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169-619: After a century of foreign domination, the Second Polish Republic became an independent state at the end of World War I . Bronna Góra was part of the Polesie Voivodeship , and remained so until the Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. With a railway stop at the edge of the woods, Bronna Góra became the location of secluded massacres in 1942, with trainloads of Jews transported and dislodged there from

338-656: A Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland ( Tymczasowy Rząd Ludowy Republiki Polskiej ) in Lublin. On Sunday, 10 November at 7 a.m., Józef Piłsudski , newly freed from 16 months in a German prison in Magdeburg , returned by train to Warsaw. Piłsudski, together with Colonel Kazimierz Sosnkowski , was greeted at Warsaw's railway station by Regent Zdzisław Lubomirski and by Colonel Adam Koc . Next day, due to his popularity and support from most political parties,

507-645: A blue-water navy was vital for global power projection; Tirpitz had his books translated into German, while Wilhelm made them required reading for his advisors and senior military personnel. However, it was also an emotional decision, driven by Wilhelm's simultaneous admiration for the Royal Navy and desire to surpass it. Bismarck thought that the British would not interfere in Europe, as long as its maritime supremacy remained secure, but his dismissal in 1890 led to

676-592: A grenade at the Archduke's car and injured two of his aides. The other assassins were also unsuccessful. An hour later, as Ferdinand was returning from visiting the injured officers in hospital, his car took a wrong turn into a street where Gavrilo Princip was standing. He fired two pistol shots, fatally wounding Ferdinand and his wife Sophie . According to historian Zbyněk Zeman , in Vienna "the event almost failed to make any impression whatsoever. On 28 and 29 June,

845-540: A guerrilla warfare campaign and only surrendered two weeks after the armistice took effect in Europe. Before the war, Germany had attempted to use Indian nationalism and pan-Islamism to its advantage, a policy continued post-1914 by instigating uprisings in India , while the Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition urged Afghanistan to join the war on the side of Central Powers. However, contrary to British fears of

1014-408: A change in policy and an Anglo-German naval arms race began. Despite the vast sums spent by Tirpitz, the launch of HMS  Dreadnought in 1906 gave the British a technological advantage. Ultimately, the race diverted huge resources into creating a German navy large enough to antagonise Britain, but not defeat it; in 1911, Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg acknowledged defeat, leading to

1183-613: A direct threat. The 1908–1909 Bosnian Crisis began when Austria annexed the former Ottoman territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina , which it had occupied since 1878. Timed to coincide with the Bulgarian Declaration of Independence from the Ottoman Empire, this unilateral action was denounced by the European powers, but accepted as there was no consensus on how to resolve the situation. Some historians see this as

1352-458: A failed attempt to resolve the Polish question as quickly as possible, Berlin set up the puppet Kingdom of Poland on 14 January 1917, with a governing Provisional Council of State and (from 15 October 1917) a Regency Council ( Rada Regencyjna Królestwa Polskiego ). The Council administered the country under German auspices (see also Mitteleuropa ), pending the election of a king . More than

1521-471: A gap between the German armies as they closed on Paris. The French army, reinforced by the British expeditionary corps, seized this opportunity to counter-attack and pushed the German army 40 to 80 km back. Both armies were then so exhausted that no decisive move could be implemented, so they settled in trenches, with the vain hope of breaking through as soon as they could build local superiority. In 1911,

1690-558: A graduate of high school received a big matura , which enabled them to seek university-level education. Before 1918, Poland had three universities: Jagiellonian University , the University of Warsaw and Lwów University . The Catholic University of Lublin was established in 1918; Adam Mickiewicz University , Poznań, in 1919; and finally, in 1922, after the annexation of the Republic of Central Lithuania , Wilno University became

1859-402: A major reform which introduced two main levels of education: common school ( szkoła powszechna ), with three levels – 4 grades + 2 grades + 1 grade; and middle school ( szkoła średnia ), with two levels – 4 grades of comprehensive middle school and 2 grades of specified high school (classical, humanistic, natural and mathematical). A graduate of middle school received a small matura , while

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2028-659: 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). With the notable exception of the Marxist -oriented Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania ( SDKPiL ), most Polish political parties supported this move. On 23 October

2197-548: A possibility. This was accentuated by British and Russian support for France against Germany during the 1911 Agadir Crisis . German economic and industrial strength continued to expand rapidly post-1871. Backed by Wilhelm II, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz sought to use this growth to build an Imperial German Navy , that could compete with the British Royal Navy . This policy was based on the work of US naval author Alfred Thayer Mahan , who argued that possession of

2366-834: A revolt in India, the outbreak of the war saw a reduction in nationalist activity. Leaders from the Indian National Congress and other groups believed support for the British war effort would hasten Indian Home Rule , a promise allegedly made explicit in 1917 by Edwin Montagu , the Secretary of State for India . In 1914, the British Indian Army was larger than the British Army itself, and between 1914 and 1918 an estimated 1.3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and

2535-594: A series of three Silesian Uprisings . The most critical military conflict of that period, however, the Polish–Soviet War (1919-1921), ended in a decisive Polish victory. The Second Polish Republic was a parliamentary democracy from 1919 (see Small Constitution of 1919 ) to 1926, with the President having limited powers. The Parliament elected him, and he could appoint the Prime Minister as well as

2704-521: A share of 1.6% (solely identifying with a non-Polish ethnic group) or 3.8% (including those identifying with both the Polish ethnicity and with another ethnic group) in 2011. The first spontaneous flight of about 500,000 Poles from the Soviet Union occurred during the reconstitution of sovereign Poland. In the second wave, between November 1919 and June 1924, some 1,200,000 people left the territory of

2873-516: A significant escalation, ending any chance of Austria cooperating with Russia in the Balkans, while also damaging diplomatic relations between Serbia and Italy. Tensions increased after the 1911–1912 Italo-Turkish War demonstrated Ottoman weakness and led to the formation of the Balkan League , an alliance of Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro , and Greece . The League quickly overran most of

3042-526: A sovereign state at the end of the First World War in Europe in 1917–1918. The victorious Allies of the First World War confirmed the rebirth of Poland in the Treaty of Versailles of June 1919. It was one of the great stories of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference . Poland solidified its independence in a series of border wars fought by the newly formed Polish Army from 1918 to 1921. The extent of

3211-401: A translator that washing stations were in the woods behind. They were ordered to leave their outer garments by the train and take only the soap and towel. Those who did not have soap were told not to worry because it had been supplied. The path through the woods, surrounded by barbed wire, was heavily guarded. It became narrower until the sounds of shooting made it clear what went on at the end of

3380-519: A twenty-day siege. Open organised Polish resistance ended on 6 October 1939 after the Battle of Kock , with Germany and the Soviet Union occupying most of the country. Lithuania annexed the area of Wilno , and Slovakia seized areas along Poland's southern border – including Górna Orawa and Tatranská Javorina - which Poland had annexed from Czechoslovakia in October 1938. Poland did not surrender to

3549-651: A vaccine against typhus. Bronisław Malinowski counted among the most important anthropologists of the 20th century. In Polish literature , the 1920s were marked by the domination of poetry. Polish poets were divided into two groups – the Skamanderites ( Jan Lechoń , Julian Tuwim , Antoni Słonimski and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz ) and the Futurists ( Anatol Stern , Bruno Jasieński , Aleksander Wat , Julian Przyboś ). Apart from well-established novelists ( Stefan Żeromski , Władysław Reymont ), new names appeared in

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3718-478: A war on two fronts; the Schlieffen Plan envisaged using 80% of the army to defeat France, then switching to Russia. Since this required them to move quickly, mobilization orders were issued that afternoon. Once the German ultimatum to Russia expired on the morning of 1 August, the two countries were at war. At a meeting on 29 July, the British cabinet had narrowly decided its obligations to Belgium under

