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The road to independence

1914–1918 · 18 articles · about 95 min of reading

A war in which the three partitioning powers fought one another made the Polish question, for the first time since the partitions, an object of international rivalry. The powers outbid one another with promises, from autonomy under the Tsar to a united and independent Poland with access to the sea. In the autumn of 1918, when all three partitioning powers had lost the war or fallen apart, the Poles took power themselves in Kraków, Lublin and Warsaw. Yet the new state had no borders and no recognition from the powers, and Lviv and Eastern Galicia had to be fought for. The series runs from Grand Duke Nicholas's proclamation through the Act of 5 November, Wilson's addresses and the Regency Council to 11 November, the defence of Lviv and the Greater Poland uprising.

1914

  1. 0114 August 1914Event2 minGrand Duke Nicholas issues a proclamation to the PolesThe starting point: Russia promises to unite the Polish lands, and the Polish question becomes something the powers bid for.On 14 August 1914 the Russian commander-in-chief urged the Poles to fight Germany, promising to unite the Polish lands under the Tsar with autonomy.

1916

  1. 025 November 1916EventKey moment7 minAct of 5 NovemberThe Central Powers promise the Poles a state, if only a “self-governing” one; from this act grows the Regency Council that will hand power to Piłsudski.On 5 November 1916 a manifesto of the German and Austrian emperors was proclaimed in Warsaw and Lublin, promising a Kingdom of Poland without a king or borders.

1917

  1. 0314 January 1917Event5 minFirst session of the Provisional Council of StateThe first Polish body in the occupied Kingdom: appointed and advisory, but for the first time in decades preparing state institutions in Polish.On 14 January 1917 at the Royal Castle in Warsaw the members of the Provisional Council of State received their appointments. Wacław Niemojowski was marshal.
  2. 0422 January 1917Event8 minPeace without victoryA voice from outside Europe: the US president goes further than the promises of either side and speaks of a united and independent Poland.On 22 January 1917 Wilson called in the Senate for a "peace without victory" and a league to protect it. He also backed a united, independent Poland.
  3. 0530 March 1917EventKey moment7 minProvisional Government proclamation to the PolesRussia, which had treated the Polish question as its internal affair, itself recognises Poland's right to independence, freeing the Western Allies to speak.On 30 March 1917 the Russian Provisional Government's proclamation recognised the Poles' right to an independent state, bound to Russia by a military alliance.
  4. 0615 August 1917Event5 minPolish National Committee foundedDmowski's camp gains a representation in the Entente countries, conceived as the nucleus of a government of a restored Poland.On 15 August 1917 the Polish National Committee was founded in Lausanne under Roman Dmowski. It soon moved to Paris and sought recognition from the Entente.
  5. 0727 October 1917Event2 minRegency Council takes officeThe regents take office by grace of Berlin and Vienna, yet their oath makes no mention whatsoever of the occupying powers.On 27 October 1917 the regents took their oath in Warsaw cathedral and took up office at the Royal Castle. The September patent came into force.

1918

  1. 088 January 1918EventKey moment11 minWilson's Fourteen PointsThe thirteenth point makes an independent Poland with access to the sea an official war aim of the United States.On 8 January 1918 Wilson laid a fourteen-point peace programme before Congress. In the thirteenth he demanded an independent Poland with access to the sea.
  2. 093 June 1918EventKey moment5 minVersailles declarationFrance, Britain and Italy for the first time jointly make a united Poland one of the conditions of the future peace.On 3 June 1918 at Versailles the French, British and Italian prime ministers made a united, independent Poland with access to the sea a condition of peace.
  3. 107 October 1918EventKey moment5 minDeclaration of the Regency CouncilFor the first time since the partitions an authority on Polish soil declares full independence its aim and begins acting without looking to Berlin and Vienna.On 7 October 1918 the Regency Council's proclamation "To the Polish Nation" declared the aim of an independent Poland and dissolved the Council of State.
  4. 1125 October 1918Event4 minKorfanty's speech in the ReichstagThe Prussian partition speaks up: from the Reichstag rostrum Korfanty claims the Polish lands of the Reich, and their Poles now look to the peace conference, not to Berlin.On 25 October 1918 Wojciech Korfanty demanded in the Reichstag that Posen, Polish West and East Prussia and Upper Silesia be joined to Poland.
  5. 1231 October 1918EventKey moment4 minLiberation of KrakówKraków throws off foreign rule by its own efforts as the Habsburg monarchy collapses, before Vienna, Warsaw or Paris can decide its fate.On 31 October 1918 Polish soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army disarmed the Kraków garrison without a shot. The Austrian command handed power to the Poles.
  6. 131–22 November 1918BattleKey moment9 minDefence of LvivFrom its first days independence means fighting for borders: Lviv stays Polish, but the war for Eastern Galicia is only beginning.From 1 to 22 November 1918 Polish volunteers, many of them teenagers, held out in Lviv against the Ukrainians for three weeks until relief came from Przemyśl.
  7. 147 November 1918Event3 minLublin governmentThe pro-independence left will not wait for the regents: in Lublin the first government forms that calls its state a republic.On the night of 6/7 November 1918 the pro-independence left set up the Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland in Lublin under Daszyński.
  8. 1511 November 1918EventKey moment5 minPoland regains independenceThe symbolic date: Polish authority takes over the army in the capital on the day the war ends with the defeat of the last partitioning power.On 11 November 1918 the Regency Council handed Piłsudski command of the army, while Warsaw disarmed the Germans. The day became Independence Day.
  9. 1614 November 1918Event2 minDissolution of the Regency CouncilThe end of the regency: the body set up by Berlin and Vienna ceases to exist, and a single man stands at the head of the reviving state.On 14 November 1918 the regents dissolved the Regency Council and handed all supreme authority to Piłsudski. That day Piłsudski named Daszyński prime minister.
  10. 1714 November 1918Event3 minFounding of the Supreme People's CouncilThe Prussian partition gains a Polish authority of its own, which instead of an uprising means to take over the province step by step and wait for the peace conference.On 14 November 1918 Polish leaders in Poznań came out of hiding as the Commissariat of the Supreme People's Council and called a Provincial Sejm for December.
  11. 1827 December 1918 – 16 February 1919BattleKey moment8 minGreater Poland uprisingThe series ends in the Prussian partition: the Poles take power in most of Greater Poland before the peace conference begins discussing borders.From 27 December 1918 to 16 February 1919 the Poles of the Prussian Province of Posen took up arms and within weeks seized most of Greater Poland.