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Józef Piłsudski
Person page: Józef Piłsudski →
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(26)
1908
June
17
Union of Active Struggle is founded
In June 1908 the secret Union of Active Struggle was founded in Kazimierz Sosnkowski's flat in Lviv, a school for the cadres of a future rising against Russia.
1910
April
23
Riflemen's Association is founded
In April 1910 the open Riflemen's Association was founded in Lviv, and in December the "Strzelec" society in Kraków. The secret ZWC gained a legal cover.
1912
November
10
Temporary Commission of Confederated Independence Parties is founded
On 10 November 1912 in Vienna independence parties from Galicia and the Kingdom formed a Temporary Commission to prepare an armed rising against Russia.
1914
October
22
Polish Military Organisation founded
On 22 October 1914 Piłsudski's envoy Tadeusz Żuliński took command of the riflemen's underground in Warsaw and named it the Polish Military Organisation.
1915
August
22
The POW after the Germans enter Warsaw
On 22 August 1915 the POW's Warsaw Battalion, 330 volunteers, left to join the 1st Brigade. Piłsudski stopped further enlistment and kept the POW underground.
1916
July
04
Key event
Battle of Kostiuchnówka begins
On 4 July 1916 the Russian XLVI Corps attacked the First and Third Brigades of the Legions on the Styr. After a day of shelling it took Polish Hill.
1917
July
09
Oath crisis
On 9 July 1917, at Piłsudski's call, I and III Brigade legionaries refused an oath of brotherhood in arms with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Internment followed.
22
Key event
Arrest of Piłsudski
On the night of 21–22 July 1917 the Germans arrested Józef Piłsudski and Kazimierz Sosnkowski in Warsaw. The Commandant spent over a year in Magdeburg.
1918
November
10
Piłsudski returns to Warsaw
On the morning of 10 November 1918 Józef Piłsudski, freed from Magdeburg, arrived in Warsaw. A dozen people met him; by evening he was talking to the regents.
11
Key event
Poland regains independence
On 11 November 1918 the Regency Council handed Piłsudski command of the army, while Warsaw disarmed the Germans. The day became Independence Day.
14
Dissolution of the Regency Council
On 14 November 1918 the regents dissolved the Regency Council and handed all supreme authority to Piłsudski. That day Piłsudski named Daszyński prime minister.
16
Piłsudski's notification
On 16 November 1918 Józef Piłsudski notified belligerent and neutral governments by radio telegram of the existence of an independent Polish state.
17
Moraczewski government
On 17 November 1918, after Ignacy Daszyński gave up, Józef Piłsudski entrusted the office of prime minister to the socialist Jędrzej Moraczewski.
28
Polish women get the vote
On 28 November 1918 Piłsudski signed the electoral law for the Legislative Sejm. The vote went to every citizen aged 21 and over "without distinction of sex".
December
15
Poland breaks off relations with Germany
On 15 December 1918 Warsaw broke off relations with Germany. Envoy Harry Kessler, who had brought Berlin's recognition a month earlier, had to leave Poland.
1919
February
20
Legislative Sejm passes the Small Constitution
On 20 February 1919 Piłsudski laid down the office of Chief of State. The Sejm unanimously gave it back to him and set the rules of a provisional system.
April
19
Key event
Poles take Vilna
On 19 April 1919 Lt-Col Belina-Prażmowski's Polish cavalry burst into Vilna and took most of the city. By 21 April the Poles had driven the Bolsheviks out.
July
17
Key event
End of the Polish–Ukrainian war
In mid-July 1919 the Ukrainian Galician Army withdrew beyond the Zbruch, and on 17 July the fighting ceased. The whole of Eastern Galicia was in Polish hands.
August
08
Poles take Minsk
On 8 August 1919 troops of Gen. Szeptycki's Lithuanian-Belarusian Front took Minsk, capital of the Soviet republic of Lithuania and Belarus.
23
Sejny uprising
On the night of 22–23 August 1919 the POW struck the Lithuanians near Sejny and took the town, which the Foch line assigned to Poland.
1920
April
21
Piłsudski's alliance with Petliura
On 21 April 1920 in Warsaw Poland recognised Petliura's Ukrainian People's Republic, which gave up Eastern Galicia. A military pact followed on 24 April.
25
Start of the Kiev offensive
On 25 April 1920 Polish and Ukrainian troops struck the Red Army from the Pripyat to the Dniester, taking Zhytomyr, Berdychiv, Koziatyn and Vinnytsia in 3 days.
July
01
Council of State Defence formed
On 1 July 1920, as the front fell back in Ukraine, the Sejm set up the Council of State Defence under Piłsudski to decide all matters of war and peace.
August
13
Key event
Battle of Warsaw begins
On 13 August 1920 the Red Army attacked the Warsaw bridgehead and took Radzymin, about 20 kilometres from the capital. The Battle of Warsaw had begun.
16
Counter-offensive from the Wieprz
On 16 August 1920 Piłsudski's strike group set off from the Wieprz, routed the Mozyr Group and came out in the rear of the Soviet armies attacking Warsaw.
October
09
Żeligowski's mutiny
On 9 October 1920 General Żeligowski's division, supposedly in mutiny against the high command, took Vilna from the Lithuanians. Piłsudski had ordered it.