austria-Hungary’s final surrender to the Western Allies on November 11, 1918, Austro-German control over much the Polish lands disintegrated. Polish leaders declared their intention to declare an independent Polish state, a move that the Western Allies would support at the Treaty of Versailles deliberations. However, the Polish leadership knew Poland’s neighbors would hotly contest this move, so it organized rapid and effective military conscription and mobilization. Poland would have to fight on several fronts for its survival and to obtain the geographical boundaries it desired, resulting in a series of relatively short, sharp wars.

In what became known as the Greater Poland Uprising (1918-1919), Poles in the former Grand Duchy of Posen (Poznan) overthrew German rule, resulting in the region becoming Polish territory. During the Polish-Ukrainian War (1918-19), Polish forces gained control of Galicia and Bukovina. Following the Poland-Czechoslovakia War (1919), the small area of Cieszyn Silesia was divided between the two belligerents.

Most importantly, during the Polish-Soviet War (1919-21), Poland fought an epic struggle against Soviet Russia, which seesawed back and forth but ended in a Polish victory. This saw the Polish-Soviet border placed far to the east, leaving Poland in possession of large portions of modern Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine, plus all of today’s Central and Eastern Poland. The new, internationally recognized the independent Polish Republic comprised 387,000 km² (149,422 sq. mi.) of territory, with over 27 million.

The manuscript additions of the 1922 boundaries of Poland on the present was likely added as the boundary settlement was still breaking news and before printed maps of the new boundaries were available. Thus, the new Polish state was cartographically born upon the present map.

The Stanislaw Max designed a printed map, and although the map’s title used the pseudonym of ‘M. Arct’ for the publisher, the map has been printed by H. Sklodowski in Warsaw. It is the third of five editions of the map that were printed between 1916 and 1920. The geography is based upon the best information, largely from the Polish Geographical Institute. The Max-Sklodowski series represents Poland's finest maps made during the critical period of the nation’s revival.