Part 102
=Poland.= Called by the natives _Polska_, “a plain,” a former kingdom of Europe,--renowned, in mediæval history, as the sole champion of Christendom against the Turks, and more recently, and at present, an object of general and profound sympathy throughout Western Europe, from its unprecedented misfortunes. The natives belong to the great Slavonic family. The word Pole is not older than the 10th century. Poland first took rank as one of the political powers of Europe, when Micislas I. (962-992) occupied the throne and became a convert to Christianity. Boleslas I. (992-1025) surnamed “the Great,” reunited the separate portions of the kingdom (which had been divided by Micislas among his sons) and extended it beyond the Oder, the Carpathians, and the Dniester, and sustained a successful war with the emperor Henry II. of Germany, conquering Cracovia, Moravia, Lusatia, and Misnia. He also took part in the dissensions among the petty Russian princes. Boleslas was recognized as “king” by the German emperors. After a period of anarchy he was succeeded by his son, Casimir (1040-1058), whose reign, and that of his warlike son, Boleslas II. (1058-1081), though brilliant, were of little real profit to the country. Boleslas III. (1102-1139), an energetic monarch, annexed Pomerania, defeated the pagan Prussians, and defended Silesia against the German emperors. A division of the kingdom among his sons was productive of much internal dissensions, under cover of which Silesia was severed from Poland; ultimately, Casimir II. (1177-1194) reunited the severed portions, with the exception of Silesia. His death was the signal for a contest among the various claimants for the throne, which was speedily followed, as usual, by a division of the country, and during this disturbance Pomerania emancipated itself from Polish rule. About the same time the Teutonic Knights were summoned by the Duke of Masovia to aid him against the pagan Prussians, but they soon became as formidable enemies to Poland as the Prussians; and conquered a great part of Podlachia and Lithuania. The Mongols swept over the country in 1241, reducing it to the verge of ruin, and defeating the Poles in a great battle near Wahlstatt. From this time Poland began to decline; various districts were ceded to the markgrafs of Brandenburg, while many districts began to be colonized by Germans. Ladislaus (1305-1333), surnamed _Lokietek_, “the Short,” again restored unity to the country. In conjunction with Gedymin, grand duke of Lithuania, a vigorous war was carried on against the Teutonic Knights, on returning from which the aged monarch (he was now seventy years old) experienced a triumphant reception from his subjects, who hailed him as the “father of his country.” His son, Casimir III. the Great (1333-1370), greatly increased the power and prosperity of Poland. In the latter part of his reign he was compelled to defend sundry new acquisitions against the Tartars, Lithuanians, and Wallachians, which he did successfully. With Casimir, the Piast dynasty became extinct. Jagello (Ladislaus IV.), grand duke of Lithuania, the son-in-law of Louis the Great, king of Hungary, founded the dynasty of the Jagellons (1386-1572), and for the first time united Lithuania and Poland. Casimir IV. (1444-1492) recovered West Prussia from the Teutonic Knights. The Wallachian invaders carried off 100,000 Poles, and sold them to the Turks as slaves, 1498. Sigismund I. (1506-1548) surnamed “the Great,” raised the country to the utmost pitch of prosperity; he was forced into a war with Russia, in which he lost Smolensk. Sigismund II., Augustus, was a successor worthy of him; Lithuania was finally joined indissolubly to Poland. Livonia was conquered from the Knights Sword-bearers. (See SWORD-BEARERS, KNIGHTS.) Stephen Battory (1575-1586), voivode of Transylvania, the second elective monarch, a man of energy and talent, carried on war successfully against the Russians, pursued them into the very heart of their own country, and compelled the czar to sue for peace; he also subdued the semi-independent Cossacks of the Ukraine. His successor, Sigismund III. (1586-1632), who was succeeded by his sons, Ladislaus VI. (1632-1648) and John Casimir (1648-1672), was of the Vasa family, and was the crown prince of Sweden. These three monarchs were most unworthy successors of Poland’s ablest king. They were always quarreling with their neighbors, declaring war with Russia, Sweden, or Turkey, in the most imprudent and reckless manner, and often without valid pretext. But the Polish armies, though as little fostered and cared for as the other portion of the nation, were everywhere victorious; the Swedish and Muscovite armies were successively annihilated; Moscow was taken, and the Russians reduced to such an abject condition that they offered to make Sigismund’s son, Ladislaus, their czar. Sweden made a similar offer to another son of the Polish monarch; but the latter’s absurd behavior lost for Poland this rich result of her great victories; and the foolish policy of the whole three not only rendered fruitless all the lavish expenditure of Polish blood and treasure, but lost the country many of her richest provinces, and left her without a single ally. During the reign of this dynasty Wallachia and Moldavia were snatched by the Turks from under the Polish protectorate; Livonia with Riga was conquered (1605-1621), along with a part of Prussia (1629) by Sweden; and Brandenburg established itself in complete independence. The Cossacks rose in rebellion to a