The Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807 from Polish lands he seized from the Kingdom of Prussia. The area of the Duchy had already been liberated by a popular uprising in 1806, provoked by proclamation of conscription to the Prussian Army. The area of the Duchy was 158,000 km with a population of over 4.3 million, so it was soon tasked with providing food for the French army (which was fighting the Russians in East Prussia) and providing additional military support for Napoleon. Since the Duchy was highly militaristic, it soon fielded a 200,000 strong army under Prince Jozef Poniatowski (a Marshal of France) and was very eager to fight the Russians. That army, eventually, covered the chaotic and disastrous French withdrawal from Russia and is credited with saving what was left of the Emperor's military forces.

Coat-of-Arms of the Free City of Krakow
(Krakow Republic) 1815-1846

     The 1815 Congress of Vienna obliged Prussia to create an autonomous Grand Duchy of Poznan (Posen) out of the most of the Polish territories under their occupation. The Grand Duchy didn’t enjoy the autonomy for long, but its coat-of-arms featured the Polish White Eagle as the heart shield on the chest of the Prussian black eagle.
     It also served as the crest in the Grand Arms of the Duchy.

     The Kingdom of Poland (Królestwo Polskie Tsarstvo Pol’skoye) was also known as the "Congress Kingdom," because it was created by the 1815 Congress of Vienna.
     The resulting Kingdom of Poland became a semi-independent state in the personal union with Russia (The Tsar of Russia was also the King of Poland). Its coat-of-arms featured the eagle similar to the ones used by the last of the Polish king Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski and later by the Duchy of Warsaw between 1807 and 1815.

Russian Greater Seal with Polish Eagle

     The November Uprising (1830–1831), also known as the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion against the rule of the Russian Empire in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. The uprising began on November 29, 1830 in Warsaw when a group of young non-commissioned officer conspirators from the Imperial Russian Army's military academy in Warsaw led by Piotr Wysocki revolted. They were soon joined by large parts of Polish society.
     Despite several local successes, the uprising was eventually crushed by a numerically superior Russian army under Ivan Paskevich.

     The January Uprising (Powstanie styczniowe) was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (present-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, parts of Ukraine, western Russia) against the Russian Empire. It began January 22, 1863, and lasted until the last insurgents were captured in 1865.
     January Uprising`s coat of arms, respecting 3 nations forming the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: White Eagle (Poland), Vytis (Lithuania) and Archangel Michael (Ruthenia)

     In 1914, Jozef Pilsudski persuaded the Austrian authorities to form the independent Polish military units within the structures of the Austro-Hungarian Army to jointly fight the Russians.
     His theory was that the Central Powers would eventually loose the war with the Western Allies and Poland would be re-created and united out of all three parts of the partitions. This theory proved to be absolutely right.
     The eagles of Pilsudski’s Legions were bare-headed (without crowns) given his socialist leanings of the time.

     German and Austro-Hungarian Emperors, in order to secure Polish support in the war with Russia, declared ostensibly independent Polish Kingdom (known also as the Regency Kingdom), in reality, nothing more than the Central Powers’ puppet state.
     Nevertheless, that kingdom was represented once again by the proud Polish White Eagle. On the right, there is a rendition of it from the banknote of the time.

     Of diametrically different orientation than Pilsudski’s Polish Legions, a group of National-Democratic patriots chose alignment with the Allied Powers and organized the Polish Army in France (Haller’s Blue Army) to fight on the Western Front in exchange for the Allied support of Poland’s independence.
     The most prominent leaders of it were Roman Dmowski and Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a virtuoso pianist, composer and close personal friend of the American president, Woodrow Wilson. The Committee, grudgingly, accepted Pilsudski’s authority when he declared Poland totally free and independent in 1918, and dissolved itself when he called upon Paderewski to form the first government of the Second Republic.
     The PNC eagle was truly majestic, although displaying highly conservative and nationalistic tendencies.

     The Bolshevik Red Army reached suburbs of Warsaw in August of 1920. If they would have it their way and took the capital city, the Polish Soviet Socialist Republic would have been proclaimed.
     Instead of the White Eagle, its emblem would have been the hammer and the sickle topped, most likely, by the red star.
     It didn’t happen, but the Soviet propaganda poster of the era shows clearly what they would do to the White Eagle.

     The Second Polish Republic, or Second Commonwealth of Poland, or simply, interwar Poland, refers to Poland between the two World Wars; from the creation of an independent Polish state in the aftermath of World War I, to the invasion of Poland in 1939 by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Slovak Republic, which marked the beginning of World War II.
     The first Arms of the Second Republic were legally adopted on August 1, 1919 by the Parliament (Sejm), although it had been in use from October 1918 (Zakopane Republic).
     Those Arms were modeled on the popular eagles from the times of the last king and symbols of the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw.
     It is unknown who was the designer of the final artistic rendition of these particular White Eagles.

