Editing History of Poland (section)

===Piłsudski's coup and the Sanation Era (1926–1935)===

[[File:Piłsudski May 1926.jpg|thumb|right|Piłsudski's [[May Coup (Poland)|May Coup]] of 1926 defined Poland's political reality in the years leading to World War II]]

On 12 May 1926, Piłsudski staged the [[May Coup (Poland)|May Coup]], a military overthrow of the civilian government mounted against President [[Stanisław Wojciechowski]] and the troops loyal to the legitimate government. Hundreds died in fratricidal fighting.<ref name="playground 312">{{Harvnb|Davies|2005b|p=312}}.</ref>{{full citation|date=October 2024}} Piłsudski was supported by several leftist factions who ensured the success of his coup by blocking the railway transportation of government forces.<ref name="Hart 123-127">{{Harvnb|Davies|2001|pp=123–127}}.</ref>{{Ref label|b1|b1|none}}{{full citation|date=October 2024}} He also had the support of the conservative great landowners, a move that left the right-wing National Democrats as the only major social force opposed to the takeover.<ref name="playground 291–321"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Czubiński|1988|pp=45–46}}.</ref>{{Ref label|l|l|none}}<ref name="new sources">
* {{cite book |title=Beyond Empire: Interwar Poland and the Colonial Question, 1918–1939 |last=Puchalski |first=Piotr |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/bfe22980348fd04646924c8349f0eb72 |publisher=The University of Wisconsin-Madison Press |year=2019 |access-date=October 19, 2024}}
* {{cite journal |journal=Studia Iuridica Lublinensia |title=From May to Bereza: A Legal Nihilism in the Political and Legal Practice of the Sanation Camp 1926–1935 |last=Kowalski |first=Wawrzyniec |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=985623 |publisher=Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej |issue=5 |pages=133–147 |year=2020 |doi=10.17951/sil.2020.29.5.133-147 |access-date=October 19, 2024|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |journal=Zapiski Historyczne |title=The Formation of Authoritarian Rule in Poland between 1926 and 1939 as a Research Problem |last=Olstowski |first=Przemysław |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1256530 |publisher=Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu |issue=2 |pages=27–60 |year=2024 |doi=10.15762/ZH.2024.13 |access-date=October 19, 2024 |quote=The case of authoritarian rule in Poland [...] following the [[May Coup (Poland)|May Coup of 1926]], is notable for its unique origins [...] Rooted in a period when Poland lacked statehood [...] Polish authoritarianism evolved [...] Central to this phenomenon was Marshal [[Józef Piłsudski]], the ideological leader of Poland's ruling camp after the May Coup of 1926|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Following the coup, the new government initially respected many parliamentary formalities, but gradually tightened its control and abandoned pretenses. The [[Centrolew]], a coalition of center-left parties, was formed in 1929, and in 1930 called for the "abolition of dictatorship". In 1930, the Sejm was dissolved and a number of opposition deputies were imprisoned at the [[Brest Fortress]]. Five thousand political opponents were arrested ahead of the [[1930 Polish legislative election|Polish legislative election of 1930]],<ref name="Brzoza Sowa 309">{{Harvnb|Brzoza|Sowa|2009|p=309}}.</ref> which was rigged to award a majority of seats to the pro-government [[Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government]] (BBWR).<ref name="playground 291–321"/><ref name="Wybrać, jak trzeba">{{Harvnb|Garlicki|2009}}.</ref><ref name="Gwałt i ratunek">{{Harvnb|Burnetko|2009}}.</ref>{{full citation|date=October 2024}}<ref name="new sources" />

[[File:Rydz Smigly Bulawa1.jpg|upright|left|thumb|President [[Ignacy Mościcki]] and Marshal [[Edward Rydz-Śmigły]] were among top leaders of [[Sanation]] Poland]]

