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Józef Piłsudski

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Historical figures

                           Józef Klemens Piłsudski
                                                  Józef Klemens Piłsudski


             Office                      Chief of State, Marshal of Poland
     Term of office                                 from November 14, 1918
                                                    until December 9, 1922
         Profession                                              Statesman
    Political party           none (see Sanacja for details), formerly PPS
             Spouse                                       Maria Piłsudska
                                                      Aleksandra Piłsudska
      Date of birth                                       December 5, 1867
     Place of birth                            Zułów, in today's Lithuania
      Date of death                                           May 12, 1935
     Place of death                                         Warsaw, Poland

   Józef Klemens Piłsudski ( ['juzεf piw'sutski] , December 5, 1867 – May
   12, 1935) was a Polish revolutionary and statesman, Field Marshal,
   first Chief of State (1918–1922) and dictator (1926–1935), of the
   Second Polish Republic, as well as the leader of its armed forces. From
   the middle of the First World War, until his death, Piłsudski was the
   major influence in the foreign policy and government of Poland, and an
   important figure in European politics. He is considered to be largely
   responsible for Poland regaining its independence, one hundred and
   twenty three years after the partitions of Poland.

   Piłsudski was a supporter of the cause of Polish independence from his
   youth, and in his early political life was an influential member—and
   later, leader—of the Polish Socialist Party. He considered the Russian
   Empire to be the most formidable obstacle to Polish independence, and
   thus worked with Austria-Hungary and Germany to ensure its defeat in
   the First World War. Later, he withdrew his support from the Central
   Powers as it became more beneficial for the Polish cause to work with
   the Triple Entente. During the ensuing Polish-Soviet War, he commanded
   the 1920 Kiev Offensive and the Battle of Warsaw. From 1918 (the year
   Poland regained independence) until 1921, he was the Chief of State (
   Naczelnik Państwa).

   Later, as the Polish government became dominated by his political
   opponents from endecja he withdrew from politics, but returned to power
   after the May 1926 coup d'état, becoming the de facto dictator of
   Poland. From then on, he primarily concentrated on military and foreign
   affairs, until his death in 1935. To this day, he is held in high
   regard by most of the Polish public.

Biography

   Kościesza Coat of Arms. Piłsusdki's family coat of arms was a
   "Kościesza modified".
   Enlarge
   Kościesza Coat of Arms. Piłsusdki's family coat of arms was a
   "Kościesza modified".

Early life

   Piłsudski, schoolboy.
   Enlarge
   Piłsudski, schoolboy.

   Piłsudski was born in the Russian Empire in the village of Zułów (today
   Zalavas, Lithuania) to a Polish szlachta family of Lithuanian ancestry.
   He attended school in Wilno (today Vilnius, Lithuania), but was not
   especially diligent in his school studies. As a boy, he was introduced
   by his mother, Maria Bilewiczówna, to Polish literature and history,
   which was suppressed by the Russian authorities. His father, also named
   Józef, fought in the 1863 January Uprising against the Russian
   occupation of Poland. His families had strong patriotic inclinations,
   and Piłsudski was much troubled by the Russification programs of the
   Russian government. For example, Piłsudski was compelled to attend
   Eastern Orthodox Church services, which he found deeply distasteful.

   In 1885, he began studying medicine at the University of Kharkov
   (modern Kharkiv, Ukraine), where he became involved with Narodnaya Vola
   revolutionary movement, part of the Russian Narodniki. In 1886 he was
   suspended for participation in student demonstrations. He was also
   rejected by the University of Dorpat (now Tartu), Estonia, whose
   authorities had been informed of his political affiliation. On 22 March
   1887, he was arrested by the Tsarist authorities on a false charge of
   plotting to assassinate Tsar Alexander III with Vilnian socialists. In
   fact, Piłsudski's main connection to that plan was the involvement in
   it of his elder brother, Bronisław Piłsudski. Bronisław had been
   friends with friends of Vladimir Lenin's brother, Aleksandr Ulyanov,
   and was sentenced to hard labor ( katorga) in eastern Siberia, for
   fifteen years.

