The Lwów Eaglets: Poland's Child Defenders of 1918

In November 1918, as Poland finally regained independence after 123 years of partitions, the multi-ethnic city of Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine) erupted in a Polish-Ukrainian conflict over its future. Among the defenders of the city were hundreds of teenagers and even children, some as young as nine, who took up arms in desperate street fighting. They became known as the Orlęta Lwowskie, the Lwów Eaglets. This episode tells their story, focusing on the siege of the city, the key figure of General Czesław Mączyński who commanded the Polish forces, and the symbolic martyrdom of the youngest defender, 13-year-old Antoś Petrykiewicz. We also explore the controversial memory of the Eaglets in modern Ukraine and Poland, where the Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów remains a site of contested history. Drawing on eyewitness accounts and Polish historiography, we examine how child soldiers became a national myth and what their story reveals about the brutal birth of interwar Poland. #History #FexingoHistory #TheStoryofPoland #LwówEaglets #OrlętaLwowskie #PolishUkrainianWar #1918 #Lviv #Galicia #CzesławMączyński #AntośPetrykiewicz #ChildSoldiers #PolishIndependence #SecondPolishRepublic #CemeteryOfTheDefenders #EasternEurope #SiegeOfLwów #NationalMyth Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo