Editing Stanisław Wojciechowski (section)

===Fall from power===
{{main|May Coup (Poland)}}
[[File:Zapiski Wojciechowskiego (HistoriaPolski str.187).jpg|thumb|President Wojciechowski's handwritten description of his meeting with Piłsudski on the [[Poniatowski Bridge]] during the May Coup in 1926]]
In November 1925, the government of [[Prime Minister of Poland|Prime Minister]] [[Władysław Grabski]] was replaced by the government of [[Aleksander Skrzyński]], which had received support from the [[National Democracy (Poland)|National Democrats]] and the [[Polish Socialist Party]]. General [[Lucjan Żeligowski]] became the new government's [[Minister of Military Affairs|minister of military affairs]].  However, after the PPS withdrew its support, this government also fell and was replaced by that of Prime Minister [[Wincenty Witos]], formed by [[Polish People's Party "Piast" (1913–31)|Polish People's Party "Piast"]] and [[Christian Union of National Unity]] ([[Chjeno-Piast]]). However, the new government had even less popular support than the previous ones, and pronouncements from [[Józef Piłsudski]], who viewed the constant power shifts in the [[Sejm]] as chaotic and damaging, set the stage for a [[coup d'état]]. Apart from domestic turmoil, Polish politics had been shaken by a [[trade war]] with Germany, begun in June 1925, and by the signing of the [[Treaty of Locarno]] on 1 December. Under the terms of the treaty, the World War I western European [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] powers plus Germany guaranteed the inviolability of the German border with Belgium and France as determined by the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. On 10 May 1926, a coalition government of Christian Democrats and Agrarians was formed, and that same day Józef Piłsudski, in an interview with ''[[Kurier Poranny (1877-1939|Kurier Poranny]]'' (the Morning Courier) newspaper, said that he was "ready to fight the evil" of sejmocracy and promised a "sanation" (restoration to health) of political life. The newspaper edition was confiscated by the authorities.

The night of 11 to 12 May, a state of alert was declared in the Warsaw military garrison, and some units marched to Rembertów, where they pledged their support to Piłsudski. On 12 May, they marched on Warsaw and captured bridges over the [[Wisła River]]. Meanwhile, Wincenty Witos' government declared a state of emergency. At about 17:00 hours, Marshal Piłsudski met Wojciechowski on the [[Poniatowski Bridge]]. [[Major (rank)|Major]] [[Marian Porwit]] who commanded one of the troops loyal to the government), reported to the president, then reported to Piłsudski and witnessed the discussion between the two dignitaries. Piłsudski demanded the resignation of Witos' cabinet, while the President demanded Piłsudski's capitulation. After the failure of negotiations and the president's departure, Major Porwit refused Piłsudski to let him cross the bridge. On 14 May, at about 13:00 hours, Witos' cabinet decided to move from [[Belweder]] to [[Wilanów]]. Wojciechowski allowed this decision an hour later. 
After transferring to [[Wilanów]], Wojciechowski and Witos negotiated with the commanders of troops loyal to the cabinet. The military decided they should move to [[Poznań]] and maintain the armed struggle from beyond. Eventually, to prevent the Warsaw fighting from turning into a country-wide civil war, both Wojciechowski and Witos decided to resign and issued an order to their troops to cease fratricidal fighting. A new government was formed under Prime Minister [[Kazimierz Bartel]], with Piłsudski as the new [[Ministry of National Defence (Poland)|Minister of Military Affairs]]. On 31 May 1926, the [[Zgromadzenie Narodowe|National Assembly]] nominated Piłsudski to be president, but he declined. Eventually [[Ignacy Mościcki]] became the new president; Piłsudski, however, wielded much greater '' de facto'' power than his military ministry nominally gave him.<ref name="auto2"></ref>