   Piłsudski was sentenced to a punishment milder then his brother: exiled
   for five years to eastern Siberia, first to Kirinsk on the river Lena,
   and later to Tunka. As an exilee, Piłsudski was allowed to work in
   occupation of his chosing, although for being a Polish noble local
   officials decided he was not entitled to receive the 10- ruble pension
   most other exilees received. During his voyage in a prisoner's convoy
   to Siberia, he was held for few weeks in a prison in Irkutsk. There, he
   took part in a 'revolt' of prisoners: after one of prisoners insulted a
   guard and refused to aplogize, he and others political prisoners were
   brutally beaten down by the prison guards for their defiance; Piłsudski
   lost two of his teeth there and took part in a subsequent hunger strike
   until the authorities reinstated the priviliges of political prisoners
   they suspended after the 'revolt'. For his involvement in this event,
   he was, in 1888, sentenced to six months imprisonment; he had to spend
   the first night of his incarceration in a 40-degree below zero Siberian
   cold; this led to an ilness that nearly killed him then and to various
   health problem that would plague him throughout his life. During the
   years of exile to Siberia, Piłsudski meet many Sybiraks, among them
   Bronisław Szwarce, who almost became one of the leaders of the January
   Uprising..
   1928 reproduction of the 1887 wanted poster for Piłsudski. Translation:
   Arrest warrant of Józef Piłsudski Historical document - for the tenth
   anniversary of Polish independence State criminal JÓZEF PIŁSUDSKI
   nobleman DESCRIPTION: Years 19 - 1887 Height 1 m, 75 cm Face clear Eyes
   grey Hair dark blond Sideburns light blond rare Eye brows dark blond
   coming together Beard dark blond Mustaches light blond Nose normal
   Mouth normal Teeth not all Chin round Distinctive marks: 1) clear face,
   only his eyebrows are growing together over his nose 2) a wart on the
   edge of the right ear
   Enlarge
   1928 reproduction of the 1887 wanted poster for Piłsudski. Translation:
   Arrest warrant of Józef Piłsudski
   Historical document - for the tenth anniversary of Polish independence
   State criminal
   JÓZEF PIŁSUDSKI nobleman
   DESCRIPTION:
   Years 19 - 1887
   Height 1 m, 75 cm
   Face clear
   Eyes grey
   Hair dark blond
   Sideburns light blond rare
   Eye brows dark blond coming together
   Beard dark blond
   Mustaches light blond
   Nose normal
   Mouth normal
   Teeth not all
   Chin round
   Distinctive marks:
   1) clear face, only his eyebrows are growing together over his nose
   2) a wart on the edge of the right ear

   Piłsudski, after his release in 1892, joined the Lithuanian branch of
   the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) in 1893, forming the Lithuanian branch
   of PPS.Initially, he sided with the Socialists' more radical wing, but
   despite the ostensible internationalism of the Socialist movement, he
   always remained a Polish nationalist. As a chief editor he began
   publishing a bibuła socialist newspaper, Robotnik (The Worker) from
   1894; he would be one of his chief writers. From 1895, he became one of
   the PPS leaders, where he took the stance that doctrinal issues are of
   minor importance and socialist ideology should be merged with
   nationalist one, as that combination gave the biggest chance to regain
   Polish independence. In 1899, during his time as an underground
   organizer, Piłsudski married a fellow socialist organizer, Maria
   Juszkiewiczowa z Koplewskich, but his marriage started to come apart
   when several years later Piłsudski started an affair with a younger
   female Socialist, Aleksandra Zahorska. Maria died in 1921 and Piłsudski
   married Aleksandra in October of that year. They had two daughters
   (Wanda and Jadwiga), but this marriage also had its own troubles.

   In February 1900, after the Russian authorities found Robotnik's
   underground printing press in Łódź, Piłsudski was imprisoned at the
   Warsaw Citadel but, after feigning mental illness in May 1901, he
   managed to escape from a mental hospital at St. Petersburg with the
   help of Władysław Mazurkiewicz and others, fleeing to Galicia, then a
   region of Austria-Hungary.

   On the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), in summer 1904,
   Piłsudski travelled to Tokyo, Japan, where he unsuccessfully attempted
   to obtain that country's assistance for an uprising in Poland. He
   offered to supply Japan with intelligence in support of her war with
   Russia and proposed a plan to create a legion from Poles, conscripted
   into the Russian army, who had been captured by Japan. He also
   suggested a "Promethean" project directed at liberating ethnic
   communities occupied by the Russian Empire — a goal that he later
   continued to pursue and that would be partly achieved only in 1991 with
   the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Interestingly, in the same time
   period, another notable Pole, Roman Dmowski, also travelled to Japan,
   where he argued against Piłsudski plan trying to discourage Japanese
   government from supporting the Polish revolution at this time, an
   insurrection which Dmowski felt would be doomed to failure. A Polish
   patriot himself, Dmowski would remain Piłsudski's political arch-enemy
   until the end of his life (he actually outlived Piłsudski). In the end,
   Japanese offered only a limited assistance to Piłsudski; he received
   Japan's help in purchasing weapons and ammunition for the PPS and the
   combat organisation associated with the party, but the Japanese
   declined the legion proposal; it was much less than he hoped for.

   In fall 1904, Piłsudski founded an armed organization, the " Bojówki"
   ("combat teams"), to create an armed resistance movement aimed against
   the Russian authorities. PPS organized an increasing number of
   demonstrations (mostly in Warsaw); on October 28, 1904 Russian Cossack
   cavalry trampled one of the demonstrations, in revenge, on November 13
   the 'bojówki' opened fire on the Russian police and military during a
   new demonstration. First concentrating on fighting the spies and
   informants, in March 1905 'bojówki' started using bombs to assassinate
   selected members of Russian police.

