Editing History of Poland (section)

==Partitioned Poland (1795–1918)==

{{further|History of Poland (1795–1918)|Partitions of Poland|Congress Poland}}

===Armed resistance (1795–1864)===

====Napoleonic wars====

[[File:Death of Poniatowski.jpg|thumb|left|The death of [[Józef Poniatowski]], [[Marshal of the Empire|Marshal of the French Empire]], at the [[Battle of Leipzig]]]]

Although no sovereign Polish state existed between 1795 and 1918, the idea of Polish independence was kept alive throughout the 19th century. There were a number of uprisings and other armed undertakings waged against the partitioning powers. Military efforts after the partitions were first based on the alliances of Polish émigrés with post-[[French Revolution|revolutionary France]]. [[Jan Henryk Dąbrowski]]'s [[Polish Legions (Napoleonic period)|Polish Legions]] fought in French campaigns outside of Poland between 1797 and 1802 in hopes that their involvement and contribution would be rewarded with the liberation of their Polish homeland.<ref name="playground II xxi">{{Harvnb|Davies|2005b|p=xxi}}</ref> The Polish national anthem, "[[Poland Is Not Yet Lost]]", or "Dąbrowski's [[Mazurka]]", was written in praise of his actions by [[Józef Wybicki]] in 1797.<ref name="Gierowski 119–130">{{Harvnb|Gierowski|1986b|pp=119–130}}.</ref>

The [[Duchy of Warsaw]], a small, semi-independent Polish state, was created in 1807 by [[Napoleon]] in the wake of his defeat of Prussia and the signing of the [[Treaties of Tilsit]] with Emperor [[Alexander I of Russia]].<ref name="playground II xxi"/> The [[Army of the Duchy of Warsaw]], led by [[Józef Poniatowski]], participated in numerous campaigns in alliance with France, including the successful [[Austro-Polish War]] of 1809, which, combined with the outcomes of other theaters of the [[War of the Fifth Coalition]], resulted in an enlargement of the duchy's territory. The [[French invasion of Russia]] in 1812 and the [[German Campaign of 1813]] saw the duchy's last military engagements. The [[Constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw]] abolished serfdom as a reflection of the ideals of the [[French Revolution]], but it did not promote [[land reform]].<ref name="Gierowski 130–147">{{Harvnb|Gierowski|1986b|pp=130–147}}.</ref>

[[File:Granting of the Constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw by Napoleon.PNG|thumb|right|[[Napoleon Bonaparte]] establishing the [[Duchy of Warsaw]] under French protection, 1807]]

====The Congress of Vienna====

After Napoleon's defeat, a new European order was established at the [[Congress of Vienna]], which met in the years 1814 and 1815. [[Adam Jerzy Czartoryski]], a former close associate of Emperor Alexander I, became the leading advocate for the [[Polish question|Polish national cause]]. The Congress implemented a new partition scheme, which took into account some of the gains realized by the Poles during the Napoleonic period.

The Duchy of Warsaw was replaced in 1815 with a new Kingdom of Poland, unofficially known as [[Congress Poland]].<ref name="playground II xxi"/> The residual Polish kingdom was joined to the [[Russian Empire]] in a [[personal union]] under the Russian [[tsar]] and it was allowed [[Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland|its own constitution]] and [[Army of Congress Poland|military]]. East of the kingdom, large areas of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth remained directly incorporated into the Russian Empire as the [[Western Krai]]. These territories, along with Congress Poland, are generally considered to form the [[Russian Partition]]. The Russian, Prussian, and Austrian "partitions" are informal names for the lands of the former Commonwealth, not actual units of [[administrative division of Polish–Lithuanian territories after partitions]].<ref name="Gierowski 147–181">{{Harvnb|Gierowski|1986b|pp=147–181}}.</ref> The [[Prussian Partition]] included a portion separated as the [[Grand Duchy of Posen]].<ref name="playground II xxi"/> Peasants under the Prussian administration were gradually [[Suffrage|enfranchised]] under the reforms of 1811 and 1823. The limited legal reforms in the [[Austrian Partition]] were overshadowed by [[Poverty in Austrian Galicia|its rural poverty]]. The [[Free City of Cracow]] was a tiny republic created by the Congress of Vienna under the joint supervision of the three partitioning powers.<ref name="playground II xxi"/> Despite the bleak political situation (from the standpoint of Polish patriots), economic progress was made in the lands taken over by foreign powers because the period after the Congress of Vienna witnessed a significant development in the building of early industry.<ref name="Gierowski 147–181"/>

