After the end of World War I, a new Poland appeared on the map of Europe. This country considered itself the legal successor of the old monarchy that existed until the partitions of the end of the 18th century. Freed from Russian rule, the Poles thus created the Second Rzeczpospolita. In 1939, it was occupied by the troops of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
Rise of the Republic
In the official Polish historiography, it is believed that the Polish Republic (1918-1939) appeared on November 11, 1918. On this day, the German garrison was disarmed and neutralized in Warsaw. The Germans captured Poland, which was formally part of the Russian Empire. This monarchy was no more. A civil war was raging in Russia, and she had no time for Poland.
After the establishment of order in Warsaw, the Regency Council was created. He handed over power to Jozef Pilsudski, the leader of the Polish Socialist Party and a national hero. The new head of state formed a government led by Endzhey Morachevsky. Important laws were immediately passed on the eight-hour working day, social insurance, etc. Piłsudski, although he had previously been a socialist, renounced his views when he came to power. Nevertheless, he had to compromise with the left, forin order to stay at the helm of the country.
International recognition
Already in January 1919, the Republic of Poland (1918-1939) experienced the first unsuccessful coup attempt. After that, Piłsudski changed the government. This was followed by international recognition of the independence of Poland and the legitimacy of its authorities. Among those who supported Pilsudski were the USA, France, England and Italy. On February 20, the Legislative Seimas appointed him head of state and supreme leader.
When the Republic of Poland (1918-1939) first emerged, its borders were still indefinite. The First World War had just ended, and now Europe needed to agree on new internal frontiers. In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed. Since Germany was recognized as an aggressor, a significant piece of territory was taken away from it. Poland got the province of Posen and part of Pomerania. Annexed Gdansk was recognized as a free city.
The question of Silesia remained unresolved. Both Poles and Germans lived in this region, although the territory remained part of Germany. In 1919-1921. three national uprisings of the Slavs took place there at once. The newly formed League of Nations decided to divide Silesia in order to avoid future conflicts. Part of this region was annexed to Poland as an autonomous voivodeship.
Border disputes
The difficult situation on the eastern borders also remained. First, the Polish Republic (1918-1939) defeated the Ukrainian nationalists who wanted tocreate an independent state. The communists soon took their place. In 1919, the Soviet-Polish war began. For Lenin and his supporters, this campaign was only the first step towards organizing a world proletarian revolution.
Soviet troops even reached the Vistula and ended up in the suburbs of Warsaw. However, the Polish army carried out a successful counteroffensive and reached Minsk. In 1921, the Riga Peace Treaty was signed. Poland secured the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus.
The southern border of the state was agreed with the authorities of Czechoslovakia in the summer of 1920. Then the two countries divided the Teshin region between themselves. In the same autumn, the troops of Marshal Pilsudski captured Vilnius. Thus, the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwe alth established its power in regions where the Polish language was the main or widespread among its inhabitants. State institutions were established in conditions of chaos. Poland, Russia and other European countries were recovering for a long time after the First World War.
May coup
In 1924, an important financial reform was carried out. The new currency złoty in Poland replaced the old mark. But, despite the economic transformation of the government, the situation in Poland was unimportant. Hyperinflation persisted in the country. The masses and, more importantly, the military were unhappy. The Second Rzeczpospolita could not be preserved in its former configuration. The majority continued to hope for Jozef Piłsudski.
The left, the intelligentsia and the army became its support. Pilsudski was helped by the Minister of WarZheligovsky, who authorized extensive maneuvers. So the marshal had a large army at his disposal. In May 1926, it moved to Warsaw. Fighting with government supporters continued for three days. Finally, on May 15, the capital was under the control of Piłsudski. Two weeks later, he was re-elected President of Poland, but resigned.
Brest process
In 1931-1932. Piłsudski finally got rid of his political opponents. On charges of criminal offenses, the authorities arrested former members of the Seimas who opposed the new sanation regime.
The Brest trial was held over them. It was named after the place where the prisoners were kept. They served their term in the Brest Fortress. Some oppositionists managed to emigrate to Czechoslovakia or France. The rest served their prison terms and were actually thrown out of the political life of the country. These measures allowed Piłsudski's supporters to remain in power until the fall of the Second Polish Republic.
