Poland revived 1918

Poland revived 1918 - 1939

On November 11th 1918 J. Piłsudski arrived in Warsaw, he seized the civil and military power, created the first government, to which the power centers in Cracow, Lublin, Poznań and Cieszyn were subjected. As the process of rebuilding the administration and unifying the country was conducted, fight for regaining the Polish state of ownership begun. In the south, despite the previous agreement, (November 5th 1918) Czechoslovakia attacked Cieszyn Silesia, they forced the Polish out of Zaolzie, and the international confederation in Spa (July 1920) gave the disputable territory with 100 thousand polish minority to Czechoslovakia. In the south east, the border between Poland and Ukraine of the time was established on the rivers Zbrucz and Horń. The eastern border was established after the polish-soviet war, which was ended by the Rys treaty (March 18th 1918) it was outlined by the rivers of Dzisna - Dokszyce - Słucz - Ostróg – Zbrucz. Poland accepted the Lithuanian country in July 1920, and in October of the same year general L. Żeligowski seized Vilnius, which was incorporated to Poland. The northern border of Poland was decided on the Versal treaty, which granted us 121 km access to the sea on the Eastern Pomerania, Gdańsk gained the status of a free city. As a result of the plebiscites – Warmia, Mazury remained with the Eastern Prussia. In the west, Greater Poland was returned to Poland after the rebellion (December 1918 – January 1919). On Upper Silesia the polish didn’t acknowledge the outcomes of the plebiscites, they seized their weapons and after 3 rebellions they captured 6 districts of Upper Silesia.

Even before the final establishment of the border of the country, in March 1921, the parliament established a constitution, according to which Poland was formed as a Bourgeoisie-Democratic Republic, legislative power was held by a parliament consisted of 2 houses (555 persons), executive power was exercised by the president, judicial power – an independent court, the citizens gained equal suffrage which was clandestine, direct and proportional, and a guarantee of basic citizen freedoms. The process of rebuilding and unifying the country was very hard because of the war damages, the necessity of overcoming political and economic differences, with which particular annexations were burdened. From the very beginning there was an acute political struggle in the parliament between the parties which formed it. This hindered efficient action. The political antagonisms fanned by the nationalists led to the murder of the Republic’s first president – Gabriel Narutowicz in 1922. The economic difficulties were set against in 1923 by the prime minister W. Grabski. He introduced a monetary reform established the Bank of Poland and started working on building a harbor in Gdynia, owing to which the Polish foreign trade became independent from Gdańsk which was controlled by the German. In 1925 another reform was introduced, it concerned the enfranchisement and assumed voluntary percolation of properties over 180 ha, over 300 ha on the borders, and in industrial properties over 700 ha, with full compensation to the owners. The reform caused the peasant ownership to increase by 13%, this however, did not fulfill the society’s expectations. The international situation was not advantageous as well: in 1925 (Locarno) France, in exchange for a guarantee of owns eastern border, left the matter of the western Polish border’s revision open. At the same time the custom war between Poland and Germany started and the dispute over the post with the German rulers of the free city of Gdańsk begun. J. Piłsudski decided to counteract the political difficulties caused by the imperfectly functioning system of parliament democracy. In May 1926 he committed a coup and introduced the so called reign of the reform, i.e. healing of the country. His first move were the so called August Novellas, which increased the range of president’s power and the establishment, in 1928, of the Independent Alliance of Cooperation with the Government and in 1937 the Camp of National Unification – a sort of political forum which supported the reign of the reforms. In 1935 a new constitution was enacted, it gave wide power to the president, who was chosen in general election every 7 years. The president appointed the government, called and dismissed the parliament, had the right to a veto toward parliament’s bills, he kept the right of issuing decrees, appointed the highest officials: president of NIK, the president of the highest court and the General Inspector of the Army, the president was not responsible before the constitution.

The first years of economic stability in the revived country were destroyed by the global economic crisis, which in Poland started with the decrease in prices of farm products. This caused unemployment, restriction of remuneration, lack of demand, decrease of industrial production by 60%, a slowdown in investments and the outflow of foreign capital. The country counteracted the crisis, used dumping on the international market and hoisted the national prices, which allowed to attain a positive trade balance. The country organized public works, took over the factories of significant matter to the economy. In 1937, in the mouth of Vistula and San rivers a central Industrial District started being build – an industrial complex, significant to the defensive capability of the country.

In international relations a crisis occurred, caused by the expansive policy of the Nazi Germany, despite many attempts to improve relations with the neighbors (non-aggression pact from 1932 with USRR and in 1934 with Germany). After the annexation of the Czech in September 1938, Germany continued their diplomatic offensive against Poland, demanding Gdańsk and consent to build an exterritorial highway which would join Germany with Eastern Prussia. Poland rejected these propositions, Great Britain and France guaranteed help in case of war. On September 1st 1939 at 4.45 a.m. a German battleship Schleswig – Holstein begun the firing on Westerplatte. This marked the beginning of the II World War

tot source www.hu.wikipedia.org

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Poll

1918 - 1939