   During the Russian Revolution of 1905, Piłsudski played a leading role
   in events in Congress Poland In early 1905, he ordered the PPS to
   launch a general strike there. It involved some 400,000 workers, and
   lasted two months before it was broken by the Russian authorities. In
   June 1905, Piłsudski ordered an uprising in Łódź. During the " June
   Days", as the Łódź uprising came to be known, armed clashes broke out
   between gunmen loyal to Piłsudski's PPS and those loyal to Roman
   Dmowski's National Democratic Party (Endeks). On December 22, 1905,
   Piłsudski called for all Polish workers to rise up; his call was widely
   ignored. Unlike the Endeks, Piłsudski ordered the PPS to boycott the
   elections to the First Duma. The decision to boycott the elections and
   to try to win Polish independence through uprisings caused much tension
   within the PPS, and, in November 1906, a faction of the party split off
   in protest of Piłsudski's leadership. The Piłsudski's faction was known
   as Old Faction or the Revolution Faction (Starzy, Frakcja Rewolucyjna),
   while their opponents were known as the Young Faction, Moderate Faction
   or the Left Wing (Młodzi, Frakcja Umiarkowana, Lewica). The Youngs
   sympathized with the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and
   Lithuania and believed that the priority should be cooperation with
   Russian revolutionaries in toppling the tsardom and creating a
   socialist utopia first, and negotiation for independence would be
   easier later. Piłsudski with his supporters from the revolutionary
   faction of the PPS, continued to plan a revolution against tsarist
   Russia which would secure Polish independence first. By 1909
   Piłsudski's faction would be the majority faction of PPS again, and
   Piłsudski would remain one of the most important leaders of PPS until
   the First World War.

   Piłsudski anticipated a coming European war and the need to organize
   the nucleus of a future Polish army that could help win Poland's
   independence from the three empires that had partitioned her out of
   political existence in the late 18th century. In 1906, Piłsudski, with
   the connivance and support of the Austrian authorities, founded a
   military school in Kraków for the training of Bojówki. In 1906 alone,
   the 800-strong Bojówki, operating in five-man units in Congress Poland,
   killed 336 Russian officials; the number of casualties declined in the
   coming years; while the number of its members increased (to around
   2,000 in 1908). 'Bojówki' also assaulted Russian transports of money
   leaving Polish territories. In April/September 1908, the Bojówki robbed
   a Russian mail train carrying tax revenues from Warsaw to St.
   Petersburg. Piłsudski, who took part in the raid at Bezdany near Vilna
   1908, used those funds to aid his secret military organization. The
   loot from that single raid (200,812 rubles--or approximately $100,000)
   was a virtual fortune in contemporary Eastern Europe and equaled the
   amount 'Bojówki' looted in the two previous years.

   In 1908, Piłsudski transformed the "Combat Teams" to " Związek Walki
   Czynnej" (Association for Active Struggle), headed by three of his
   associates, Władysław Sikorski, Marian Kukiel, and Kazimierz
   Sosnkowski. One of the main purposes of ZWC was to train officers and
   NCOs for the future Polish army. In 1910 two legal paramilitary
   organisations were created in the Austrian partitional zone (one in
   Lwów and the second in Cracow), to conduct training and lectures in
   military science. In 1912, Piłsudski became the Commander-in-Chief of
   Związek Strzelecki (under the codename 'Mieczysław'). With the
   permission of Austrian authorities, Piłsudski founded a series of
   "sporting clubs," followed by a riflemen's association that served as
   cover for training a Polish military force that grew by 1914 to 12,000
   men. In 1914, Piłsudski declared that "only the sword now carries any
   weight in the balance for the destiny of a nation".

World War I

   Piłsudski in military uniform.
   Enlarge
   Piłsudski in military uniform.

   At a meeting in Paris in 1914, Piłsudski presciently declared that in
   the imminent war, for Poland to regain her independence, Russia must be
   beaten by the Central Powers (the Austro-Hungarian and German Empires),
   and the latter powers must in their turn be beaten by France, Britain
   and the United States. At the same time, Roman Dmowski, leader of
   another faction of the Polish nationalist movement, believed the best
   way to achieve a unified and independent Poland, was to support the
   Triple Entente against the Triple Alliance.

   At the outbreak of the World War I he set out from Kraków at the head
   of a well-trained group of units, with which he entered the Russian
   partitioned Poland and took control of a border strip evacuated by the
   Russians near Kielce, but failed to encourage a national uprising. Next
   he made an alliance with Austria, and officially established the Polish
   Legion, taking personal command of its First Brigade, which he would
   lead successfully into several victorious battles. However, he secretly
   informed the British government in the fall of 1914, that his Legions
   would never fight against France and Britain--only against Russia.
   Within the Legions, Piłsudski decreed that personnel were to be
   addressed by the French-Revolution-inspired "Citizen," and he himself
   was referred to as "the Commandant" ("Komendant"). Piłsudski commanded
   extreme respect and loyalty of his men that would remain for years to
   come. The Polish Legion fought with distinction against Russia at the
   side of the Central Powers until 1917. Soon after the formation of the
   Legions, and also in 1914, Piłsudski also formed another secter
   organization, the Polish Military Organisation (Polska Organizacja
   Wojskowa), which served as a precursor to the Polish intelligence and
   was designed to carry out espionage and sabotage missions.

