Editing Second Polish Republic (section)

===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>