Treasures. Vol. 3. Polish orders and decorations. 18th - 19th century.

In 2020 on the centenary of the establishment of the Polish Army Museum and Polandʹs victory over the Bolsheviks in the Battle of Warsaw,we place in your hands another volume of the Treasures of the Polish Army Museum: Polish Orders and Decorations series, a sequel covering the 20th and 21st century(Book 1- spanning the 18th and 19th centuries- was published at the end of 2019). The publication complements the commemoration of the two anniversaries as it demonstrates the relationship between the events from a century ago.

Having regained her independence  in 1918, Poland  had to carry on a dramatic struggle to maintain her sovereignty and establish her borders, while at the  same time striving to rebuild and shape the her social and political identity.

In practice, the process took longer than the  military operations. A part of it was the reinstitution and construction of an honour system, which was crucial from both a social and state- building standpoint and a purely military perspective. On the one hand, the first Polish state and its continuity after more than a century of occupation  were  referenced by the  reinstitution of the  historic orders, the  Military Order of Virtuti Militari and the Order of the White Eagle.

On the other, current needs and events, their scale and diversity, found their affirmation in the institution  of new  decorations: The Cross of Valour, the Order of  Polonia Restituta, the Cross and Medal of Independence and the  Cross of Merit. Divided into classes or grades, or  offering the  possibility of multiple awards as did  the  Cross of Valour, complemented by decorations associated with the  struggle for  independence including local action in different parts of the country, they formed the honour  system of the Second Polish Republic which, after 100 years, with small amendments  precipitated by the  Second World War, continues  to be a point of reference  and a cornerstone of Polandʹs national identity.