Why did realists lose?

Zdjęcie: Zamek Królewski w Warszawie Źródło: PAP / Piotr Nowak


In 1812, after Napoleon's defeat, the Duchy of Warsaw as a distant bastion of the Napoleonic Empire against the empire of the tsars was replaced by the Kingdom of Poland as a bastion in Central Europe close to Russia. It was an chance that the Poles should have taken. However, it turned out differently. This issue is raised by Emil Antipow in his book "Political Realism of the Power Elite in the Kingdom of Poland (1815–1830)".