3887-402: A weak Ottoman government, rather than an ambitious Slav power like Bulgaria . Russia had ambitions in northeastern Anatolia while its clients had overlapping claims in the Balkans. These competing interests divided Russian policy-makers and added to regional instability. Austrian statesmen viewed the Balkans as essential for the continued existence of their Empire and saw Serbian expansion as

4056-455: A whole, the Somme offensive led to an estimated 420,000 British casualties, along with 200,000 French and 500,000 Germans. The diseases that emerged in the trenches were a major killer on both sides. The living conditions led to disease and infection, such as trench foot , lice , typhus , trench fever , and the ' Spanish flu '. At the start of the war, German cruisers were scattered across

4225-508: Is known, however, that from 1908 to 1913, military spending by the six major European powers increased by over 50% in real terms. The years before 1914 were marked by a series of crises in the Balkans, as other powers sought to benefit from the Ottoman decline. While Pan-Slavic and Orthodox Russia considered itself the protector of Serbia and other Slav states, they preferred the strategically vital Bosporus straits to be controlled by

4394-574: The Schutzkorps was established, and carried out the persecution of Serbs. The assassination initiated the July Crisis, a month of diplomatic manoeuvring between Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain. Believing that Serbian intelligence helped organise Franz Ferdinand's murder, Austrian officials wanted to use the opportunity to end their interference in Bosnia and saw war as

4563-641: The World War . In August 1914, the magazine The Independent wrote "This is the Great War. It names itself". In October 1914, the Canadian magazine Maclean's similarly wrote, "Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War." Contemporary Europeans also referred to it as " the war to end war " and it was also described as "the war to end all wars" due to their perception of its unparalleled scale, devastation, and loss of life. The first recorded use of

4732-552: The 1938 Polish ultimatum to Lithuania ). On top of this, there were natural disasters, such as the 1934 flood in Poland . Interbellum Poland was unofficially divided into two parts – better developed "Poland A" in the west, and underdeveloped "Poland B" in the east. Polish industry was concentrated in the west, mostly in Polish Upper Silesia , and the adjacent Lesser Poland 's province of Zagłębie Dąbrowskie , where

4901-643: The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force landed on the island of New Britain , then part of German New Guinea . On 28 October, the German cruiser SMS  Emden sank the Russian cruiser Zhemchug in the Battle of Penang . Japan declared war on Germany before seizing territories in the Pacific, which later became the South Seas Mandate , as well as German Treaty ports on

5070-813: The Brześć Ghetto , the Pińsk Ghetto , and all other ghettos created by Nazi Germany in the area. Following the Soviet invasion of 1939, Bronna Góra along with most of Polesie Voivodeship was annexed into the Soviet Belarus after the NKVD-staged elections decided in the atmosphere of terror. All citizens previously living but also born in Poland would live in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic from then on, as

5239-538: The German Empire , being much more developed and prosperous. Frequent border closures and a customs war with Germany also had negative economic impacts on Poland. In 1924, Prime Minister Władysław Grabski , who was also the Economic Minister, introduced the złoty as a single common currency for Poland (replacing the marka), which remained a stable currency. The currency helped Poland to control

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5408-769: The Great War , was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers . Fighting took place mainly in Europe and the Middle East , as well as in parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific , and in Europe was characterised by trench warfare ; the widespread use of artillery , machine guns, and chemical weapons (gas); and the introductions of tanks and aircraft . World War I

5577-623: The Imperial Russian rouble , the Austrian krone , the Polish marka and the Ostrubel ) and with little or no direct infrastructural links. The situation was so bad that neighbouring industrial centres, as well as major cities, lacked direct railway links because they had been parts of different jurisdictions and different empires. For example, there was no direct railway connection between Warsaw and Kraków until 1934. This situation

5746-674: The Polish People's Republic and the Third Polish Republic , the historical state is referred to as the Second Polish Republic . In the Polish language, the country is traditionally referred to as II Rzeczpospolita ( Druga Rzeczpospolita ), which means the Second Republic . After more than a century of partitions between the Austrian , the Prussian , and the Russian imperial powers, Poland re-emerged as

5915-583: The Polish nation and challenging the legitimacy of the communist government in Warsaw. In 1990, the last president in exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski , handed the presidential insignia to the newly elected President , Lech Wałęsa , signifying continuity between the Second and Third republics. World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as

6084-628: The Republic ; however, republika is a general term, while Rzeczpospolita traditionally refers exclusively to Polish states. Additionally, between 8 November 1918 and 16 August 1919, the Journal of Laws of the State of Poland referred to the country as the State of Poland ( Polish : Państwo Polskie ). Following the end of the Second World War , and the establishment of the later states of

6253-721: The Rüstungswende or 'armaments turning point', when he switched expenditure from the navy to the army. This decision was not driven by a reduction in political tensions but by German concern over Russia's quick recovery from its defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and subsequent 1905 Russian Revolution . Economic reforms led to a significant post-1908 expansion of railways and transportation infrastructure, particularly in its western border regions. Since Germany and Austria-Hungary relied on faster mobilisation to compensate for their numerical inferiority compared to Russia,

6422-629: The Second World War in September 1939 ended the sovereign Second Polish Republic. The German invasion of Poland began on 1 September 1939, one week after Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact . On that day, Germany and Slovakia attacked Poland, and on 17 September the Soviets attacked eastern Poland . Warsaw fell to the Nazis on 28 September after

6591-553: The Soviet Union (0.8%) was virtually nonexistent. Czechoslovakia accounted for 3.9%, Latvia for 0.3%, and Romania for 0.8%. By mid-1938, after the Anschluss with Austria , Greater Germany was responsible for as much as 23% of Polish foreign trade. Piłsudski's regime followed the conservative free-market economic tradition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth throughout its existence. Poland had one of

6760-586: The Soviet Union . It had access to the Baltic Sea via a short strip of coastline known as the Polish Corridor on either side of the city of Gdynia . Between March and August 1939, Poland also shared a border with the then- Hungarian governorate of Subcarpathia . In 1938, the Second Republic was the sixth largest country in Europe. According to the 1921 census , the number of inhabitants

6929-828: The United States entered the war on the Allied side following Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare against Atlantic shipping. Later that year, the Bolsheviks seized power in the Russian October Revolution , and Soviet Russia signed an armistice with the Central Powers in December, followed by a separate peace in March 1918. That month, Germany launched an offensive in

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7098-423: The hydrophone and depth charges were introduced, destroyers could potentially successfully attack a submerged submarine. Convoys slowed the flow of supplies since ships had to wait as convoys were assembled; the solution was an extensive program of building new freighters. Troopships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys. The U-boats sunk more than 5,000 Allied ships, at

7267-442: The tank . After the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914, Allied and German forces unsuccessfully tried to outflank each other, a series of manoeuvres later known as the " Race to the Sea ". By the end of 1914, the opposing forces confronted each other along an uninterrupted line of entrenched positions from the Channel to the Swiss border. Since the Germans were normally able to choose where to stand, they generally held

7436-588: The 1839 Treaty of London did not require it to oppose a German invasion with military force; however, Prime Minister Asquith and his senior Cabinet ministers were already committed to supporting France, the Royal Navy had been mobilised, and public opinion was strongly in favour of intervention. On 31 July, Britain sent notes to Germany and France, asking them to respect Belgian neutrality; France pledged to do so, but Germany did not reply. Aware of German plans to attack through Belgium, French Commander-in-Chief Joseph Joffre asked his government for permission to cross

7605-431: The 1879 Dual Alliance , which became the Triple Alliance when Italy joined in 1882. For Bismarck, the purpose of these agreements was to isolate France by ensuring the three Empires resolve any disputes between themselves. In 1887, Bismarck set up the Reinsurance Treaty , a secret agreement between Germany and Russia to remain neutral if either were attacked by France or Austria-Hungary. For Bismarck, peace with Russia