man, put themselves under the protection of Russia, and ever afterwards proved themselves the most inveterate enemies of the Poles. In the reign of John Casimir, Poland was attacked simultaneously by Russia, Sweden, Brandenburg, the Transylvanians and the Cossacks; the country was entirely overrun; Warsaw, Wilna, and Lemburg taken; but Czarniecki, after defeating Poland’s enemies in detail, ignominiously expelled them from the country. But in subsequent treaties Ducal or East Prussia was given up to Brandenburg; almost all Livonia to Sweden, and Smolensk, Severia, or Tchernigov, and the Ukraine beyond the Dnieper were given to Russia. During the reign of Michael Wisniowiecki (1668-1674) a war with Turkey, concluded by an ignominious peace, was the chief event. But the senate rejected the shameful treaty, the Polish army was reinforced, the Polish monarch resigned the command to John Sobieski, and the Turks were routed with great slaughter at Choczim (1673). After the reign of Sobieski, Augustus II. of Saxony entered Poland at the head of a Saxon army, and succeeded in obtaining the throne. His war with the Turks restored to Poland part of the Ukraine and the fortress of Kaminiec; but that with Charles XII. brought nothing but misfortune. Augustus returned after the battle of Poltava; his rival retired without a contest; a close alliance was formed with Russia, and the Russian troops which had campaigned in Poland against the Swedes were, along with his Saxon army, retained. The Poles demanded their extradition, but in vain; and the Russian cabinet interfered (1717) between the king and his subjects, compelling both parties to sign a treaty of peace. This was the commencement of Poland’s dependence on Russia and her consequent decline. By the instigation of Peter the Great, the Polish army was reduced from 80,000 to 18,000. For the massacre of Protestants at Thorn see MASSACRE. Civil war so weakened the kingdom that it fell an easy prey to Russia, Austria, and Prussia, in 1772, when the first partition was effected. Catherine II. of Russia, on various pretexts, advanced her army into Poland (1792), and the fruitless resistance to the united Prussians and Russians, headed by Joseph Antony Poniatowski and Kosciusko, was followed by a second partition (1793) between Russia and Prussia, which the diet were forced to sanction at the point of the bayonet. A general rising took place (1794); the Prussians were compelled to retreat to their own country; the Russians were several times routed; but an Austrian army advanced, compelling the Poles to retreat; and fresh hordes of the Russians arriving, Kosciusko at the head of the last patriot army, was defeated; and the sack of Praga, followed by the capture of Warsaw, finally annihilated the Polish monarchy. The third and last partition (1795) distributed the remainder of the country between Russia, Prussia, and Austria. King Stanislaus resigned the crown, and died broken-hearted at St. Petersburg in 1798. Napoleon I. established the duchy of Warsaw (1807), chiefly out of the Prussian share of Poland, with the elector of Saxony at its head. The division of Poland was re-arranged by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. On November 30, 1830, Constantine (brother of the czar and military governor) and his Russians were driven out of Warsaw, and a general insurrection of the people, headed by the aristocracy, took place; and military leaders, as Radzivil, Dembinski, Bem, etc., were soon found. From January, 1831, till September 8 of the same year, a series of bloody conflicts were fought, in which the Prussians and Austrians, with pitiable subservience, aided the czar. At first, the Poles were successful; but the taking of the capital by Paskievitch soon ended the war, which was followed, as a matter of course, by imprisonment, banishment, confiscation, and enforced service in the Russian army. From this time, the independence of Poland was suppressed, and in 1832 it was declared to be an integral part of the Russian empire, and the most severe and arbitrary measures taken to Russianize the people. The outbreaks of 1833 and 1846 were punished by the gallows. Simultaneous disturbances (1846) in the Prussian and Austrian portions of Poland were summarily suppressed; their leaders in Prussia were imprisoned, and only saved from death by the revolution of March, 1848, at Berlin; and those in Austria were butchered by the peasantry, who preferred the Austrian to a national government. On November 6, 1846, the republic of Cracow was incorporated with Austria. In 1861 another insurrection broke out, and Poland was declared (in October) in a state of siege; the country continued in a state of commotion without any very decided outbreak; and on January 13, 1863, Lithuania and Volhynia were also put in a state of siege. In February, 1863, Mieroslavski raised the standard of insurrection in the northwest, on the Posen frontier, and many districts of Augustovo, Radom, Lublin, Volhynia, and Lithuania, were speedily in insurrection. It was a mere guerrilla war, and no great or decisive conflicts took place, but the whole populations of villages were put to the sword by the Russians; while murders and assassinations marked the reign of terror of the National Committee. At last, with the officious assistance of Prussia, and the secret sympathy and support of Austria, the czar’s troops succeeded in trampling out (1864) the last embers of insurrection. In 1868 the government of Poland was absolutely incorporated with that of Russia.
