RES HISTORICA 50, 2020 DOI:10.17951/rh.2020.50.233-259 Piotr Bednarz (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1438-1591 E-mail:
[email protected] Close Countries – Distant Countries. Polish-Swiss Freedom Analogies in the 19th and 20th Centuries Kraje bliskie – kraje dalekie. Polsko-szwajcarskie analogie wolnościowe w XIX/XX w. ABSTRACT The French Revolution became an inspiration for freedom movements not only in France itself, but also beyond its borders. The ideals expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen also animated revolutionary and national liberation movements in Switzerland and on Polish soil throughout the long 19th century. The histo- riography of both countries tends to attribute a special role to Switzerland for the Polish idea of independence, as a country that is a refuge of freedom. The Poles deprived of it were to benefit from the support of the Swiss in their efforts to regain independence. Ho- wever, there is limited confirmation for this finding in historical facts. They prove that despite the common beginning of the liberal ideas of the 19th century, as the French Re- volution can be considered, the social history of the Swiss and Poles ran along completely PUBLICATION INFO e-ISSN: 2449-8467 ISSN: 2082-6060 THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS: Piotr Bednarz, the Institute of History of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, 4A Maria Curie-Skłodowska Square, Lublin 20-031, Poland SOURCE OF FUNDING: Statutory Research of the Institute of History of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin SUBMITTED: ACCEPTED: PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2020.02.04 2020.07.07 2020.12.28 EDITORIAL WEBSITE OF THE JOURNAL: COMMITTEE E-mail: https://journals.umcs.pl/rh
[email protected] 234 PIOTR BEDNARZ different paths.