   On November 5, 1916, the Central Powers proclaimed the "independence"
   of Poland, hoping that as a result Polish troops would be sent to the
   eastern front against Russia, relieving German forces to bolster the
   Western front. Piłsudski agreed to serve in the " Kingdom of Poland"
   created by the Central Powers, but insisted that his men not be treated
   as "German colonial troops" and only be used to fight Russia.
   Piłsudski, then serving as minister of war in the newly created Polish
   Regency government, also opposed the demand that the Polish units swear
   loyalty to Germany and Austria. In the aftermath of the Russian
   Revolution and worsening situation of the Central Powers, Piłsudski
   increasingly took an uncompromising stance. In the aftermath of the
   Oath crisis, in July 1917, where he forbade Polish soldiers to take an
   oath of loyalty to the Central Powers, he was arrested and imprisoned
   at Magdeburg; the Polish units were then disbanded and soldiers
   incorporated into the Austro-Hungarian army, and the Polish Military
   Organizations started attacking German targets. The arrest vastly
   increased Piłsudski's reputation among Poles, and many in the Polish
   society began to see him as the most consequent and determined of the
   Polish leaders, willing to fight against all partitioners.
   Józef Piłsudski and his officers, 1915.
   Enlarge
   Józef Piłsudski and his officers, 1915.

   On November 8, 1918, Piłsudski and his comrade, Colonel Kazimierz
   Sosnkowski, were released from Magdeburg and soon — like Vladimir Lenin
   before them — placed on a private train, bound for their national
   capital, as increasingly desperate Germans were hoping Piłsudski would
   gather forces friendly to them.

   On November 11, in Warsaw, Piłsudski was appointed Commander in Chief
   of the Polish forces by the Regency Council and was entrusted with the
   mission of creating a national government in the newly independent
   country; on that day, he proclaimed an independent Polish state (that
   day would become the Polish independence day). He negotiated the
   retreat of the German garrison from Warsaw and other German troops from
   the Ober-Ost (Eastern front) and on 14 November 1918, he was asked to
   provisionally supervise the running of the country, and, on 22
   November, he officially received the title of Provisional Chief of
   State ( Naczelnik Państwa), of renascent Poland from the new government
   of Jędrzej Moraczewski.

   The Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland, formed
   in Lublin, bowed to Piłsudski, who set about forming a new coalition
   government. It was predominantly Socialist and immediately introduced
   many reforms long proclaimed as necessary by the Polish Socialist Party
   (e.g. the 8-hour day, free school education, vote for women). This was
   absolutely necessary to avoid major unrest. However, Piłsudski believed
   that as head of state he must be above political parties, and the day
   after his arrival in Warsaw, he met with old colleagues from
   underground days, who addressed him socialist-style as " Comrade" ("
   Towarzysz") and asked for support of their revolutionary policies;
   Piłsudski rebuked them with his famous remark that "I took the red tram
   of socialism to the stop named Independence, but that's where I got
   off". He declined to support any one party and did not form any
   political organization of his own. He also set about organizing a
   Polish army out of Polish veterans of the German, Russian and Austrian
   armies.

   In the days immediately after the World War I, Piłsudski attempted to
   build a government in a shattered country. Much of former Russian
   Poland had been destroyed in the war, and systematic looting by the
   Germans had reduced the region's wealth by at least 10%. A British
   diplomat who visited Warsaw in January 1919 reported: "I have nowhere
   seen anything like the evidences of extreme poverty and wretchedness
   that meet one's eye at almost every turn". In addition, Piłsudski had
   to transform the different systems of law, economics, and
   administration in the former German, Austrian and Russian partitions of
   Poland into one; there were nine different legal systems, five
   currencies, 66 types of rail systems (with 165 models of locomotives),
   and other similar problems, which all had to be urgently consolidated.

   Piłsudski drove himself hard, working all day and, on a regimen of tea
   and chain-smoked cigarettes, all night. He maintained a Spartan
   lifestyle, eating plain meals alone at an inexpensive restaurant, and
   became increasingly pale and thin. Though Piłsudski was very popular
   with much of the Polish public, his reputation as a loner (the result
   of many years' underground work), of a man who distrusted almost
   everyone, led to strained relations with other Polish politicians.

   The first Polish government and Piłsudski were also distrusted in the
   West because Piłsudski had cooperated with the Central Powers in
   1914-17 and because he had supported the formation of a Socialist
   government. It was not until January 1919, when the world-famed pianist
   and composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski became Prime Minister (also Foreign
   Minister) of a new government, that it was recognized in the West. That
   still left two separate governments claiming to be the legitimate
   government of Poland: Piłsudski's in Warsaw, and Roman Dmowski's in
   Paris. To ensure that Poland had a single government and to avert civil
   war, Paderewski met with Dmowski and Piłsudski and persuaded them to
   join forces, with Piłsudski acting as provisional president and supreme
   commander-in-chief while Dmowski and Paderewski represented Poland at
   the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

   Piłsudski often clashed with Dmowski, at variance with the latter's
   vision of the Poles as the dominant nationality in reborn Poland, and
   irked by Dmowski's attempt to send the Blue Army back to Poland through
   Danzig, Germany (modern Gdańsk, Poland).

   On 20 February 1919, Piłsudski's declared that he would return his
   powers to the newly elected Polish parliament ( Sejm). However, the
   Sejm reinstated his office in the Small Constitution. The word
   Provisional was removed from the title; and Piłsudski would hold that
   office until 9 December 1922, when Gabriel Narutowicz was elected the
   first President of Poland.

Polish-Soviet War

   Piłsudski in Poznań.
   Enlarge
   Piłsudski in Poznań.

   Speaking of Poland's future frontiers, Piłsudski said: "All that we can
   gain in the west depends on the Entente — on the extent to which it may
   wish to squeeze Germany," while in the east "there are doors that open
   and close, and it depends on who forces them open and how far".