=Polans.= Knee-pieces in armor.
=Pole.= See ORDNANCE, CARRIAGES FOR, NOMENCLATURE OF ARTILLERY CARRIAGE.
=Poleaxe.= An axe fixed to a pole or handle; or rather, a sort of hatchet with a handle about 15 inches in length, and often a point or claw bending downward, or projecting from the back of its head. It was formerly used by mounted soldiers.
=Polemarch.= In Grecian antiquity, was originally the commander-in-chief, but afterwards, a civil magistrate who had under his care all strangers and sojourners in the city.
=Pole-pad.= A pad placed on the end of the pole in field-gun carriages to prevent injury to the horses.
=Pole-prop.= A short stick attached to the under side of the pole in field-gun carriages.
=Pole-strap.= See ORDNANCE, LIMBER.
=Pole-yoke.= See ORDNANCE, LIMBER.
=Pole-yoke Branches.= See ORDNANCE, LIMBER.
=Polibole=, or =Palintonne= (_Fr._). A ballista which was capable of throwing both arrows and stones.
=Police.= The cleaning of a camp or garrison; the state of a camp in regard to cleanliness.
=Police Guard.= An interior guard having care of the arms, property, and prisoners of the regiment; also charged with the regulation of the camp in regard to order and cleanliness. A guard for prisoners occupied in cleaning the camp.
=Police, Military.= This word has two significations: (1) The organized body employed within an army to preserve civil order, as distinct from military discipline. (2) A civil police with a military organization. The police of an army commonly consists of steady intelligent soldiers, who act under the orders of the provost-marshal, and arrest all persons out of bounds, civilians not authorized to pass the lines, disorderly soldiers, etc.; they also attend to sanitary arrangements. As in all military matters, the police of an army possess summary powers, and a sentence of the provost-marshal is carried out immediately after it is pronounced. Of civil police with military organization may be instanced, as specimens, the gendarmerie of France, the sbirri of Italy, and, in an eminent degree, the Irish constabulary.
=Police Party.= A working party engaged in cleaning the camp or garrison.
=Police Sergeant.= A sergeant specially charged with cleaning the camp.
=Polkownick.= Colonel of a Polish regiment.
=Pollentia= (now _Polenza_, Northern Italy). A town of the Statielli in Liguria, at the continence of the Sturia and the Tanarus, and subsequently a Roman municipum. In its neighborhood Stilicho, the imperial general, defeated Alaric the Goth, March 29, 403.
=Polotzk=, =Polotsk=, or =Polock=. A town of Russian Poland, 60 miles west-northwest of Vitebsk, at the continence of the Dwina and the Polota. It was taken by the Russians from the Poles in 1579, and again in 1655. The French under Marshal Oudinot were here defeated by the Russians under Gen. Wittgenstein, July 30-31, 1812, the next day the Russians were defeated. After several smaller actions with various results, Polotzk was stormed by the Russians, and retaken October, 1812.
=Polron.= That part of the armor which covered the neck and shoulders.
=Poltava=, or =Pultowa=. A town of Russia, capital of the government of the same name, situated on the Vorskla, about 934 miles south-southeast from St. Petersburg. Here Charles XII. of Sweden was defeated by Peter the Great of Russia, July 8, 1709.
=Polygars=, or =Paleagas=. Chiefs of mountainous and woody districts in the peninsula of India, who pay only a temporary homage.
=Polygon.= The name applied to the many-angled forms in which the outer walls of all fortified places are built.