Economic historians have made new estimates on GDP per capita, 1790–1910. They confirm the hypothesis of semi-peripheral development of Polish territories in the 19th century and the slow process of catching-up with the core economies.<ref>Maciej Bukowski, et al. "Urbanization and GDP per capita: New data and results for the Polish lands, 1790–1910." ''Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History'' 52.4 (2019): 213-227.</ref>

====The Uprising of November 1830====

[[File:Marcin Zaleski, Wzięcie Arsenału.jpg|thumb|right|The capture of the Warsaw arsenal at the beginning of the [[November Uprising]] of 1830]]

The increasingly repressive policies of the partitioning powers led to [[Resistance movements in partitioned Poland (1795–1918)|resistance movements in partitioned Poland]], and in 1830 Polish patriots staged the [[November Uprising]].<ref name="playground II xxi"/> This revolt developed into a full-scale war with Russia, but the leadership was taken over by Polish conservatives who were reluctant to challenge the empire and hostile to broadening the independence movement's social base through measures such as land reform. Despite the significant resources mobilized, a series of errors by several successive chief commanders appointed by the insurgent [[Polish National Government (November Uprising)|Polish National Government]] led to the defeat of its forces by the Russian army in 1831.<ref name="playground II xxi"/> Congress Poland lost its constitution and military, but formally remained a separate administrative unit within the Russian Empire.<ref name="Gierowski 181–194">{{Harvnb|Gierowski|1986b|pp=181–194}}.</ref>

[[File:Chopin, by Wodzinska.JPG|thumb|upright|left|[[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]], a [[Romantic music|Romantic]] composer of piano works, including many inspired by [[Music of Poland#Traditional music|Polish traditional dance music]]]]

After the defeat of the November Uprising, thousands of former Polish combatants and other activists emigrated to [[Western Europe]]. This phenomenon, known as the [[Great Emigration]], soon dominated Polish political and intellectual life. Together with the leaders of the independence movement, the Polish community abroad included the greatest Polish literary and artistic minds, including the [[Romanticism in Poland|Romantic]] [[Three Bards|poets]] [[Adam Mickiewicz]], [[Juliusz Słowacki]], [[Cyprian Norwid]], and the composer [[Frédéric Chopin]]. In occupied and repressed Poland, some sought progress through nonviolent activism focused on education and economy, known as [[organic work]]; others, in cooperation with the emigrant circles, organized conspiracies and prepared for the next armed insurrection.<ref name="Gierowski 208–231">{{Harvnb|Gierowski|1986b|pp=208–231}}.</ref>

====Revolts of the era of the Spring of Nations====

The planned national uprising failed to materialize because the authorities in the partitions found out about secret preparations. The [[Greater Poland uprising (1846)|Greater Poland uprising]] ended in a fiasco in early 1846. In the [[Kraków uprising]] of February 1846,<ref name="playground II xxi"/> patriotic action was combined with revolutionary demands, but the result was the incorporation of the [[Free City of Cracow]] into the Austrian Partition. The Austrian officials took advantage of peasant discontent and incited villagers against the noble-dominated insurgent units. This resulted in the [[Galician slaughter]] of 1846,<ref name="playground II xxi"/> a large-scale rebellion of [[serfdom|serf]]s seeking relief from their post-feudal condition of [[Serfdom in Poland|mandatory labor]] as practiced in ''[[folwark]]s''. The uprising freed many from bondage and hastened decisions that led to the [[abolition of serfdom in Poland|abolition of Polish serfdom]] in the [[Austrian Empire]] in 1848. A new wave of Polish involvement in revolutionary movements soon took place in the partitions and in other parts of Europe in the context of the [[Revolutions of 1848|Spring of Nations]] revolutions of 1848 (e.g. [[Józef Bem]]'s participation in the [[Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire|revolutions in Austria]] and [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848|Hungary]]). The 1848 [[German revolutions of 1848–49|German revolutions]] precipitated the [[Greater Poland uprising (1848)|Greater Poland uprising of 1848]],<ref name="playground II xxi"/> in which peasants in the Prussian Partition, who were by then largely enfranchised, played a prominent role.<ref name="Gierowski 232–287">{{Harvnb|Gierowski|1986b|pp=232–287}}.</ref>

