2: 1795 to the Present.
The History of Poland since 1863.
Józef Piłsudski, 1867–1935 (New York: Scolar Press 1995), scholarly biography; one-vol version of 4 vol Polish edition Hetherington, Peter.
An Outline of Polish Art and Architecture, 1890–1980 (Warsaw: Interpress 1989.) Roszkowski, W.
Reconstruction of Poland 1914–23 (1992) Leslie, R.
Polish Diplomacy 1914–1945: Aims and Achievements (1988) Wandycz, P.
In a failed attempt to resolve the Polish question as quickly as possible, Berlin set up a German puppet state on 5 November 1916, with a governing Provisional Council of State and (from 15 October 1917) a Regency Council (Rada Regencyjna Królestwa Polskiego).
The cultural hubs of interwar PolandWarsaw, Kraków, Poznań, Wilno and Lwówbecame major European cities and the sites of internationally acclaimed universities and other institutions of higher education. == Background == After more than a century of Partitions between the Austrian, the Prussian, and the Russian imperial powers, Poland re-emerged as a sovereign state at the end of the First World War in Europe in 1917–1918.
In a failed attempt to resolve the Polish question as quickly as possible, Berlin set up a German puppet state on 5 November 1916, with a governing Provisional Council of State and (from 15 October 1917) a Regency Council (Rada Regencyjna Królestwa Polskiego).
Soviet-Polish Relations, 1917–1921 (Harvard University Press 1969) Wandycz, P.
Officially known as the Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita Polska), the Polish state was re-established in 1918, in the aftermath of World War I.
Poland solidified its independence in a series of border wars fought by the newly formed Polish Army from 1918 to 1921.
A month before Germany surrendered on 11 November 1918 and the war ended, the Regency Council had dissolved the Provisional Council of State and announced its intention to restore Polish independence (7 October 1918).
On 23 October the Regency Council appointed a new government under Józef Świeżyński and began conscription into the Polish Army. === Formation of the Republic === In 1918–1919, over 100 workers' councils sprang up on Polish territories; on 5 November 1918, in Lublin, the first Soviet of Delegates was established.
In 1918 Italy became the first country in Europe to recognize Poland's renewed sovereignty. Centers of government that formed at that time in Galicia (formerly Austrian-ruled southern Poland) included the National Council of the Principality of Cieszyn (established in November 1918), the Republic of Zakopane and the Polish Liquidation Committee (28 October).
Soon afterward, the Polish–Ukrainian War broke out in Lwów (1 November 1918) between forces of the Military Committee of Ukrainians and the Polish irregular units made up of students known as the Lwów Eaglets, who were later supported by the Polish Army (see Battle of Lwów (1918), Battle of Przemyśl (1918)).
Women in Poland were granted the right to vote on 28 November 1918 by a decree of Józef Piłsudski. The major political parties at this time were the Polish Socialist Party, National Democrats, various Peasant Parties, Christian Democrats, and political groups of ethnic minorities (German: German Social Democratic Party of Poland, Jewish: General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland, United Jewish Socialist Workers Party, and Ukrainian: Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance).
Poland, 1918–1945: An Interpretive and Documentary History of the Second Republic (2004) online Stachura, Peter D.
Poland Between the Wars, 1918–1939 (1998) essays by scholars Watt, Richard M.
Bitter Glory: Poland and Its Fate, 1918–1939 (1998) excerpt and text search, comprehensive survey ===Politics and diplomacy=== Cienciala, Anna M.
German-Polish Relations, 1918–1933 (Johns Hopkins University Press 1971) Rothschild, J.
The Germans in Western Poland, 1918–1939 (1993) Gutman, Y.
The Lemko Region in the Second Polish Republic: Political and Interdenominational Issues 1918–1939 (2013); covers Old Rusyns, Moscophiles and National Movement Activists, & the political role of the Greek Catholic and Orthodox Churches Olszewski, A.
Landowners in Poland, 1918–1939 (Cambridge University Press, 1991) Staniewicz, Witold.
Profile of the Capital City in a Developing Land, 1918–1939 (1983) Żółtowski, A.
The victorious Allies of World War I confirmed the rebirth of Poland in the Treaty of Versailles of June 1919.
It was one of the great stories of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.