7774-441: The 1913 Treaty of London , which had created an independent Albania while enlarging the territories of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece. However, disputes between the victors sparked the 33-day Second Balkan War , when Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece on 16 June 1913; it was defeated, losing most of Macedonia to Serbia and Greece, and Southern Dobruja to Romania. The result was that even countries which benefited from

7943-402: The 1939 Statistical Yearbook of Poland , the total length of the railways in Poland (as of 31 December 1937) was 20,118 km (12,501 mi). Rail density was 5.2 km (3.2 mi) per 100 km (39 sq mi). Railways were very dense in the western part of the country, while in the east, especially Polesie , rail was non-existent in some counties. During the interbellum period,

8112-409: The Austrians and Serbs clashed at the battles of the Cer and Kolubara ; over the next two weeks, Austrian attacks were repulsed with heavy losses. As a result, Austria had to keep sizeable forces on the Serbian front, weakening their efforts against Russia. Serbia's victory against Austria-Hungary in the 1914 invasion has been called one of the major upset victories of the twentieth century. In 1915,

8281-593: The Austrians briefly occupied the Serbian capital, Belgrade . A Serbian counter-attack in the Battle of Kolubara succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. For the first 10 months of 1915, Austria-Hungary used most of its military reserves to fight Italy. German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats scored a coup by persuading Bulgaria to join the attack on Serbia. The Austro-Hungarian provinces of Slovenia , Croatia and Bosnia provided troops for Austria-Hungary. Montenegro allied itself with Serbia. Bulgaria declared war on Serbia on 14 October 1915 and joined in

8450-493: The Balkan Wars, such as Serbia and Greece, felt cheated of their "rightful gains", while for Austria it demonstrated the apparent indifference with which other powers viewed their concerns, including Germany. This complex mix of resentment, nationalism and insecurity helps explain why the pre-1914 Balkans became known as the " powder keg of Europe ". On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria , heir presumptive to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria , visited Sarajevo ,

8619-404: The Central Powers. However, the pro-German King Constantine I dismissed the pro-Allied government of Eleftherios Venizelos before the Allied expeditionary force arrived. The Macedonian front was at first mostly static. French and Serbian forces retook limited areas of Macedonia by recapturing Bitola on 19 November 1916 following the costly Monastir offensive , which brought stabilisation of

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8788-410: The Chinese Shandong peninsula at Tsingtao . After Vienna refused to withdraw its cruiser SMS  Kaiserin Elisabeth from Tsingtao, Japan declared war on Austria-Hungary, and the ship was sunk in November 1914. Within a few months, Allied forces had seized all German territories in the Pacific, leaving only isolated commerce raiders and a few holdouts in New Guinea. Some of the first clashes of

8957-548: The German High Seas Fleet was confined to port. German U-boats attempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain. The nature of submarine warfare meant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival. The United States launched a protest, and Germany changed its rules of engagement. After the sinking of the passenger ship RMS Lusitania in 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners, while Britain armed its merchant ships, placing them beyond

9126-465: The German Army increased in size from 1908 to 1914, he changed the allocation of forces between the two wings to 70:30. He also considered Dutch neutrality essential for German trade and cancelled the incursion into the Netherlands, which meant any delays in Belgium threatened the viability of the plan. Historian Richard Holmes argues that these changes meant the right wing was not strong enough to achieve decisive success. The initial German advance in

9295-462: The German right wing would sweep through the Netherlands and Belgium , then swing south, encircling Paris and trapping the French army against the Swiss border. The plan's creator, Alfred von Schlieffen , head of the German General Staff from 1891 to 1906, estimated that this would take six weeks, after which the German army would transfer to the East and defeat the Russians. The plan was substantially modified by his successor, Helmuth von Moltke

9464-426: The Germans bled heavily as well, with anywhere from 700,000 to 975,000 casualties between the two combatants. Verdun became a symbol of French determination and self-sacrifice. The Battle of the Somme was an Anglo-French offensive from July to November 1916. The opening day on 1 July 1916 was the bloodiest single day in the history of the British Army , which suffered 57,500 casualties, including 19,200 dead. As

9633-507: The Jews from all spheres of social, economic, and cultural life in Poland". The government in response organised the Camp of National Unity (OZON), which in 1938 took control of the Polish Sejm and subsequently drafted anti-Semitic legislation similar to the Anti-Jewish laws in Germany, Hungary, and Romania. OZON advocated mass emigration of Jews from Poland, numerus clausus (see also Ghetto benches ), and other limitations on Jewish rights. According to William W. Hagen , by 1939, prior to

9802-565: The Middle East. In all, 140,000 soldiers served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East, with 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded. The suffering engendered by the war, as well as the failure of the British government to grant self-government to India afterward, bred disillusionment, resulting in the campaign for full independence led by Mahatma Gandhi . Pre-war military tactics that had emphasised open warfare and individual riflemen proved obsolete when confronted with conditions prevailing in 1914. Technological advances allowed

9971-411: The National Council of the Principality of Cieszyn (established in November 1918), the Republic of Zakopane and the Polish Liquidation Committee (28 October). Soon afterward, the Polish–Ukrainian War broke out in Lwów (1 November 1918) between forces of the Military Committee of Ukrainians and the Polish irregular units made up of students known as the Lwów Eaglets , who were later supported by

10140-442: The Nazi Belarusian battalions of the Byelorussian Home Defence . The first murder operation took place in June 1942, with 3,500 Jews transported from the Pińsk Ghetto and nearby Kobryn for "processing" ( durchschleusen ), at Bronna Góra. According to postwar testimony of Benjamin Wulf, a Polish Jew from Antopal who managed to survive the massacre, the train stop was surrounded by a barbed-wire fence. The prisoners were informed by

10309-545: The Ottomans joined the Central Powers in November. Germany's strategy in 1914 was to quickly defeat France, then to transfer its forces to the east, but its advance was halted in September , and by the end of the year the Western Front consisted of a continuous line of trenches stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland. The Eastern Front was more dynamic, but neither side gained a decisive advantage, despite costly offensives. Italy , Bulgaria , Romania , Greece and others joined in from 1915 onward. In April 1917,

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10478-449: The Ottomans' territory in the Balkans during the 1912–1913 First Balkan War , much to the surprise of outside observers. The Serbian capture of ports on the Adriatic resulted in partial Austrian mobilisation, starting on 21 November 1912, including units along the Russian border in Galicia . The Russian government decided not to mobilise in response, unprepared to precipitate a war. The Great Powers sought to re-assert control through

10647-487: The People's Assemblies of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus (22 October 1939), annexed eastern Poland partly to the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic , and partly to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (November 1939). Polish war plans ( Plan West and Plan East ) failed as soon as Germany invaded in 1939. The Polish losses in combat against Germans (killed and missing in action) amounted to ca. 70,000 men. Some 420,000 of them were taken prisoners. Losses against

10816-404: The Polish 18th Lancer Regiment near Chojnice. This arose from misreporting of a single clash on 1 September 1939 near Krojanty , when two squadrons of the Polish 18th Lancers armed with sabers surprised and wiped out a German infantry formation with a mounted saber charge. Shortly after midnight the 2nd (Motorized) Division was compelled to withdraw by Polish cavalry, before the Poles were caught in

10985-472: The Polish Army (see Battle of Lwów (1918) , Battle of Przemyśl (1918) ). Meanwhile, in western Poland, another war of national liberation began under the banner of the Greater Poland uprising (1918–1919) . In January 1919, Czechoslovak forces attacked Polish units in the area of Trans-Olza (see Polish–Czechoslovak War ). Soon afterwards, the Polish–Lithuanian War (ca 1919–1920) began, and, in August 1919, Polish-speaking residents of Upper Silesia initiated

11154-408: The Polish Government constructed several new lines, mainly in the central part of the country (see also Polish State Railroads Summer 1939 ). Construction of the extensive Warszawa Główna railway station was never finished due to the war, while Polish railways were famous for their punctuality (see Luxtorpeda , Strzała Bałtyku , Latający Wilnianin ). In the interbellum, the road network of Poland

