ózef Klemens Piłsudski
(5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman , Chief of State (1918–22), "First Marshal of Poland" (from 1920), and de facto dictator (1926–35) of the Second Polish Republic,Minister of Military Affairs. From mid-World War I he had a major influence in Poland's politics, and was an important figure on the European political scene. He was the person most responsible for the creation of the Second Republic of Poland in 1918, 123 years after it had been taken over by Russia, Austria and Prussia. Under Piłsudski, Poland recovered Vilnius from newly born independent state of Lithuania following Żeligowski's Mutiny but was unable to incorporate most of Piłsudski's Lithuanian homeland into the newly resurrected Polish State.
Describing himself as a descendant of the culture and traditions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Piłsudski believed in a multicultural Poland - a home of nations, recognizing numerous ethnic and religious nationalities and finally existing in strong historical alliance with independent states of Lithuania and Ukraine. His main opponent Roman Dmowski by contrast called for an independent state of Poland narrowed to the lands of historical Crown and founded mainly on ethnically Polish demos and Roman Catholic identity.
No comments:
Post a Comment