====The Uprising of January 1863====

[[File:Romuald Traugutt 111.PNG|thumb|upright|right|[[Romuald Traugutt]], the last supreme commander of the [[January Uprising|1863 Uprising]]]]

As a matter of continuous policy, the Russian autocracy kept assailing Polish national core values of language, religion and culture.<ref name="Burant 131–156">{{Harvnb|Burant|1985|pp=131–156}}.</ref> In consequence, despite the limited liberalization measures allowed in [[Congress Poland]] under the rule of Tsar [[Alexander II of Russia]], a renewal of popular liberation activities took place in 1860–1861. During large-scale demonstrations in Warsaw, Russian forces inflicted numerous casualties on the civilian participants. The "[[Reds (January Uprising)|Red]]", or [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]] faction of Polish activists, which promoted peasant enfranchisement and cooperated with Russian revolutionaries, became involved in immediate preparations for a national uprising. The "[[Whites (January Uprising)|White]]", or [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]] faction, was inclined to cooperate with the Russian authorities and countered with partial reform proposals. In order to cripple the manpower potential of the Reds, [[Aleksander Wielopolski]], the conservative leader of the government of Congress Poland, arranged for a partial selective conscription of young Poles for the Russian army in the years 1862 and 1863.<ref name="playground II xxi"/> This action hastened the outbreak of hostilities. The [[January Uprising]], joined and led after the initial period by the Whites, was fought by partisan units against an overwhelmingly advantaged enemy. The uprising lasted from January 1863 to the spring of 1864,<ref name="playground II xxi"/> when [[Romuald Traugutt]], the last supreme commander of the insurgency, was captured by the tsarist police.<ref name="Gierowski 287–311">{{Harvnb|Gierowski|1986b|pp=287–311}}.</ref><ref name="Biel, czerwień, czerń">{{Harvnb|Zdrada|2010}}</ref>

On 2 March 1864, the Russian authority, compelled by the uprising to compete for the loyalty of Polish peasants, officially published an [[Abolition of serfdom in Poland|enfranchisement decree in Congress Poland]] along the lines of an earlier land reform proclamation of the insurgents. The act created the conditions necessary for the development of the [[capitalism|capitalist]] system on central Polish lands. At the time when most Poles realized the futility of armed resistance without external support, the various sections of Polish society were undergoing deep and far-reaching evolution in the areas of social, economic and cultural development.<ref name="playground II xxi"/><ref name="Biel, czerwień, czerń"/><ref name="Gierowski 311–318">{{Harvnb|Gierowski|1986b|pp=311–318}}.</ref>

===Formation of modern Polish society under foreign rule (1864–1914)===

====Repression and organic work====

[[File:Prus 002.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Bolesław Prus]] (1847–1912), a leading novelist, journalist and [[History of philosophy in Poland#Positivism|philosopher]] of Poland's [[Positivism in Poland|Positivism movement]]]]