11323-457: The Polish Parliament created the State Road Fund, the purpose of which was to collect money for the construction and conservation of roads. The government drafted a 10-year plan, with road priorities: a highway from Wilno, through Warsaw and Kraków, to Zakopane (called Marshal Piłsudski Highway), asphalt highways from Warsaw to Poznań and Łódź, as well as a Warsaw ring road. However, the plan turned out to be too ambitious, with insufficient money in

11492-424: The Polish economy by the German and Russian occupying powers, and the sabotage performed by retreating armies, the new republic was faced with the task of economically unifying disparate economic regions, which had previously been part of different countries and different empires. Within the borders of the Republic were the remnants of three different economic systems, with five different currencies (the German mark ,

11661-411: The Polish–Soviet War, Marshal Piłsudski led an intentionally modest life, writing historical books for a living. After he took power through a military coup in May 1926, he emphasised that he wanted to heal Polish society and politics of excessive partisan politics. His regime, accordingly, was called Sanacja in Polish. The 1928 parliamentary elections were still considered free and fair, although

11830-418: The Red Army (which invaded Poland on 17 September) added up to 6,000 to 7,000 of casualties and MIA, 250,000 were taken prisoners. Although the Polish Army – considering the inactivity of the Allies – was in an unfavourable position – it managed to inflict serious losses to the enemies: 20,000 German soldiers were killed or MIA, 674 tanks and 319 armored vehicles destroyed or badly damaged, 230 aircraft shot down;

11999-464: The Red Army lost (killed and MIA) about 2,500 soldiers, 150 combat vehicles and 20 aircraft. The Soviet invasion of Poland, and lack of promised aid from the Western Allies, contributed to the Polish forces defeat by 6 October 1939. A popular myth is that Polish cavalry armed with lances charged German tanks during the September 1939 campaign. This often repeated account, first reported by Italian journalists as German propaganda , concerned an action by

12168-866: The Regency Council appointed Piłsudski as Commander in Chief of the Polish Armed Forces. On 14 November, the Council dissolved itself and transferred all its authority to Piłsudski as Chief of State ( Naczelnik Państwa ). After consultation with Piłsudski, Daszyński's government dissolved itself and a new government formed under Jędrzej Moraczewski . In 1918, the Kingdom of Italy became the first country in Europe to recognise Poland's renewed sovereignty. Centres of government that formed at that time in Galicia (formerly Austrian-ruled southern Poland) included

12337-672: The Regency Council appointed a new government under Józef Świeżyński and began conscription into the Polish Army . In 1918–1919, over 100 workers' councils sprang up on Polish territories; on 5 November 1918, in Lublin , the first Soviet of Delegates was established. On 6 November socialists proclaimed the Republic of Tarnobrzeg at Tarnobrzeg in Austrian Galicia . The same day the Socialist, Ignacy Daszyński , set up

12506-592: The Republic's sixth university. There were also three technical colleges : the Warsaw University of Technology , Lwów Polytechnic and the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, established in 1919. Warsaw University of Life Sciences was an agricultural institute. By 1939, there were around 50,000 students enrolled in further education. 28% of students at universities were women, which

12675-721: The Russian Stavka agreed with the French to attack Germany within fifteen days of mobilisation, ten days before the Germans had anticipated, although it meant the two Russian armies that entered East Prussia on 17 August did so without many of their support elements. By the end of 1914, German troops held strong defensive positions inside France, controlled the bulk of France's domestic coalfields, and inflicted 230,000 more casualties than it lost itself. However, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany

12844-645: The Second Polish Republic in its final years is frequently referred to as Piłsudski's colonels . Interwar Poland had a large army of 270,000 soldiers on active duty: in 37 infantry divisions, 11 cavalry brigades, and two armored brigades, plus artillery units. Another 700,000 men served in the reserves. At the outbreak of the war, the Polish Army was able to put in the field almost one million soldiers, 4,300 guns, around 1,000 armored vehicles including in between 200 and 300 tanks (the majority of

13013-573: The Second World War . The Polish government-in-exile was established in Paris and later London after the fall of France in 1940. When, after several regional conflicts, most importantly the victorious Polish-Soviet war , the borders of the state were finalised in 1922, Poland's neighbours were Czechoslovakia , Germany , the Free City of Danzig , Lithuania , Latvia , Romania and

13182-650: The Serbian retreat toward the Adriatic coast in the Battle of Mojkovac on 6–7 January 1916, but ultimately the Austrians also conquered Montenegro. The surviving Serbian soldiers were evacuated to Greece. After the conquest, Serbia was divided between Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria. In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed at Salonica in Greece to offer assistance and to pressure its government to declare war against

13351-629: The Soviet subjects, not Polish. However, the Soviet rule was short-lived because the corresponding terms of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact signed earlier in Moscow were broken when the German Army crossed the Soviet occupation zone on 22 June 1941. From 1941 to 1943 the province was under the control of Nazi Germany, govern by the collaborationist Byelorussian Central Council supported by

13520-452: The USSR for Poland. It is estimated that some 460,000 of them spoke Polish as the first language. According to the 1931 Polish Census : 69% of the population was Polish, 14% were Ukrainian, around 10% Jewish, 3% Belarusian, 2% German and 3% other, including Lithuanian, Czech, Armenian, Russian, and Romani. The situation of minorities was a complex subject and changed during the period. Poland

13689-536: The Ukrainian state were suppressed and any existent violence or terrorism initiated by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists was emphasised to create the image of a "brutal Eastern savage". The Second Polish Republic was mainly flat with an average elevation of 233 m (764 ft) above sea level , except for the southernmost Carpathian Mountains (after the Second World War and its border changes,

13858-651: The West was very successful. By the end of August, the Allied left, which included the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), was in full retreat , and the French offensive in Alsace-Lorraine was a disastrous failure, with casualties exceeding 260,000. German planning provided broad strategic instructions while allowing army commanders considerable freedom in carrying them out at the front, but von Kluck used this freedom to disobey orders, opening

14027-485: The Younger . Under Schlieffen, 85% of German forces in the west were assigned to the right wing, with the remainder holding along the frontier. By keeping his left-wing deliberately weak, he hoped to lure the French into an offensive into the "lost provinces" of Alsace-Lorraine , which was the strategy envisaged by their Plan XVII . However, Moltke grew concerned that the French might push too hard on his left flank and as

14196-501: The aggressor, German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg delayed the commencement of war preparations until 31 July. That afternoon, the Russian government were handed a note requiring them to "cease all war measures against Germany and Austria-Hungary" within 12 hours. A further German demand for neutrality was refused by the French who ordered general mobilization but delayed declaring war. The German General Staff had long assumed they faced

14365-415: The armored vehicles were outclassed tankettes ) and 745 aircraft (however, only around 450 of them were bombers and fighters available to fight as of 1 September 1939). The training of the Polish Army was thorough. The non-commissioned officers were a competent body of men with expert knowledge and high ideals. The officers, both senior and junior, constantly refreshed their training in the field and in

14534-474: The attack by the Austro-Hungarian army under Mackensen's army of 250,000 that was already underway. Serbia was conquered in a little more than a month, as the Central Powers, now including Bulgaria, sent in 600,000 troops in total. The Serbian army, fighting on two fronts and facing certain defeat, retreated into northern Albania . The Serbs suffered defeat in the Battle of Kosovo . Montenegro covered

14703-539: The average elevation of Poland decreased to 173 m (568 ft)). Only 13% of territory, along the southern border, was higher than 300 m (980 ft). The highest elevation in the country was Mount Rysy , which rises 2,499 m (8,199 ft) in the Tatra Range of the Carpathians, approximately 95 km (59 mi) south of Kraków . Between October 1938 and September 1939, the highest elevation

