this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2025
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The only reason Poland's contribution isn't taught in American school history books is because teachers were like "how the hell are school children going to pronounce these names?!"
Polish resistence efforts also get sidelined in WW2 history, especially work for the enigma machine decoding efforts.
And if you're in Warsaw, find time to visit the uprising museum.
that sounds more fun/educational than visiting Auschwitz to be honest. I value the Auschwitz museum existing, but I'm pretty familiar with the horrors of the holocaust, I don't need to see the actual gas chambers, mass graves or medical experiment tools.
I am not saying you're wrong, but I wonder if your country doesn't teach that bit of history. Here in Western Europe, it is taught that Poles who went on exile to UK brought a copy of Enigma machine with them.
I don't recall that in the UK lessons on WW2, over 20 years ago.
I'm OLD!
Fun novel.
"The Polish Officer" by Alan Furst.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-polish-officer-alan-furst/8536007?ean=9780375758270&next=tWasn't there a Swedish nobelman too?
Crazy times.
BTW all I know is that Russia didn't help. I'm stating it as the Kremlin is trying to push that narrative right now.
There were a lot of foreign adventurers who found a place in the Continental Army. I'm not aware of any prominent Russians, though the Russian Empire did mediate the final peace negotiations, I believe, as a neutral party.
John Paul Jones, America’s legendary naval hero, served in the Russian Navy in 1788. After the American Revolution, he was idle in Paris, where he attracted the attention of Russia’s Empress Catherine the Great. She needed "another bulldog" for her war against the Ottoman Turks, and wanted Jones "to make the Seraglio tremble". Jones spent nearly a decade in France, awaiting the command of a new American ship and performing certain diplomatic duties. Eventually, frustrated by delays, he accepted an offer from the court of Catherine the Great to join the Imperial Russian Navy campaigning in the Black Sea during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787 to 1792.
America’s legendary naval hero
Yeah....... I'd hesitate to label him as a "hero" considering he was also a slaver and a child rapist.
Both things can be true. Heroes are not always (maybe rarely) good people. Especially so for war heroes.
Nope. Hero kinda precludes not being a child rapist. No "seperating the art from the artist" on that one. Then he's just some piece of shit who had some war victories.
Ehh..... If you want to proclaim your hero is the rapist of a 10 year old girl feel free I guess?
There's a difference between the morally gray of acts committed in war, and the rape of a 10 year old girl. Which was morally reprehensible even in the perspective of 1700's Russian society.
He’s not my personal hero at all, never heard of the dude.
Just saying that a horrible piece of shit can still do heroic things, even if awful deeds outshine them. I’d say that those heroic deeds by definition makes them a hero, even if it’s only in a narrow context as “American naval warfare”.
I’d say that those heroic deeds by definition makes them a hero, even if it’s only in a narrow context as “American naval warfare”.
Again, no one is forcing you to call a child rapist a hero.... It's a pretty wild move imo.
By your own definition......is Hitler also a hero?
I think maybe it's important when mantling someone with the title of "hero" that we weigh the positive and the negative aspects of their contributions, otherwise it can get awkward.
I don't know of any heroic deeds that Hitler did.
Do you?
Edit: also, you may have me confused with a different user. I didn’t say he was a hero, that was dagwoodiii a bit upthread, and I suspect he was just copy/pasting some other reference, not his personal moral evaluation of the life of John Paul Jones.
don't know of any heroic deeds that Hitler did. Do you?
My definition of hero includes general morality..... If we adopt your definition of just being brave or inspirational, then you would be hypocritical not too. He was a combat veteran who eventually went on to be the leader of his country. By your definition that's not heroic?
didn’t say he was a hero, that was dagwoodiii a bit upthread
"I’d say that those heroic deeds by definition makes them a hero, even if it’s only in a narrow context as “American naval warfare”."
I’d say there’s more heroism than being brave or inspirational, but eh. This conversation is clearly going nowhere — have a great weekend.
That's the other way around, though - an American Revolutionary finding a place in Russia.
I know. I just think it's a cool story.
Fair! But also, as we all know... JOHN PAUL JONES IS A PIRATE! NO LOYALTY DOES HE POSSESS!
Yeah probably every country tries to/wants in on it if they had just a sausage seller in the vicinity. Thanks!
And German mercenaries!!!!
So Russia is saying they support underdogs that want to fight for freedom from a global superpower?
They always lies so ... Yes?
I do anyways ofc. 😁
Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kosciuszko and General Pulawski.
NYC honors them every year.
Was Bonawentura a name "gifted" to him, an actual family name, or is it just a coincidence that it sounds hella lot like 'good adventure' in Latin (or some romance language)?
That's the name in the article, and it's not a particularly odd name.
Oh. I just skimmed over it quickly. Thanks.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadeusz_Ko%C5%9Bciuszko
He should have a bridge in every city, not just NYC
We love Tadeusz Kościuszko in this house!
A close friend of Thomas Jefferson, with whom he shared ideals of human rights, Kościuszko wrote a will in 1798, dedicating his U.S. assets to the education and freedom of the U.S. slaves.
What a guy. Will was never executed, but he tried
That's a very pretty signature he had.
Unironically, while cursive is not very useful in the modern day and I always hated both using and reading it, calligraphy is a beautiful and largely lost art in the general population.
I once asked a teacher why did we learn to write with cursive and he said that it was to help us differentiate between words. I don't know if that is true but I though his answer interesting.
I tried calligraphy once... It would be a skill that would take me FOREVER to become decent at. Suck at it.
Shoutout from IL, where we have Pulaski Day each March. Plus, a major street in Chicago named after him as well.
Got off school for that when I was a kid. Big fan.
Could be worse, you could get the Munich agreement treatment from your allies.
And all that without having a country of their own!
At the time of the war of independence, after the 1st division of Poland in 1772, there was still a lot left of Poland-Lithuania.
Ah, correct, I misremembered the year the war of independence happened, sorry about that