The failure of the January Uprising in Poland caused a major psychological trauma and became a historic watershed; indeed, it sparked the development of modern [[Polish nationalism]]. The Poles, subjected within the territories under the Russian and Prussian administrations to still stricter controls and increased persecution, sought to preserve their identity in non-violent ways. After the uprising, Congress Poland was downgraded in official usage from the "Kingdom of Poland" to the "[[Vistula Land]]" and was more fully integrated into Russia proper, but not entirely obliterated. The [[Russian language|Russian]] and [[German language|German]] languages were imposed in all public communication, and the Catholic Church was not spared from severe repression. Public education was increasingly subjected to [[Russification]] and [[Germanisation]] measures. Illiteracy was reduced, most effectively in the Prussian partition, but education in the [[Polish language]] was preserved mostly through unofficial efforts. The Prussian government pursued German colonization, including the purchase of Polish-owned land. On the other hand, the region of [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]] (western Ukraine and southern Poland) experienced a gradual relaxation of authoritarian policies and even a Polish cultural revival.  Economically and socially backward, it was under the milder rule of the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian Monarchy]] and from 1867 was increasingly allowed limited autonomy.<ref name="playground II xxi"/> ''Stańczycy'', a conservative Polish pro-Austrian faction led by great land owners, dominated the Galician government. The [[Polish Academy of Learning]] (an [[academy of sciences]]) was founded in Kraków in 1872.<ref name="playground II xxi"/>

Social activities termed "[[organic work]]" consisted of self-help organizations that promoted economic advancement and work on improving the competitiveness of Polish-owned businesses, industrial, agricultural or other. New commercial methods of generating higher productivity were discussed and implemented through [[trade association]]s and special interest groups, while Polish banking and cooperative financial institutions made the necessary business loans available. The other major area of effort in organic work was educational and intellectual development of the common people. Many libraries and reading rooms were established in small towns and villages, and numerous printed periodicals manifested the growing interest in popular education. Scientific and educational societies were active in a number of cities. Such activities were most pronounced in the Prussian Partition.<ref name="Lukowski 182–187"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Buszko|1986|pp=84–85}}.</ref>

[[Positivism in Poland]] replaced Romanticism as the leading intellectual, social and literary trend.<ref name="Lukowski 182–187">{{Harvnb|Lukowski|Zawadzki|2006|pp=182–187}}.</ref><ref name="Lukowski 192–194">{{Harvnb|Lukowski|Zawadzki|2006|pp=192–194}}.</ref> It reflected the ideals and values of the emerging urban [[bourgeoisie]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Wereszycki|1990|pp=66–67}}.</ref> Around 1890, the urban classes gradually abandoned the positivist ideas and came under the influence of modern pan-European [[nationalism]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Wereszycki|1990|pp=297–298}}.</ref>

====Economic development and social change====

[[File:Gierymski Feast of trumpets I.jpg|thumb|right|Many [[History of the Jews in Poland|Jews]] emigrated from the Polish–Lithuanian lands in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but most remained to form a large [[Minority group|ethnic minority]]]]

Under the partitioning powers, economic diversification and progress, including large-scale [[industrialisation]], were introduced in the traditionally agrarian Polish lands, but this development turned out to be very uneven. Advanced agriculture was practiced in the Prussian Partition, except for [[Upper Silesia]], where the coal-mining industry created a large labor force. The densest network of railroads was built in German-ruled western Poland. In Russian Congress Poland, a striking growth of industry, railways and towns took place, all against the background of an extensive, but less productive agriculture.<ref name="Lukowski 187–192, 199">{{Harvnb|Lukowski|Zawadzki|2006|pp=187–192, 199}}.</ref> The industrial initiative, capital and know-how were provided largely by entrepreneurs who were not ethnic Poles.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wereszycki|1990|p=294}}.</ref> Warsaw (a metallurgical center) and [[Łódź]] (a textiles center) grew rapidly, as did the total proportion of urban population, making the region the most economically advanced in the Russian Empire (industrial production exceeded agricultural production there by 1909). The coming of the railways spurred some industrial growth even in the vast Russian Partition territories outside of Congress Poland. The Austrian Partition was rural and poor, except for the industrialized [[Cieszyn Silesia]] area. [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]]n economic expansion after 1890 included oil extraction and resulted in the growth of [[Lviv|Lemberg (Lwów, Lviv)]] and [[Kraków]].<ref name="Lukowski 187–192, 199"/>

