Editing Józef Piłsudski (section)

==World War I==
{{Main|History of Poland during World War I}}

At a meeting in Paris in 1914, Piłsudski presciently declared that for Poland to regain independence in the impending war, Russia must be beaten by the Central Powers (the Austro-Hungarian and German Empires) and the latter powers must in turn be beaten by [[French Third Republic|France]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]], and the United States.{{r|Roos+Rothschild}}<ref>[[Joseph Conrad]] and his family – who had arrived in Kraków on 28 July 1914, exactly on the outbreak of World War I – in the first days of August took refuge in the Polish mountain resort of [[Zakopane]]. There Conrad opined – as Piłsudski had in Paris earlier in 1914 – that, for Poland to regain independence, Russia must be defeated by the [[Central Powers]] (the Austro-Hungarian and German Empires), and the Central Powers must in turn be beaten by France and Britain. [[Zdzisław Najder]], ''Joseph Conrad: A Life'', Rochester, New York, Camden House, 2007, {{ISBN|978-1-57113-347-2}}, p. 464. Soon after the war, Conrad said of Piłsudski: "He was the only great man to emerge on the scene during the war." [[Zdzisław Najder]], ''Conrad under Familial Eyes'', Cambridge University Press, 1984, {{ISBN|0-521-25082-X}}, p. 239.</ref>

At the outbreak of war, on 3 August in Kraków Piłsudski formed a small [[En cadre|cadre]] military unit called the [[First Cadre Company]] from members of the [[Riflemen's Association]] and [[Polish Rifle Squads]].{{r|Urbank97_171–2}} That same day, [[The Seven Lancers of Belina|a cavalry unit]] under [[Władysław Belina-Prażmowski]] was sent to [[reconnoitre]] across the Russian border before the official [[declaration of war]] between Austria-Hungary and Russia on 6 August 1914.{{r|Urbank97_168}}
[[File:Kielce_pilsudski.jpg|thumb|alt=A group of men standing in front of a building. They are dressed in military uniforms.|Piłsudski and his staff in Kielce, 12 August 1914]]
Piłsudski's strategy was to send his forces north across the border into [[Congress Poland|Russian Poland]] into an area the [[Military history of Imperial Russia|Russian Army]] had evacuated in the hope of breaking through to Warsaw and sparking a nationwide revolution.{{r|PWN|Cienciala02}} Using his limited forces in those early days, he backed his orders with the sanction of a fictitious "National Government in Warsaw",{{r|Urbank97_174–5}} and he bent and stretched Austrian orders to the utmost, taking initiatives, moving forward, and establishing Polish institutions in liberated towns, whereas the Austrians saw his forces as good only for scouting or for supporting main Austrian formations.{{r|Urbank97_178–9}} On 12 August 1914 Piłsudski's forces took the town of [[Kielce]], in [[Kielce Governorate]], but Piłsudski found the residents less supportive than he had expected.{{r|Urbank97_170–1_180–2}}

On 27 August 1914 Piłsudski established the [[Polish Legions in World War I|Polish Legions]], formed within the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thomas|first=Nigel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fwxLDwAAQBAJ&dq=polish+legions+august+22+27&pg=PT20|title=Polish Legions 1914–19|date=31 May 2018|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4728-2543-8|pages=20|language=en}}</ref> and took personal command of their [[I Brigade of the Polish Legions|First Brigade]],{{r|PolandGov}} which he would lead into several victorious battles.{{r|PWN}} He also secretly informed the British government in the fall of 1914 that his Legions would never fight against France or Britain, only Russia.{{r|Cienciala02}}

Piłsudski decreed that Legions' personnel were to be addressed by the [[French Revolution]]-inspired "Citizen" (''Obywatel''), and he was referred to as "the Commandant" ("''Komendant''").{{r|Zamo87_333}} Piłsudski enjoyed extreme respect and loyalty from his men, which would remain for years to come.{{r|Zamo87_333}} The Polish Legions fought against Russia, at the side of the Central Powers, until 1917.<ref>{{Cite book|last=May|first=Arthur J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=71IrEAAAQBAJ&dq=polish+legions+1914+1917+%22central+powerS%22&pg=PA505|title=The Passing of the Hapsburg Monarchy, 1914-1918, Volume 2|date=11 November 2016|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-1-5128-0753-0|pages=505|language=en}}</ref>