14872-543: The best way of achieving this. However, the Foreign Ministry had no solid proof of Serbian involvement. On 23   July, Austria delivered an ultimatum to Serbia, listing ten demands made intentionally unacceptable to provide an excuse for starting hostilities. Serbia ordered general mobilization on 25   July, but accepted all the terms, except for those empowering Austrian representatives to suppress "subversive elements" inside Serbia, and take part in

15041-567: The bodies of others. According to a witness interviewed by Yahad-In Unum , 52,000 people were killed in Bronna Góra, including Jews and people who were believed to be linked to partisans . In March 1944, as the Red Army advanced, the Germans attempted to erase the evidence of the massacres. A special Sonderaktion 1005 was brought in from outside, consisting of 100 slave workers. For the next two weeks, they exhumed mass graves and burned

15210-430: The bodies on pyres. When they were finished, trees were planted, and all of the prisoners were shot. After the war, at the 1945 Potsdam Conference , Poland's borders were redrawn and Bronna Góra became part of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic . A memorial was erected at the site commemorating the perished Jewish citizens of the Soviet Union. Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic , at

15379-483: The border and pre-empt such a move. To avoid violating Belgian neutrality, he was told any advance could come only after a German invasion. Instead, the French cabinet ordered its Army to withdraw 10 km behind the German frontier, to avoid provoking war. On 2 August, Germany occupied Luxembourg and exchanged fire with French units when German patrols entered French territory; on 3   August, they declared war on France and demanded free passage across Belgium, which

15548-708: The bulk of coal mines and steel plants was located. Furthermore, heavy industry plants were located in Częstochowa ( Huta Częstochowa , founded in 1896), Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski ( Huta Ostrowiec , founded in 1837–1839), Stalowa Wola (brand new industrial city, which was built from scratch in 1937 – 1938), Chrzanów ( Fablok , founded in 1919), Jaworzno , Trzebinia (oil refinery, opened in 1895), Łódź (the seat of Polish textile industry), Poznań ( H. Cegielski – Poznań ), Kraków and Warsaw ( Ursus Factory ). Further east, in Kresy , industrial centres included two major cities of

15717-541: The campaign saw the first use of anti-aircraft warfare after an Austrian plane was shot down with ground-to-air fire, as well as the first medical evacuation by the Serbian army. Upon mobilisation, in accordance with the Schlieffen Plan , 80% of the German Army was located on the Western Front, with the remainder acting as a screening force in the East. Rather than a direct attack across their shared frontier,

15886-649: The capital of the recently annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina . Cvjetko Popović , Gavrilo Princip , Nedeljko Čabrinović , Trifko Grabež , Vaso Čubrilović ( Bosnian Serbs ) and Muhamed Mehmedbašić (from the Bosniaks community), from the movement known as Young Bosnia , took up positions along the Archduke's motorcade route, to assassinate him. Supplied with arms by extremists within the Serbian Black Hand intelligence organisation, they hoped his death would free Bosnia from Austrian rule. Čabrinović threw

16055-578: The chance of a decisive outcome, while it had failed to achieve the primary objective of avoiding a long, two-front war. As was apparent to several German leaders, this amounted to a strategic defeat; shortly after the First Battle of the Marne , Crown Prince Wilhelm told an American reporter "We have lost the war. It will go on for a long time but lost it is already." On 30 August 1914, New Zealand occupied German Samoa (now Samoa ). On 11 September,

16224-654: The characteristic features of the Polish economy in the interbellum was the gradual nationalisation of major plants. This was the case for the Ursus Factory (see Państwowe Zakłady Inżynieryjne ) and several steelworks, such as Huta Pokój in Ruda Śląska – Nowy Bytom, Huta Królewska in Chorzów – Królewska Huta, Huta Laura in Siemianowice Śląskie , as well as Scheibler and Grohman Works in Łódź. According to

16393-520: The cost of 199 submarines. World War I also saw the first use of aircraft carriers in combat, with HMS  Furious launching Sopwith Camels in a successful raid against the Zeppelin hangars at Tondern in July 1918, as well as blimps for antisubmarine patrol. Faced with Russia in the east, Austria-Hungary could spare only one-third of its army to attack Serbia. After suffering heavy losses,

16562-584: The counties inhabited by the Hutsul minority, that there was permanent starvation. Farmers rebelled against the government (see: 1937 peasant strike in Poland ), and the situation began to change in the late 1930s, due to the construction of several factories for the Central Industrial Region , which gave employment to thousands of rural and small town residents. Beginning in June 1925, there

16731-522: The creation of new independent states, including Poland , Finland , the Baltic states , Czechoslovakia , and Yugoslavia . The League of Nations was established to maintain world peace, but its failure to manage instability during the interwar period contributed to the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Before World War II , the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as the Great War or simply

16900-449: The creation of strong defensive systems largely impervious to massed infantry advances, such as barbed wire , machine guns and above all far more powerful artillery , which dominated the battlefield and made crossing open ground extremely difficult. Both sides struggled to develop tactics for breaching entrenched positions without heavy casualties. In time, technology enabled the production of new offensive weapons, such as gas warfare and

17069-965: The crowds listened to music and drank wine, as if nothing had happened." Nevertheless, the impact of the murder of the heir to the throne was significant, and has been described by historian Christopher Clark as a "9/11 effect, a terrorist event charged with historic meaning, transforming the political chemistry in Vienna". Austro-Hungarian authorities encouraged subsequent anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo . Violent actions against ethnic Serbs were also organised outside Sarajevo, in other cities in Austro-Hungarian-controlled Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Austro-Hungarian authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina imprisoned approximately 5,500 prominent Serbs, 700 to 2,200 of whom died in prison. A further 460 Serbs were sentenced to death. A predominantly Bosniak special militia known as

17238-799: The east (located in the Dzisna county of the Wilno Voivodeship ); and Mukocinek near Warta River and Meszyn Lake to the west (located in the Międzychód county of the Poznań Voivodeship ). Almost 75% of the territory of interbellum Poland was drained northward into the Baltic Sea by the Vistula (total area of drainage basin of the Vistula within boundaries of the Second Polish Republic

17407-649: The eastern half of the interwar territory of Poland was settled diplomatically in 1922 and internationally recognised by the League of Nations . Over the course of the First World War (1914-1918), the German Empire gradually dominated the Eastern Front as the Imperial Russian Army fell back. German and Austro-Hungarian armies seized the Russian-ruled part of what became Poland . In

17576-489: The eleventh one planned to be opened in the autumn of 1939. Furthermore, in 1935, Polish engineers began working on TV services. By early 1939, experts of the Polish Radio built four TV sets. The first movie broadcast by experimental Polish TV was Barbara Radziwiłłówna , and by 1940, a regular TV service was scheduled to begin operation. Interbellum Poland was also a country with numerous social problems. Unemployment

17745-583: The enrollment of Jews into universities. The political movement National Democracy ( Endecja , from the abbreviation "ND") often organised anti-Jewish business boycotts. Following the death of Marshal Józef Piłsudski in 1935, the Endecja intensified their efforts, which triggered violence in extreme cases in smaller towns across the country. In 1937, the National Democracy movement passed resolutions that "its main aim and duty must be to remove

17914-643: The expansion of the French colonial empire . In 1873, Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors , which included Austria-Hungary , Russia and Germany. After the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War , the League was dissolved due to Austrian concerns over the expansion of Russian influence in the Balkans , an area they considered to be of vital strategic interest. Germany and Austria-Hungary then formed

18083-400: The first time on the Western Front. Several types of gas soon became widely used by both sides and though it never proved a decisive, battle-winning weapon, it became one of the most feared and best-remembered horrors of the war. In February 1916, the Germans attacked French defensive positions at the Battle of Verdun , lasting until December 1916. Casualties were greater for the French, but