Economic and social changes involving [[land reform]] and industrialization, combined with the effects of foreign domination, altered the centuries-old social structure of Polish society. Among the newly emergent strata were wealthy industrialists and financiers, distinct from the traditional, but still critically important landed aristocracy. The [[intelligentsia]], an educated, professional or business [[middle class]], often originated from lower gentry, landless or alienated from their rural possessions, and from urban people. Many smaller agricultural enterprises based on serfdom did not survive the land reforms.<ref>{{Harvnb|Buszko|1986|p=44}}.</ref> The industrial [[proletariat]], a new [[Privilege (social inequality)|underprivileged]] class, was composed mainly of poor peasants or townspeople forced by deteriorating conditions to migrate and search for work in urban centers in their countries of origin or abroad. Millions of residents of the former Commonwealth of various [[ethnic group]]s worked or settled in Europe and in [[North America|North]] and [[South America]].<ref name="Lukowski 187–192, 199"/>

Social and economic changes were partial and gradual. The degree of industrialisation, relatively fast-paced in some areas, lagged behind the advanced regions of [[Western Europe]]. The three partitions developed different economies and were more economically integrated with their mother states than with each other. In the Prussian Partition, for example, agricultural production depended heavily on the German market, whereas the industrial sector of Congress Poland relied more on the Russian market.<ref name="Lukowski 187–192, 199"/>

====Nationalism, socialism and other movements====
[[File:Mariecurie.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Marie Curie]], discoverer of [[Radioactive decay|radioactive elements]]]]

In the 1870s–1890s, large-scale [[socialism|socialist]], [[nationalism|nationalist]], [[agrarianism|agrarian]] and other political movements of great ideological fervor became established in partitioned Poland and Lithuania, along with corresponding political parties to promote them. Of the major parties, the socialist [[Proletariat (party)|First Proletariat]] was founded in 1882, the Polish League (precursor of [[National Democracy (Poland)|National Democracy]]) in 1887, the [[Polish Social Democratic Party of Galicia|Polish Social Democratic Party of Galicia and Silesia]] in 1890, the [[Polish Socialist Party]] in 1892, the [[Marxism|Marxist]] [[Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania]] in 1893, the agrarian People's Party of Galicia in 1895 and the Jewish socialist [[General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia|Bund]] in 1897. [[Christian democracy]] regional associations allied with the Catholic Church were also active; they united into the [[Polish Christian Democratic Party]] in 1919.

[[File:RLuxemburgCpWz.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Rosa Luxemburg]], leader of the [[Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania]]]]

The main minority ethnic groups of the former Commonwealth, including [[Ukrainians]], [[Lithuanians]], [[Belarusians]] and [[Jews]], were getting involved in their own national movements and plans, which met with disapproval on the part of those Polish independence activists who counted on an eventual rebirth of the Commonwealth or the rise of a Commonwealth-inspired federal structure (a political movement referred to as [[Prometheism]]).<ref name="Lukowski 194–203">{{Harvnb|Lukowski|Zawadzki|2006|pp=194–203}}.</ref>

Around the start of the 20th century, the [[Young Poland]] [[cultural movement]], centered in [[Austria-Hungary|Austrian]] Galicia, took advantage of a milieu conducive to liberal expression in that region and was the source of Poland's finest artistic and literary productions.<ref name="Lukowski 207–209">{{Harvnb|Lukowski|Zawadzki|2006|pp=207–209}}.</ref> In this same era, [[Marie Curie|Marie Skłodowska Curie]], a pioneer [[ionizing radiation|radiation]] scientist, performed her groundbreaking research in [[Paris]].<ref name="Lukowski 190">{{Harvnb|Lukowski|Zawadzki|2006|p=190}}.</ref>

====The Revolution of 1905====

[[File:Roman Dmowski in color.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Roman Dmowski]]'s [[National Democracy (Poland)|National Democracy]] ideology proved highly influential in Polish politics. He favored the dominance of Polish-speaking Catholics in civic life without concern for the rights of ethnic minorities, in particular the Jews, whose emigration he advocated.]]

