Warsaw figured heavily in the Great War. It is the railroad center of Poland, then a province of Russia lying next to Germany. Back and forth over Poland the German and the Russian armies fought each other. Much of the province was laid waste. Warsaw was the center both armies tried to get and to hold. You know the result. Russia dropped out of the war because her government fell to pieces. Then Germany was defeated. One of the articles of the treaty of peace made Poland a free country again as she had been a century and a half ago. The Poles set up a new government of their own and elected Paderewski (på´d-rf´sk), the great pianist, as their premier. Warsaw, as in ancient days, is the present Polish capital. Poland is now a nation about three times the size of Indiana with a population one-fifth that of the United States. Its people are chiefly Poles; but in the cities there are very many Jews, as you see. Warsaw has a population of about one million, of which a large number are Hebrews. Many of the Jews are wealthy merchants; but the great majority of them are poor tradesmen. The history of Poland is the story of a hard struggle. About the time of our Revolutionary War, Poland was one of the great powers of Europe. Then came a series of wars with Germany, Austria, and Russia. Poland was defeated and divided among these three nations. For a hundred years the Poles have looked forward to the time when they would again be united and free. In 1919 this came to pass; and again Poland takes her place among the nations of the world. Keystone ID: 20462 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.