18252-563: The former Russian Partition and the Austrian Partition of eastern Poland. In 1921, one-third of citizens of Poland remained illiterate (38% in the countryside). The process was slow, but by 1931 the illiteracy level had dropped to 23% overall (27% in the countryside) and further down to 18% in 1937. By 1939, over 90% of children attended school. In 1932, Janusz Jędrzejewicz , the Minister for Religion and Education, carried out

18421-595: The front. Serbian and French troops finally made a breakthrough in September 1918 in the Vardar offensive , after most German and Austro-Hungarian troops had been withdrawn. The Bulgarians were defeated at the Battle of Dobro Pole , and by 25 September British and French troops had crossed the border into Bulgaria proper as the Bulgarian army collapsed. Bulgaria capitulated four days later, on 29 September 1918. The German high command responded by despatching troops to hold

18590-542: The globe, some of which were subsequently used to attack Allied merchant shipping . These were systematically hunted down by the Royal Navy, though not before causing considerable damage. One of the most successful was the SMS ; Emden , part of the German East Asia Squadron stationed at Qingdao , which seized or sank 15 merchantmen, a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. Most of the squadron

18759-630: The government with the Sejm ' s (lower house's) approval, but he could only dissolve the Sejm with the Senate 's consent. Moreover, his power to pass decrees was limited by the requirement that the Prime Minister and the appropriate other Minister had to verify his decrees with their signatures. Poland was one of the first countries in the world to recognise women's suffrage . Women in Poland were granted

18928-549: The high ground, while their trenches tended to be better built; those constructed by the French and English were initially considered "temporary", only needed until an offensive would destroy the German defences. Both sides tried to break the stalemate using scientific and technological advances. On 22 April 1915, at the Second Battle of Ypres , the Germans (violating the Hague Convention ) used chlorine gas for

19097-413: The interbellum – Zofia Nałkowska , Maria Dąbrowska , Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz , Jan Parandowski , Bruno Schultz , Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz , Witold Gombrowicz . Among other notable artists there were sculptor Xawery Dunikowski , painters Julian Fałat , Wojciech Kossak and Jacek Malczewski , composers Karol Szymanowski , Feliks Nowowiejski , and Artur Rubinstein , singer Jan Kiepura . Theatre

19266-628: The invaders, but continued fighting under the auspices of the Polish government-in-exile and of the Polish Underground State . After the signing of the German–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation on 28 September 1939, Polish areas occupied by Nazi Germany either became directly incorporated into Nazi Germany, or became part of the General Government . The Soviet Union, following Elections to

19435-470: The investigation and trial of Serbians linked to the assassination. Claiming this amounted to rejection, Austria broke off diplomatic relations and ordered partial mobilisation the next day; on 28 July, they declared war on Serbia and began shelling Belgrade . Russia ordered general mobilization in support of Serbia on 30 July. Anxious to ensure backing from the SPD political opposition by presenting Russia as

19604-475: The lecture hall, where modern technical achievement and the lessons of contemporary wars were demonstrated and discussed. The equipment of the Polish Army was less developed technically than that of Nazi Germany and its rearmament was slowed by confidence in Western European military support and by budget difficulties. The Polish command system at the level of the entire Polish military and the armies

19773-785: The long-standing balance of power in Europe, as well as economic competition between nations triggered by industrialisation and imperialism . Growing tensions between the great powers and in the Balkans reached a breaking point on 28 June 1914, when a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand , heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Austria-Hungary held Serbia responsible, and declared war on 28 July. After Russia mobilised in Serbia's defence, Germany declared war on Russia and France , who had an alliance . The United Kingdom entered after Germany invaded Belgium , whose neutrality it guaranteed, and

19942-572: The lowest taxation rates in Europe, with 9.3% of taxes as a distribution of national income. Piłsudski's regime was also heavily dependent on foreign investments and economies, with 45.4% of Polish equity capital controlled by foreign corporations. After the Great Depression , the Polish economy crumbled and failed to recover until Ignacy Mościcki 's government introduced economic reforms with more government interventions with an increase in tax revenues and public spending after Piłsudski's death. These interventionist policies saw Poland's economy recover from

20111-436: The majority of citizens lived in the countryside (75% in 1921). Farmers made up 65% of the population. In 1929, agricultural production made up 65% of Poland's GNP. After 123 years of partitions, regions of the country were very unevenly developed. The lands of the former German Empire were the most advanced; in Greater Poland , Upper Silesia and Pomerelia , farming and crops were on a Western European level. The situation

20280-508: The massive hyperinflation . It was the only country in Europe able to do this without foreign loans or aid. The average annual growth rate ( GDP per capita ) was 5.24% in 1920–29 and 0.34% in 1929–38. Hostile relations with neighbours were a major problem for the economy of interbellum Poland. In the year 1937, foreign trade with all neighbours amounted to only 21% of Poland's total. Trade with Germany, Poland's most important neighbour, accounted for 14.3% of Polish exchange. Foreign trade with

20449-456: The mid-1930s, Poland had 340,000 km (211,266 mi) of roads, but only 58,000 had a hard surface (gravel, cobblestone or sett ), and 2,500 were modern, with an asphalt or concrete surface. In different parts of the country, there were sections of paved roads, which suddenly ended, and were followed by dirt roads. The poor condition of the roads was the result of both long-lasting foreign dominance and inadequate funding. On 29 January 1931,

20618-426: The modern Third Polish Republic. Historically, Poland was almost always a multiethnic country. This was especially true for the Second Republic, when independence was once again achieved in the wake of the First World War and the subsequent Polish–Soviet War , the latter war being officially ended by the Peace of Riga . The census of 1921 shows 30.8% of the population consisted of ethnic minorities, compared with

20787-880: The national budget to pay for it. In January 1938, the Polish Road Congress estimated that Poland would need to spend three times as much money on roads to keep up with Western Europe . In 1939, before the outbreak of the war, LOT Polish Airlines , which was established in 1929, had its hub at Warsaw Okęcie Airport . At that time, LOT maintained several services, both domestic and international. Warsaw had regular domestic connections with Gdynia - Rumia , Danzig - Langfuhr , Katowice-Muchowiec , Kraków-Rakowice-Czyżyny , Lwów-Skniłów , Poznań-Ławica , and Wilno-Porubanek . Furthermore, in cooperation with Air France , LARES , Lufthansa , and Malert , international connections were maintained with Athens , Beirut , Berlin, Bucharest , Budapest , Helsinki , Kaunas , London, Paris, Prague , Riga , Rome, Tallinn , and Zagreb . Statistically,

20956-409: The ocean, even to neutral ships. Since there was limited response to this tactic, Germany expected a similar response to its unrestricted submarine warfare. The Battle of Jutland in May/June 1916 was the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war, and one of the largest in history. The clash was indecisive, though the Germans inflicted more damage than they received; thereafter the bulk of

21125-435: The open by German armored cars. The story arose because some German armored cars appeared and gunned down 20 troopers as the cavalry escaped. Even this failed to persuade everyone to reexamine their beliefs—there were some who thought Polish cavalry had been improperly employed in 1939. Between 1945 and 1990, the Polish government-in-exile operated in London, presenting itself as the only legal and legitimate representative of

21294-577: The outbreak of the war, there were approximately one million radios (see Radio stations in interwar Poland ). The administrative division of the Second Republic was based on a three-tier system, referring to the administrative division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . On the lowest rung were the gminy , local town and village governments akin to districts or parishes. These were then grouped together into powiaty (akin to counties), which, in turn, were grouped as województwa ( voivodeships , akin to provinces). This administrative system passed into

21463-469: The politicians received (such as accusations of corruption or the 1919 Polish coup attempt ), made them increasingly unpopular. Major politicians at this time, in addition to General Piłsudski, included peasant activist Wincenty Witos (Prime Minister three times) and right-wing leader Roman Dmowski . Ethnic minorities were represented in the Sejm ; e.g. in 1928 – 1930 there was the Ukrainian-Belarusian Club, with 26 Ukrainian and 4 Belarusian members. After