In January 1919 Czechoslovak forces attacked Polish units in the area of Zaolzie (see Polish–Czechoslovak War).
Soon afterwards the Polish–Lithuanian War (ca 1919-1920) began, and in August 1919 Polish-speaking residents of Upper Silesia initiated a series of three Silesian Uprisings.
In 1919 the Warsaw government suppressed the Republic of Tarnobrzeg and the workers' councils. == Politics and government == The Second Polish Republic was a parliamentary democracy from 1919 (see Small Constitution of 1919) to 1926, with the President having limited powers.
Frequently changing governments (see 1919 Polish legislative election, 1922 Polish legislative election) and other negative publicity the politicians received (such as accusations of corruption or 1919 Polish coup attempt), made them increasingly unpopular.
In the second wave, between November 1919 and June 1924 some 1,200,000 people left the territory of the USSR for Poland.
Press. Cienciala, Anna M., and Titus Komarnicki (1984), From Versailles to Locarno, Keys to Polish Foreign Policy, 1919–1925 PDF, Kansas U.
The Economic Development of Poland, 1919–1950 (Cornell University Press 1952) Wynot, E.
The average annual growth rate (GDP per capita) was 5.24% in 1920–29 and 0.34% in 1929–38. == Demographics == Historically, Poland was almost always a multiethnic country.
This was due not only to internal migration, but also to an extremely high birth rate. ===Largest cities in the Second Polish Republic=== ===Prewar population density=== == Status of ethnic minorities == ===Jews=== From the 1920s the Polish government excluded Jews from receiving government bank loans, public sector employment, and obtaining business licenses.
Warsaw 1920: Lenin's Failed Conquest of Europe (2008) excerpt and text search ===Social and economic topics=== Abramsky, C.
According to the 1921 census, the number of inhabitants was 27.2 million.
Poland solidified its independence in a series of border wars fought by the newly formed Polish Army from 1918 to 1921.
The census of 1921 shows 30.8% of the population consisted of ethnic minorities, compared with a share of 1.6% (solely identifying with a non-Polish ethnic group) or 3.8% (including those identifying with both the Polish ethnicity and with another ethnic group) in 2011.
In 1921, 16,057,229 Poles (approx.
The urban population of interbellum Poland was rising steadily; in 1921, only 24% of Poles lived in the cities, in the late 1930s, that proportion grew to 30%.
Politics in Independent Poland, 1921–1939: The Crisis of Constitutional Government (1972) Riekhoff, H.
At the same time, a significant number of ethnic Poles lived outside the country's borders. When, after several regional conflicts, the borders of the state were finalized in 1922, Poland's neighbors were Czechoslovakia, Germany, the Free City of Danzig, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania and the Soviet Union.
The extent of the eastern half of the interwar territory of Poland was settled diplomatically in 1922 and internationally recognized by the League of Nations. === End of World War I === In the course of World War I (1914-1918), Germany gradually gained overall dominance on the Eastern Front as the Imperial Russian Army fell back.
Frequently changing governments (see 1919 Polish legislative election, 1922 Polish legislative election) and other negative publicity the politicians received (such as accusations of corruption or 1919 Polish coup attempt), made them increasingly unpopular.
In 1924 Prime Minister and Economic Minister Władysław Grabski introduced the złoty as a single common currency for Poland (it replaced the Polish marka), which remained a stable currency.
In the second wave, between November 1919 and June 1924 some 1,200,000 people left the territory of the USSR for Poland.
In 1919 the Warsaw government suppressed the Republic of Tarnobrzeg and the workers' councils. == Politics and government == The Second Polish Republic was a parliamentary democracy from 1919 (see Small Constitution of 1919) to 1926, with the President having limited powers.
After he took power by a military coup in May 1926, he emphasized that he wanted to heal the Polish society and politics of excessive partisan politics.
"The Foreign Policy of Józef Pi£sudski and Józef Beck, 1926–1939: Misconceptions and Interpretations," The Polish Review (2011) 56#1 pp. 111–151 in JSTOR; earlier version Cienciala, Anna M.
in 1928 – 1930 there was the Ukrainian-Belarusian Club, with 26 Ukrainian and 4 Belarusian members. After the Polish – Soviet war, Marshal Piłsudski led an intentionally modest life, writing historical books for a living.