   Piłsudski aspired to create a federation (to be called Międzymorze,
   "Between-Seas," stretching once again from the Baltic to the Black
   Sea), of Poland with Lithuania, Belarus and independent Ukraine,
   somewhat in emulation of the pre-partition Polish-Lithuanian
   Commonwealth, but with the smaller Poland surrounded by a federation of
   friendly nations. Piłsudski's plan was, however, to be dashed by the
   outcome of the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921.
   Piłsudski wearing his famous field cap.
   Enlarge
   Piłsudski wearing his famous field cap.

   In 1919, there was unrest on all Polish borders. Piłsudski viewed the
   Bolsheviks as less dangerous for Poland than their Russian-civil-war
   contenders, as the White Russians were not willing to accept Poland's
   independence, while the Bolsheviks did proclaim the partitions of
   Poland null and void. As such, by his refusal to join the attack on
   Lenin's struggling Soviet government, ignoring strong pressure from the
   Entente Cordiale, Piłsudski had likely saved the Bolshevik government
   in summer-fall 1919. In the east, Polish forces clashed with Ukrainian
   forces in the Polish-Ukrainian War, but soon it became apparent that
   the real enemy of both nations was the Bolsheviks.

   In April 1920, Marshal Piłsudski (as his rank had been since that
   March) signed an alliance with Ukraine's leader, Symon Petliura, to
   conduct a joint operation against the Russian SFSR. The
   Polish-Ukrainian alliance treaty, signed on 22 April, had the goal of
   establishing an independent Ukraine in alliance with Poland. In return,
   Petliura gave up Ukrainian claims to East Galicia, and was denounced
   for this by the Ukrainian leaders there. The Polish and Ukrainian
   armies, under Piłsudski's command, launched a successful offensive
   against the Russian forces in Ukraine. On May 7, with remarkably little
   fighting, they captured Kiev.
   In March 1920, the army granted Piłsudski the baton of the First
   Marshal of Poland.
   Enlarge
   In March 1920, the army granted Piłsudski the baton of the First
   Marshal of Poland.

   The Soviets launched their own successful counteroffensive from Belarus
   and counter-attacked in Ukraine, advancing into Poland in a drive
   toward Germany in order to encourage the communist movements (like the
   Communist Party of Germany) struggling to take power. The Soviets
   confidence soared as Soviet communist theorist Nicholas Bukharin,
   writer for the newspaper Pravda, wished for the resources to carry the
   campaign beyond Warsaw "right up to London and Paris". General's
   Mikhail Tukhachevsky order of the day, 2 July 1920 read: "To the West!
   Over the corpse of White Poland lies the road to world-wide
   conflagration. March on Vilno, Minsk, Warsaw!" and "onward to Berlin
   over the corpse of Poland!".

   The National Democracts argued that the string of Bolshevik victories
   was Piłsudski's fault and demanded his resignation. On 12 August,
   Piłsudski presented his resignation to the Prime Minister Wincenty
   Witos, but he refused to accept it. Over the next few weeks Polish
   risky, unconventional strategy at the Battle of Warsaw (August 1920)
   managed to halt the Soviet advance.

   The Polish plan was developed by Piłsudski and others, like Tadeusz
   Rozwadowski. Later, some supporters of Piłsudski tried to portray him
   as the sole inventor of the Polish strategy, while his opponents would
   try to minimize his role. The plan called for Polish forces to withdraw
   across the Vistula River and defend the bridgeheads at Warsaw and the
   Wieprz River, while some 25% of available divisions concentrated to the
   south for a strategic counter-offensive.

   Next Piłsudski's plan required that two armies under General Józef
   Haller facing Soviet frontal attack on Warsaw from the east, hold their
   en trenched positions at all costs. At the same time, an army under
   General Władysław Sikorski was to strike north from behind Warsaw, thus
   cutting off the Soviet forces attempting to envelope Warsaw from that
   direction. The most important role, however, was assigned to a
   relatively small (approximately 20,000-man), newly assembled "Reserve
   Army" (known also as the "Strike Group" — Grupa Uderzeniowa), commanded
   personally by Piłsudski, comprising the most determined,
   battle-hardened Polish units. Their task was to spearhead a lightning
   northern offensive, from the Vistula- Wieprz River triangle south of
   Warsaw, through a weak spot identified by Polish intelligence between
   the Soviet Western and Southwestern Fronts. That offensive would
   separate the Soviet Western Front from its reserves and disorganize its
   movements. Eventually, the gap between Sikorski's army and the "Strike
   Group" would close near the East Prussian border, resulting in the
   destruction of the encircled Soviet forces.
   Representants of the Polish Jewish community in Dęblin welcome Marshal
   of Poland, Józef Piłsudski, with bread and salt after the liberation of
   the city from the bolsheviks during the Polish-Soviet War, 1920.
   Enlarge
   Representants of the Polish Jewish community in Dęblin welcome Marshal
   of Poland, Józef Piłsudski, with bread and salt after the liberation of
   the city from the bolsheviks during the Polish-Soviet War, 1920.

