Editing Second Polish Republic (section)

==Background==
{{see also|History of Poland (1918–1939)|Timeline of Polish history#The Second Polish Republic (1918–39)}}

After more than a [[Partitions of Poland|century of partitions]] between the [[Austrian Partition|Austrian]], the [[Prussian Partition|Prussian]], and the [[Russian Partition|Russian]] imperial powers, Poland re-emerged as a sovereign state at the end of the First World War in Europe in 1917–1918.<ref>Mieczysław Biskupski. ''The history of Poland''. [[Greenwood Publishing Group]]. 2000. p. 51. {{ISBN|0313305714}}</ref><ref name="Davies100">Norman Davies. ''Heart of Europe: The Past in Poland's Present''. [[Oxford University Press]]. 2001. pp. 100-101. {{ISBN|0192801260}}</ref><ref>Piotr S. Wandycz. ''The Lands of Partitioned Poland 1795-1918.'' [[University of Washington Press]]. 1974. p. 368. {{ISBN|0295953586}}</ref> The victorious [[Allies of World War I|Allies of the First World War]] confirmed the rebirth of Poland in the [[Treaty of Versailles]] of June 1919. It was one of the great stories of the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|1919 Paris Peace Conference]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=MacMillan |first1=Margaret |author-link1=Margaret MacMillan |chapter=17: Poland Reborn |title=Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EHzgiYw0kegC |location=New York |publisher=Random House |date=2007 |page=207 |isbn=978-0-307-43296-4 |quote=The rebirth of Poland was one of the great stories of the Paris Peace Conference. |access-date=14 September 2016 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414231459/https://books.google.com/books?id=EHzgiYw0kegC |url-status=live }}</ref> Poland solidified its independence in a series of border wars fought by the newly formed [[Polish Army]] from 1918 to 1921.<ref name="Davies"/> The extent of the eastern half of the interwar territory of Poland was settled diplomatically in 1922 and internationally recognised by the [[League of Nations]].<ref>[[Mieczysław B. Biskupski]]. ''The origins of modern Polish democracy''. [[Ohio University Press]]. 2010. p. 130.</ref><ref>Richard J. Crampton. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=82VuBwAAQBAJ Atlas of Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216220214/https://books.google.com/books?id=82VuBwAAQBAJ |date=16 December 2019 }}'' Routledge. 1997. p. 101. {{ISBN|1317799518}}.</ref>

===End of the First World War===
Over the course of the [[First World War]] (1914–1918), the [[German Empire]] gradually dominated the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] as the [[Imperial Russian Army]] fell back. German and [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]] armies seized the [[Congress Poland|Russian-ruled part of what became Poland]]. In a failed attempt to resolve the [[Polish question]] as quickly as possible, Berlin set up the [[Puppet state|puppet]] [[Kingdom of Poland (1917–1918)|Kingdom of Poland]] on 14 January 1917, with a governing [[Provisional Council of State]] and (from 15 October 1917) a [[Regency Council (Poland)|Regency Council]] (''Rada Regencyjna Królestwa Polskiego''). The Council administered the country under German auspices (see also [[Mitteleuropa]]), pending [[Royal elections in Poland|the election of a king]]. More than 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).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mutschlechner |first=Martin |title=The Poles in the First World War: a Nation as Football for the Great Powers |url=https://ww1.habsburger.net/en/chapters/poles-first-world-war-nation-football-great-powers |access-date=15 September 2024 |website=The World of the Habsburgs|date=6 June 2014 }}</ref> With the notable exception of the [[Marxism|Marxist]]-oriented [[Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania]] (''SDKPiL''), most Polish political parties supported this move. On 23 October the Regency Council appointed a new government under [[Józef Świeżyński]] and began conscription into the [[Polish Army]].<ref>Richard M. Watt, ''Bitter Glory: Poland and Its Fate, 1918–1939'' (1998)</ref>

===Formation of the Republic===
[[File:Coat of arms of Poland2 1919-1927.svg|130px|left|thumb|Coat of arms of Poland, 1919-1927]]

In 1918–1919, over 100 [[Workers' Councils in Poland|workers' councils]] sprang up on Polish territories;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/Rady-Delegatow-Robotniczych-w-Polsce;3965576.html |title=Rady Delegatów Robotniczych w Polsce |publisher=Internetowa encyklopedia PWN |access-date=30 July 2015 |archive-date=5 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005112619/http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/Rady-Delegatow-Robotniczych-w-Polsce;3965576.html |url-status=live }}</ref> on 5 November 1918, in [[Lublin]], the first [[Soviet of Delegates]] was established. On 6 November socialists proclaimed the [[Republic of Tarnobrzeg]] at Tarnobrzeg in Austrian [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia]]. The same day the Socialist, [[Ignacy Daszyński]], set up a [[Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland]] (''Tymczasowy Rząd Ludowy Republiki Polskiej'') in Lublin. On Sunday, 10 November at 7 a.m., [[Józef Piłsudski]], newly freed from 16 months in a German prison in [[Magdeburg]], returned by train to Warsaw. Piłsudski, together with Colonel [[Kazimierz Sosnkowski]], was greeted at Warsaw's railway station by Regent [[Zdzisław Lubomirski]] and by Colonel [[Adam Koc]]. Next day, due to his popularity and support from most political parties, the Regency Council appointed Piłsudski as Commander in Chief of the Polish Armed Forces. On 14 November, the Council dissolved itself and transferred all its authority to Piłsudski as Chief of State (''[[Naczelnik Państwa]]''). After consultation with Piłsudski, Daszyński's government dissolved itself and a new government formed under [[Jędrzej Moraczewski]]. In 1918, the [[Kingdom of Italy]] became the first country in Europe to recognise Poland's renewed sovereignty.<ref>Andrzej Garlicki (1995), ''Józef Piłsudski, 1867–1935''.</ref>
[[File:Polish-soviet war 1920 Polish defences near Milosna, August.jpg|right|thumb|Polish defences at [[Miłosna, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Miłosna]], during the decisive [[Battle of Warsaw (1920)|Battle of Warsaw]], August 1920]]

Centres of government that formed at that time in [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|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 [[West Ukrainian People's Republic|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)]]). Meanwhile, in western Poland, another war of national liberation began under the banner of the [[Greater Poland uprising (1918–1919)]]. In January 1919, [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovak]] forces attacked Polish units in the area of Trans-Olza (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]]. The most critical military conflict of that period, however, the [[Polish–Soviet War]] (1919-1921), ended in a decisive Polish victory.<ref>Norman Richard Davies, ''White Eagle, Red Star: the Polish-Soviet War, 1919–20'' (2nd ed. 2003)</ref>