I sometimes think about inequalities between broadly defined Western and Eastern worlds. Inequalities in economic development exist because of the “plundering” keyword.
Where my homeland, Poland, belongs to? Is it the West or the East? I often have difficulty defining my country. Officially, Poland is a developed country. It means that it could be added to the broadly defined rich, Western countries. Still, I do not think whether it is a proper categorization. Mentally we are not Westerners. Poles are Slavic people. It means that mentally many of us are close to Russians, for example. But why do I want to write about plundering?
Because plundering was (and still is, in some parts of the world) one of the best ways to increase invaders’ richness.
The fact is that throughout the ages, my country was many times plundered and invaded. Who had invaded Poland? These were nations as follows: Russians, Germans, Mongols, or Swedes. Did Poland plunder other countries? Yes, it happened many times. One of the most spectacular actions that Polish troops made was Moscow’s capturing for two years between 1611 and 1612. Still, the balance of Pole’s plundering is minus. We had lost more than we managed to capture. During the World Wars of the 20th century, Poland was a place of constant plundering. It was a time when many works of art were simply moved out or destroyed. Estimations say that a few hundred thousand artworks were lost in Poland during the Second World War.
Where all these artworks have gone? Most of them went to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
That’s one reason why many Poles (without me) do not like both Germans and Russians. Many Poles do not like these two nations because we were repeatedly plundered by them during the last centuries. Do Germans or Soviets were the only nations that became wealthier thanks to plundering? Of course not. I will give you only a few other examples of how broadly defined Western-civilization countries bloomed thanks to plundering:
– crusades during the Medieval Ages;
– the conquering of North and South America;
– the conquering of Africa;
– taking control of many Asian nations (including the colonization of Australia, India, or China [google about the plundering of Old Summer Palace in Beijing.)
