VIRTUTI MILITARI
Poland’s highest military decoration is one of the oldest in the world, although it has a chequered history
Known in Polish as the ‘Order Wojenny Virtuti Militari’ (‘War Order of Virtuti Militari’), Poland’s highest decoration is literally awarded “For Military Virtue”. Established on 22 June 1792, Virtuti Militari was founded by Stanisław II August, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. The last monarch of the Polish-lithuanian Commonwealth, Stanisław established the Order to commemorate Prince Józef Poniatowski’s victory over the Russians at the Battle of Zielence. It initially consisted of two classes: an oval golden medal for officers, and a silver one for NCOS and privates. In the first year of its existence, it was awarded to 63 officers (including Poniatowski, who was its first recipient) and 290 NCOS and ordinary soldiers.
The medal was abolished in 1795 upon the dissolution of the Polish-lithuanian Commonwealth, but was reinstated at the insistence of Poniatowski in 1806. Poland was then a client state of the First French Empire, and the Order was renamed the ‘Military
Medal of the Duchy of Warsaw’. Its recipients informally stuck to the original name, and it was the highest military decoration awarded to Polish soldiers who fought alongside France during the Napoleonic Wars.
During this period, Frederick August I, King of Saxony and Duke of Warsaw, issued a decree for the transformation of the Virtuti Militari into its present form. The original medals were gold or silver ovals, but the decree turned it into a cross. The Order was also divided into five classes, with the first three being reserved for high-ranking officers, from commanders-inchief to majors. Classes IV and V are known as the Gold and Silver Cross respectively, and are awarded for battlefield success or personal courage and daring.
A ‘Kingdom of Poland’ was reinstated after 1815, although the Tsar of Russia acted as the Polish king. The Order was now known as the ‘Polish Military Medal’ before it officially reverted to its original name in 1831. However, in the same year, Tsar Nicholas I entrenched Russian rule and abolished the decoration following the ‘November Uprising’ in Poland. To add insult to injury, Nicholas used the exact design to introduce a ‘Polish Sign of Honour’ medal. However, this was only awarded to Russians who implemented tsarist rule in Poland.
When Poland finally regained her independence in 1918, the Virtuti Militari was fully restored by the Second Polish Republic. Thousands were awarded to recipients who fought in the First World War, as well as the Polish-soviet War and Polish-ukrainian War. They could also receive benefits such as discounted railway travel, medical care and the right to be provided with jobs by the state.
Although Poland was overrun by the Nazi and Soviet invasions of 1939, the Polish government-in-exile automatically continued awarding the Virtuti Militari for Polish soldiers who fought for the Western Allies during the Second World War. It was also used by Sovietsupported Polish forces that fought on the Eastern Front. This would prove important after the war, when the pro-soviet People’s Republic of Poland continued the award.
When communist rule was overthrown in Poland in 1989 at the end of the Cold War, the Order was regarded with some controversy. During the communist era, some awards had been given to recipients who had participated in the torture and killing of Polish anticommunists. In July 1990, President Wojciech Jaruzelski even posthumously revoked the medal given to Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev in 1974. Since 1989, there have been no new recipients of the Virtuti Militari.