Poland regains independence

Historical Context Note

Pawel Styrna (University of Illinois at Chicago)

Ed. by Ewa M. Thompson, Rice University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.8.3: Polish Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Ewa M. Thompson (Rice University)

Domains

Decolonization

Dates

Date of occurrence 1918-11-11

Places

Poland (Location)

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

11 November 1918, known in Western Europe as the date of the armistice ending the first world war, is commemorated as Independence Day in Poland. As the Central Powers collapsed, Polish patriots began to disarm Austro-Hungarian and German occupation troops and assumed control of Western Galicia and the former Russian-ruled Polish Kingdom. Józef Piłsudski, the former head of the pro-Austrian Polish Legions, was freed by the Germans and allowed to return to Warsaw where he soon accepted the responsibilities of Commander-in-Chief and Temporary Head of State. Because of the activities of Roman Dmowski and the pro-Entente Polish National Committee, the Poles were also recognized as an Entente belligerent.

The reappearance of an independent Polish state was a direct result of the collapse of

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

274 words

Citation: Styrna, Pawel. "Poland regains independence". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 June 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=7102, accessed 16 April 2024.]

Save this article