   At the time, Piłsudski's plan was strongly criticized, and only the
   desperate situation of the Polish forces persuaded other army
   commanders to go along with it. Although based on fairly reliable
   intelligence, including intercepted Soviet radio communications, the
   plan was termed "amateurish" by many high-ranking army officers and
   military experts, who were quick to point out Piłsudski's lack of a
   formal military education. When a copy of the plan accidentally fell
   into the Soviets' hands, Tukhachevsky thought it a ruse and disregarded
   it. Days later, they paid dearly for their mistake, when during the
   Battle of Warsaw the overconfident Red Army suffered one of its largest
   defeats in history.

   An "Endek" Sejm deputy, Stanisław Stroński, coined the phrase, "Miracle
   at the Wisła" (Polish: "Cud nad Wisłą"), to underline his disapproval
   of Piłsudski's "Ukrainian adventure." Stroński's phrase was adopted by
   some patriotically- or piously-minded Poles praising Piłsudski, unaware
   of Stroński's ironic intent. The Marshal's Polish detractors also
   sought to ascribe the winning strategy to General Maxime Weygand of the
   French military mission to Poland. Later, a junior member of that
   mission, Charles de Gaulle, would adopt some lessons from the war as
   well as from Piłsudski's career.

   The Treaty of Riga (1921), closing the Polish-Soviet War, which
   Piłsudski called an act of cowardice, partitioned the Belarus and
   Ukraine between Poland and Russia. This treaty, and general Lucjan
   Żeligowski capture of Wilno from the Lithuanians, marked an end to
   Piłsudski's federalist dream.

Early retirement and return to power

   After the Polish constitution adopted in March 1921 ( March
   Constitution) severely limited the powers of the presidency in the new
   democratic Second Polish Republic, Piłsudski refused to run for the
   office of president. On 9 December 1922, he turned over his powers to
   his friend, the newly elected president, Gabriel Narutowicz. Five days
   later, after his inauguration, Narutowicz was shot dead by a mentally
   deranged, right-wing, anti-Semitic painter and art critic, Eligiusz
   Niewiadomski, who had originally wanted to kill Piłsudski. When a
   right-wing government subsequently came to power, Piłsudski found it
   impossible to work with Prime Minister Wincenty Witos, whom he regarded
   as morally responsible for the incident. In May 1923 Piłsudski
   disgustedly resigned as chief of the general staff and went into
   retirement outside Warsaw to his country house at Sulejówek, where he
   settled down to literary work and political writings, especially a
   series of books of political and military memoirs.
   Piłsudski (left) with friend and President-Elect, Gabriel Narutowicz.
   Within days Narutowicz would be shot by an assassin.
   Enlarge
   Piłsudski (left) with friend and President-Elect, Gabriel Narutowicz.
   Within days Narutowicz would be shot by an assassin.

   Meanwhile, the economy of Poland was in shambles. Hyperinflation fueled
   public dissent and Polish government was unable to find a quick
   solution to civil unrest, mounting unemployment and economic crisis.
   Allies and supporters of Piłsudski's repeatedly asked him to return to
   politics and he begun to create a new powerbase, centered around the
   former members of the Legions and Polish Military Organizations, as
   well as some left-wing and intelligencja parties. In 1925, when several
   Polish governments resigned in short order and the political scene was
   becoming more and more chaotic, Piłsudski was increasingly critical of
   the government, giving many interviews, and eventually issued several
   statements demanding the resignation of the Witos cabinet. When the
   government now showed signs of stabilization, and the endecja coalition
   Chjeno-Piast, strongly criticized by Piłsudski, formed a new
   government, on May 12-14 1926, Piłsudski returned to power in a
   military coup d'etat (the May Coup), aided by socialist railwaymen
   whose strike paralysed communications and prevented government
   reinforcements from reaching Warsaw.

   President Stanisław Wojciechowski and Prime Minister Witos stepped
   down. Piłsudski, however, did not accept the office of president, aware
   of its limited powers. 215 soldiers and 164 civilians were killed
   during those events, and over 900 people were wounded (many of them
   were careless bystanders). Józef Piłsudski's formal offices — apart
   from two terms as prime minister in 1926-28 and 1930 — were for the
   most part limited to those of minister of defence and inspector-general
   of the armed forces. He also held the offices of minister of military
   affairs and chairman of the council of war.

The period of authoritarian rule

Internal politics

   In internal politics, Piłsudski's coup meant in reality the end of
   parliamentary government in Poland for the next 10 years, as
   Piłsudski's Sanacja government (1926-1939) — conducted at times by
   authoritarian means — directed at restoring "moral health" to public
   life. Piłsudski quickly distanced himself from the most radical of his
   left-wing supporters, declaring that his coup was to be a "revolution
   without revolutionary consequences". From 1928 Sanacja was represented
   by the Bezpartyjny Blok Współpracy z Rządem party. Popular support and
   elegant rhetoric allowed Piłsudski to maintain his authoritarian
   powers, which could not be overruled by the president, who in any case
   had been nominated by the Marshal, nor by Sejm, whose powers were
   curtailed in constitutional amendments introduced soon after the coup,
   on 2 August 1926.

