A failing monarch and a rising eagle, 101 years ago today

Emperor Karl (Charles) I of Austria-Hungary inspecting troops of the newly formed Polish Auxiliary Corps (Polski Korpus Posiłkowy) in Bukovina, 10 December 1917. The officer on horseback is probably Lt. Col. Michał Rola-Żymierski, formerly commander of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Polish Legions.

The Corps was formed after Col. Józef Piłsudski, who started the Polish Legion from the pre-war Rifleman’s Association, in the summer of 1917 forbade Polish soldiers in the Austrian Army to swear a loyalty oath to the future (Austrian or German) king of Poland and the Central Powers but instead only to a planned independent Poland. The Germans arrested Piłsudski and locked him up in Magdeburg along with his followers while the men who still wanted to fight the Russians were enrolled in the new unit.

While the old Polish Legion numbered eight infantry and three cavalry regiments organized in three separate brigades, the…