=Polygon.= A school of practice for artillery is so called in Japan.
=Polyorcetes.= Taker of cities; a name applied by the Greeks to a very successful general.
=Polytechnic School.= See MILITARY ACADEMIES.
=Pomada.= An exercise of vaulting the wooden horse, by laying one hand over the pommel of the saddle.
=Pomerania.= A province of Prussia, bounded north by the Baltic, east by West Prussia, south by Brandenburg, and west by the Mecklenburg duchies. It was held by the Poles, 980, and by Denmark, 1210; made an independent duchy, 1479; occupied by the Swedes in the Thirty Years’ War, and divided between Sweden and Brandenburg, 1648. The Swedish part, awarded to Denmark in 1814, was given up to Prussia for Lauenburg, 1815.
=Pomerium.= In ancient architecture, that space of ground which lay between the walls of a fortified town and the inhabitants’ houses. The term is still used among modern architects, particularly by the Italians, to describe the breadth of the terre-plein of the rampart, its inward talus, and the vacant space which is usually left between this talus and the houses of the town.
=Pomfret.= See PONTEFRACT.
=Pomme.= In heraldry, a bearing or device representing, or in the form of, an apple.
=Pommee.= In heraldry, having the ends terminating in rounded protuberances resembling apples;--said of crosses.
=Pommel.= The knob on the hilt of a sword. Also the protuberant part of a saddle-bow.
=Pommeled=, or =Pommelled=. In heraldry, furnished or mounted, with one or more pommels, as a sword, dagger, or the like.
=Pommelion.= The cascabel, or hindmost knob of a cannon.
=Pompon.= A tuft of wool, sometimes worn by soldiers on the top of the hat in front, instead of a feather.
=Poncho.= A Spanish-American garment, consisting of a piece of woolen cloth, 5 to 7 feet long, 3 to 4 feet broad, having in the middle a slit through which the wearer passes his head, so that the poncho rests upon the shoulders and hangs down before and behind. In the U. S. army mounted troops are issued a waterproof poncho, consisting of painted cotton or rubber cloth.
=Pondicherry.= A maritime town, and the capital of the French settlements in India, on the Coromandel coast, 83 miles south-southwest from Madras. Pondicherry was first settled by the French in 1674, they having purchased the town two years before from the rajah of Bejapoor. The Dutch took the town in 1693; but by the treaty of Ryswick it was restored to the French in 1697. In 1748 it was besieged by the English under Admiral Boscawen, who, two months later, was compelled to raise the siege. In 1758, Count de Lally became governor-general, and attacked the English settlement of Fort St. David, which surrendered, and was totally destroyed. In 1761 it was taken by the English, under Col. Coote. By the peace of Paris, Pondicherry was restored to the French in 1763 with reduced territory. It was again taken by the English under Sir Hector Monro in 1778, and restored in 1783. In 1793 the English again repossessed themselves of Pondicherry, but the treaty of Amiens in 1802 again restored it, but only till the following year. From this time it was held by the English till, by the treaties of 1814 and 1815, it was for the last time restored to France, reduced to the narrow limits assigned by the treaty of 1783.
=Poniard.= A pointed instrument for stabbing; borne in the hand, or at the girdle, or in the pocket; a small dagger.
=Poniard.= To pierce with a poniard; to stab.
=Pont à Noyelles.= At this place near Amiens, France, took place a fierce indecisive conflict lasting from 11 A.M. to 6 P.M. between the Germans under Manteuffel and the French Army of the North under Faidherbe, December 23, 1870. Both sides claimed a victory.
=Pontefract=, or =Pomfret=. A town of England, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, near the river Aire, and 21 miles southwest from York. Its castle, which was finished in 1080, was taken after three successive and desperate sieges, by the Parliamentary army, and demolished by order of the Parliament.
=Pontia= (now _Ponza_). A rocky island off the coast of Latium, opposite Formiæ, which was taken by the Romans from the Volscians, and colonized, 313 B.C. Under the Romans it was used as a place of banishment for state criminals. There is a group of smaller islands round Pontia which are sometimes called Insulæ Pontiæ.
=Pontianak.= The capital of the kingdom of the same name on the west coast of Borneo, is situated near the junction of the Landak and Kapuas. There has been constant war on the southeast coast of the kingdom since 1859. The interior of the kingdom was very much disturbed in 1864.
=Pontifical States.= See PAPAL STATES.
=Pontones.= Ancient square-built ferry-boats for passing rivers, as described by Cæsar and Aulus Gellius.
=Pontonier=, or =Pontonnier=. A soldier having the charge of constructing bridges.
=Pontons.= A kind of portable boats specially adapted for the formation of floating bridges required by armies. They are constructed in various ways, of wood, metal, or prepared canvas, stretched over frames made for the purpose (the latter it is said are much in favor), and have the necessary gear placed with them for transport. The ponton used in the U. S. army is constructed as follows:
The _ponton frame_ is composed of two side frames, of twelve narrow and of two wide transoms. The former are strengthened at the ends by iron straps, which are countersunk and perfectly smooth; all the edges of the frame and transoms are well rounded to prevent chafing the canvas. The wide transoms are of 10-inch by 1¹⁄₂-inch plank, provided with tenons to fit the mortises in the frame. The narrow transoms are of 4-inch by 2¹⁄₂-inch scantling. The articles of each of the above classes are made exactly alike, so that they may be interchanged. Two of the narrow transoms are provided with an iron mooring becket.
The frame when assembled is held together by a rope passed through the rings in the ends of the side frame, and tightened with a rack-stick.
The _ponton cover_ is of 0000 cotton duck, double-seamed, with the border double for 1¹⁄₂ inches in width. The clew-line eyelets are of metal. The lashings are of 1-inch rope 18 feet in length, and looped at one end, and the cable used is of 3-inch Manilla rope, 30 fathoms long.
_Bridge Equipage._--The United States bridge equipage is composed of reserve and of advance-guard trains. The former are intended to accompany large bodies of troops in the field, and are provided with the material necessary for the construction of bridges of sufficient capacity to pass large armies with their heaviest trains over rivers of any size and rapidity.
The advance-guard equipage is intended for the use of light troops, such as advance-guards, cavalry expeditions, etc. It is organized, both as regards material and carriages, with a view to rapidity of movement. At the same time, it is capable of furnishing a bridge which will fulfill all the requirements of troops engaged on such service.
_Organization._--The reserve equipage is divided into trains, each of which is composed of four ponton divisions and one supply division. Each division is accompanied by tool-wagon and traveling-forge.
Each _ponton division_ is complete in itself, containing all the material necessary for constructing a bridge of eleven bays, or 225 feet in length.
Each of these divisions is subdivided into four sections, two of which are ponton and two abutment sections; the former contain three ponton-wagons and one chess-wagon; the latter, one ponton-, one chess-, and one trestle-wagon each.
The ponton section contains the material for three bays, and should never be subdivided. The division may be increased or diminished at pleasure, by the changing the number of its ponton sections.
The carriages are loaded as follows: Each ponton-wagon contains 1 ponton, 7 long balks, 1 anchor, 1 cable, 5 oars, 2 boat-hooks, 20 lashings, 6 rack-sticks, 1 scoop-shovel, 2 small scoops, 1 axe, 1 hatchet, 1 bucket, and 20 pounds of spun yarn.
Each trestle-wagon (identical with ponton-wagon) contains 7 long balks, 7 trestle balks, 1 trestle complete, 2 abutment sills, 2 coils of 3-inch rope.
Each chess-wagon contains 60 chess.
The forge is identical with forge A furnished by the ordnance department.
Each tool-wagon contains 50 axes, 20 shovels, 20 spades, 15 picks, 25 hatchets, 4 broad-axes, 4 adzes, 4 cross-cut saws, 12 augers (assorted), 2 crow-bars, 2 calking-irons, 12 tin lanterns, 2 monkey-wrenches, 1 sledge, 1 steel square, 1 grindstone, 1 spirit-level, 1 coil telegraph wire, 1 coil 3-inch rope, 1 coil 1-inch rope, 1 coil spun yarn, 50 pounds iron (assorted), 25 pounds paint, 6 paint-brushes, 1 dozen chalk lines, 1 pound red chalk, 4 pounds white chalk, 6 sail-needles, 1 palm, 6 balls twine, 50 pounds 6-inch spikes, 100 pounds 6-, 8-, 10- and 20-penny nails, 2 sets blocks and falls, 2 gross each of 1-, 2- and 5-inch screws, 1 roll canvas, 20 pounds calking cotton. Also 4 boxes of carpenters’ and saddlers’ tools nearly identical with those furnished by the ordnance department for battery-wagon C. If desirable, extra stores to the amount of 500 pounds may be added to the load.