The 1928 parliamentary elections were still considered free and fair, although the pro-Piłsudski Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government won them.
The average annual growth rate (GDP per capita) was 5.24% in 1920–29 and 0.34% in 1929–38. == Demographics == Historically, Poland was almost always a multiethnic country.
in 1928 – 1930 there was the Ukrainian-Belarusian Club, with 26 Ukrainian and 4 Belarusian members. After the Polish – Soviet war, Marshal Piłsudski led an intentionally modest life, writing historical books for a living.
The following three parliamentary elections (in 1930, 1935 and 1938) were manipulated, with opposition activists sent to Bereza Kartuska prison (see also Brest trials).
The urban population of interbellum Poland was rising steadily; in 1921, only 24% of Poles lived in the cities, in the late 1930s, that proportion grew to 30%.
From the 1930s measures were taken against Jewish shops, Jewish export firms, Shechita as well as limitations were placed on Jewish admission to the medical and legal professions, Jews in business associations and the enrollment of Jews into universities.
According to the 1931 Polish Census: 68.9% of the population was Polish, 13.9% were Ukrainian, around 10% Jewish, 3.1% Belarusian, 2.3% German and 2.8% other, including Lithuanian, Czech, Armenian, Russian, and Romani.
3.7%) were Protestants (mostly Lutheran). By 1931, Poland had the second largest Jewish population in the world, with one-fifth of all the world's Jews residing within its borders (approx.
no 3-4 ===Primary sources=== Small Statistical Yearbook, 1932 (Mały rocznik statystyczny 1932) complete text (in Polish) Small Statistical Yearbook, 1939 (Mały rocznik statystyczny 1939) complete text (in Polish) ===Historiography=== Kenney, Padraic.
For example, there was no direct railroad connection between Warsaw and Kraków until 1934.
The following three parliamentary elections (in 1930, 1935 and 1938) were manipulated, with opposition activists sent to Bereza Kartuska prison (see also Brest trials).
Piłsudski died just after an authoritarian constitution was approved in the spring of 1935.
Following the death of Józef Piłsudski in 1935, the Endecja intensified their efforts which triggered violence in extreme cases in smaller towns across the country.
The country was divided into 104 electoral districts, and those politicians who were forced to leave Poland, founded Front Morges in 1936.
In 1937, the National Democracy movement passed resolutions that "its main aim and duty must be to remove the Jews from all spheres of social, economic, and cultural life in Poland".
The Second Republic ceased to exist in 1939, when Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and the Slovak Republic, marking the beginning of the European theatre of World War II. In 1938, the Second Republic was the sixth largest country in Europe.
The following three parliamentary elections (in 1930, 1935 and 1938) were manipulated, with opposition activists sent to Bereza Kartuska prison (see also Brest trials).
The government in response organized the Camp of National Unity (OZON), which in 1938 took control of the Polish Sejm and subsequently drafted anti-Semitic legislation similar to the Anti-Jewish laws in Germany, Hungary, and Romania.
Between October 1938 and September 1939, the highest elevation was Lodowy Szczyt (known in the Slovak language as Ľadový štít), which rises above sea level.
On 1 January 1938, total length of boundaries was , including: of coastline (out of which were made by the Hel Peninsula), the with Soviet Union, 948 kilometers with Czechoslovakia (until 1938), with Germany (together with East Prussia), and with other countries (Lithuania, Romania, Latvia, Danzig).
The warmest yearly average temperature was in Kraków among major cities of the Second Polish Republic, at in 1938; and the coldest in Wilno ( in 1938).
Lithuania annexed the area of Wilno, and Slovakia seized areas along Poland's southern border - including Górna Orawa and Tatranská Javorina - which Poland had annexed from Czechoslovakia in October 1938.
(1968), Poland the Western Powers, 1938–1939.
The Second Republic ceased to exist in 1939, when Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and the Slovak Republic, marking the beginning of the European theatre of World War II. In 1938, the Second Republic was the sixth largest country in Europe.
By 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, this had grown to an estimated 35.1 million.
Between March and August 1939, Poland also shared a border with the then-Hungarian governorate of Subcarpathia.
