Аннотация: Konstanty Kalinowski gave his life for European values. The essay.
Konstanty Kalinowski gave his life for European values. The essay.
For what, for whom did Kastus Kalinowski, 26-year-old participant in the uprising of 1863, give his life?
For the Rzeczpospolita? For Poland? For Lithuania? For the modern Belarus?...
The Russian Empire was a European country. She belonged to the Christian world. She declared a commitment to legality and Western civilization. She moved in a direction from eastern despotism to western, increasingly enlightened absolutism (with such advanced elements as, for example, jury trials). After 1905, the Russian Empire was not so far from the regime of constitutional monarchy...
However, for Konstanty Kalinowski, a man who had civilizational experience of normal European life, there was a natural desire to return European values to everyday reality.
On this occasion, one can recall the history of Napoleon III coming to power and his a being in power.
Victor Hugo made known to a public and to a history those many actions - for example, the shooting of unarmed townspeople on Parisian boulevards - that took place during the days of Napoleon's coming to dictatorial power.
Gradually Napoleon III 's regime softened, becoming more liberal, democratic.
After the defeat of French troops near Sedan in 1870 and after a period in captivity, Napoleon III ended his life in Great Britain after illness (1873).
In the UK were perfectly familiar with the activities and works of Victor Hugo.
European civilization - she is practical, and she is a humane...
Now we will learn a lot of things that were previously hidden. And we pay tribute to the bravery, conscience and honour of those who reveal these secrets.
But it makes sense to remember the history of Napoleon III as well.
The events are old ...
But after all, no matter how cynical it sounds, what we will learn today is not the shooting of hundreds (thousands?) of civilians on Parisian boulevards.
In any case, Konstanty Kalinowski gave his life for European values, and Europe is going forward...
February 1, 2020 21:49
Translation from Russian into English: February 1, 2020 22:08.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Кастусь Калиновский отдал жизнь за европейские ценности. Очерк'.