The authoritarian [[Sanation]] government ("sanation" meant to denote "healing") that Piłsudski led until his death in 1935 (and would remain in place until 1939) reflected the dictator's evolution from his center-left past to conservative alliances.<ref name="Wybrać, jak trzeba"/> Political institutions and parties were allowed to function, but the electoral process was manipulated and those not willing to cooperate submissively were subjected to repression. From 1930, persistent opponents of the government, many of the leftist persuasion, were imprisoned and subjected to [[show trial|staged legal processes]] with harsh sentences, such as the [[Brest trials]], or else detained in the [[Bereza Kartuska prison]] and similar camps for political prisoners. About three thousand were detained without trial at different times at the Bereza [[internment]] camp between 1934 and 1939. In 1936 for example, 369 activists were taken there, including 342 [[Communist Party of Poland|Polish communists]].<ref name="Bereza, Polski obóz koncentracyjny">{{Harvnb|Garlicki|2008}}.</ref> Rebellious peasants staged riots in 1932, 1933 and the [[1937 peasant strike in Poland]]. Other civil disturbances were caused by striking industrial workers (e.g. events of the "Bloody Spring" of 1936), nationalist Ukrainians{{Ref label|p|p|none}} and the activists of the incipient Belarusian movement. All became targets of ruthless police-military pacification.<ref name="playground 291–321"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Lukowski|Zawadzki|2006|pp=248–249}}.</ref><ref name="Brzoza Sowa 322–329">{{Harvnb|Brzoza|Sowa|2009|pp=322–329}}.</ref><ref name="Brzoza Sowa 353–359">{{Harvnb|Brzoza|Sowa|2009|pp=353–359}}.</ref>{{Ref label|y|y|none}} Besides sponsoring political repression, the government fostered [[Józef Piłsudski's cult of personality]] that had already existed long before he assumed dictatorial powers.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Piłsudski signed the [[Soviet–Polish Non-Aggression Pact]] in 1932 and the [[German–Polish declaration of non-aggression]] in 1934,<ref name="Hart 123-127"/> but in 1933 he insisted that there was no threat from the East or West and said that Poland's politics were focused on becoming fully independent without serving foreign interests.<ref>{{Harvnb|Czubiński|1988|pp=124–125}}.</ref> He initiated the policy of maintaining an equal distance and an adjustable middle course regarding the two great neighbors, later continued by [[Józef Beck]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Zgórniak|Łaptos|Solarz|2006|p=379}}.</ref> Piłsudski kept personal control of the army, but it was poorly equipped, poorly trained and had poor preparations in place for possible future conflicts.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kochanski|2012|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=EJ5vIyDBpLcC&pg=PA52 52–53]}}.</ref> His only war plan was a defensive war against a Soviet invasion.<ref>{{Harvnb|Drzewieniecki|1981}}.</ref>{{Ref label|r|r|none}} The slow modernization after Piłsudski's death fell far behind the progress made by Poland's neighbors and measures to protect the western border, discontinued by Piłsudski from 1926, were not undertaken until March 1939.<ref>{{Harvnb|Czubiński|2009|pp=37–38}}.</ref>{{full citation|date=October 2024}}

Sanation deputies in the Sejm used a parliamentary maneuver to abolish the democratic [[March Constitution of Poland|March Constitution]] and push through a more authoritarian [[April Constitution of Poland|April Constitution]] in 1935; it reduced the powers of the Sejm, which Piłsudski despised.<ref name="playground 291–321"/> The process and the resulting document were seen as illegitimate by the anti-Sanation opposition, but during World War II, the [[Polish government-in-exile]] recognized the April Constitution in order to uphold the legal continuity of the Polish state.<ref>{{Harvnb|Szeląg|1968|pp=11–12}}.</ref>{{full citation|date=October 2024}} Between 1932 and 1933 [[Józef Piłsudski|Piłsudski]] and [[Józef Beck|Beck]] initiated several incidents along the borders with Germany and [[Free City of Danzig|Danzig]], both to test whether Western powers would protect the [[Treaty of Versailles|Versailles]] arrangements (on which Polish security depended), and as preparation for a [[preventative war]] against Germany. At the same time they sent emissaries to London and Paris, looking for their support in stopping [[German rearmament|Germany's rearmament effort]]. An invasion to Danzig by Poland was scheduled for April 21, 1933, but the amassing of troops was discovered and the invasion was postponed. At the time an invasion by Poland would have posed a serious military threat to Germany, but with the British rejecting the idea (in favor of the [[Four-Power Pact]]), and with wavering support from the French, the Poles had eventually reneged on the idea of invasion. Between 1933 and 1934 Germany would increase its armament expenditures by 68%, and by January 1934 the two powers would sign a ten-year [[German–Polish declaration of non-aggression|non-aggression pact]].<ref name="Crockett 2009">{{Cite journal |last=Crockett |first=Jameson W. |date=2009-12-10 |title=The Polish Blitz, More than a Mere Footnote to History: Poland and Preventive War with Germany, 1933 |journal=Diplomacy & Statecraft |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=561–579 |doi=10.1080/09592290903455667 |s2cid=153437646 |issn=0959-2296}}</ref><ref name="new sources" /> When Marshal Piłsudski died in 1935, he retained the support of dominant sections of Polish society even though he never risked testing his popularity in an honest election.  His government was dictatorial, but at that time only [[Czechoslovakia]] remained democratic in all of the regions neighboring Poland. Historians have taken widely divergent views of the meaning and consequences of the coup Piłsudski perpetrated and his personal rule that followed.<ref name="Gwałt i ratunek"/>