21632-410: The pro-Piłsudski Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government won them. The following three parliamentary elections (in 1930 , 1935 and 1938 ) were manipulated, with opposition activists sent to Bereza Kartuska prison (see also Brest trials ). As a result, the pro-government party Camp of National Unity won huge majorities in them. Piłsudski died just after an authoritarian constitution

21801-681: The protection of the " cruiser rules ", which demanded warning and movement of crews to "a place of safety" (a standard that lifeboats did not meet). Finally, in early 1917, Germany adopted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare , realising the Americans would eventually enter the war. Germany sought to strangle Allied sea lanes before the United States could transport a large army overseas, but, after initial successes, eventually failed to do so. The U-boat threat lessened in 1917, when merchant ships began travelling in convoys , escorted by destroyers . This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets, which significantly lessened losses; after

21970-468: The recession. The basis of Poland's gradual recovery after the Great Depression was the mass economic development plans of the new government (see Four Year Plan ) under economist Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski , which oversaw the building of three key infrastructural elements. The first was the establishment of the Gdynia seaport, which allowed Poland to completely bypass Gdańsk (which was under heavy German pressure to boycott Polish coal exports). The second

22139-423: The region – Lwów and Wilno ( Elektrit ). Besides coal mining, Poland also had deposits of oil in Borysław , Drohobycz , Jasło and Gorlice (see Polmin ), potassium salt ( TESP ), and basalt ( Janowa Dolina ). Apart from already-existing industrial areas, in the mid-1930s an ambitious, state-sponsored project called the Central Industrial Region was started under Minister Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski . One of

22308-611: The right to vote on 28 November 1918 by a decree of General Józef Piłsudski. The major political parties at this time were the Polish Socialist Party , National Democrats , various Peasant Parties , Christian Democrats , and political groups of ethnic minorities (German: German Social Democratic Party of Poland , Jewish: General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland , United Jewish Socialist Workers Party , and Ukrainian: Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance ). Frequently changing governments (see 1919 Polish legislative election , 1922 Polish legislative election ) and other negative publicity

22477-411: The second largest Jewish population in the world, with one-fifth of all the world's Jews residing within its borders (approx. 3,136,000). The urban population of interbellum Poland was rising steadily; in 1921, only 24% of Poles lived in the cities, in the late 1930s, that proportion grew to 30%. In more than a decade, the population of Warsaw grew by 200,000, Łódź by 150,000, and Poznań – by 100,000. This

22646-534: The sites of internationally acclaimed universities and other institutions of higher education. Although Polish Jews were some of the biggest supporters of Second Republic leader Józef Piłsudski , even after he returned to politics and staged a coup in 1926 , after his death in 1935 Pilsudskites ruling the Republic began to openly discriminate against its Jewish (and, to a lesser extent, its Ukrainian) citizens, restricting Jewish entry into professions and placing limitations on Jewish businesses. The official name of

22815-513: The start of the Second World War. Other achievements of interbellum Poland included Stalowa Wola (a brand new city, built in a forest around a steel mill), Mościce (now a district of Tarnów , with a large nitrate factory), and the creation of the central bank Bank Polski SA . There were several trade fairs, with the most popular being Poznań International Fair , Lwów's Targi Wschodnie , and Wilno's Targi Północne . Polish Radio had ten stations (see Radio stations in interwar Poland ), with

22984-423: The state was referred to as: Republik Polen in German , Польська Республіка ( transcription : Polʹsʹka Respublika ) in Ukrainian , Польская Рэспубліка ( transcription : Poĺskaja Respublika ) in Belarusian , and Lenkijos Respublika , in Lithuanian . Between 14 November 1918 and 13 March 1919, the state was referred to in Polish as Republika Polska , instead of Rzeczpospolita Polska . Both terms mean

23153-460: The state was the Republic of Poland . In the Polish language , it was referred to as Rzeczpospolita Polska ( abbr. RP ), with the term Rzeczpospolita being a traditional name for the republic when referring to various Polish states, including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (considered to be the First Polish Republic, Pierwsza Rzeczpospolita ), and later, the current Third Polish Republic . In other regionally-used official languages,

23322-415: The term First World War was in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopher Ernst Haeckel who stated, "There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared 'European War' ... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word." For much of the 19th century, the major European powers maintained a tenuous balance of power , known as the Concert of Europe . After 1848, this

23491-584: The threat posed by the closing of this gap was more important than competing with the Royal Navy. After Germany expanded its standing army by 170,000 troops in 1913, France extended compulsory military service from two to three years; similar measures were taken by the Balkan powers and Italy, which led to increased expenditure by the Ottomans and Austria-Hungary. Absolute figures are difficult to calculate due to differences in categorising expenditure since they often omit civilian infrastructure projects like railways which had logistical importance and military use. It

23660-408: The time officially known as the Republic of Poland , was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I . The Second Republic ceased to exist in 1939, after Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany , the Soviet Union , and the Slovak Republic , marking the beginning of the European theatre of

23829-404: The trail. The Jews who attempted to escape by crossing the fence were shot on the wires. Further up, the path opened to an area with execution pits 4 metres (13 ft) deep and 60 metres (200 ft) long, dug under the gun by hundreds of local laborers. Explosive materials were used to speed up the digging process. The fresh new victims were brought into the trenches and were shot one by one over

23998-429: The war ended with the Armistice of 11 November 1918 . The Paris Peace Conference of 1919–1920 imposed settlements on the defeated powers, most notably the Treaty of Versailles , by which Germany lost significant territories, was disarmed, and was required to pay large war reparations to the Allies. The dissolution of the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires redrew national boundaries and resulted in

24167-413: The war involved British, French, and German colonial forces in Africa. On 6–7 August, French and British troops invaded the German protectorates of Togoland and Kamerun . On 10 August, German forces in South-West Africa attacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the rest of the war. The German colonial forces in German East Africa , led by Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck , fought

24336-492: The war, Polish Jews were threatened with conditions similar to those in Nazi Germany. The pre-war government also restricted the rights of people who declared Ukrainian nationality, belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Church and inhabited the Eastern Borderlands of the Second Polish Republic. Poland was consequently refusing to grant Ukrainians any form of autonomy . The goal was to completely Polonize them, including changing their religion to Roman Catholicism . Ukrainian

24505-418: The west , which despite initial successes left the German Army exhausted and demoralised. A successful Allied counter-offensive from August 1918 caused a collapse of the German front line. By early November, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary had each signed armistices with the Allies, leaving Germany isolated. Facing a revolution at home , Kaiser Wilhelm   II abdicated on 9 November, and

24674-517: Was 180,300 km (69,600 sq mi), the Niemen (51,600 km or 19,900 sq mi), the Oder (46,700 km or 18,000 sq mi) and the Daugava (10,400 km or 4,000 sq mi). The remaining part of the country was drained southward, into the Black Sea , by the rivers that drain into the Dnieper ( Pripyat , Horyn and Styr , all together 61,500 km or 23,700 sq mi) as well as Dniester (41,400 km or 16,000 sq mi) The beginning of

24843-599: Was 25.7 million. By 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, this had grown to an estimated 35.1 million. Almost a third of the population came from minority groups : 13.9% Ukrainians ; 10% Ashkenazi Jews ; 3.1% Belarusians ; 2.3% Germans and 3.4% Czechs and Lithuanians . At the same time, a significant number of ethnic Poles lived outside the country's borders. The Second Republic maintained moderate economic development. The cultural hubs of interwar Poland – Warsaw , Kraków , Poznań , Wilno , and Lwów  – became major European cities and

25012-461: Was 5,529 km (3,436 mi), including: 140 km (87 mi) of coastline (out of which 71 km (44 mi) were made by the Hel Peninsula ), the 1,412 km (877 mi) with Soviet Union, 948 kilometers with Czechoslovakia (until 1938), 1,912 km (1,188 mi) with Germany (together with East Prussia ), and 1,081 km (672 mi) with other countries (Lithuania, Romania, Latvia, Danzig). The warmest yearly average temperature

