Part 10

INDEPENDENCE REGAINED

The uprisings of the 19th century, although lost, were not in vain. Owing to them, one generation passed the desire for independence and the willingness to make sacrifices to the generation that followed. In the first half of the century that desire was common only among the socially elite, but by the turn of the next century it became universal among Poles.

The upcoming war in Europe meant that Polish politicians had to choose which side to take. The chance for Poland resulted from the fact that the partitioning nations found themselves in opposing camps. Only one of the sides could come out victorious from the war--either Russia in alliance with France and England or Germany allied with Austria-Hungary. The National Democrats, led by Roman Dmowski, wanted to align themselves with Russia. The Polish Socialist Party, especially the faction led by Jozef Pilsudski, declared itself on the side of Austria-Hungary. The Polish legions were formed in Galicia to support Austria against Russia.

German military successes pushed Russians from the territory of the Kingdom of Poland. By 1915 Germany and Austria-Hungary occupied the entire territory of the Kingdom. The occupiers permitted the organization of local self-governments and city councils, as well as the Polonization of education and the setting up of a university and a polytechnic. Polish society, whose aspirations and opportunities had been stifled for decades, commanded the human potential capable of using those chances immediately.

Nevertheless in economic terms, the Kingdom's situation was dangerous. Many factories and much of the machinery, as well as positions filled by technical personnel, were evacuated by the retreating Russians. What remained of industry and farming was ruthlessly plundered by the occupiers. Malnutrition and epidemics reigned in towns.

The situation of the Central Powers, i.e., Germany and Austria-Hungary, deteriorated in 1917. Being aware of that, Jozef Pilsudski took advantage of the clandestine Polish Military Organization (POW) set up in 1914 and refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Germans and Austrians, a fact that led to his arrest. The Regency Council instituted in the Kingdom had little prestige. The Polish National Committee acting in Paris under the leadership of Roman Dmowski was recognized as the representation of Polish interests.

The outbreak of the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 and the conclusion of the separatist peace treaty between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers in Brest (March 3, 1918) enabled the Western Powers to support the Polish cause. Earlier, Article 13 of a message by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (January 8, 1918) called for the restoration of an independent Polish state. France was striving to weaken Germany and rebuild a strong Poland.

World War I brought an unexpected defeat to all of the three partitioning powers. Austria-Hungary capitulated on January 3, 1918, and Germany surrendered on November 11. Russia was excluded from the group of victors by the revolution. This opened the road to independence for Poland. The Austrians and Germans retreating from the East were disarmed by units of the Polish Military Organization.

On the night of November 6, 1918, representatives of the Polish Socialist Party and of the Peasant Party formed a Polish government in Lublin with Ignacy Daszynski at the head. On November 10 Pilsudski returned to Warsaw, having been released from prison. The Regency Council and Daszynski's government handed power over to him. Pilsudski assumed the functions of the Head of State. Preparations began for parliamentary elections to be held according to a democratic electoral law. Women were granted full civil rights. The eight-hour workday and social insurance for workers were introduced. The elections to the Legislative Sejm were held in January, 1919, and won by the National Democrats.

The delineation of borders posed one of the most difficult problems for the revived Polish state. The restoration of Poland to her pre-partition borders was impossible in view of the formation of a national consciousness on the part of Ukrainians in the 19th century, as well as by the Lithuanians and to some extent also the Belarusians [then known as Byelorussians]. The adoption of the ethnographic principle in marking the borders was also difficult to accept, because of multi-ethnic settlement in the majority of borderland areas. Yet, even some of the lands indisputably inhabited by Poles in 1918 were beyond the government's control. One such example was Wielkopolska [Great Poland]. An uprising broke out there in December, 1918. Following heavy fighting against the Germans the land was incorporated into the Polish state in 1919.

The provisions of the Treaty of Versailles stipulated that Poland would receive Pomerania, but Gdansk would be a free city, and that a plebiscite would be held to resolve the future of Eastern Prussia and Upper Silesia. The result was unfavorable to Poland. Nevertheless, three successive uprisings by the Polish population in Upper Silesia caused that part of the region to be given to Poland. The Polish-Czech treaty dividing Tsesin Silesia was violated by Czechoslovakia, which took the entire disputed territory by force.

The greatest problems were posed, however, by the question of the eastern border. Soviet Russia already had renounced the Treaty of Brest in late 1918 and launched an offensive in the Ukraine and Bielarus [then called Byelorussia]. The local national movements and the budding state structures were jeopardized. The advancing Bolsheviks murdered Poles living in those areas.

Early in 1919, the Polish army launched a counter-offensive. Simultaneously, attempts were under way in Ukraine to form an independent Ukrainian state. Britain proposed the Curzon Line (on the Bug River) as the eastern border for Poland, which if accepted, would have left millions of Poles outside their homeland and under Russian rule. In May, 1920, Polish troops entered Kiev in alliance with the Ukrainian troops under Petlura's command. That was a partial realization of the federative plans of Jozef Pilsudski, who wanted to unite Poland, Ukraine, Bielarus and Lithuania.

Poland was too weak, however, to guarantee the existence of the federation. The counter-offensive by the Red Army broke the front line, with the Bolsheviks pushing westward. In August, 1920, the Soviet Army under the command of Tukhachevsky reached the outskirts of Warsaw, which put the city and Poland's independence, and even the independence of Germany and Europe, in grave danger. A plan to defend the city was drawn up under the direction of the Commander-in-Chief, Pilsudski. The battle, ultimately victorious, continued from August 12 to August 15 on the outskirts of Warsaw, with a Polish counter-offensive being launched from the area of the Wieprz River on August 16. The Bolshevik troops were smashed and defeated once again on the Niemen River.

The Peace of Riga concluded on March 18, 1921, establishing Poland's eastern border on the Zbrucz River, providing for payment of reparations to Poland and stipulating the return of the cultural treasures looted by Russia during the time of the partitions.

The Polish Army took Wilno [now called Vilnius] in combat, which ended the process of shaping the borders of the Polish state. The Peace Treaty of Riga ensured political stability in Central-Eastern Europe, as well as the independence of the Baltic states.