The [[Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland (1905–07)|Revolution of 1905–1907 in Russian Poland]],<ref name="playground II xxi"/> the result of many years of pent-up political frustrations and stifled national ambitions, was marked by political maneuvering, strikes and rebellion. The revolt was part of much broader disturbances throughout the Russian Empire associated with the general [[1905 Russian Revolution|Revolution of 1905]]. In Poland, the principal revolutionary figures were [[Roman Dmowski]] and [[Józef Piłsudski]]. Dmowski was associated with the right-wing nationalist movement [[National Democracy (Poland)|National Democracy]], whereas Piłsudski was associated with the [[Polish Socialist Party]]. As the authorities re-established control within the Russian Empire, the revolt in Congress Poland, placed under martial law, withered as well, partially as a result of tsarist concessions in the areas of national and workers' rights, including Polish representation in the newly created Russian [[State Duma (Russian Empire)|Duma]]. The collapse of the revolt in the Russian Partition, coupled with intensified Germanization in the Prussian Partition, left [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Austrian Galicia]] as the territory where Polish patriotic action was most likely to flourish.<ref name="Lukowski 203–208">{{Harvnb|Lukowski|Zawadzki|2006|pp=203–208}}.</ref>

In the Austrian Partition, Polish culture was openly cultivated, and in the Prussian Partition, there were high levels of education and living standards, but the Russian Partition remained of primary importance for the Polish nation and its aspirations. About 15.5 million Polish-speakers lived in the territories most densely populated by Poles: the western part of the Russian Partition, the Prussian Partition and the western Austrian Partition. Ethnically Polish settlement spread over a large area further to the east, including its greatest concentration in the [[Vilnius Region]], amounted to only over 20% of that number.<ref name="Lukowski 208–216">{{Harvnb|Lukowski|Zawadzki|2006|pp=208–216}}.</ref>

Polish paramilitary organizations oriented toward independence, such as the [[Union of Active Struggle]], were formed in 1908–1914, mainly in Galicia. The Poles were divided and their political parties fragmented on the eve of [[World War I]], with Dmowski's National Democracy (pro-[[Allies of World War I|Entente]]) and Piłsudski's faction assuming opposing positions.<ref name="Lukowski 208–216"/><ref name="Lukowski 217–222"/>

===World War I and the issue of Poland's independence===

{{further|History of Poland during World War I}}

[[File:Pilsudski in Otwock.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|"The Commandant" [[Józef Piłsudski]] with his [[Polish Legions in World War I|legionaries]] in 1915]]

The outbreak of [[History of Poland during World War I|World War I in the Polish lands]] offered Poles unexpected hopes for achieving independence as a result of the turbulence that engulfed the empires of the partitioning powers.  All three of the monarchies that had benefited from the partition of Polish territories (Germany, Austria and Russia) were dissolved by the end of the war, and many of their territories were dispersed into new political units. At the start of the war, the Poles found themselves conscripted into the armies of the partitioning powers in a war that was not theirs.  Furthermore, they were frequently forced to fight each other, since the armies of Germany and Austria were allied against Russia. Piłsudski's paramilitary units stationed in [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]] were turned into the [[Polish Legions in World War I|Polish Legions]] in 1914 and as a part of the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]] fought on the Russian front until 1917, when the formation was disbanded.<ref name="playground II xxi"/> Piłsudski, who refused demands that his men fight under German command, was arrested and imprisoned by the Germans and became a heroic symbol of Polish nationalism.<ref name="Lukowski 217–222">{{Harvnb|Lukowski|Zawadzki|2006|pp=217–222}}.</ref><ref name="playground II 279–290">{{Harvnb|Davies|2005b|pp=279–290}}</ref>

[[File:Ignacy Paderewski 02.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Ignacy Jan Paderewski|Ignacy Paderewski]] was a pianist and a statesman]]