   One of the main goals for Piłsudski, who was becoming increasingly
   disillusioned with the democracy, was to transform the parliamentary
   system into a presidential system. The adoption of a new Polish
   constitution in April 1935, tailored by Piłsudski's supporters to his
   specifications — providing for a strong presidency — came too late for
   Piłsudski to seek that office; but the April Constitution would serve
   Poland up to the outbreak of World War II and would carry its
   Government in Exile through to the end of the war and beyond.
   Nonetheless Piłsudski's reign depended more on his charismatic
   authority than on rational-legal authority. None of his followers could
   claim to be his successor and after his death the Sanacja would quickly
   fracture, with Poland returning to the pre-Piłsudski era of
   parliamentary political struggles.

   Piłsudski's regime marked the much needed stabilization and
   improvements in the situation of ethnic minorities, which formed almost
   a third of the population of the Second Republic. Piłsudski replaced
   endecja's ' ethnic assimilation' with the 'state assimilation' policy:
   citizens were judged by their loyalty to the state, not by their
   nationality. The years 1926-1935, and Piłsudski himself, were
   favourably viewed by many Polish Jews, whose situation improved
   especially under the cabinet of the Piłsudski-appointed prime minister
   Kazimierz Bartel. However a combination of various reasons, from the
   Great Depression to the vicious spiral of terrorist attacks by
   Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and government pacifications
   meant that the situations of minorities of Poland was less than
   satisfactory, despite Piłsudski's efforts.

   From 1926 to 1930, Piłsudski used mostly propaganda tools to weaken the
   position and influence of the opposition leaders. The culmination of
   his dictatorial and 'above the law' policies came in 1930 with
   imprisonment of certain political opponents before the Polish
   legislative election, 1930, and the establishment of the prison for
   political prisoners in Bereza Kartuska (today Biaroza) where some
   prisoners were beaten and brutally mistreated. After the 1930 victory
   of BBWR Piłsudski left most of the internal matters in the hands of his
   "colonels", himself concentrating on military and foreign affairs.

   In the realm of military, Piłsudski, once a great military strategist
   responsible for the Miracle at Vistula, had been criticized for
   concentrating on personnel management, and ignoring development of new
   plans, strategies or military equipment.

Foreign policy

   Portrait of Marshal Józef Piłsudski. Painting by Wojciech Kossak, ca.
   1928.
   Enlarge
   Portrait of Marshal Józef Piłsudski. Painting by Wojciech Kossak, ca.
   1928.

   In foreign policy, Piłsudski, as de Gaulle was later to do in France,
   sought to maintain his country's independence on the international
   scene. Ably assisted by his protege, Minister of Foreign Affairs Józef
   Beck, he sought support for Poland in alliances with western powers —
   France and Britain — and with friendly, if less powerful, neighbours:
   Romania and Hungary. A supporter of the Franco-Polish Military Alliance
   and the Polish-Romanian Alliance (part of the Little Entente), he was
   nonetheless disappointed by the French policy of appeasement, visible
   in the such actions as the signing of the Locarno Treaties.Therefore
   Piłsudski's aim was also to maintain good relations with the USSR and
   with Germany, and thus Poland signed the non-aggression pacts with both
   of its powerful neighbours ( Soviet-Polish Non-Aggression Pact of 1932,
   German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact of 1934). Both treaties were meant to
   strengthen Poland's position in the eyes of its allies and neighbours.
   He was acutely aware of the shakiness of the non-aggression pacts,
   remarking sarcastically: "Having these pacts, we are straddling two
   stools. This cannot last long. We have to know from which stool we will
   tumble first and when that will be."

   Under his control, Poland had good relations with some of its
   neighbours (notably Romania, Hungary and Latvia), however relations
   with Czechoslovakia were strained, and with Lithuania even worse.
   Relations with Germany and the Soviet Union varied in time, but during
   Piłsudski's life could, for the most part, be described as neutral.

   One of notable Piłsudski's foreign polices, Prometheism, which was
   designed to reduce the power of Russia, was pursued by Edmund
   Charaszkiewicz. However, this policy proved to be relatively
   unsuccessful.

   One of the most widely mentioned plans of Piłsudski's foreign policy
   was his rumored proposal to French about declaring war on Germany after
   Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933. Piłsudski might
   have sounded out Poland's ally, France, regarding the possibility of
   joint military action against Germany, which had been openly rearming
   in violation of the Versailles Treaty. When France declined, Piłsudski
   was compelled to sign a German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact in January
   1934. However, this argument that the German-Polish non-aggression pact
   had been forced on Piłsudski by French refusal to wage a "preventive
   war" on Nazi Germany has been disputed by some historians who point out
   that there is no evidence in either the French or Polish diplomatic
   archives that such an offer was made. They point out that when in late
   October 1933 rumours of Polish "preventive war" proposal were reported
   in Paris, the source of these rumours were the Polish Embassy, which
   informed French reporters that Poland had proposed a "preventive war"
   to France and Belgium, but by this time, Poland and Germany were
   already secretly negotiating the non-aggression pact with Germany. It
   has been argued that Piłsudski had the Polish Embassy start rumours of
   a "preventive war" being considered as a way of pressuring the Germans,
   who were demanding that the Poles abrogate the Franco-Polish alliance
   of 1921. As it was, the non-aggression pact specifically excluded the
   Franco-Polish alliance. It has been argued that Piłsudski's reasons for
   seeking a non-aggression pact with Germany was due to his concerns over
   the Maginot Line. Up to 1929, French plans in the event of war with
   Germany called for an French offensive onto the North German plain in
   conjunction with offensives from Poland and Czechoslovakia. The
   building of the Maginot Line, which was started in 1929, strongly
   indicated that henceforward, in the event of war with Germany, the
   French Army would maintain a strictly defensive position, and that
   France’s eastern allies were going to be on their own (if true,
   Piłsudski's successfully predicted the future: this is what in fact
   happened in the 1939 with the Phony War). Thus, from Piłsudski's
   viewpoint, in light of France's military plans, a non-aggression pact
   with Germany was the best option under the circumstances.