In August 1914 Piłsudski had set up the [[Polish Military Organisation]] (''Polska Organizacja Wojskowa''), which served as a precursor of the [[Polish intelligence]] agency and was designed to perform espionage and sabotage missions.{{r|PWN|Cienciala02}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wróbel|first=Piotr J.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OHdqaZBfHggC&dq=%22Polish+Military+Organisation%22+November+1914&pg=PA286|title=Spießer, Patrioten, Revolutionäre: Militärische Mobilisierung und gesellschaftliche Ordnung in der Neuzeit|date=15 September 2010|publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht|isbn=978-3-86234-113-9|editor-last=Bergien|editor-first=Rüdiger|page=286|language=de|chapter=The Revival of Poland and Paramilitary Violence, 1918-1920|editor-last2=Pröve|editor-first2=Ralf}}</ref>

[[File:Jacek Malczewski, Portret brygadiera Józefa Piłsudskiego.jpg|thumb|alt=A painting of a man looking to the left|''Portrait of Brigadier General Józef Piłsudski'', by [[Jacek Malczewski]], 1916]]
In mid-1916, after the [[Battle of Kostiuchnówka]], in which the Polish Legions delayed a Russian offensive at a cost of over 2,000 casualties,{{sfn|Rąkowski|2005|pp=109–11}} Piłsudski demanded that the Central Powers issue a guarantee of independence for Poland. He supported that demand with his own proffered resignation and that of many of the Legions' officers.{{r|Urbank97_251–2}} On 5 November 1916 the Central Powers proclaimed the independence of Poland, hoping to increase the number of Polish troops that could be sent to the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] against Russia, thereby relieving German forces to bolster the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]].{{r|EBritannica_JP|Biskupski2000}}

Piłsudski agreed to serve in the [[Kingdom of Poland (1916–1918)|Regency Kingdom of Poland]], created by the Central Powers, and acted as [[minister of war]] in the newly formed [[Polish Regency government]]; as such, he was responsible for the [[Polnische Wehrmacht]].{{r|Zamo87_333}} After the [[February Revolution|Russian Revolution in early 1917]], and in view of the worsening situation of the Central Powers, Piłsudski took an increasingly uncompromising stance by insisting that his men no longer be treated as "German [[colonial troops]]" and be only used to fight Russia. Anticipating the Central Powers' defeat in the war, he did not wish to be allied with the losing side.{{r|Rothschild90_45|Urbank97_253}} 
[[File:Józef Piłsudski with Supreme Command of Polish Military Organisation in 1917.PNG|thumb|right|alt=A black-and-white photograph of several men grouped together and looking forward|Piłsudski with leadership of [[Polish Military Organisation]], 1917]]
In the aftermath of the July 1917 "[[oath crisis]]", when Piłsudski forbade Polish soldiers to swear [[loyalty oath|loyalty]] to [[Kaiser Wilhelm II]] of Germany, he was arrested and imprisoned at [[Magdeburg]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/dream-of-the-polish-eagle/|title=Dream of the Polish Eagle|date=October 2010|work = Warfare History Network}}</ref> The Polish units were disbanded and the men were incorporated into the Austro-Hungarian Army,{{r|PolandGov|Cienciala02}} while the [[Polish Military Organization]] began attacking German targets.{{r|PWN}} Piłsudski's arrest greatly enhanced his reputation among Poles, many of whom began to see him as a leader willing to take on all the partitioning powers.{{r|PWN}}

On 8 November 1918, three days before the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|Armistice]], Piłsudski and his colleague, Colonel [[Kazimierz Sosnkowski]], were released by the Germans from Magdeburg and soon placed on a train bound for the Polish capital,  Warsaw – the collapsing Germans hoping that Piłsudski would create a force friendly to them.{{r|Cienciala02}}