Due to a series of German victories on the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]], the area of [[Congress Poland]] became occupied by the [[Central Powers]] of Germany and Austria;<ref name="playground II xxi"/> Warsaw was captured by the Germans on 5 August 1915. In the [[Act of 5th November]] 1916, a fresh incarnation of the [[Kingdom of Poland (1917–1918)|Kingdom of Poland]] (''Królestwo Regencyjne'') was proclaimed by Germany and Austria on formerly Russian-controlled territories,<ref name="playground II xxi"/> within the German ''[[Mitteleuropa]]'' scheme. The sponsor states were never able to agree on a candidate to assume the throne, however; rather, it was governed in turn by German and Austrian governor-generals, a [[Provisional Council of State]], and a [[Regency Council (Poland)|Regency Council]].  This increasingly autonomous puppet state existed until November 1918, when it was replaced by the newly established [[Second Polish Republic|Republic of Poland]]. The existence of this "kingdom" and its planned Polish army had a positive effect on the Polish national efforts on the [[Triple Entente|Allied side]], but in the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] of March 1918 the victorious in the east [[German Empire|Germany]] imposed harsh conditions on defeated Russia and ignored Polish interests.<ref name="Lukowski 217–222"/><ref name="playground II 279–290"/><ref name="Versailles">{{Harvnb|Henig|2011}}.</ref> Toward the end of the war, the German authorities engaged in massive, purposeful devastation of industrial and other economic potential of Polish lands in order to impoverish the country, a likely future competitor of Germany.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wereszycki|1990|p=276}}.</ref>

[[File:Polish Regents 1916.jpg|thumb|left|The Regency Council of the [[Kingdom of Poland (1917–1918)|Kingdom of Poland]] in 1918. The "Kingdom" was established to entice Poles to cooperate with the [[Central Powers]].]]

The independence of Poland had been campaigned for in Russia and in the West by Dmowski and in the West by [[Ignacy Jan Paderewski]]. Tsar [[Nicholas II of Russia]], and then the leaders of the [[February Revolution]] and the [[October Revolution]] of 1917, installed governments who declared in turn their support for Polish independence.<ref name="playground II 279–290"/>{{Ref label|d1|d1|none}} In 1917, France formed the [[Blue Army (Poland)|Blue Army]] (placed under [[Józef Haller]]) that comprised about 70,000 Poles by the end of the war, including men captured from German and Austrian units and 20,000 volunteers from the [[United States]]. There was also a 30,000-men strong Polish anti-German army in Russia. Dmowski, operating from Paris as head of the [[Polish National Committee (1917–19)|Polish National Committee]] (KNP), became the spokesman for Polish nationalism in the Allied camp. On the initiative of [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s [[Fourteen Points]], Polish independence was officially endorsed by the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] in June 1918.<ref name="playground II xxi"/><ref name="Lukowski 217–222"/><ref name="playground II 279–290"/>{{Ref label|c1|c1|none}}

In all, about two million Poles served in the war, counting both sides, and about 400–450,000 died. Much of the fighting on the Eastern Front took place in Poland, and civilian casualties and devastation were high.<ref name="Lukowski 217–222"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Davies|2001|p=112}}.</ref>

[[File:Ignacy Daszyński 1915.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Ignacy Daszyński]]]]

The final push for independence of Poland took place on the ground in October–November 1918. Near the end of the war, [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]] and German units were being disarmed, and the Austrian army's collapse freed [[Cieszyn]] and [[Kraków]] at the end of October. [[Lviv]] was then contested in the [[Polish–Ukrainian War]] of 1918–1919. [[Ignacy Daszyński]] headed the first short-lived independent Polish government in [[Lublin]] from 7 November, the leftist Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland, proclaimed as a democracy. Germany, now defeated, was forced by the Allies to stand down its large military forces in Poland. Overtaken by the [[German Revolution of 1918–19]]19 at home, the Germans released Piłsudski from prison. He arrived in Warsaw on 10 November and was granted extensive authority by the [[Regency Council (Poland)|Regency Council]]; Piłsudski's authority was also recognized by the Lublin government.<ref name="playground II xxi"/>{{Ref label|b1|b1|none}} On 22 November, he became the temporary head of state. Piłsudski was held by many in high regard, but was resented by the right-wing National Democrats. The emerging Polish state was internally divided, heavily war-damaged and economically dysfunctional.<ref name="Lukowski 217–222"/><ref name="playground II 279–290"/>