   Hitler unceasingly suggested a German-Polish alliance against the
   Soviets, but Piłsudski declined the proposal, instead seeking precious
   time to prepare for war with Germany or the Soviet Union if it was
   necessary. Also on numerous occasions, Hitler planned to meet with
   Piłsudski, and again he was rebuffed.

Death

   Józef Piłsudski's mother's grave, 2004 On the tombstone there is a
   phrase: MATKA I SERCE SYNA (A mother and a heart of her son)
   Enlarge
   Józef Piłsudski's mother's grave, 2004 On the tombstone there is a
   phrase: MATKA I SERCE SYNA
   (A mother and a heart of her son)

   By 1935, unbeknownst to the public, Piłsudski had for several years
   been in declining health. He died of liver cancer on May 12, 1935, at
   the Belvedere Palace in Warsaw. His funeral turned into a national
   tribute to the man who had probably done most in the military sense to
   restore Poland's independence. His body was placed in the Leonard's
   Crypt of the Royal Crypts at Wawel Cathedral, in Kraków, but his heart
   was interred in his mother's grave at Rossa Cemetery, in Vilnius, where
   it remains today.

Legacy

   Edward Rydz-Śmigły was seen by some as Piłsudski's successor.
   Enlarge
   Edward Rydz-Śmigły was seen by some as Piłsudski's successor.

   On May 13, 1935, in accordance with the last wishes of Józef Piłsudski,
   Edward Rydz-Śmigły was nominated by the president and the government of
   Poland to serve in the capacity of the Inspector-General of the Polish
   Armed Forces and on November 10, 1936 he was elevated to the rank of
   Marshal of Poland. Rydz was now one of the most powerful people in
   Poland and was awarded the title of "Second Man in the State after the
   President". Many saw him Rydz-Śmigły as Piłsudski's successor, however
   he never became as influential as Piłsudski was. Polish government
   nonetheless became increasingly authoritarian and conservative, with
   Śmigły-Rydz faction opposed by the more moderate Ignacy Mościcki, who
   remained President. After 1938, Rydz-Śmigły reconciled himself with the
   President, but the ruling clique was henceforth divided into the
   "President's Men" (or "Castle Group") — most of them civilians, and the
   "Marshal's Men" (or "Piłsudski's Colonels") who were mostly old
   companions of Piłsudski and professional officers. After German
   invasion of Poland in 1939 marked the start of the World War II, some
   of this political division survived within the Polish government in
   exile, however after the war relatively little of Piłsudski's thought
   influenced the politics of the People's Republic of Poland, dominated
   by the Polish communists de facto satellite state of the Soviet Union.

   Nonetheless Piłsudski had given Poland something akin to what Henryk
   Sienkiewicz's Onufry Zagłoba had mused about: a Polish Oliver Cromwell.
   As such, the Marshal had inevitably drawn both intense loyalty and
   intense vilification. During the times of the People's Republic of
   Poland, Piłsudski was publicly ignored or condemned by the state -
   which only served to increase his popularity with the nation. After the
   fall of communism, he become increasingly recognized as a national
   hero. On the 60th anniversary of his death, on 12 May 1995, the Polish
   Sejm issued a statement: "Józef Piłsudski will remain in the memory of
   our nation as the founder of independence and as the victorious leader
   who fended off a foreign assault that threatened the whole of Europe
   and its civilisation. Józef Piłsudski served his motherland well, and
   has entered our history forever."

   This declaration was not that different from the words of President of
   Poland, Ignacy Mościcki, in a speech during Piłsudski's funeral: "He
   was king of our hearts and ruler of our will. Through half a century of
   his life’s toil, he took into his possession heart after heart, soul
   after soul, until he drew the whole of Poland under the purple of his
   royal spirit [...] He gave Poland freedom, boundaries, power and
   respect."
   Monument to Piłsudski in Katowice, Poland
   Enlarge
   Monument to Piłsudski in Katowice, Poland

   One of the most brilliant Polish military commanders of the 20th
   century, Piłsudski has been the patron of several military units. These
   have included the 1st Legions Infantry Division, and an armoured train
   Nr. 51 ("I Marszalek"). Józef Piłsudski Institute of America, a New
   York research centre and museum of the modern history of Poland, has
   also been named after him. He is also the patron of Academy of Physical
   Education in Warsaw. His life has also been shown on television:
   Marszałek Piłsudski, a tv series, was directed in 2001 by Andrzej
   Trzos-Rastawiecki.

Names

   As a young man, Piłsudski belonged to many underground organizations
   and used a variety of pseudonyms, including Wiktor, Mieczysław and
   Ziuk. Later he was often affectionately called Dziadek ("the Grandpa")
   or Marszałek ("the Marshal"). His ex-soldiers also referred to him as
   Komendant ("the Commandant").

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