25181-414: Was Lodowy Szczyt (known in Slovak as Ľadový štít ), which rises 2,627 m (8,619 ft) above sea level. The largest lake was Lake Narach . The country's total area, after the annexation of Trans-Olza, was 389,720 km (150,470 sq mi). It extended 903 km (561 mi) from north to south and 894 km (556 mi) from east to west. On 1 January 1938, total length of boundaries

25350-440: Was a customs' war, with the revanchist Weimar Republic imposing a trade embargo against Poland for nearly a decade; it involved tariffs and broad economic restrictions. After 1933 the trade war ended. The new agreements regulated and promoted trade. Germany became Poland's largest trading partner, followed by Britain. In October 1938, Germany granted a credit of 60,000,000 RM to Poland (120,000,000 zloty , or £ 4,800,000) which

25519-424: Was also a nation of many religions. In 1921, 16,057,229 Poles (approx. 62.5%) were Roman (Latin) Catholics , 3,031,057 citizens of Poland (approx. 11.8%) were Eastern Rite Catholics (mostly Ukrainian Greek Catholics and Armenian Rite Catholics ), 2,815,817 (approx. 10.95%) were Orthodox , 2,771,949 (approx. 10.8%) were Jewish, and 940,232 (approx. 3.7%) were Protestants (mostly Lutheran ). By 1931, Poland had

25688-432: Was approved in the spring of 1935. During the last four years of the Second Polish Republic, the major politicians included President Ignacy Mościcki , Foreign Minister Józef Beck and the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Army , Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły . The country was divided into 104 electoral districts , and those politicians who were forced to leave Poland founded Front Morges in 1936. The government that ruled

25857-403: Was challenged by Britain's withdrawal into so-called splendid isolation , the decline of the Ottoman Empire , New Imperialism , and the rise of Prussia under Otto von Bismarck . Victory in the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War allowed Bismarck to consolidate a German Empire . Post-1871, the primary aim of French policy was to avenge this defeat, but by the early 1890s, this had switched to

26026-420: Was construction of the 500-kilometre rail connection between Upper Silesia and Gdynia, called the Polish Coal Trunk-Line , which served freight trains with coal. The third was the creation of a central industrial district named COP – Centralny Okręg Przemysłowy ( English : Central Industrial Region). Unfortunately, these developments were interrupted and largely destroyed by the German and Soviet invasion and

26195-410: Was dense, but the quality of the roads was very poor – only 7% of all roads were paved and ready for automobile use, and none of the major cities were connected with each other by a good-quality highway. In 1939 the Poles built only one highway: 28 km of straight concrete road connecting the villages of Warlubie and Osiek (mid-northern Poland). It was designed by Italian engineer Piero Puricelli. In

26364-401: Was described by Melchior Wańkowicz in his book Sztafeta . In addition to this was the massive destruction left after both the First World War and the Polish–Soviet War . There was also a great economic disparity between the eastern (commonly called Poland B ) and western (called Poland A ) parts of the country, with the western half, especially areas that had belonged to Prussia and

26533-453: Was due not only to internal migration, but also to an extremely high birth rate. From the 1920s, the Polish government excluded Jews from receiving government bank loans, public sector employment, and obtaining business licenses. From the 1930s, measures were taken against Jewish shops, Jewish export firms, Shechita as well as limitations being placed on Jewish admission to the medical and legal professions, Jews in business associations and

26702-425: Was high, and poverty in the countryside was widespread, which resulted in several cases of social unrest, such as the 1923 Kraków riot , and 1937 peasant strike in Poland . There were conflicts with national minorities, such as the Pacification of Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia (1930) , relations with Polish neighbours were sometimes complicated (see Soviet raid on Stołpce , Polish–Czechoslovak border conflicts , and

26871-407: Was immensely popular in the interbellum, with three main centres in the cities of Warsaw, Wilno and Lwów. Altogether, there were 103 theatres in Poland and a number of other theatrical institutions (including 100 folk theatres). In 1936, different shows were seen by 5 million people, and main figures of Polish theatre of the time were Juliusz Osterwa , Stefan Jaracz , and Leon Schiller . Also, before

27040-446: Was in Kraków among major cities of the Second Polish Republic, at 9.1 °C (48.4 °F) in 1938; and the coldest in Wilno (7.6 °C or 45.7 °F in 1938). Extreme geographical points of Poland included Przeświata River in Somino to the north (located in the Braslaw county of the Wilno Voivodeship ); Manczin River to the south (located in the Kosów county of the Stanisławów Voivodeship ); Spasibiorki near railway to Połock to

27209-424: Was much worse in parts of Congress Poland , the Eastern Borderlands , and what was formerly Galicia , where agriculture was quite backward and primitive, with a large number of small farms, unable to succeed in either the domestic or international market. Another problem was the overpopulation of the countryside, which resulted in chronic unemployment. Living conditions were so bad in several eastern regions, such as

27378-412: Was never realised, due to the outbreak of war. Germany would deliver factory equipment and machinery in return for Polish timber and agricultural produce. This new trade was to be in addition to the existing German-Polish trade agreements. In 1919, the Polish government introduced compulsory education for all children aged 7 to 14, in an effort to limit illiteracy, which was widespread, especially in

27547-408: Was obsolete. The generals in command of armies had to ask permission from the high command. The Polish military attempted to organize fronts made of army groups only when it was already too late during the Polish Defensive War in 1939. After regaining its independence, Poland was faced with major economic difficulties. In addition to the devastation brought by the First World War, the exploitation of

27716-415: Was one of the deadliest conflicts in history , resulting in an estimated 10 million military dead and more than 20 million wounded , plus some 10 million civilian dead from causes including genocide . The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic. The causes of World War I included the rise of Germany and decline of the Ottoman Empire , which disturbed

27885-654: Was refused. Early on the morning of 4   August, the Germans invaded, and Albert I of Belgium called for assistance under the Treaty of London . Britain sent Germany an ultimatum demanding they withdraw from Belgium; when this expired at midnight, without a response, the two empires were at war. Germany promised to support Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia, but interpretations of what this meant differed. Previously tested deployment plans had been replaced early in 1914, but those had never been tested in exercises. Austro-Hungarian leaders believed Germany would cover its northern flank against Russia. Beginning on 12 August,

28054-414: Was restricted in every field possible, especially in governmental institutions, and the term "Ruthenian" was enforced in an attempt to ban the use of the term "Ukrainian". Ukrainians were categorised as uneducated second-class peasants or third world people, and rarely settled outside the Eastern Borderland region due to the prevailing Ukrainophobia and restrictions imposed. Numerous attempts at restoring

28223-600: Was returning to Germany when it sank two British armoured cruisers at the Battle of Coronel in November 1914, before being virtually destroyed at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December. The SMS Dresden escaped with a few auxiliaries, but after the Battle of Más a Tierra , these too were either destroyed or interned. Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, Britain began a naval blockade of Germany . This proved effective in cutting off vital supplies, though it violated accepted international law. Britain also mined international waters which closed off entire sections of

28392-586: Was the foundation of German foreign policy but in 1890, he was forced to retire by Wilhelm II . The latter was persuaded not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty by his new Chancellor , Leo von Caprivi . This gave France an opening to agree the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1894, which was then followed by the 1904 Entente Cordiale with Britain. The Triple Entente was completed by the 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention . While not formal alliances, by settling long-standing colonial disputes in Asia and Africa, British support for France or Russia in any future conflict became

28561-416: Was the second highest share in Europe. Polish science in the interbellum was renowned for its mathematicians gathered around the Lwów School of Mathematics , the Kraków School of Mathematics , as well as the Warsaw School of Mathematics . There were world-class philosophers in the Lwów–Warsaw school of logic and philosophy. Florian Znaniecki founded Polish sociological studies. Rudolf Weigl invented

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