In Vilna the University, in 1802-32 an excellent centre of Polish learning, was finally dissolved early. The University of Warsaw, chartered 1816, was twice suppressed and finally (since 1862) existed as a Russian third-range institution only. The speed with which the Gauls had approached the city seems to have caught the Romans by surprise. Research in national history was done in no less unusual conditions2. The sack of Rome (390 B.C.) was the worst recorded disaster in the history of the early Roman Republic, and saw a Gallic war band led by Brennus capture and sack most of the city, after winning an easy victory on the Allia. As a result, unlike in most Western countries, few Poles saw reasons to associate the State with the Nation even if in their daily life they were loyal subjects of their respective monarchs. However, loyalist views were hardly reflected in the historiography. For nationally conscious Poles, the state signified at that time an alien state and this created rather complicated attitudes towards the statehood in general, both political and intellectual. But the Commonwealth had been dissolved by the neighbouring powers and there followed a long nineteenth century (1795-1914) when the Polish nation was deprived of its state or had it in a dependent form only1. Tradition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and pride of its heritage of freedom was an important part of the national awareness of the nineteenth-century Pole. In Poland, attitudes of the people towards the state have been shaped by many very particular factors. Within the agreement, two Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) at Akrotiri and Dhekelia were identified as real estate that would remain as British sovereign. There are few cases in Europe of so close interrelationship of national history and national historiography. NATIONAL TRADITIONS IN THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE STATE : THE CASE OF POLAND The last two hundred and the last fifty years : attitudes of Poles towards the State

Rome 2 army traditions