     The Coat-of-Arms of the Second Republic was changed by the decree of the President, Ignacy Moscicki, on December 13, 1927. The new, more modern rendition of the White Eagle was designed by Dr.Zygmunt Kaminski. The closed crown, topped with the cross, was replaced by the open one, without the cross, and the star-like ( or rosettes?) devices were added to the wings. There is no clear explanation on why the change happened. This eagle represented Poland until the capitulation of last Polish Army units on October 2, 1939, but continue as the symbol of the Polish Government-in-Exile in Paris and London, of Polish Armed Forces in the West and in the USSR (1941-42) and the underground authorities and resistance forces in the occupied homeland.
     In 1956, the Polish Government-in-Exile, still operating in London and recognized by several foreign states (The Vatican, Spain, Republic of China, South Africa, among others) decided to add the cross to the crown on the eagle’s head to underline the coming millenium anniversary of the Polish statehood and Christianity and to stress its opposition to the communist usurpers of power inside Poland.

     The Second Polish Army was organized in the USSR under the auspices of the Communists (Union of Polish Patriots) in 1943. To break with the bourgeois tradition, the new eagle was designed for these troops. Authored by Janina Broniewska, an artist, it was modeled after the eagle adorning the sarcophagus of the medieval Piast princes in Plock and originally designed by Z.Vogl in 1825. Piasts were promoted by the communists as the peasant and proletarian rulers of Poland, in contrast to the bourgeois and capitalist scoundrels of pre-war Poland.
     That eagle appeared also on posters and flags used by the first communist-dominated government on the liberated Polish territory - PKWN (Polish Committee of National Liberation) in Lublin on July 22, 1944. Due to its ugliness, it was called "kurica" (Russian for ‘chicken) by the soldiers of the Kosciuszko Division and not gaining any popularity it was soon abandoned.

     The Polish People's Republic (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although Communists took the control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was changed only eight years later, reflecting the final liquidation of all democratic oppositions.
     The Manifesto of the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN), also known as July Manifesto, was the work of the Polish Committee of National Liberation, a Soviet-backed provisional government, which operated in opposition to the London-based Polish government in exile. Although the Polish People's Republic was a sovereign state as defined by international law, its leaders were approved by the Kremlin. They aligned their policies with those of Moscow, making the People's Republic a satellite almost entirely subordinate to the Soviet Union. Red Army forces were stationed in Poland (120,000 to 150,000). In 1945, Soviet generals and advisors formed 80% of the officer cadre of Wojsko Polskie. The Polish United Workers' Party became the dominant political party, officially making the PRL a socialist state.

     In the middle of the night, on Sunday, December 13, 1981, General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared the war on his own nation, a military takeover of the state. It was done to crush the "Solidarity" movement which was threatening the Communist monopoly on power, although the general justified it as a preventive step to stop the invasion of Poland by the Soviet, East German and Czechoslovak forces, who were deeply alarmed by the advances of the anti-communist Solidarity Movement.
     The acronym chosen for the name of the new governing body - WRON, resembles the Polish word for the crow (wrona), creating an opportunity for insults and jokes directed at it. One of them was the quite poetic saying; "orla wrona nie pokona" (the crow cannot defeat the eagle). In addition, General Jaruzelski hailed from the clan of the "Slepowron," (blind crow), and wore dark glasses, to even better associate himself with the unfortunate acronym for his junta. Alas, it took a few years, but the eagle finally trashed the crow and communism with it as well.

     The White Eagle (Orzel Bialy) is still the national coat of arms of Poland. Its stylized white eagle with a golden beak and talons, and wearing a golden crown, in a red shield, appears on many public administration buildings. It is present at schools and courts, on Polish coins and stamps (see images on right), and even on the Poland national football team's shirts.

     Szczerbiec (the jagged sword) is a sword that was traditionally used in the coronation ceremony of Polish kings. It is the last surviving part of the Polish crown jewels; the crown and other items were lost during numerous wars in the past.
     Although, according to the legend, it was used by Boleslaw I Chrobry (Boleslaus I the Brave 992-1025), who notched it when hitting the Golden Gate of Kiev in 1018 (the Golden Gate was constructed in 1037, and there is no visible damage to the actual sword), it was probably made in the 12th century, possibly for Prince Konrad of Masovia.
     Szczebiec was used during the coronations from the time of Wladyslaw Lokietek (the Elbow-High) to the last king of Poland, Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski. After partition it was captured by Prussians, who in 1796, took it to Berlin. Later, it found itself in Russia. Finally, in 1928, the Soviets gave it back to Poland fulfilling the agreement of the Riga Peace Treaty.
     During World War II it was deposited in Canada, together with the priceless arrases from the Wawel Castle in Cracow. It came back to Poland in 1959. It is currently on display in the Wawel Royal Castle Museum, Cracow.