Rehabilitation
Pilsudski supported the candidacy of Ignacy Mościcki as head of state. He became the president of the country until 1939, when the Wehrmacht invaded it. An authoritarian regime was established, which relied on the military. Under the new order, the government in the Republic of Poland lost most of its powers.
The resulting regime was called sanitation. Oppositionists and opponents of Pilsudski's course (and he strongly influenced state policy) becamepersecuted by the authorities. Officially, authoritarianism in the form of highly centralized power was enshrined in the new constitution of 1935. It also determined other important foundations of the state system, for example, that the Polish language was recognized as the only state language, despite the presence of national minorities in some regions.
Agreements with the Soviet Union and Germany
Pilsudski became Minister of War in 1926. He completely controlled the foreign policy of the country. He managed to achieve stabilization of relations with neighbors. In 1932, a non-aggression pact was concluded with the Soviet Union, and its border with Poland was agreed upon and settled. The republic signed a similar treaty with Germany in 1934.
However, these arrangements were unreliable. Piłsudski distrusted the communists and even less the Nazis who came to power in Germany. Poland, Russia, the Third Reich and their intricate and complex relations were sources of tension throughout Europe. Trying to play it safe, Pilsudski sought support from Britain and France. The Minister of Military Affairs died on May 12, 1935. Because of the death of the marshal, for the first and last time in the history of the Second Rzeczpospolita, national mourning was declared.
Polonization
In the interwar period, Poland was a multinational country. This was due to the fact that under the control of the Commonwe alth were territories that were annexed mainly during military conquest campaigns in neighboringstates. There were about 66% Poles in the country. There were especially few of them in the east of the Commonwe alth.
Ukrainians made up 10% of the republic's population, Jews - 8%, Rusyns - 3%, etc. Such a national kaleidoscope inevitably led to conflicts. In order to somehow smooth out the contradictions, the authorities pursued a policy of Polonization - the planting of Polish culture and the Polish language in territories inhabited by ethnic minorities.
Teshin conflict
In the second half of the 1930s, the international situation continued to worsen. Adolf Hitler insisted on the return to Germany of the lands seized from it after the First World War. In 1938, the famous Munich Agreement was signed. Germany received the Sudetenland, which belonged to Czechoslovakia, but was inhabited mainly by Germans. At the same time, Poland did not miss the opportunity to lay claim to its southern neighbor.
On September 30, 1938, an ultimatum was sent to Czechoslovakia. Prague was required to return the Teszyn region, which, due to the national characteristics of the region, was claimed by Poland. Today, due to the bloody events of World War II, this conflict is hardly remembered. However, it was in 1938 that Poland captured Teszyn, taking advantage of the Sudeten crisis.
Hitler's ultimatum
Despite the Munich Agreement, Hitler's appetite only grew. In March 1939, Germany demanded that Poland return Gdansk (Danzig) and secure a corridor to East Prussia. In Warsaw, all claims were rejected. On March 28, Hitler broke the pact.about non-aggression between Germany and Poland.
In August, the Third Reich concluded an agreement with the Soviet Union. The secret protocol of the document included an agreement on the division of Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. Stalin and Hitler each received their own half of Poland. The dictators drew a new border along the Curzon line. It corresponded to the ethnic composition of the population. Lithuanians, Belarusians and Ukrainians lived to the east of it.
Occupation of the country
On September 1, 1939, Nazi German troops crossed the German-Polish border. The government of the country, together with Ignacy Moscicki, fled to neighboring Romania two weeks later. The Polish army was much weaker than the German one. This predetermined the transience of the campaign.
In addition, on September 17, Soviet troops attacked eastern Poland. They reached the Curzon line. The Red Army and the Wehrmacht stormed Lvov together. The Poles, surrounded on both sides, could not stop the inevitable. By the end of the month, the entire territory of the country was occupied. On September 28, the Soviet Union and Germany officially agreed on their new state borders. The Second Rzeczpospolita ceased to exist. The revival of Polish statehood took place after the end of World War II. A communist regime loyal to the USSR was established in the country.
The Polish government was in exile during the war. After the Western powers agreed with the Soviet Union on the future of Eastern and Central Europe, it was no longer recognized in the US and Great Britain. However, the government inexile continued to exist until 1990. Then the presidential regalia were handed over to the head of the new Third Republic of the Commonwe alth, Lech Walesa.