Hagen by 1939, prior to the war, Polish Jews were threatened with conditions similar to those in Nazi Germany. ===Ukrainians=== The pre-war government also restricted rights of people who declared Ukrainian nationality, belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Church and inhabited the Eastern Borderlands of the Second Polish Republic.
Between October 1938 and September 1939, the highest elevation was Lodowy Szczyt (known in the Slovak language as Ľadový štít), which rises above sea level.
The remaining part of the country was drained southward, into the Black Sea, by the rivers that drain into the Dnieper (Pripyat, Horyn and Styr, all together ) as well as Dniester () ==German–Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939== The Second World War in 1939 ended the sovereign Second Polish Republic.
The German invasion of Poland began on 1 September 1939, one week after Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
Open organized Polish resistance ended on 6 October 1939 after the Battle of Kock, with Germany and the Soviet Union occupying most of the country.
After the signing of the German–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation on 28 September 1939, Polish areas occupied by Nazi Germany either became directly annexed to the Third Reich, or became part of the General Government.
The Soviet Union, following Elections to the People's Assemblies of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus (22 October 1939), annexed eastern Poland partly to the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, and partly to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (November 1939). Polish war plans (Plan West and Plan East) failed as soon as Germany invaded in 1939.
The Soviet invasion of Poland, and lack of promised aid from the Western Allies, contributed to the Polish forces defeat by 6 October 1939. A popular myth is that Polish cavalry armed with lances charged German tanks during the September 1939 campaign.
This arose from misreporting of a single clash on 1 September 1939 near Krojanty, when two squadrons of the Polish 18th Lancers armed with sabers surprised and wiped out a German infantry formation with a mounted saber charge.
Even this failed to persuade everyone to reexamine their beliefs—there were some who thought Polish cavalry had been improperly employed in 1939. Between 1939 and 1990, the Polish government-in-exile operated in Paris and later in London, presenting itself as the only legal and legitimate representative of the Polish nation.
no 3-4 ===Primary sources=== Small Statistical Yearbook, 1932 (Mały rocznik statystyczny 1932) complete text (in Polish) Small Statistical Yearbook, 1939 (Mały rocznik statystyczny 1939) complete text (in Polish) ===Historiography=== Kenney, Padraic.
A Study of the Polish Eastern Provinces (London: Hollis & Carter 1950) Eva Plach, "Dogs and dog breeding in interwar Poland," Canadian Slavonic Papers 60.
The Economic Development of Poland, 1919–1950 (Cornell University Press 1952) Wynot, E.
Piłsudski's Coup d'État (New York: Columbia University Press 1966) Wandycz, P.
Soviet-Polish Relations, 1917–1921 (Harvard University Press 1969) Wandycz, P.
German-Polish Relations, 1918–1933 (Johns Hopkins University Press 1971) Rothschild, J.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.
The Polish Economy in the Twentieth Century (Routledge, 1985) Moklak, Jaroslaw.
The Jews in Poland (Oxford: Blackwell 1986) Blanke, R.
An Outline of Polish Art and Architecture, 1890–1980 (Warsaw: Interpress 1989.) Roszkowski, W.
Even this failed to persuade everyone to reexamine their beliefs—there were some who thought Polish cavalry had been improperly employed in 1939. Between 1939 and 1990, the Polish government-in-exile operated in Paris and later in London, presenting itself as the only legal and legitimate representative of the Polish nation.
In 1990 the last president in exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski handed the presidential insignia to the newly elected President, Lech Wałęsa, signifying continuity between the Second and Third republics. == See also == History of Poland (1918–39) 1938 in Poland 1939 in Poland Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also known as the "First Polish Republic" and described as a "republic under the presidency of the King" == References == ==Further reading== Davies, Norman.
Landowners in Poland, 1918–1939 (Cambridge University Press, 1991) Staniewicz, Witold.
Józef Piłsudski, 1867–1935 (New York: Scolar Press 1995), scholarly biography; one-vol version of 4 vol Polish edition Hetherington, Peter.
The census of 1921 shows 30.8% of the population consisted of ethnic minorities, compared with a share of 1.6% (solely identifying with a non-Polish ethnic group) or 3.8% (including those identifying with both the Polish ethnicity and with another ethnic group) in 2011.
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