A larger federated structure was also opposed by Dmowski's National Democrats. In 1930 Piłsudski responded to the challenge of the centre-left opposition (Centrolew) by ordering the arrest and trial of its leaders, including three-time premier Witos. Under British pressure the Polish government-in-exile reestablished relations with the Soviet Union through the Sikorski-Maysky accord, accepting the annulment of the Ribbentrop-Molotov treaty without an explicit Soviet renunciation of annexed Polish territory. In July 1944 a Polish Committee of National Liberation was set up in Moscow (“officially” in Chełm), issued its Lublin Manifesto (July 22), and signed a secret territorial accord with the U.S.S.R. Mikołajczyk, caught between British pressure and the resistance of his government, resigned in November 1944. The Second Polish Republic, commonly known as interwar Poland, refers to the country of Poland between the First and Second World Wars (1918–1939). The newly formed Second Polish Republic, one-third of whose citizens were non-ethnic Poles, engaged in promoting Polish identity, culture and language at the expense of the country's ethnic minorities who felt alienated by the process. (From left) Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference, 1945. Officially known as the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska), the Polish state was re-established in 1918, in the aftermath of World War I. . Worshiped by his supporters and hated by his opponents, he became a father figure for large segments of the population. There is … In May 1926 Piłsudski (who had held the title of marshal since 1920) came out of his three-year retirement. Of the several border-settling conflicts that ensued, the Polish–Soviet War of 1919-1921 was the confrontation fought on a very large scale. Difficulties appeared almost from the start, however. The Second Polish Republic, commonly known as interwar Poland, refers to the country of Poland between the First and Second World Wars (1918–1939). Officially known as the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska), the Polish state was re-established in 1918, in the aftermath of World War I. Ukrainians (some 16 percent of the total population, according to estimates), Jews (about 10 percent), Belarusians (about 6 percent), and Germans (about 3 percent) lived in a state that, although multiethnic, was based on a single-nation ideology. The Poles, fighting alone against the Wehrmacht’s overwhelming might, particularly in air power and armour, were doomed. The mid-August British-French talks with the Soviets on forming an anti-Nazi defensive military alliance had failed, in part over the Polish government's refusal to allow the Red Army to operate on Polish territory. Moreover, his power to pass decrees was limited by the requirement that the Prime Minister and the appropriate other Minister had to verify his decrees with the… A 30,000-men strong Polish army was also formed in the East. Between 1940 and 1941 about 1.5 million people were deported to the U.S.S.R. Wilno was handed over to Lithuania, which by 1940 had become one of the Soviet republics. The Second Polish Republic, also known as the Second Commonwealth of Poland or the interwar Poland, refers to the country of Poland between the First and Second World Wars (1918–1939). As part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the region was annexed in 1772 by the Kingdom of Prussia in the First Partition of Poland. On November 11, 1918 the Polish Regency Council granted extensive powers to Jozef Pilsudski who became the First Marshal of the Second Polish Republic. By June 1920, the Polish armies were past Vilnius, Minsk and (allied with the Directorate of Ukraine) reached Kiev, but then the massive Bolshevik counteroffensive moved the Poles out of most of Ukraine and on the northern front arrived at the outskirts of Warsaw. Republic is proclaimed in Lwów. Second Polish Republic (1918–1939) Further information: History of Poland (1918–1939), Second Polish Republic After more than a century of rule by its neighbors, Poland regained its independence in 1918, internationally recognized in 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles. The enmity of the Nazis for the Soviets seemed to preclude a rapprochement (such as the Russo-German agreement at Rapallo, Italy, in 1922). Hundreds died in fratricidal fighting. With an area of about 150,000 square miles (389,000 square km) and more than 27 million inhabitants (more than 35 million by 1939), interwar Poland was the sixth largest country in Europe. Second Polish Republic was name of Polish state from 1918 (end of WWI) through 1939 (start of WWII). The Second Polish Republic, commonly known as interwar Poland, refers to the country of Poland between the First and Second World Wars (1918–1939). The mainstream of the Polish society was not affected by the repressions of the Sanation authorities; many enjoyed the relative prosperity (the economy improved between 1926 and 1929) and supported the government. The open-minded Gabriel Narutowicz was constitutionally elected president by the National Assembly in 1922, but deemed not pure enough by the nationalist right wing, was assassinated. From 1939 a Polish underground, one of the largest in occupied Europe, resisted the Nazis through a veritable secret state and a Home Army (AK) loyal to the Polish government-in-exile. People's Republic of … The Polish search for some 15,000 missing men had previously met with a Soviet profession of complete ignorance as to their fate. Interwar politics centred to a large extent on the search for a constitutional model that would reconcile traditional Polish strivings for liberty with the need for a strong government. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. When Warsaw capitulated, the city had been almost totally destroyed, and 200,000 civilians and more than 10,000 combatants had perished. Coordinates. The rapidly growing population of Poland within the new boundaries was ¾ agricultural and ¼ urban, with Polish being the primary language of ⅔ of the inhabitants. In France, a Polish army known as the Blue Army was formed. The Second Polish Republic, commonly known as interwar Poland, refers to the country of Poland in the period between the First and Second World Wars (1918–1939). Demanding moral and political cleansing (sanacja), he staged an armed demonstration intended to force President Stanisław Wojciechowski to dismiss the government. The peasant parties (now united); the increasingly chauvinist National Party (as the National Democrats were by then known), with its fascist splinter party, the National Radical Camp; and the socialists all opposed the regime and achieved success in municipal elections. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, The January 1863 uprising and its aftermath, Accommodation with the ruling governments, From the Treaty of Versailles to the Treaty of Riga, Witness the German invasion of Poland (1939) marking the beginning of World War II, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin. He referred to a resolution passed in 1949 by the National Council of the Polish Republic on the motion of the Polish Government — in — Exile. Political and socioeconomic difficulties contrasted with the richness of intellectual, artistic, and scholarly life of the period. The latter was a legal successor of the government that on September 17, 1939, had crossed into Romania and was interned there. On May 12, 1926, Piłsudski, prompted by mutinous units seeking his leadership and intent on preventing the three-time prime minister Wincenty Witos of the peasant Polish People's Party from forming another coalition, staged a military overthrow of the Polish government, confronting President Stanisław Wojciechowski and overpowering the troops loyal to him. The only option was to remain neutral in regard to its two giant neighbours while concluding alliances (in 1921) with France and Romania. The Russian armies were separated, defeated and pushed back, which forced Lenin and the Soviet leadership to abandon for the time being their strategic objective of linking up with the German and other European revolution-minded comrades (Lenin's hope of generating support for the Red Army in Poland had already failed to materialize). The Jewish national minority that inhabited the lands of the Second Polish Republic was the largest in Central and Eastern Europe. In May Piłsudski died, leaving the country as a dictatorship without a dictator. The Polish state was re-established in 1918, in the aftermath of World War I. The proportional system of universal suffrage (which included women) necessitated coalition cabinets, and, except at times of national crisis, the left and the right hardly cooperated. Socioeconomic tension was translated into peasant strikes in the countryside and riots in towns. Sikorski’s death in a mysterious plane crash in Gibraltar (July 1943) was a great blow to the Poles at a time when Soviet offensives after the victories of Stalingrad and Kursk had brought the Red Army closer to the prewar Polish borders. Set up in Paris and moved to London after the collapse of France, it was led by the premier and commander in chief, General Władysław Sikorski. 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